Archive for July, 2011

Norway Shooter Admired “Monocultural” Japan

On July 22nd, Anders Behring Breivik (Andrew Berwick) allegedly carried out a bombing and shooting attack that killed over 90 people in Norway. His motivations can be found in his manifesto, which consists of 1,516 pages of right-wing rambling.

Skimming through the document, one can find numerous references to Japan. Apparently, Breivik had read a few Wikipedia entries about Japan and concluded that it was a conservative monocultural paradise. Below are a few interesting excerpts from his rants.

As one of the goals for his “Knights Templar” organization, he lists:

Societal goal: the Japanese, South Korean model (a monocultural but highly developed and progressive society), the model they once adopted from Europe.

[...]

What kind of society/political platform are we seeking to build/restore. What does a cultural conservative/nationalist/monocultural society constitute?

The closest similarity you will find and a good comparison is especially the Japanese and South Korean societies and to a certain degree the Taiwanese model. These three models contain a majority of all the political principles we seek to restore. They represent many of the European classical conservative principles of the 1950’s (culturally) with modern twists; in other words a monocultural, scientifically advanced, economically progressive society with an exceptional level of welfare but which will not accept multiculturalism or Cultural Marxist principles. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are today the most peaceful societies due to their monocultural model. Crime is more or less non-existent and you can travel freely everywhere without the constant fear of getting raped, ravaged, robbed or killed. They have embraced many positive aspects of globalism but have rejected many of the negative aspects. The fundaments of the patriarchal structures and family values are very strong in these three countries as the wave of feminism lacked several catalyst components (which made it a lot less potent) due to the rejection of multiculturalist/cultural Marxist thought during the 60s and 70s. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are today our role models for the conservative movement. They are peaceful and anti-imperialistic just like we have aspirations to be.

He also looks to Japan for an example of valuing racial purity:

It is a well known fact that an overwhelming number of ethnic groups consider racial/ethnic purity to be the very center of their cultural identity. Those familiar with Taiwanese, South Korean and Japanese culture can attest to that. Racial/ethnic purity IS and always has been extremely important to the Japanese and South Koreans (in addition to Europeans and Arabs), in fact so much that attitudes concerning these matters are completely dominating without these principles being actually written down. This is also the case in more or less every single non-cultural Marxist country. Non-cultural Marxist countries are commonly known for their societal patriarchal structures compared to cultural Marxist countries where the matriarchal structures are dominating (Europe, ex-USSR, US and to a certain degree Latin America).

He thinks Japan has rejected multiculturalism and embraced nationalism:

”Western”, modern countries that never adopted multiculturalism – Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

Japan’s and South Korea’s post-World War II forty-year economic growth surge without immigration has always been an embarrassment to the immigration and multiculturalism enthusiasts. In 1990, the then-Designated Enthusiast Economist Julian Simon was reduced to admitting: “How Japan gets along I don’t know. But we may have to recognise that some countries are unique in their characteristics.”

Western Europe have had a long and close friendship with these countries post WW2. They have not initialised media campaigns portraying these countries as Nazis, boycotted them economically or threatened them with invasion if they don’t start implementing multiculturalism. It’s therefore quite contradictory to how Western Europe ridicule, harass and persecute any and all individuals and groups in their own countries who support monoculturalism.

[...]

A common misconception is that nationalism results in backwardness and halts progress, science and any form of development. The Marxists or capitalist globalists will say that you cannot stop or avoid globalism/multiculturalism which is of course nothing more than propaganda. Japan and South Korea proves very well that this statement is wrong. Both nations are monocultural and at the same time very developed and are considered two of the most successful countries.

[...]

…monocultural and highly developed countries such as Japan and South Korea prove that a well organised school system (see school systems for the future) will allow each country to develop enough professionals from their country without having to import from third world countries. The current trend of poaching highly educated foreign nationals is nothing more than a negative spiral which delays essential school reforms. Instead of accepting a dysfunctional school system by importing foreign nationals we intend to reform the system quite drastically. This will also involve copying Japanese and South Korean (old European) doctrines. These policies are actually our own as it is a blue print of the English system which was in effect in the 1950s.

His admiration of Japan goes so far that he declares it one of the most functional countries in the world:

Good fences make good neighbors

As I have stated on several occasions, the currently most functional countries in the world are Japan and South Korea. They have managed to preserve all the positive aspects of European culture and tradition, methods and processes they imported and embraced after WW2 and the Korea War. They believe in cultural monoculturalism mixed with a free market democracy. And here lies the truth about European Revolutionary Conservatives as well. We believe in cultural monoculturalism and to a large degree ethnocentrism because we know that is the only proven way of preserving social cohesion levels is required to facilitate a welfare state. Without social cohesion, no welfare state. We believe that good borders makes good neighbours. We believe in democracy, but we believe that the fundamental requirement for a democracy and a welfare state requires social cohesion and a non-reformable cultural conservative framework. And as history and the above examples shows in a crystal clear manner; you cannot have social cohesion in a multicultural society. The US illustrates this quite well. The reason there is not a decent welfare system in the US is because of lack of social cohesion. The European Christian middle class will simply refuse to subsidize the welfare of Africans, Latinos and Asians.

