Huge Japan protest over textbook

Huge Japan protest over textbook

More than 100,000 people in Japan have rallied against changes to school books detailing Japanese military involvement in mass suicides during World War II.The protest, in Okinawa, was against moves to modify and tone down passages that say the army ordered Okinawans to kill themselves rather than surrender.

Okinawa’s governor told crowds they could not ignore army involvement.

Some conservatives in Japan have in recent years questioned accounts of the country’s brutal wartime past.

Saturday’s rally was the biggest staged on the southern island since it was returned to Japan by the United States in 1972, according to the Kyodo News agency.

Grenades

When US soldiers invaded Okinawa at the end of World War II, more than 200,000 people died.

Hundreds of them were Japanese civilians who killed themselves.

The textbooks, intended for use in high schools next year, currently say that as the Americans prepared to invade, the Japanese army handed out grenades to Okinawa residents and ordered them to kill themselves.

Many survivors insist the military told people to commit suicide, partly due to fears over what they might tell the invaders and because being taken prisoner was considered shameful.

The governor of Okinawa, Hirokazu Nakaima, told crowds the episode should not be forgotten.

“We cannot bury the fact that the Japanese military was involved in the mass suicide, taking into account of the general background and testimonies that hand grenades were delivered,” he said.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency said Saturday’s rally was the biggest staged on the southern island since it was returned to Japan by the United States in 1972.

This is what happens when much of the world approves of Japan’s revision of their accounts of world history with their East Asian neighbours. Like the Okinawans, many Chinese and Koreans protested the Japanese government’s decision to approve revised textbooks that justified Japan’s aggressive war during the Second World War. Although many Japanophiles tried to justify the governments official approval by pointing out that only a faction of high schools were sane enough to adopt these revisionist works, the fact that it was approved by the government without any opposing views and merely dismissing Chinese and Korean concerns as racism only encouraged these revisionists to “fix” their national history.

The fact that these same revisionists, emboldened by support for revised accounts of East Asian history, now begin to justify atrocities committed to their own taxpayers in Okinawa is just appalling. Some Japanese are actually stupid enough to justify this by saying these revisions, which are largely wholesale denials, are needed to help restore the national pride lost due to Imperial Japan’s loss during World War 2 and due to their war crimes against the region and their own citizens.

I would like to point to these people that Germany does not have any need to revise or even deny their past transgressions to restore their sense of pride. The Germans eventually restored their pride by first coming to terms with what the Nazis did, making amends with those who were wronged and then concentrating on their strengths to show a new Germany to the world.

It seems elements of the Japanese power structure along with their useful idiots, the Japanophiles, were able to concentrate their country’s national strengths to officially present a “new” Japan to the world in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Yet, they still have yet to properly come to terms with what their Imperial government did and have trouble making clear amends with those they have wronged.

The Japanophiles and right-wing Japanese were able to convince the world that Chinese and Korean protests against revisionist works were racially motivated and downplay the significance of their revisionist views promoted to new generations of Japanese. Now I wonder how in the hell these same idiots will try to downplay and justify these revisonist lies being committed against their own taxpaying citizens. Surely, these people would surely be considered racists for having double-standards if these people decry the revisionist views taken against the Okinawans yet accept the revisionist views promoted in regards to their role in China and Korea during the World War 2.

Oh wait, some Japanophiles do justify the Japanese government’s revisions by claiming Western coverage of this incident from the start is wrong because they are from a non-Japanese view and therefore they are automatically ignorant of all things Japanese. Then there are those who will try to use local officials with opposing views to justify the revisions…what a bunch of tools. However, many will simply avoid the current issues and willingly remain ignorant (yet automatically side with the Japanese government) to continue their unrealistic internalisations of Japan, which will largely consist of Shinto shrine visits, anime, Japanese cuisine, Japanese pop culture, and even romanticised feudal history.

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Prison Break Season 3, Episode 2

The episode opens up with Michael lining up to get clean water, with Bellick trying to cut in front of the line but he is pushed away by a local inmate.  Eventually there is a small scuffle which forces Lechero’s goon to knock Bellick into the barrel of water, causing the week’s supply to go away.  Fortunately, Michael is able to get some clean water before this happens and proceeds to ask one of the pro-American inmates about James Whistler.  The inmate tells him that Whistler is in prison hiding for supposedly killing the mayor of Panama City and Lechero put a price on his head.

