All you have to do is look (34)

The morning hula dances held on the second and fourth Sundays of the month on the beach at Ibusuki, Kagoshima, since April. Anyone can join.

Ichigen koji (157)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

I can’t enter the country I love. That’s because the dictatorship in Beijing is opposed to free thought…

… (When I landed on the Senkakus), I landed a punch against Japan’s military imperialism. As I withdrew my fist, I elbowed the Chinese Communist Party…

…Once the people’s anger appears on the surface, it will be a more difficult job than it is now for the dictatorship to maintain the status quo in which the people stay quietly at home or silently endure their hardships.

– Taiwanese activist Zeng Jiancheng, who went ashore on the Senkaku islets with 13 other Chinese adventurers from a Hong Kong-based ship earlier this month. He was carrying Taiwan’s flag.

Quoted in JBPress on 30 August

Lethal ladybugs

The flightless aphid killer

FARMERS love ladybugs because they’re the natural predators of aphids, scales, mites, moth larvae, and other natural predators of their crops. That’s why they love to have ladybugs make a habit of hanging out at the farm. But the problem is one of unrequited love — the farmers can’t make them stay once they get there. They have wings and fly away, even when they’re released in a greenhouse. Ladybugs just got to be free.

Seko Tomokazu and his team at the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization in Fukuyama, Hiroshima, got to work on a way to neuter that flightiness. The team used measuring instruments to find and isolate the ladybugs that had trouble flying. They got them to mix and mingle, and finally succeeded in producing a landlubber strain that doesn’t fly at all. It just walks. Put one on a stick, and it strolls to the end and back down again without taking off. In other words, the scientists turned an inherited drawback for coccinellidae into an advantage.

Ladybugs can produce up to seven generations in a year, and it took from 20-35 generations to breed a master race of flightless aphid eaters. After all that effort, their next step was obvious. They registered it with the Agriculture Ministry as a biological control agent. Time to make some money off those bugs!

Here’s a Youtube that’s a slice of life its own self. Watch as a ladybug wolfs down an aphid. Who knew they were so ruthless?

Straight from the horse’s mouth

From the 7 August 2002 Donga Ilbo

The Society that Promotes Lies

Hong Chan-shik, Editorial Committee (Excerpt)

* Accounts that the Koreans are skillful liars have sometimes appeared in books written by foreign missionaries and preachers who visited in the latter part of the Joseon dynasty.

In the 1920s novelist Lee Gwang-su cited several shortcomings of the Koreans when he offered a proposal for remodeling the race. Lying was one of them.

Lying is still so chronic that one sometimes today hears the phrase “The Republic of Lies”. While I can’t deny it, I can’t agree with the view that this is due to the national character of the Korean people.

* There’s been a sharp increase in perjury in South Korean courtrooms

Courts are sometimes referred to a Theater of Lies. It is not impossible to understand why an accused party, driven into a difficult situation during a proceeding where others are arguing that he committed a crime, would easily resort to a lie, the Devil’s temptation.

Along with hearings, which have further degenerated into a Theater of Lies, this is a self-portrait of shame.

The problem is how to create a society in which the power of truth erupts and overflows, without the Korean people falling into self-condemnation.

What upright and proper states share throughout the world is a value system based on thrift and honest poverty. They are not bound by ties of blood to family and relatives.

As long as money and authority are the supreme constituent elements of society, an upright life, even in poverty, will be nothing but the butt of jokes. There will be no reduction of lies at all.

From the 13 February 2003 Chosun Ilbo

Perjury-Inundated Courtrooms

Bak Se-yong (Excerpt)

Perjury, in which innocent people are set up as criminals and the crime of the person who should receive the punishment is concealed, is running rampant in courtrooms. It is when a witness lies at a hearing to determine the truth, such a civil or criminal trial or an administrative lawsuit.

Prosecutors indicted 1,343 people for perjury in 2002. This is an increase of nearly 60% from the 845 indicted in 1998. That is one thing in criminal trials, where prosecutors are present, but civil trials have come to be known as a Theater of Lies.