Some of his observations about Japan are not entirely inaccurate, but it appears that the Japan he admires is mostly a creation of his own imagination. Had he actually visited Japan, he probably would have been shocked to learn that mainstream Japan is pretty un-nationalistic. His statements about Japan’s education system and economy are also a bit skewed. (But hey, what do you expect from a crazy person?)

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More Chinese Plagiarism of Japanese Anime?

A video compares scenes of the Japanese anime “Hikarian: Great Railroad Protector” with a Chinese cartoon called “高鉄侠”:

It is painfully obvious that the Chinese cartoon is a copying the Japanese cartoon. The discovery was made by Chinese netizens, who found clips of the cartoon online and questioned its origin after noticing that it used a map of Japan and its main character ate Japanese-style onigiri

Japan’s NTV sent reporters to the Chinese animation company that created the cartoon:

The side-by-side clips are shown to random Chinese people, all of whom seem to agree that it’s a blatant copy. We are also shown angry comments from netizens who disapprove of the plagiarism. The incident is compared to Chinese state television’s unauthorized use of “Top Gun” footage.

They visit the offices of the animation company (its English name is, ironically, “Creativity Pictures”). Its walls are lined with prizes and awards. Apparently it is one of China’s top 10 animation companies. Two animated series from the company are currently airing on Chinese television.

The vice president of the company tells them that the clips being shown on the internet are pre-production “samples” that were created during the planning phase for the cartoon. She doesn’t know how they made it onto the internet, but she claims that the final product will look totally different from the “sample” clips.

An online advertisement for the cartoon shows characters from the “sample” that copied the Japanese anime. When shown the ad, the woman claims it was for promotional purposes, and her company is currently working on a totally original bullet train cartoon.

NTV found a blog post written by a former employee of the animation company. He writes that government subsidies are handed out to companies that can create huge quantities of animation, so the company cuts corners by copying old cartoons.

An article from SearChina contains more excuses. A company representative questioned critics by suggesting that it wouldn’t make sense for a Chinese cartoon about new Chinese bullet trains to copy a Japanese cartoon about Japanese trains from the 1990′s.

The Chinese cartoon was originally scheduled to air on television in August. Now, for unexplained reasons, the air date has been pushed back to October.

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Video: Odaiba Tilt-Shift

[hat tip to Rick]

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Radioactive Beef in Japan: Should You Be Scared?

For the last couple weeks, Japan has been gripped by a scare over radioactive beef, after it came to light that the existing system for testing beef allowed some contaminated cows to be slaughtered and sold to stores across the country. The situation has caused prices of domestic beef to plummet, and many consumers are turning to imported meat instead.

While contaminated food is a cause for concern, it is no where near as scary as some people are making it out to be. The beef contains radioactive cesium that exceeds Japanese safety standards, but the level of contamination is so low that eating one, two, or even ten contaminated steaks would not be dangerous.

To help put the situation in perspective, here are several different estimates for the amount of radiation exposure one is likely to face from contaminated beef, plus some information about how cesium is expelled from the human body.

Estimates of Radiation Exposure

The Japan Times has a Q&A article that provides some basic facts about the risks of contaminated meat. Its estimate for radiation exposure from eating “highly” contaminated beef is particularly noteworthy:

As of Thursday, the most highly contaminated beef found contained radioactive cesium of 4,350 becquerels per kilogram, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. The meat did not reach the market.

Eating 1 kg of the meat is roughly equal to a radiation dose of 82.65 microsieverts (0.08265 millisieverts) for a period during which radioactive cesium remains in one’s body. If a person eats food with radioactive cesium, half the amount remains in the body for nine days for a baby younger than 1. But the duration gets longer as people age, and it takes 90 days for those aged 50.

The 82.65 microsieverts compares with the 100 microsieverts (0.00065 millisieverts) of radiation a person would be exposed to during a one-way flight from Tokyo to New York.

Mainichi’s News Navigator has an estimate for those who have eaten the same contaminated beef every day for a month or a year:

Let’s calculate the amount on the assumption that all the cesium contained in 1 kilogram of beef tainted with 4,350 becquerels per kilogram is cesium 137. If a person eats 100 grams of the meat every day for a month, they will be exposed to about 0.17 millisieverts, and if they eat the same amount of meat for a year, they will be exposed to some 2 millisieverts, according to a calculation method employed by the National Institute of Radiological Sciences. The International Commission on Radiological Protection sets the upper limit on an individual’s exposure to radiation at 1 millisievert a year.