Michael later realises that Bellick had come into contact with Whistler and offers him some water in exchange for information.  Scofield later finds Whistler in the sewers and scared to come out of his hiding for fear of certain death.   Michael then has a visit with Lincoln where he gives him a note her found in his pocket so he can get information from the outside.

Lincoln begins his regular meetings with Company operative Susan, who tells him she understands the situation and it will be over once he gets Whistler out.  Lincoln then threatens her with the understanding the something will happen to her family if she does any harm to Sara and LJ.  Meanwhile, Sucre is shown buying a gun and goes to pay Bellick a visit for what he did to Maricruz.  He threatens Bellick with a loaded gun until Bellick tells him he never kidnapped Maricruz and all he did was just scare her with charges of aiding a fugitive.  Bellick then admitted to tricking Sucre into helping him and begs him to tell his mother that he is stuck in Sona.

Sucre then leaves the prison with plans to get back with Maricruz when he bumps into Lincoln at the bus stop.  Lincoln asks Sucre if he could help him get Michael out of Sona, but Sucre tells him he needs to get back to Maricruz.  As Sucre’s bus, Lincoln notices that the note Scofield gave him had a reference to a Bank of Versailles and they show Sofia also getting a ride to the bank as well.  Sofia later arrives at the bank to withdraw an item from a safety deposit box with Lincoln observing from a distance.  As Sofia walks out of the bank, Lincoln confronts her about the item and takes it out of her purse, which is revealed to be a book on birdwatching.  However, a company agent observes the entire exchange with Lincoln walking away from Sofia pointing out he is just another victim of the Company.

Mahone also gets interested in what Michael asked the pro-American inmate by pretending to be Scofield’s friend, who tells him Michael went to the sewers looking for Whistler earlier.  At the same time, Bellick bumps into T-Bag and offers information about Whistler to Lechero as well in return for clean clothes and food.  Mahone then makes his way to the sewers with the intention of killing Whistler with the false belief it will give him a trip to an American court.  He manages to smash through Whistler’s hideout but is intercepted by Lechero’s goons and later by Michael, who goes after realising Bellick got clothes and food.   In the confusion, Whistler manages to run away with Mahone after him.

Meanwhile, a prison riot, incited by a disgruntled inmate, is about to erupt.  Lechero feels that killing inmates will not do any good because they will regroup and the prison police refuses to give him emergency supplies.  Michael barges in to his office with an offer, but he is rebuffed after T-Bag tells Lechero that he is untrustworthy.  Later, Michael bribes the pro-American inmate with a $100 bill to help him get supplies to create a small-scale explosive that would detonate a clogged water pipe.  Mahone eventually catches up to Whistler and brings him to the courtyard.  Suddenly, Michael’s makeshift bomb goes off, and water flows freely from the public faucets.  Lechero agrees to let Whistler live out of respect for Michael’s actions and refuses Mahone’s demands for freedom.

Sucre on the other hand realises he cannot return to Chicago without ruining Maricruz after having an encounter with the local police.  He calls her to tell her he is sorry for everything and that he will be always thinking of her and the baby.  It is implied from next week’s previews that Sucre will help Lincoln out.  Lincoln returns to his hotel after confronting Sofia and finds Susan in his room.  She threatens Lincoln for straying for his tasks by investigating Whistler’s girlfriend and demands to get what he took from Sofia.  Lincoln hands over the book about birds, but it turns out to be a duplicate he bought earlier.

The episode ends with Lechero drowning the rebellious inmate who incited the riot in a bucket of water and with Whistler thanking Michael for helping him and asking him if he has any ideas on breaking out.   Next week’s episode is the episode when they kill off Sara Tancredi, because the actress portraying her has found better work.

Fukuda wins LDP vote, assured of becoming next prime minister

Fukuda wins LDP vote, assured of becoming next prime ministerModerate veteran Yasuo Fukuda easily won election as president of Japan’s struggling Liberal Democratic Party Sunday, assuring his selection as the new prime minister in a Diet vote later this week.

Fukuda won 330 votes to former Foreign Minister Taro Aso’s 197 votes, the party announced, giving Fukuda 63 percent of the ballots.

Fukuda, 71, the son of a prime minister from the 1970s, has vowed to keep his country in the fight against terrorism, improve relations with Asia and address inequalities in the world’s second-largest economy.