The difference with Japan in particular, where there is almost no perjury, is clear from the statistics alone.

In 2000, 1,198 people were prosecuted for perjury in South Korea. Five people were prosecuted in Japan.

Allowing for the differences in population between the two countries, the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office says that perjury in this country is 671 times greater than in Japan.

The prosecutors say the primary reasons perjury is so prevalent are the social trend that doesn’t consider lies to be that serious, and the compassion in Korean culture. (情にもろい)

From The Collapse of South Korean Ethics, O Seon-hwa, 2008

Why has lying become so chronic in South Korean society?

I view this as having originated in the concept of the “Righteousness of Flesh and Blood” (身内正義) from the society based on strong blood ties during the days of the Joseon Dynasty. In that society, the unethical ethics arose that any unlawful act against someone from outside was permissible if it benefited one’s family (or group). Even today, this tradition runs riot, and has broken down into the concept of the “Righteousness of the Self”.

In my view, as long as society does not overcome this bad tradition, the trend will further strengthen toward a course further removed from righteousness, against a backdrop of the recent intensified market competition. This is how far South Korean society has decayed.

From the Yonhap news agency, 26 August 2012

Evidence of Dokdo (Takeshima) Domain Discovered at Site of Ancient Silla Fort?

A fort associated with Usan, subjugated by warlord (Kim) Isabu in the 6th century, was discovered in Gangneung, Gangwon, it was learned on the 26th. Ulleong and Dokdo (Takeshima) are viewed as the territory of Usan. This is the focus of interest as important historical evidence proving that Usan was a subject territory of Silla, and that Dokdo was part of the nation on the Korean Peninsula 1,500 years ago.

The discovered remains of the fort indicate that Isabu conducted an expedition to conquer Usan from a base in the Gangneung area. The remains of the fort are thought to date from the early 6th century. They were found at the site where it was planned to build a hotel.

The year 512, when the fort is thought to have been built, corresponds to the period Isabu, who subjugated Ulleoung and Dokdo, was the ruler of the Gangneung area.

(See this Korea Times article for additional information.)

From the 31 August 2011 edition of the weekly Shukan Post

The Dokdo Museum located on Ulleong is the only museum in South Korea devoted to territory. It has several surprising exhibits. One is a relief map at the entrance that claims Usan = Dokdo. The relative positions of Ulleong and Usan are shown based on the oldest surviving map of the Korean Peninsula, Paldo Jido (or Chongdo) (1530). To the left (west) is Ulleong, and to the right (east) is Usan, with a distance between them of 87.4 kilometers. But the actual map itself shows Usan to the left and Ulleong to the right. It is intentionally falsified material to show that Usan = Dokdo.

The display in the museum interior:

In fact, an accurate version of the map is carved in stone outside the museum. In other words, contradictory maps are openly displayed at the exterior and interior of the museum. The stone carving, incidentally, also claims that Tsushima is Korean territory.

According to the 5 May 2007 edition of the Sankei Shimbun, their reporter asked the museum about the relief map (at the front) and they said it would be “removed soon”. It’s still there after four years.

(According to a report in Japan’s Zakzak this week, it’s still there now.)

The Paldo Jido. Usan is the island to the left, and Ulleong is the island to the right in the Sea of Japan, as highlighted.

An accurate contemporary map, with Takeshima/Dokdo identified as the Liancourt Rocks. Ulleong is the unmarked island to the west:

From the Joongang Ilbo 29 August 2012

This map of Japan is included in the Shinsen Chishi geography textbook printed with the authorization of Japan’s Education Ministry in 1887. Both Ulleong and Dokdo (Takeshima) are within the horizontal line that demarcates Korean territory. The island within the circle in the magnified area is Dokdo. Japanese territory is shown by horizontal lines. (Photograph: Dokdo Museum)

Here is the map shown in the newspaper:

Readers are invited to offer possible explanations for how the horizontal line delineates Korean and Japanese territory.

