President Obama’s bow is not bad

President Obama’s bow might have been too polite. However, it is not a large problem.
Most of we Japanese received a very good impression for President Obama’s courteous bow to His Majesty the Ten’noh Emperor.

VIDEO “Whaling:propaganda war”

VIDEO “Whaling:propaganda war”

Whaling:the message form animals

Vide “Whaling:the message form animals”

Fabrication film by Frank Capra

↓a fabrication film by Frank Capra.

Did the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bring World War Two to an end?

Did the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bring World War Two to an end?

http://ianfu.blogspot.com/2008/01/did-nuclear-bombings-of-hiroshima-and.html

Freeman Dyson wrote:

I changed my mind about an important historical question: did the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bring World War Two to an end? Until this year I used to say, perhaps. Now, because of new facts, I say no. The facts are as follows:

Ministry does about-face on textbooks regarding Okinawa

Ministry does about-face on textbooks regarding Okinawa

http://ianfu.blogspot.com/2007/12/ministry-does-about-face-on-textbooks.html

・・・・・・
To sum up, it’s historian’s consensus that there is no Army’s order for suicide. The demonstration organized by Okinawa’s left party was in vain.

Mass suicide in Okinawa

Mass suicide in Okinawa

http://ianfu.blogspot.com/2007/12/mass-suicide-in-okinawa.html

Two years ago, a novelist Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Laureate, was sued by ex-Army officials that he falsely accused them as they ordered mass suicide that had resulted 600 people killed themselves in Okinawa at the end of WW2 in his book Okinawa Note………………….

自分が優勢でも最後まで全力で競技するのが日本人の礼儀なんです。

　アメリカでは、野球の試合で大差がつくと優勢な方のチームは盗塁や送りバントなどをしないのが、暗黙のルールになっているそうだ。相手に対する侮辱行為と解釈されているらしい。
　日本では、そのようなことはない。日本人は次のように考えるからだ。
　”勝負事は最後の最後までわからないものだ。たとえ自分にとって有利な展開であっても、相手にも逆転の可能性がある。試合の途中で勝利を確信し攻撃の手を緩めるのは、相手には自分に追いつく力が無いと断定しそれを態度で表すことに他ならず、相手に対する最大の侮辱である。試合の展開に関わらず試合終了の宣告を聞くまでは全力で競技するのが相手に対する礼儀である。”
　日本では、大差をつけて優勢であっても、機会があれば盗塁も送りバントもする。された方も、それが当然だと思っているから、腹をたてたりしない。

　ただ、外国のチームと戦う国際試合では、日本人の考え方は理解されない可能性が高いから、野球の母国であるアメリカの習慣に従った方がいい、と日本の野球関係者やファンの多くは考えている。

 ということを英語で書きたいのだが、今忙しくて、翻訳支援ソフトを使いながら英語の文章を書くという面倒なことをする気にならないのです。だれか、私の代わりに書いてくれないかな。

Are Ms. Clinton’s tears effective for terrorists?

Ms. Clinton effectively used tears to win in New Hampshire.

Are Ms. Clinton’s tears effective for terrorists?

D’ont allow politicization of textbook screening / Okinawa mass suicide

Okinawa mass suicide 

Don’t allow politicization of textbook screening
The Yomiuri Shimbun

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/editorial/20071228dy01.htm

Based on its basic view of what occurred in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa, the Textbook Authorization Council on Wednesday recommended that Education, Science and Technology Minister Kisaburo Tokai approve applications from six textbook publishers to revise references to mass suicides that took place in the battle. The ministry immediately approved the applications.

The applications for revisions to high school textbooks on Japanese history to be used from the next academic year did not directly contradict the opinion on the Japanese military’s role in the Battle of Okinawa released this spring by the screening panel, based on which it made its recommendation to the ministry on textbook approval. But the latest move indicates that problematic revisions were made out of political motives.

The description, “People were driven to commit mass suicide,” written in line with the panel’s instructions after the spring screening, has been changed to “People were driven to commit mass suicide using hand grenades and other items that had been distributed to them with the involvement of the Japanese military.”

The newly revised description was justified on the claim that the mass suicides were prompted by education and propaganda that encouraged residents to commit suicide en masse rather than be taken as prisoners of war.

The initial revision applications contained the sentence “There were people who were coerced to commit mass suicide by the Japanese military.” But in line with the panel’s instruction, this sentence was toned down.

Revisions made too easily

To screen the revision applications, the Textbook Authorization Council heard opinions from nine experts and settled on the view that it “could not confirm” that the mass suicides were committed under orders of the Japanese military. It said there were “various factors” behind the suicides.

Litigation is continuing on the issue of whether the Japanese military ordered the mass suicides. Taking this into consideration, the panel admitted there was military “involvement,” but that it was unclear whether there was “coercion.” This observation did not deviate from spring’s opinion.

However, in the revision applications, a claim that the Japanese military gave hand grenades to residents saying, “Use these to commit suicide,” was approved. The approval was made based on testimonies of residents, although some experts have questioned the credibility of these witness accounts.

One of the textbooks also added the fact that the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly adopted a resolution to demand that the panel retract its spring screening opinion. This textbook was approved.

If revisions are allowed to be made to already authorized textbooks in such an easy manner, the school textbook screening system could be shaken by domestic and overseas political pressure.

Rally swayed govt decision

What pushed the government to accept the revision applications was a mass rally on Sept. 29 of Okinawa Prefecture residents demanding the withdrawal of the spring screening opinion.

The rally’s organizer put the number of participants at 110,000. However, a major Tokyo-based security company estimated the number at between 18,000 and 20,000 based on its analysis of an aerial photograph.

The curtain rose on the “drama of revision” when the organizer gave an estimate of the crowd size that was five times that of the security company, putting the government on its back foot.

The government should never repeat the stupidity of allowing political intervention in the textbook-screening process.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 27, 2007)

(Dec. 28, 2007)