Fukuda vowed after the vote to rebuild the popularity of the LDP, which has plunged under a year of scandals and policy missteps by outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has been hospitalized since announcing on Sept. 12 that he would resign.

“You have chosen me even though I do not have much experience. I am prepared to do my utmost to live up to my responsibilities,” a determined-looking, unsmiling Fukuda said. “I will work to revitalize the LDP, to win back public trust, and push forward with my policies.”

The parliament was scheduled to vote on Tuesday, but Fukuda was guaranteed to win because of the LDP’s vast majority in the lower house, the more powerful of the two chambers.

Earlier in the day, Fukuda outlined his key policies: further engage North Korea diplomatically, push for extension of Japan’s naval mission in support of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, and give aid to rural regions left behind by the economic recovery.

Fukuda, who served as chief Cabinet secretary from 2000 to 2004, had the support of the major factions of the LDP. His dominance over Aso, a hawk who served as Abe’s foreign minister until August, was so clear by Sunday that morning papers had already given him the title of LDP president, and he was asked on NHK if he would choose Aso as his foreign minister.

Fukuda would inherit a political environment and LDP left in serious disarray.

Abe, 53, came into office a year ago with high support ratings and an unquestioned ruling coalition dominance in parliament.

But he quickly frittered away those advantages as his Cabinet overflowed with money scandals and he pressed ahead with a nationalist agenda while people demanded more attention to bread-and-butter issues such as pensions.

The LDP suffered a serious blow in elections in July for the upper house of parliament in which the resurgent opposition seized control of the chamber, heightening calls for snap elections for the lower house as well.

Abe apologized to the party for his sudden resignation in a message read after Fukuda’s selection, but said he would not resign as a lawmaker.

“I apologize to LDP President Aso and all LDP lawmakers, party members and most of all the Japanese public for causing this political vacuum,” Abe wrote. “I hope the new LDP leader will powerfully push ahead with his policies.”

Fukuda has arrived as an antidote to Abe. A sober, brainy party elder, Fukuda — son of a prime minister from the 1970s — has vowed to concentrate on down-to-earth issues such as economic equality and growth, while seeking warmer ties with the rest of Asia.

His first order of business will be pushing the Afghan measure through parliament, where the opposition has vowed to defeat it. Japanese tankers have been refueling coalition ships in the Indian Ocean since 2001, and the U.S. — Japan’s top ally and protecter — has been pushing for an extension of the operation.

Fukuda has argued that it was Japan’s responsibility to continue the mission to stabilize a world order that has allowed Japan to become prosperous and secure.

“We need to show our intention to continue the mission as a message to the international society,” Fukuda said earlier Sunday. “If this drags on too long we might send a wrong message to the world as if we were not committed to making that contribution.”

It was unclear, however, how long Fukuda would be able to stave off calls for lower house elections. He has termed such calls “understandable.”

Media reports said the LDP wanted to pass the Afghan measure and the national budget early next year before dissolving the lower house.

“When the public and lawmakers strongly voice a need to dissolve the parliament, I think it wouldn’t be good to resist that call,” Fukuda said on NHK. (AP)

Fukuda Yasuo is now the new Prime Minister of Japan, replacing Abe Shinzo who sent his entire power structure into a shitstorm with his right-wing nationalism and American interests at the expense of economic woes. It’s interesting to see how Fukuda gave a modest response to his selection as the LDP leader in constrast to the bold rhetoric pitched by Abe about turning Japan into a “beautiful nation”.

Some overseas Japanese I have spoken to wanted to see Aso take power, but I keep pointing out that it’s not going to happen since Aso represents a continuation of all that is wrong under Abe’s rule. They also complained that Fukuda is from a political family, but so was Aso, however Fukuda was given approval by Koizumi. If Fukuda was good enough for Koizumi and won’t ruin regional ties by making super fun trips to Yasukuni, then he is good enough for his entire party and his taxpayers.

Again, it’s too soon to say what will happen since there was so much optimism with Abe Shinzo last year, which he magically fucked up with one misstep after another. The best Fukuda can do is hammer out a compromise with Ozawa Ichiro over allowing Japan to refuel allies in Afghanistan since they can do under existing UN mandates but cancel all support to America’s War of Terror in Iraq since that is just an American need. If he fails miserably at this, then it looks like the LDP is going to lose more seats in the Lower House of the Diet to the normally-ineffectual DPJ.