All you have to do is look (33)

Twenty-seven second-year students from Yonesaki Junior High School in Rikuzentakata, Iwate, try their hands at recovering oysters raised at a local fishing port.

Photo from the Tokai Shimpo

Ichigen koji (156)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

The adoption of the resolution in the upper house censuring Prime Minister Noda, driven primarily by the Liberal Democratic Party, is absolutely ridiculous. It has no meaning whatsoever. Why are they causing such a big fuss? (Party President) Tanigaki says that the government has reached the limits of its abilities to respond to the challenges Japan faces, but it is really is just a call to quickly dissolve the lower house. The Noda-Tanigaki summit meeting should already have produced a promise to dissolve the lower house.

– Tahara Soichiro, journalist

Your heads are too high

SEPTEMBER is almost here, and that means it’s time to get ready for the 7th Udatsu Komon Matsuri held every year in Mima, Tokushima. The event, which starts on the 15th, is something of a Japanese-style Renaissance fair for the Edo period. People walk in parades dressed in the clothing of the age. There will be a police marching band, short drama sketches, musical performances, and dancing, including the nationally famous Awa Odori. Actors from the Toei Kyoto Studio Park, the site of a recreated Edo-period town used as a set in television programs and movies, will offer sword fighting lessons and joke around with the visitors. It will also feature the appearance of a group dressed as the six regular cast members of Mito Komon, the popular television series set in the era.

In fact, that’s the reason the festival was created — to commemorate the use of Mima as the location for filming the series. The festival will continue to be held, even though the series was cancelled last year.

Mito Komon is another name used to refer to Tokugawa Mitsukuni (1628-1701), the second head of the old Mito domain. That was in modern-day Ibaragi, a few hundred miles to the northeast of Mima. Mitsukuni was the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first of the Edo period shoguns. He was the first daimyo to prohibit junshi, the practice in which retainers of feudal lords followed their masters in death when they committed ritual suicide after a defeat in battle. He is known for his interest in historical research and cultural preservation. He is also said to be the first person in Japan to have eaten cheese. Korakuen Stadium, the baseball park for the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants from 1937 to 1988, was built on land that was once his Tokyo estate. His birthplace is now a Shinto shrine. That’s it in the photo below.

Photo by Meinaka Miyuki

Legends arose about Mitsukuni’s sayings and conduct even when he was alive, but they took on an existence of their own in the mid-19th century. Fictional stories were created of his incognito travels throughout the country taking up the cause of the common people suffering at the hands of oppressive rulers, and a few were made into kabuki dramas. Some people think these stories originated from Mitsukuni’s real tours of the Mito area in connection with his position and his interest in historical and cultural matters.

A written collection of these stories was published in the 19th century, and the first Mito Komon movie was filmed in 1910. There were 14 movies by 1920, and many more afterward. There have also been 15 separate Mito Komon television series. The most famous of these, which everyone alive at the time in Japan has seen, ran from 1969 to 1983 and had 381 episodes. When TBS finally cancelled production last year, the mayor of Mito and other area mayors visited the studio to ask that it be continued because of its beneficial impact on tourism. TBS declined, but assured them there would be repeats.

The star of the 69-83 series was Tono Eijiro (1907-1904), a well-known actor in movies and television. He had roles in the Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, and played the part of Admiral Nagumo Chuichi, the director of the air attacks on Pearl Harbor, in the film Tora! Tora! Tora! He became so famous in the Mito Komon role that a few older people, seeing him on the street in ordinary clothes in real life, dropped to their knees in a deep bow. (Tono told an interviewer that he never knew quite how to handle this.)

The program was broadcast in the San Francisco Bay Area on UHF just before the advent of cable. As a beginning student of the Japanese language, I watched the three or four Japanese-language shows offered by the station to improve my linguistic skills and glean what I could of popular culture.

