Archive for May, 2010

Kim Jong-Il Visits China

Readers in North America may have oil spills and New York bombing plots as the top stories on their news broadcasts, but here in Japan, the big story is Kim Jong-Il’s surprise visit to China:

The media is wild with speculation. Could he be planning to visit the North Korean pavilion at the Shanghai Expo? Is he in need of some kind of medical care? Most experts seem to think he’s visiting China to ask for economic aid:

China has propped up the North’s leaders for decades. Analysts say even though Beijing is increasingly fed up with its provocative neighbor, it is willing to bankroll Kim to prevent chaos on its border.

Kim will demand sweeteners to rein in his military and return to international nuclear disarmament talks hosted by Beijing, analysts said. He crossed into China in the predawn hours in his armored train and went to the port city of Dalian, South Korean officials said.

Every Japanese network has rushed to provide some coverage on the story. As you can see in the above clip, FTV had Kim Jong-il’s former chef on their news program so he could confirm that the train was indeed the Dear Leader’s special train. Perhaps the most impressive reporting was done by NTV, which managed to get a camera in a vantage point overlooking the lobby of the hotel in Dalian where Kim is said to be staying. Their work paid off and they were able to confirm the presence of a person who looks just like the Dear Leader:

The latest rumor is that Kim Jong-Il’s son and heir may be accompanying his father on the trip. It will be interesting to see if the media can get some updated footage of Kim Jong-Un.

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Mega Jump Rope World Record

A Japanese TV show goes to China and films a group of school children as they set a world record for jump roping:

The record involves 180 kids swinging 90 jump ropes while one boy in the center does the jumping. His first try ends in a mistake, but the second try is quite impressive.

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No Japanese Flag on Display at the 2010 Shanghai Expo

The Yomiuri Reports that Japanese are so worried about anti-Japanese nationalism in China that they cannot even display their country’s flag over their pavilion at the World Expo:

Japan decided not to display its Hinomaru national flag Saturday, the first day of the Shanghai World Expo, apparently concerned about anti-Japanese feelings harbored by many Chinese.

“There’ve been past exhibitions where we also didn’t put up the national flag,” a staffer at the Japan Pavilion said. Another staff member, at the Japan Industrial Pavilion, said, “We’ve been careful to ensure our exhibits are not tied to political issues.”

In China, the Hinomaru flag is often seen as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism. Television programs featuring the 1937-1945 second Sino-Japanese War are regularly aired in that country.

Are the Japanese being too cautious? Perhaps, but one should remember that it has only been five years since rabid nationalistic mobs rioted against Japan in the streets of Shanghai [see video clips here and here].

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Japan Issues Arrest Warrant for Paul Watson

An arrest warrant has apparently been issued for Paul Watson, the pro-violence leader of the animal rights group Sea Shepherd:

Tokyo will seek Interpol’s help to arrest Canadian Paul Watson for ordering his crew to harass whaling ships in clashes in which Japanese crew were allegedly injured by rancid butter projectiles, broadcaster N-H-K reported.

Watson, speaking in New York, said “the arrest warrant is just totally political, it’s nothing. I’m not concerned, and Interpol is not going to extradite me on a politically motivated charge.”

“We save whales and we are going to continue to go down to the Southern Ocean,” the 59-year-old environmental campaigner and captain of the group’s Steve Irwin vessel told reporters in comments broadcast in Japan.

The reported arrest warrant and Interpol request, which the Japan Coast Guard declined to confirm, are the latest move in a long-running battle between Japan and the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Watson has spent years engaging in violent and illegal acts against Japanese whaling ships, and it seems that Japanese authorities may have finally had enough of his antics.

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Heroic Super Gaijin

Found this morning on YouTube – a gaijin superhero who saves Japanese girls from their boyfriends and makes sure Japanese people don’t eat strange food:

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Okinawan Tombs Inside U.S. Military Base

A very interesting English language N-H-K news clip about the existence of an old tomb inside the grounds of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, Japan:

An anti-base documentary on YouTube contains a section about the ancestral tombs, with a man talking about how terrible it is for Okinawans to need permission from the U.S. military to carry out worship at the sites:

And here is an aerial view of the tomb (from Google Maps):

View Larger Map

Read more about the practice of ancestor worship in Okinawa in this Stars and Stripes Article, Wikipedia entry on Ryukuan Shinto, and this article about how Japanese soldiers defiled the tombs by using them as defensive positions during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa.

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