In winter, I'm a Buddhist,
And in summer, I'm a nudist.
- Joe Gould
"My Religion"
In fact the whole of Japan is a pure invention. There is no such country, there are no such people.
- Oscar Wilde, aware in 1889 that popular conceptions about the country and its people are mostly fiction.
Not even 10% of what Japanese people are thinking is communicated overseas.
- Watanabe Tsuneo of CSIS
All foreign correspondents, whenever they desert statistics for judgments of opinion...become models of self-deception. They may call themselves, with proper gravity, ‘reporters’. But...they are nothing but quack psychiatrists who do not even know that this is the field they practise.
- Alistair Cooke
Where all news comes at second-hand, where all the testimony is uncertain, men cease to respond to truths, and respond simply to opinions. The environment in which they act is not the realities themselves, but the pseudo-environment of reports, rumors, and guesses.
- Walter Lippmann
We want...a revolution - a turning of the wheel, so that the state becomes once again the servant of the people, and not the other way around. We are the progressives now, comrades, (and) you the reactionaries.
- Daniel Hannan
If the textbook says, "It is well known that...", you can be sure that is a very good place to begin a research inquiry.
- Isaiah Bowman, geographer and former president of Johns Hopkins University
The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.
- Cicero (55 BC)
We do not need a censorship of the press. We have a censorship by the press. It is not we who silence the press. It is the press that silences us. It is not a case of the Commonwealth settling how much the editors shall say; it is a case of the editors settling how much the Commonwealth shall know. If we attack the press, we shall be rebelling, not repressing.
- G.K. Chesterton
You can see a lot by looking.
- Yogi Berra
All text copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 by William Sakovich
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Aceface said
At least the Korean Navy is doing better job with the map than Institute for International Policy Studies!
ampontan said
Good one!
bender said
Nationalism is prevalent in E Asia other than in Japan- that’s the real story, no matter how much the Koreans shout and the Chinese rattle and the western medias write about “nationalist” Japan…just see how it went with PM Abe…nobody cared about his “nationalist” ideals (I put into paranthesis because even Abe’s so-called nationalist agenda is much softer than Korea’s- what lame country would name a NEW warship from a disputed territory between a country that’s supposed to be your ALLY?- and notice that Japan did not do anything about it- no mass demonstrations, no harakiri, no finger-chopping, no stupid speech by the PM stating “Takeshima is our land”- who the heck is the real ultra-nationalist nation here? )
pawikirogi said
‘(I suspect today’s Japanese would have more sense–and pay more attention to detail–than to sign off on that one, however.)’ ampotan
‘there’s no proof they were forced by the military.’ abe on the comfort women
‘they were paid higher than the generals.’ ad in wash times from japanese politicians on the comfort women
‘the rape of nanjing is a lie; we only killed and raped this many.’ collective japanese nation
‘i doubt the japanese have any more sense than the koreans or chinese.’ pawikirogi
Peter Pan said
I posted this at Marmot’s as well. Please allow me to double post.
I think it’s also worth wondering what would happen if it was Japan complaining about the logo and not China. China is complaining about this logo (and they should be) and people in Korea are taking notice.
The ROK also has another logo with a missile (possibly two, but the seconds course isn’t clear) flying at where Japan should be, and when people in Japan complained about it the Korean netizens started talking about 35 years of ….. you know the story. I wonder if the netizens are fighting back China’s complaints with talks of 3,000 years of colonization of Korea? Not likely.
Of course when a Korean dance team did a stint about Chinese claims to Mt. Baekdu, they apologized instantly after Chinese complaints. Yet the actual members of the Korean government for nice strolls on top of Japanese flags to celebrate the year of friendship.
I think it’s interesting that all this attention is given to when China complains about Korea’s dog shitting in her yard, but when Korea and her dog go shit in Japan’s yard and Japan complains, Korea drags the cat outside to shit in Japan’s yard too.
bender said
Peter Pan, the answer to your interest is here:
“We are superior than the Japanese because we kinda feel that way. Proof? What proof do we need, we’re KOREANS! As the uber-race of East Asia, we are allowed to throw as much crap on inferior races like the Japanese as we feel fit” : the collective Korean mind
Basically, they throw crap at Japan and the US because they know Japan and US won’t retaliate. As for China, they’re not so sure. I rather of think this attitude as cowardly and childish.
bender said
oops…forgot to erase “of” when I swithced to “rather” from “kind of”…
Aceface said
OK.let’s not start attacking ad hominem here everybody.
The logo was simply a mistake.And if Japanese would make any argument over that ship,it would be the NAME of it and why did they build such ship in the first place,they certainly wouldn’t need that against North Korea.
‘i doubt the japanese have any more sense than the koreans or chinese.’ pawikirogi
Think about the reaction of our new amphibious landing ship would be named as Takeshima!
(Actually it’s named as Hyuga,either after WW2 era aircraft career or to please governor Higashikokubaru,for Hyuga is an archaic name for Miyazaki.)
What would be the name of the second ship of the Dokdo class would be?I bet it won’t be Gando.My guess is Donghae(East Sea).
bender said
It really should be “McArthur”. I wonder why they forgot this great name. Poor lads don’t know much about history.
ampontan said
http://www.empereur.com/G._Douglas_MacArthur.html
Aceface said
I dunno.MacArthur might be a little bit of aggressive name for “amphibious landing ship”.Although I admire his military genius especially when I fly over Inchon during the low tide.
Omar Bradley may be a better choice,for he is less controvercial and (in a sense)wiser man.
“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than about peace, more about killing than we know about living.”His words may fits more to the region.
ddd said
>> who the heck is the real ultra-nationalist nation here?>>
I’m not defending the logo. But if you’re going to bring Japan into this, try to place things in the context of history.
If Japan made a logo or named some ship the Takeshima, it would be offensive because it s not Japan that got colonized in the past. Whereas Korea’s Dokdo ship is an objection to aggressor nations with imperialistic ambitions. That’s not so bad. Tactless, yes. But historically not as significant as it would be in the converse.
tomojiro said
“I’m not defending the logo. But if you’re going to bring Japan into this, try to place things in the context of history.”
I don’t think that it has to do with context of history nor whether the logo is offensive or not.
It has simply to do with immaturity. Immaturity to play with symbols of nationalism, and immaturity to get that easly offended with some logo.
Korea is an advanced nation now. Nobody doubts that. I really don’t think that naming a ship “Dokdo” is good promotion for the image of Korea. Rather the opposite.
Durf said
@12: What does Takeshima/Dokdo have to do with “imperialistic ambitions”?
bender said
If Japan made a logo or named some ship the Takeshima, it would be offensive because it s not Japan that got colonized in the past. Whereas Korea’s Dokdo ship is an objection to aggressor nations with imperialistic ambitions. That’s not so bad. Tactless, yes. But historically not as significant as it would be in the converse.
I’m amazed how one can be so unaplogetic. So Koreans can trash Japan as much as they like, you say. What a go_ -damn privelege you have there. Just give me a break.
Chonko said
Typical dimwitted, stupid, cowardly behavior that is so indicative of Korean culture..like a 2 year old child. Most children in civilized countries act that way until they mature out of it at around the age of 10. Funny how Koreans continue to think and act like such idiots even into middle age. Must be something in the Dangun or dog meat.