I would have watched anything that was on, but it quickly became apparent that Mito Komon was a lot of fun, even though I understood only about 10% of the dialogue at the time. The actors in this particular series were perfect for the parts, particularly Tono. It had unique incidental music that was immediately recognizable. It was based on the winning theme of a group of crusaders — one a Tokugawa, another a ninja —- traveling incognito around the country righting the wrongs the farmers and craftsmen suffered at the hands of the powerful.

Best of all was the climactic scene that appeared at the same point in every episode, in which the good guys fought it out with the bad guys, who were often armed with guns. At length Kaku-san, one of Mito Komon’s retainers, would whip out a medicine case bearing the Mitsukuni family crest. Kaku-san demanded to know (translated from the period speech to today’s vernacular), “Just who do you think this is?” The other retainer followed up with, “Zu ga takai! Hikaero!” Literally, that’s something like “Your heads are (too) high! Desist!”

You can see how everybody responded to that command in this video. Some clever guy created a one-minute Mito Komon summary for Youtube that hits all the high points. It starts with the theme song (that everyone in the country could probably sing by heart), shows the classic scene with the medicine case, and then jumps to the closing Mito Komon laugh, which signified all’s well that ends well. (Tono said it took him three years to perfect.) It ends, as did the program, with the group walking off down the road to continue their travels to the following week’s adventure. The narrator himself was famous for his voice-overs on Japanese television at the time.

What better way to get in the mood if you plan on visiting the Udatsu Komon Matsuri next month?

All you have to do is look (32)

The all-night Gujo odori, the local form of bon odori in Gujo, Gifu, held earlier this month in the rain. Dating from the 18th century, the event starts every year at 8:00 p.m. and continues until about 4:00 a.m. People form rings and dance whenever and wherever they feel like it.

Photo and video from the Asahi Shimbun.

Ichigen koji (155)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

A de facto state of war still exists between North and South Korea, though the truce continues. The governments of both North and South say that unification is their heartfelt wish, and that continues to be their official line for the people….While the Koreans as an ethnic group seem to want to come together, the government and business leaders of South Korea, and the dictators of North Korea, do not appear to be sincerely interested in reunification….

…(Separation) has become the normal state of affairs, and the governing bodies of both countries have solidified that separation. In short, the concept of the state in both countries has been created on the premise of separation.

But the unifying force among the Korean people remains strong. To prevent that, and to continue the separation, requires a state of tension both at home and abroad. In South Korea’s case, that tension takes the form of anti-Japanese policies at home, and anti-Japanese demonstrations abroad….

…In all states, not just the divided ones, the concept of the state is formed through a thorough education of the people. The concept of the state in South Korea has become inextricably linked with anti-Japanese sentiment, and that has been taught through the educational system. As long as the divided state continues, South Korea will not lower their anti-Japanese banners. As long as North and South Korea remain divided, South Korea is unlikely to change its anti-Japanese policies.

– Ishida Masahiko, writing under the name of Red Dragonfly on the blog Agora

Unique

A few decades ago, books and articles frequently appeared under the rubric of Nihonjinron, and their content and concepts became a topic of public discussion. That’s a difficult term to translate comfortably, but “Theories on the National Character of the Japanese” will work. The general idea was to examine and explain what made the Japanese unique.

Books and articles of that type don’t appear as often these days. Author and essayist Tachibana Akira thinks one reason is the changed economic circumstances of Asia. For years, the Japanese were the only Asians to have succeeded on Western terms, while having a culture and customs clearly different from those in the West. The rise of South Korea, China, India, and other Asian countries has now altered that perception.

Mr. Tachibana has a different perspective on this subject, and he has written about it at length. The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the 14 May 2012 edition of the weekly Shukan Pureiboi. Here it is in English. Some people who read it might find that their preconceived notions did not survive intact.

*****
…Nihonjinron was harshly criticized, with people asking, “Are the Japanese really that unique”. That’s because the traits used to explain Japanese exceptionalism, such as the vertical society, amae, and the dominance of public mood, are quite ordinary and observable in any society.

