Archive for August, 2010

Yet Another Japanese Apology to Korea [2010 August]

Prime Minister Kan has marked the 100th anniversary of Japan’s annexation of Korea with an official apology statement:

Mr Kan expressed his “feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for the tremendous damage and suffering brought by the colonial rule”.

“Through the colonial rule that was against their will… the people of Korea were deprived of their nation and culture and their ethnic pride was deeply hurt,” Mr Kan said.

He said Japan wants to further improve relations with South Korea, which have often been overshadowed by the countries’ shared history.

I included the date in the headline for this post because this isn’t the first time I’ve used the “Yet Another Japanese Apology to Korea” title on this site. Back in February, I used the same headline when mentioning an apology statement issued by Foreign Minister Okada. The post includes excerpts from the Wikipedia list of Japanese apologies for aggression and colonialism.

Kan’s apology statement is pretty much the same as all the previous other apology statements. It did, however, include one significant detail: Kan has pledged to return some Korean historical artifacts that were brought to Japan during the colonial era.

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Espionage at Ibaraki Airport

Ibaraki Airport happens to share part of its airfield with Hyakuri Air Base of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. To protect the military base from prying eyes, the airport has installed fogged windows in some places. However, as this video clip from ATV shows, the security measure has been implemented in a laughably stupid manner:

There is a sizable gap in the barrier, through which people can observe the ASDF base. A lot of people can be seen crouching down and looking through the gap, and nobody seems to be stopping them.

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Rice Monsters Surround Child

A commercial for microwavable yaki onigiri (grilled rice balls):

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

65 Years Since the Nagasaki Bombing

Today was the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. As it was not the first city hit by nuclear weapons and its death toll was not as large as the Hiroshima bombing, its anniversary tends to get a lot less attention.

Whereas the United States sent its ambassador to the Hiroshima ceremony a few days ago, it apparently did not attach the same importance to Nagasaki:

The ceremony started on August 9 around 11:02 a.m., the time of the 1945 bombing, in the southern city of Nagasaki, AP reported on Monday.

Representatives from 32 countries attended the ceremony. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Nagasaki a day before the Hiroshima anniversary. However, the United States did not send a delegation to the event.

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Pink Grasshopper

A news clip about a pink grasshopper in Japan:

The man who found the grasshopper has named it “Mai” and is treating it like a pet. An entomologist interviewed by the reporter says that pink grasshoppers are pretty rare.

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Panzetta + Pancetta

Italian celebrity Girolamo Panzetta appears in a bizarre commercial advertising a Pancetta snack that sounds very much like his last name:

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)