Environment World

It has been reported that Japan is considering sending troop to a post war Iraq to get involved with the rebuilding of the country. I can’t help but wonder if war is a forgone conclusion. I realize that Saddam Hussain has a very tarnished reputation for truthfulness but aren’t there deadlines that must pass before a war starts? Even Bush’s language seems to suggest that war will start any day. I still see this as an attempt by Bush to divert attention from the ailing US economy (which may do better without the threat of war hanging in the air). Maybe this is all to save face for his father’s presidency.

I do not condone war and any action to support warmongers (Bush in this case) is tantamount to being a warmonger. If Japan wants to help the people on Iraq after the war send aid workers not troops.

What exactly is an encore? Websters define encore as, “a demand for repetition or reappearance made by an audience; also : a reappearance or additional performance in response to such a demand.” Maybe I’m getting confused by the word demand. The last 3 concerts I went to in Tokyo where: Garbage last year, Elvis Costello a few months back, and The Manhattan Transfer the other night. All the shows had very “staged” encores. Maybe the Japanese audience had something to do with it. What I’m trying to get at, if you give me a chance, is that they don’t turn on the lights so you can leave at the end of the last set. Not that I wanted to leave at the end of any of those shows but I realized that if I had wanted to leave it would have been difficult because of the dim lighting. They make the thinest pretense that the show is over, the audience claps, the band comes back on and does a song or two (Elvis did an extra half hour for the first encore). I thought to myself, “What if the audience didn’t applaud, would the band notice?”

I saw this a few days ago and now I’m finally going to report something on it. I’m not going to report anything new or impart any gleaned information. The news is that Japan is considering an alternative to M$. It’s a good move for the reason that a homogenous networks of computers is vulnerable to computer security weaknesses (which are abundant in windows). I still get the feeling that the Japanese government is looking for handouts from M$, the kind that India was recently awarded from M$. India recieved $100 million for the fight against AIDS and $400 million for the fight against Linux. Ok, I’ll take $500.1 million and not a penny less.

More crime in the news. Read a report at Reuters about the rising crime rate and fewer solved crimes in Japan. In the old days many criminals gave themselves up to police out of guilt. I don’t think that is happening with the same frequency. I am sure that there are many in Japan that are blaming the rising rate on the greater influence the west is having in Japan. You know, I’m not sure they’re wrong.

Terrorism is an evil that we must all be vigilant over where ever we are. It doesn’t matter if you’re American or not and the threats are not solely from Bin Laden’s cronies. An American base located near Tokyo had a good scare last night. There were two explosion outside of Camp Zama. No one was injured and there are two suspects in Japanese custody. Pretty scary.

Relations between North Korea and Japan are going to be very strained in the coming months. Those relations have not been the best but will probably more so than usual. Besides the admission to a nuclear program in NK that has everyone upset. The US and Japan have agreed to stop sending fuel to NK because of that nuclear breach. Japanese officials have gone over some old missing person cases and have decided that 70-80 are worthy of investigation of possible NK abductions. Still more, Japan has also told NK that there will be no talks between the countries until the adbuctees, presently in Japan, are reunited with their children in NK.

Read this over at Japan Today. Japan has a problem, a fixable problem to be sure. The old boy network has flung big money into public works. To construction firms they have a financial state, conflict of interest?. This comment (titled: “Japanese too unpatriotic, says education report”) hits the problem right on the head. The comment was in reply to this article. I completely agree with this opinion and would say there are other problems that need addressing.

I have been reporting on the tug of war between Japan and North Korea (NK) and the families that make up the rope in that struggle. It’s in the Japanese news nearly daily. A quick backtrack: NK admitted to abducting 13 Japanese citizens 24 years ago to help train agents in NK. 5 of those 13 remain alive; the other 8 are reported to be dead of natural cases (or so says NK). The 5 came back to Japan and have been given support by the Japanese government so they could stay. The 5 have children back in NK and one of the 5 has an American deserter husband back in NK. The Japanese government says the American may come to Japan to be with his wife but there is the issue with the US government and the fact he deserted while in military service in the DMZ (demilitarized zone). The US has not said if they would bring charges about the desertion and there has been a report there has been an interview with the husband and children and they want their mommy back. Mom wants to be with her family but the Japanese government has asked for time to get the family to Japan. What’s a poor mother to do? The other 2 couples (4 Japanese abductees) also have children back in NK but they seem more resolved to get their children to Japan. Maybe I’m just a pessimist but I think there is not going to be happy reunion in Japan with all the families. I certainly hope so but doubt it.
Update
Here’s another article I found to put the whole story of the Soga’s into perspective.

With the assortment of styles that the Japanese borrow and then make their own, it is no suprise that they’ve gone Texan. Well I’ll be horn swagalled or what ever that saying is.

“Japanese-only public baths to pay damages” is the headline from one news article on the subject. While it is true that one Japanese bath was successfully sued for 3,000,000¥ the article alludes that racism is common practice in many establishments. It is not, not in Tokyo of outside. I lived in Kyoto for a year and a half before Tokyo so I’m not being idealistic. The cash reward is equivalent to $25,000 at today’s rate. Some baths are wary about foreigners using their bath, maybe even racist but on the whole I don’t think that’s the case. It is mostly due to fact that Japanese baths follow a certain etiquette that a foreigner may not be aware of.

Important things to remember if you every have the pleasure to enjoy a Japanese bath: wash your self before you enter the bath. That might sound strange to a westerner but Japanese baths are not for bathing, they’re for relaxing. No splashing or any king of horseplay and be respectful of others. If you’re not wanted at the establishment then don’t go there, there are plenty of other places that will offer you the services you want. A more common refusal for a bath is for people with tattoos, Japanese or Western (remember criminals have tattoos). I have a tattoo and I’ve never been refused, your mileage may vary. Because of my MS hot water is not a good thing, makes me very weak after the bath. I’ll gladly put up with it for a bath.