One researcher complied a summary with the essence of the characteristics described in the Nihonjinron, concealed the name of the country, and presented it to students in Australia. The Australian students thought it described Australian society. This incident reveals the illusion of the theory of Japanese uniqueness.

But the idea that the world’s people are all the same is a disorderly argument. Even though people share the same genes (operating system), their thinking and behavior is clearly affected by culture and society.

That was the basis for the start of a trial to objectively evaluate differences in values among people throughout the world by asking them identical questions about their views on politics, religion, work, education, and the family. People from more than 80 countries participated in this trial. The results showed that the Japanese had significant differences from the rest of the world in three areas:

1. To the question, “Would you willingly fight for your country if a war broke out,” Japan had the world’s lowest percentage of people who answered “yes”.

2. People were asked to choose an answer in response to the question, “How proud do you feel that you are (country name)?” The only group with a lower percentage of people than the Japanese who answered “extremely proud” or “very proud” was the people of Hong Kong.

3. To the question, “Should there be more respect for authority,” the percentage of Japanese who answered “no” was by far the highest in the world.

Japan has been described as a “village society”, but that was not apparent at all in this survey. There are several better examples in the world of nations that are a village society. The degree of openness of Japanese society is in the upper middle range, at the same level of some Southern European countries.

Several other international surveys show that the Japanese have a striking sense of worldliness and (personal) individuality. They don’t feel like fighting, even in wars, they aren’t proud of their country, they detest authority — what unusual people the Japanese are!

(end translation)

Afterwords:

Mr. Tachibana did not identify the surveys he cited. Those who can read Japanese might be interested in his book on the subject.

*****
For some more Japanese uniqueness, here’s Terauchi Takeshi and the Blue Jeans performing a shakuhachi tune.

All you have to do is look (31)

A team from Kitasuna, Tokyo, after winning the Little League World Series in Williamsport PA by beating a team from Tennessee 12-2.

Photo by AFP-Jiji

Ichigen koji (154)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

Just when dissatisfaction with South Korea had reached the maximum among both the left and the right in Japan, (President) Lee boorishly attacked the Emperor, the national symbol who transcends party factions. It is probably accurate to say that this has caused everyone to be fed up with South Korea.

– The Tweeter known as Aceface

The voice of Japan

THE Tokai Shimpo is a local newspaper serving three small cities on the Pacific Coast of Iwate. They do not offer national or international news on their simple website. It is so simple that their editorial section is labeled “Columns”, and the columns are not given individual links. Readers just scroll from one to the next.

On Friday 25 August they published a column on the current problems with South Korea. By Monday people were discussing it on large national news websites. For a short piece in an obscure publication to have attracted such attention so rapidly suggests that many people have recognized that somebody has said what they would like to say themselves. In that sense, it is the voice of Japan.

Here it is in English.

*****

The Japanese dislike debate, and negotiation is not our forte, so we tend to resolve problems that arise unexpectedly with soothing, vague words. But we have a history, both as a nation and as individuals, of others repeatedly perceiving that as weakness and taking advantage of us. The overbearing attitude of our neighbor, South Korea, is an extension of that.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was thought to have a friendly attitude toward Japan, if only because he had lived here. But recently, he has ostentatiously visited Takeshima and sought an apology from the Emperor. This abrupt change has surprised Japan.

While these acts are said to be a means to recover his fading popularity, it is clear, both from an international perspective and the perspective of common sense, that this behavior lacks thoughtfulness and foresight. Japan’s stance for both Takeshima and the comfort woman issue has been to ask them to present the basis for their claims. But failing to respond and demanding that we do as they say without discussion is not persuasive.

By any reckoning, returning Prime Minister Noda’s letter unread, and then antagonistically sending it by mail when Japan refused to accept its return, is not the response of an adult. This behavior in full view of everyone is likely to diminish their presence. Why do they not devote serious reflection to the negative consequences that will result from the locking of horns of close neighbors?