An Asahi Shimbun article has some estimates for beef containing 500 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium. Eating 100 grams of contaminated meat would yield an estimated exposure of 0.65 microsieverts (0.00065 millisieverts). Eating 100 grams of contaminated meat a day for an entire year would yield an estimated exposure of 237 microsieverts (0.237 millisieverts).

A Sankei Shimbun article contains an estimate from Ikuro Anzai of Ritsumeikan University. For beef containing 3,200 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium, eating 200 grams a day for a year would result in a total exposure of 0.01 millisieverts. Although he feels the beef contamination is a serious problem, he nonetheless points out that there is already naturally occurring radiation in the food we eat. Each year, you are likely to be exposed to 0.2 millisieverts of radiation from food containing potassium-40.

A Mainichi Shimbun article has some estimates for beef containing 3,240 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium. It doesn’t contain a single meal estimate, but it does not that one would need to eat 500 grams of contaminated beef a day for an entire year to reach an exposure level that exceeds the official annual exposure limit (1 millisievert?).

[Note: 100 millisieverts a year of radiation exposure is the lowest level at which any long-term increase in cancer risk is clearly evident (1% increase in cancer in a population).]

Expelling Radioactive Cesium From Your Body

From the EPA:

Compared to some other radionuclides, cesium-137 remains in the body for a relatively short time. It is eliminated through the urine.

From the CDC:

Once cesium enters your body, your kidneys begin to remove it from the blood; some cesium is quickly released from your body in the urine. A small portion is also released in the feces. Some of the cesium that your body absorbs can remain in your body for weeks or months, but is slowly eliminated from your body through the urine and feces.

And a quote from the Mainichi, on how eating fruit and vegetables is important:

The structure of cesium 137 is similar that of potassium — which is contained in vegetables and fruits. If you are not following a nutritious diet, you tend to absorb cesium 137 in place of potassium.

The good thing about this scare is that it is pushing the government to expand and improve food testing. Measures are being taken to prevent it from happening again, and the government is facing enormous scrutiny from the media and consumers. The government has already announced that farmers will be paid compensation, and it may even purchase and destroy all beef that exceeds radiation limits.

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White Crow in Japan

Video of a white crow that has been spotted in Hokkaido’s Obihiro city:

According to observers, the white crow gets along well with other crows. No crow racism in Hokkaido, folks!

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Japanese Court Rejects Koreans’ Yasukuni Demands

In the past, Korean groups have filed lawsuits in Japan demanding that the Yasukuni Shrine remove names from its list of enshrined war dead. Most of the lawsuits have come from surviving family members of Koreans who served and died in the service of the Imperial Japanese armed forces. Because the Yasukuni Shrine is a private Shinto shrine, Japanese courts have rejected all such lawsuits. Japan’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion and the separation of church and state, so courts simply do not have the power to order Yasukuni to comply with the demands of the Koreans.

Despite the obvious unconstitutionality of these demands, lawsuits of this kind are still being filed. The latest came from a group that included an 86-year-old Kim Hui-jong, a former “civilian worker” in the Japanese Imperial Navy who survived the war but somehow ended up enshrined at Yasukuni:

Learning the embarrassing news that his tablet was enshrined at Yasukuni with millions of Japanese war dead in 2006, he launched his legal battle the year after, the first such case for a living man, with the help of several South Korean civic groups. In his preparations, he visited Japan three times and held a press conference there in spite of his delicate health.

“When I visited the Yasukuni Shrine, I asked officials there to show me my tablet. But they barred me from even entering the temple,” he said. “I was so furious that I wanted to blow the shrine up.”

The former draftee also expressed regret at lukewarm responses from the South Korean government, as well as the lack of “any plausible reasons” explaining Japan’s response.

When the lawsuit was predictably rejected by a Japanese court, one of Kim’s lawyers had the following to say:

“The ruling is the worst ever, and I feel ashamed as a Japanese citizen,” an attorney for the plaintiffs said. “Judges seem to have no idea about what Japan should repent of, while putting priority only on the freedom of religion.”　

The attorney seems to have no idea about the importance of freedom of religion.

The court “only” put priority on freedom of religion because the lawsuit demanded that the government violate constitutionally protected rights. If the court had ruled in favor of the Mr. Kim, it would have been an illegal and unconstitutional ruling.

Update: The original article wasn’t very clear about why Yasukuni refused Mr. Kim’s request. It made it sound like Yasukuni was stubbornly insisting that Mr. Kim still be counted among the war dead.

In fact, the situation is quite different. An article in the Japanese edition of the Chosun Ilbo contains the following passage:

靖国神社は合祀者名簿で、キムさんたちの名前の横に「生存確認」と付記したが、名簿自体の修正は拒否した。これについて同地裁は「教義上、極めて神聖な名簿を訂正するのは困難だ」との理由を挙げ、請求を棄却した。

It says that the shrine actually wrote “confirmed alive” next to Kim’s name after discovering that he had not died in the war. However, for unspecified doctrinal reasons, that is the limit of what can be done to the “holy” list. They refused to completely remove his name.

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