Fukuda also needs to realise that everything in Japan is largely concerned with the economy. Again, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Fukuda will fail miserably and suffer from severe stress like Abe, if he fails to address this and resorts to other initiatives.

The Eternal Struggle

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Shanghai Kiss Review (Spoiler Alert)

Shanghai Kiss is overrated

Ken Leung plays a completely Whitewashed Asian-American who drops out of Columbia to pursue acting in LA while having a best friend who is bad with women.

Meanwhile the main character, Liam (played by Leung), is having trouble with his alcoholic father played by James Hong over a car accident that killed his mother.

Liam is later asked by his drunk father to go sell a house he inherited from his grandmother in Shanghai. So off he goes to Shanghai. Once there he meets up with his distant Chinese cousin who gets him a nice hotel and a hooker who Ken thinks is a nice girl.

They then go to sell the house but Ken refuses at the last minute because he was ignorant of the exchange rate. Note that Ken is completely Whitewashed in this flick and knows not one ounce of Chinese.

He then travels around the expat, and tourist districts in Shanghai, most notably Pudong district. At a high end bar he meets Micki (Kelly Hu) after ordering a chocolate martini with just a chocolate bar on a martini. They hit it off.

Oh wait, I forgot to mention the part played by Hayden Panettiere from “Heroes”. Basically Liam meets her character, Adelaide, in a bus after she draws him and they become good friends to the point where Liam gives her rides to School but doesn’t take her crush of him seriously. While Liam was about to have Hot Coffee with Miki, he gets a call from Adelaidewho wrote him a poem. He then recollects himself and does the deed with Micki.

Soon he makes a snap decision to stay in Shanghai and goes back to LA to collect some things. Adelaide is upset by this and Liam winds up hanging out with Miki. He stays there for about 2 months and still does not know a damn word of Mandarin other than how to say umbrella in Chinese when messing with a European tourist.

Ken continues seeing Miki until one day he is dragged into a limo by thugs under orders from Jai Li, played by Byron Mann, who claims to be Micki’s fiance. He threatens Liam and tells him he is just an American because he is Whitewashed and points out that White people stole the Native Americans’ land so he must be different.

After making these threats Jai Li, orders the car to stop in hybrid Cantonese-Mandarin and Liam finds himself trying to walk back to Pudong from the local slums.

He later buys a cellphone from a Chinese elderly woman who keeps telling him he is willing to borrow it after she is done talking in Mandarin, which Liam doesn’t understand. He later has lunch with Micki and learns that Jai Li is the one who helped her and her family get out of poverty. Micki blames Liam for not understanding problems in China when he gets upset over the situation.

Liam is heartbroken and tries to sell the house, then refuses at the last minute. Instead he transfers the deed to Micki and her family and then leaves Shanghai after learning he hasn’t found what he was looking for in China

He returns to LA and tries to find Adelaide, who is still pissed at him. He tells her to go explore the world and see life for what it is. Then he goes to New York to apologise and reconcile with his alcoholic father, who we assume goes sober from the meeting. Liam goes back to LA and is able to nail an audition by showing emotions he developed when he matured in his Shanghai adventure.

A year later, Adelaide is now barely legal and 18, so Ken goes to meet her at the airport when she returns from Paris. He sees her with some guy and he gets upset but he later runs into Hayden who tells him that guy is very gay so true love blossoms.

My take: I also found it weak that Ken just leaves China and leave Kelly Hu for an evil Jai Li, who is implied to be an idiot son of a corrupt Chinese Communist Party boss. At the same time, they only showed the good parts of Shanghai and I was surprised the Chinese government actually allowed them to make this movie.

I still find it sad that Ken could not speak any Chinese after spending 2 months in Shanghai although this was supposed to reflect Liam’s self-hate of his Asian heritage until he matures near the end. Overall, it was a nice movie exploring Asian-American Male alienation in the US and in the native country, but having the main character get with jailbait was too much for me.

Update: it seems there are idiots who have problems reading.  This review refers to Ken’s character Liam not Mr. Leung himself.  The movie was not as great as it should but it is a start if people read what I said instead of making emotional tirades about “AZN Prydez”.  Regardless of how I feel about this flick, buy the DVD so people who make such films will have more money to make better films…

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Prison Break Season 3, Episode 1

Season 3 in Sona, Panama is Season 1 all over again except this time it is Bellick, Mahone, T-Bag, and Michael who are in prison. The show’s opening montage reflects this change with shots of the Panamanian guard tower, religious motifs, and new characters.