It is advisable to refrain from a high-handed attitude when one perceives the other party as weak. Though some might say Japan has become enervated, they will have to deal with the consequences that result from behaving so intemperately.

Some in the media are repeating the clichéd advice that we should behave calmly, but they might give some thought to that. The one we want to behave calmly is our neighbor.

All you have to do is look (30)

Some of the 600 wind chimes at the Nyorin-ji Buddhist temple in Ogori, Fukuoka. The chief priest, Haraguchi Genshu, started hanging them five years ago. Worshippers pay JPY 500 and attach a written wish to the chime. They’re moved inside the temple at the end of September.

Photo from the Asahi Shimbun.

Evil Lin Fan is on the loose

WHEN the Chinese government blocked Twitter, Facebook, and Fanfou, the first Chinese microblogging site, after the Xinjiang riots in July 2009, the entrepreneur Charles Chao saw an opportunity. He created Weibo, a microblogging site that combines aspects of Twitter and Facebook. As of February this year, it had 300 million registered users, 30% of China’s Internet users, and 100 million messages a day. One method Mr. Chao used to attract people to the site was to sign up celebrities and the famous as members. One of them was former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who is fluent in Mandarin. Another was London Mayor Boris Johnson, who is not, and seems to have beclowned himself as a result.

Still another was a user registered as Evil Lin Fan, identified as the vice-chairman of a company whose name translates to Jieying Electronics Technology in Guangdong. The government has begun requiring Weibo and other sites to confirm the identity of their users, and Evil Lin Fan made it through the verification process.

Now the government wishes she hadn’t.

Late last week, she Weiboed the following message:

“The Chinese government recognized Diaoyutai as Japanese territory from 1949 to 1971.”

She followed it up with:

“Japan calls them the Senkakus, and throughout the 50s and 60s, all Chinese maps surprisingly called them the Senkakus, recognizing them as Japanese territory.”

She supported this extremely inconvenient truth by uploading copies of the maps and newspaper articles, and followed that up with:

“Can the Chinese government say the Diaoyutai is our territory even after this?

Evil Lin Fan has more than 100,000 followers, which Weibo calls “fans”, and some of them responded. One said:

“Now we understand that the masses who know nothing danced to the CCP tune.”

Said another:

“This will be a problem for those who were used by the authorities for free to hold anti-Japanese demonstrations.

The authorities keep liquidating Evil Lin Fan’s posts, but they keep popping up again.

I wonder if Evil Lin Fan came to Japan, perhaps on business, and did some research on the Internet while she was here. The newspaper article she cited is from the 8 January 1953 edition of the People’s Daily. It’s easy to find.

The headline at the right says that the people of the Ryukyus (Okinawa) were upset at the American occupation of their territory. (The occupation was to continue for nearly 20 more years.)

The first paragraph of the article, sidelined in red, explains to the readers that the Ryukyus consist of seven island groups. The first one mentioned, just after the comma in the second line from the right, is the Senkakus. The People’s Daily uses the Japanese name.

She also said that a world map published by Chinese authorities that same year showed the Senkakus as Japanese territory — as did maps they published in 1958, 1960, and 1967. Two years after that, the potential for large undersea resources was discovered nearby, and the fact that the Senkakus were Japanese territory immediately became blackwhite.

Here’s the relevant part of the 1960 map.

Larger views of the map show that Taiwan is identified as part of the People’s Republic of China. The line that looks like three Is separated by dots is the border with Japan. The Senkakus are shown, with that name, to the left of the upper center intersection of the longitude and latitude lines.

Isn’t it curious? Evil Lin Fan in China discovered this material despite the best efforts of her government to prevent it. It took me fewer than five minutes in Japan to find both the People’s Daily article and the map.

But the English-language news media can’t seem to find them at all.

*****
It must be that evil stuff running through Lin Fan’s brain that’s causing her to misbehave.