Training of English

Court didn’t recognize ‘order’ to commit suicide
The Yomiuri Shimbun

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/editorial/20080329TDY04304.htm

Were mass suicides by civilians during the Battle of Okinawa ordered by the Imperial Japanese Army? Friday’s Osaka District Court ruling on this issue has attracted public attention, as has the government’s screening of high school history textbooks describing the Battle of Okinawa.

An army veteran and a brother of a deceased veteran filed the damages suit with the court against Nobel Prize-winning writer Kenzaburo Oe and Iwanami Shoten Publishers. They claimed “false” descriptions stating that the army ordered the civilians to commit suicide en masse during the Battle of Okinawa were defamatory and asked the defendants to pay compensation.

But, recognizing the “deep involvement” of the Imperial Japanese Army in the mass suicides, the ruling rejected the plaintiffs’ claim.

At the same time, the court said it was reluctant to recognize that the army’s involvement went as far as issuing orders as described in Oe’s book and ultimately avoided passing judgment on the “order” issue.

Last year, in the high school history textbook screening case, a passage stating that citizens “were forced by the Japanese army into committing the mass suicides” was amended to say they “were driven to commit mass suicides using hand grenades and other means distributed to them with the involvement of the Japanese army.”

Panel’s stance appropriate

The opinion formed by an advisory panel to the education minister as part of the textbook authorization process was that as it was not entirely clear whether the army had “forced” the suicides to take place, a judgmental description should be avoided.

The panel’s position not to permit use of phrases such as “the Japanese army forced mass suicides” as long as there is no clear historical evidence seems an appropriate one.

With regard to the mass suicides on Tokashikijima and Zamamijima islands in Okinawa Prefecture, for much of the postwar period it has been generally accepted that garrison commanders “ordered” residents to do this. The view is based on accounts given by survivors and local residents, some of which were recounted in the book “Tetsu no Bofu” (The Typhoon of Steel), a record of the Battle of Okinawa published in 1950 by The Okinawa Times.

But when writer Ayako Sono researched the mass suicides on Tokashikijima island for a book written in 1973, the paucity of evidence supporting the explanation that garrison commanders issued such orders became clear.

Account cut from history book

Taking this new position into account, a passage regarding the garrison commanders’ suicide order on Tokashikijima was expunged in 1986 from the book “Taiheiyo Senso” (Pacific War) by historian Saburo Ienaga, originally published by Iwanami Shoten.

Also with relation to Zamamijima, in 1985 The Kobe Shimbun reported assertions by a former garrison commander that no such order for local residents to commit suicide was issued. A book was also published in 2000 that included testimony from a woman who said a garrison commander refused to hand over ammunition for her to commit suicide.

At the same time, there is also testimony stating that the Japanese army did distribute hand grenades to residents for that purpose.

However, there has been no discussion to date denying the “involvement” of the army itself with relation to the mass suicides.

The core point in the trial has been whether the army issued a specific “order.”

The plaintiffs intend to appeal the ruling to a higher court. We will keep a close eye on developments in that court.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, March 29, 2008)

(Mar. 29, 2008)

Mass abductions in midnight raids by Chinese security forces in Lhasa

Hundreds of Tibetans are arbitrarily arrested in the ongoing house-by-house raid by Chinese security forces in Lhasa beginning from 15 March 2008. All former political prisoners have already been rounded off and thrown into prisons by the security forces according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

With streets filled with patrolling Chinese armed troops and tanks in Lhasa city, the security agencies comb each and every house in Lhasa and pick up all suspected Tibetans, especially youth, from their houses accompanied by severe beatings by the armed forces. In testimonies received by TCHRD, mothers and elderlies in the families helplessly plea at security forces upon seeing their sons and loved ones being beaten and dragged away.

http://www.tchrd.org/

China’s ethnic policies led to Tibet riots
The Yomiuri Shimbun

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/editorial/20080318TDY04305.htm

Rioting in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, has spread to neighboring areas.

Tibetan exiles across the world have staged protests, damaging China’s image abroad ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games to be held in August.

It is ironic that the riots occurred when the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament, is in session until Tuesday because the parliament had made social harmony, including harmony among ethnic groups, one of the main themes of the annual session.

The latest riots could be considered the product of China’s failed policy toward Tibet.

The Chinese authorities announced that 13 people were killed and 61 policemen were injured in rioting in Lhasa, while the Tibetan government-in-exile gave different figures, putting the death toll at 80 and the number of injured at 72 as of Sunday night.

The Tibetan government-in-exile called for an independent international investigation team to be sent to Tibet, a suggestion that was immediately rejected by Beijing. China apparently does not want to let the international community know the real situation in Tibet.

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History of violence

There have been many clashes between the security authorities and Tibetan residents since the 14th Dalai Lama sought asylum in Dharmsala, India, in March 1959 following the Tibet rebellion.

Hu Jintao, who was reelected president during Saturday’s National People’s Congress session, oversaw an armed crackdown during the 1989 Lhasa revolt as party secretary for the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Since the mid-1990s, China’s policy toward Tibet has centered around economic and social development, symbolized by the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which opened two years ago between Golmud in Qinghai Province and Lhasa.

The Chinese government encouraged the ethnic Han majority to migrate to the region through commercial development and other projects. As a result, Chinese became the dominant language over Tibetan and the assimilation of Tibetans into the Chinese majority has progressed in the educational and cultural fields.