The season premiere opens with Susan B. Anthony, a Company operative, putting on makeup and then shows Michael, Mahone, and Bellick in Sona witnessing a deathmatch between two inmates. Next we see Lincoln going to the US Consulate in Panama City to get help that would get his brother out of Sona while at the same time looking for Sara. We learn that there is evidence proving that Michael killed Agent Kim in self-defence from the gun found by the local police but all the money is missing, which makes the subplot about the millions anticlimactic.

Michael continues to adapt to life in Sona in the meantime while noticing how Bellick is reduced to a prison bitch. There are scenes where Bellick is shown walking around bloodied and bruised and wearing only his underwear begging for food with another American inmate. We later learn that he and the other inmate are reduced to doing menial tasks by the prisoners such as cleaning out latrines and warming the prison. The other American prison bitch is later killed by the prison guards when he tries to run towards the prison fences.

While adjusting to life in Sona, Mahone starts feeling withdrawal effects after realising he no longer has any pills to suppress his guilt over past actions. Mahone later confronts Michael about the irony of their situation and tells Michael that he was clever in planting drugs all over the boat. He also wants Scofield to help them break out of prison and claims he will confess all his crimes to the American court if they get out alive, but Michael reminds him they are enemies because he killed his father.

Michael later gets a visit from Lincoln who tells him he will eventually be transferred to a better prison and face his charges in America instead of staying in Sona. Later Michael gets a visit from a Company operative acting a lawyer who offers Scofield tools to break out, but he is refused.

Lincoln continues contacting the local police and authorities to find out what happened to Sara. He later gets a call from the police saying they found a corpse that matches Sara’s description, but it turns out to be another woman. In Sona, Michael, and Mahone along with other new inmates are sent to meet Lechero, the head of the prison. Lechero explains that Sona is currently chaotic prison that they see because the prison guards pulled out of the entire prison after one vicious riot and only watch the prison from the perimeter, which leaves all prisoners to their own devices. As a result of this chaos, Lechero was able to gain power and maintains order by having disputes settled in deathmatches around the prison courtyard.

After meeting with Michael, Lechero becomes worried that someone as brave and appealing as Scofield would be a threat to his current rule. Therefore, he stages a dispute with him with one of his henchmen by planting drugs in Michael’s cell and then having that henchman provoke a deathmatch to get Scofield killed. Around this time, T-Bag is sent to Sona and tries to talk to Michael telling him that he also was an unwitting pawn for the Company. T-Bag eventually tries to curry favour with Lechero to survive in Sona.

Michael is eventually pressured to fight and Mahone gives him advice to win, which involves fighting dirty. He later points out that Michael is the only way for him to get out of prison. As this is happening, Bellick gets into contact with a James Whistler, who gives him food in return for placing pieces of paper in Michael and the henchman’s pockets before their fight. The rules for the deathmatch are outlined by Lechero: no weapons, just bare hands and only one person comes out alive.

Michael begins the fight by knocking down the henchman but is kept in the ring when he tries to walk away. After knocking down the henchman again he still tries to walk away while a few inmates give the henchman a knife to kill Michael. However, Mahone stops him in time and breaks his neck, pointing out the fight is over because the “no weapons” rule was broken.

In Panama City, Lincoln gets a call from LJ, who mysteriously tells him to meet him in the Garfield building. Arriving at the Garfield building, he meets Susan B. Anthony, the operative seen in the beginning getting dressed. They chat and then she tells him to take a call from his son LJ.

We later learn that Sona is resupplied by the government with periodic exchanges of food and petrol in return for prisoners bringing out corpses of dead inmates. Throughout this episode, a girl, Sofia, had been constantly begging for the prison to bring out the dead inmates so she can claim them as a family member. The bodies are brought out by the guards land she examines each of their pockets finding a coded message from Whistler in the dead henchman’s pockets, which was also placed in Michael’s pockets before the fight.

The episode ends with Lincoln making another visit to Scofield telling Michael that he must break a James Whistler out of Sona in one week because the Company is holding both LJ and Sara hostage with a video clip proving the Company has them.

Next week’s previews showing Sucre asking Bellick about Maricruz, fights in the prison, Michael meeting Whistler, and Lincoln begging the Company for more time.