Is it really possible that no one has sat the PM down and explained to him about the power of the English language press, especially on matters pertaining to the history of World War II? (Does he remember who won that conflict--and what they say about winners and the writing of history?)
That a too free translation of his assertion of a lack of shōko 証拠 as "lack of proof" has him denying the existence of any "proof of coercion" (an especial thanks to you Mr. Onishi of The New York Times)?
That he is being pilloried all over the planet because dictionaries manage to translate both shōko 証拠 and shōgen 証言 as "evidence" and "testimony", making it seem as though he is denying the verbal evidence (shōgen) of the confort women about coercion when all he is saying is that there is no surviving conclusive documentary evidence (shōko) ?
Or does he even care?
With fellow travelers like Nakayama "Cafeteria" Nariaki (Google it--you will be appalled) what are we to expect?
Stupid man. Stupid, incurious, arrogant, dogmatic man who deserves to lose in July.
Why has his prime ministership replicated intellectual trajectory of the Bush presidency, only at 12 times the speed?
Monday, March 05, 2007
An Essay in a Moment Captured
As regards public displays of affection between spouses in contemporary Japan.
For my friend Michael Zielenziger.
Married couple on their way to a funeral dozing
aboard the 8:00 AM Hitachi Super Express train
March 4, 2007
Photo Credit: MTC
For my friend Michael Zielenziger.
Married couple on their way to a funeral dozingaboard the 8:00 AM Hitachi Super Express train
March 4, 2007
Photo Credit: MTC
Friday, March 02, 2007
Ahhh, the fond ethnic stereotypes of yesteryear!
Hey, look! Thanks to the efforts of the LDP study group on revising the Kōno Statement the bucktooth barbarian look is back.
That's it. I've reached my crassness quotient for the day.
That's it. I've reached my crassness quotient for the day.
Message control lost
This will really spice up Prime Minister Abe's visit to the United States next month.
And on the Washington Post website too.
Just think of how much it would have cost the proponents of the Honda resolution to place an ad in the WashPo denouncing the proposed reinterpretations of the Kōno Statement.
Poor Ambassadors Katō and Ōshima. With reports like these coming out of Tokyo, who needs enemies?
Later - Just to make it clear, through his statement playing fast and loose with the word "coercion", the Prime Minister has, in essence, labeled the surviving comfort women "old whores". Such was probably not his intent---but intent has little to do with the outcome.
Japan's Leader Denies Women Were Forced Into WWII BrothelsYou cannot buy a headline like that.
Associated Press
TOKYO, March 1 -- Japan's prime minister denied Thursday that the country's military forced women into sexual slavery during World War II, casting doubt on a past government apology and jeopardizing a fragile detente with his Asian neighbors.
And on the Washington Post website too.
Just think of how much it would have cost the proponents of the Honda resolution to place an ad in the WashPo denouncing the proposed reinterpretations of the Kōno Statement.
Poor Ambassadors Katō and Ōshima. With reports like these coming out of Tokyo, who needs enemies?
Later - Just to make it clear, through his statement playing fast and loose with the word "coercion", the Prime Minister has, in essence, labeled the surviving comfort women "old whores". Such was probably not his intent---but intent has little to do with the outcome.
You shoulda quit while you wuz ahead
The Levee Breaks:
For months now, I have been expressing my mounting disgust at the Abe Cabinet's trying to camouflage its policy vacuity through incessant caterwauling about the abductees issue .
The message on the poster hanging in my subway car this morning: even the families of the victims have reached their limits.
Shūkan Shinchō advertisement
Hibiya Line, Tokyo Metropolitan District
March 2, 2007
Photo credit: MTC
"Stop using us for political purposes!"
Prime Minister Abe, under criticism from the families of the abducted
For months now, I have been expressing my mounting disgust at the Abe Cabinet's trying to camouflage its policy vacuity through incessant caterwauling about the abductees issue .
The message on the poster hanging in my subway car this morning: even the families of the victims have reached their limits.
Shūkan Shinchō advertisementHibiya Line, Tokyo Metropolitan District
March 2, 2007
Photo credit: MTC
Thursday, March 01, 2007
If I were a lobbyist in Washington for the Government of Japan...
...I would have to feel somewhat concerned over the grins on the faces of the folks in this relatively recent photograph.
Text: "On August 29, 2006 Dr. Lester Tenney, Mr. Donald Versaw, Mr. Clay Perkins and Ms. Kinue Tokudome visited Congressman Honda (D-CA), who has been a long time supporter of former POWs of the Japanese."
From the website of us-japandialogueonpows.org
Caption: Mr. Versaw, Ms. Tokudome, Mr. Perkins, Congressman Honda and Dr. Tenney
Text: "On August 29, 2006 Dr. Lester Tenney, Mr. Donald Versaw, Mr. Clay Perkins and Ms. Kinue Tokudome visited Congressman Honda (D-CA), who has been a long time supporter of former POWs of the Japanese."
From the website of us-japandialogueonpows.org
Deep thought...maybe
Why is it that every issue commanding the passions of Abe Shinzō's followers, supporters and hanger's on seems to revolve around an assertion of paternity?
May I have the envelope, please?
And the Inadvertant Hilarity Award goes to...Yagi Hidetsugu, professor of the Takasaki City University of Economics and member of the Abe Shinzō brain trust, for the following killer quote in a speech sponsored by Seiron, reprinted in the February 28 edition of the Sankei Shimbun:
Professor Yagi, if he has the time, should take a plane to Ann Arbor, Michigan and catch the talk on March 15 by this notorious individual, perhaps now the only surviving perpetrator of the dastardly deed.
The good professor will find out that "denying the past" was sort of the point of the whole exercise.
And if you look at the sixty years that have followed the commission of the unnatural act as compared to the sixty years that preceded it, you have to say that maybe denying the past wasn't such a bad thing.
...「現行憲法は長い日本の歴史に立脚しておらず、過去を否定している」と憲法改正の必要性を強調した。
"He insisted on the necessity of a revision of the Constitution, saying, 'The current constitution does not have its foundations in Japan's long history and it denies the past.'"
Professor Yagi, if he has the time, should take a plane to Ann Arbor, Michigan and catch the talk on March 15 by this notorious individual, perhaps now the only surviving perpetrator of the dastardly deed.
The good professor will find out that "denying the past" was sort of the point of the whole exercise.
And if you look at the sixty years that have followed the commission of the unnatural act as compared to the sixty years that preceded it, you have to say that maybe denying the past wasn't such a bad thing.
Coming in like a lamb...
Today is the first day of March. Time to flip over to the next page in your calendars.
The Great Stone Buddha of the Nihonji
Nokogiriyama, Chiba Prefecture
March 14, 2006
Photo credit: MTC
The Great Stone Buddha of the NihonjiNokogiriyama, Chiba Prefecture
March 14, 2006
Photo credit: MTC
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