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Attempts to assimilate

The Tibetan government-in-exile says Han people now outnumber Tibetans in the Tibetan-inhabited areas, including the Tibet Autonomous Region, which has a total population of about 2.8 million, due to China’s migration policy.

Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities have clamped down on monks and residents who took part in antigovernment activities, sent party and military personnel to temples and forced patriotic education as part of its efforts to repress Tibetan culture.

Also, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which is China’s Achilles’ heel along with Tibet, the migration of Han people has been encouraged, triggering persistent resistance movements among the Uygur people.

The Dalai Lama dropped his demand for Tibetan independence in the 1990s and switched to a policy of seeking a “high level of autonomy” for Tibet.

China and the Tibetan government-in-exile have intermittently engaged in behind-the-scene dialogue.

The Chinese government should take the recent rioting as an opportunity to begin making concessions.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, March 18, 2008)

(Mar. 18, 2008)

“Birds of a feather flock together”

China, Corea, and Sea Shepherd.

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・・・・this is the nation that still denies the Rape of Nanking, that still denies enslaving Korean and Chinese women as “comfort women,”

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http://www.seashepherd.org/editorials/editorial_080308_1.html

March 10: An Anniversary To Remember

http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=4018

IWC Unanimously Condemns Sea Shepherd

 http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=4021

The hottest American in Japan now. It is not Mr. Obama. Of course, it is not Ms. Clinton either.
It is Mr. JERO the first American ENKA (Japanese blues) singer.
He sings typical ENKA in beautiful Japanese in hip-hop singer’s shape.
His first tune “Umi Yuki (The ocean snow)” debuted to 4th place of the charts of Japan.
He is  genuine American who was born in Pittsburgh. However, his grandmother is a  Japanese.  When he was a child, he sang ENKA to make her pleased.
He graduated from the Pittsburgh university and became a computer engineer. However, he came to Japan to accomplish the promise with the grandmother “Become a ENKA singer” five years ago.

His newie is surely shocking for Japanese. However, it alone is not a reason a lot of Japanese support him.
His song is indeed attractive for the Japanese.
And, his character is also wonderful. He is serious and is faithful and is modest and loves his family.
He is good young man of the type that the Japanese like.

Has China given up on probe for truth? / Poison chaozu　
The Yomiuri Shimbun (Newspaper, Tokyo, Japan)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/editorial/20080301TDY04305.htm

It would be highly undesirable if the shelving of fact-finding efforts into the recent food poisoning caused by Chinese-made frozen gyoza results in an emotional confrontation between Japan and China.

The Chinese Public Security Ministry said at a press conference Thursday that there was an extremely low likelihood the gyoza became contaminated in China with the organic phosphorus pesticide methamidophos.

A senior official of the ministry also said the Japanese side had not provided results requested by China of tests carried out in Japan on the tainted gyoza.

China’s assertion is completely at odds with an explanation given by the National Police Agency based on investigations by the Japanese police so far that “the possibility the pesticide was mixed into gyoza in Japan is extremely low.”

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Denial can’t go unchallenged

Furthermore, according to the NPA, it did provide the test results to the Chinese side. The NPA also says its repeated requests for the Chinese side to reveal information concerning investigations into past poisoning incidents caused by methamidophos in China have not been met. In light of these details, NPA Commissioner General Hiroto Yoshimura had good reason to issue a strong rebuttal, saying that China’s assertion “cannot go unchallenged.”

The Chinese side previously proposed investigating the case with a joint investigation team comprising Japanese and Chinese authorities.

The latest Chinese announcement came immediately after a senior official of the NPA visited China and agreed with the Chinese side to accelerate the investigation by encouraging closer coordination and the exchange of evidence for an early settlement. This development threatens to endanger future bilateral cooperation on the investigation.

Some observers believe a political decision at a level far above the investigation authorities may have been made in China.

But, in contrast with the NPA’s backlash against the Chinese denial, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said: “China said it wanted to thoroughly investigate the case in cooperation with Japan. They seem very willing to do so.”

The prime minister apparently wants to avoid the issue developing into a political one. This may be the right approach to take.

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Safety before politics

It must be noted that the issue is related to food safety, though. The reality of the current situation is that more and more consumers are hesitating to buy Chinese-made food products.

An attempt to settle the issue politically by keeping the facts ambiguous will only serve to leave emotional ill will on both sides. It may also lead to growing distrust among consumers.

The Chinese side also said there was no possible culprit among the workers at the gyoza factory in question and that no problems were found in any part of the factory’s production process, from the handling of raw materials such as vegetables to the production and shipping processes.

However, even if a suspect were found among the workers, that person might not quickly admit to contaminating the products. It is also unclear if the Chinese side checked up on former workers such as those who recently retired or were fired.

China also said that “under certain conditions methamidophos can penetrate product packaging.” Logically, this means the products could have been tainted with the pesticide in Japan. But most members of the public will remain unconvinced by such an elaborate hypothesis of how the tainting took place.

China should do its best to find out what really happened by closely cooperating with the Japanese investigative authorities and taking preventive measures. Only in this way can China regain the trust of Japanese consumers in Chinese-made food products.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, March 1, 2008)

(Mar. 1, 2008)