Supporting Mission in Iraq

It is confirmed that Japan will continue to allow its airforce to support missions in Iraq.  On March 30,2007, Japan’s cabinet had passed a law stating that they would continue aid to Iraq for another two years.  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe feels that Japan is doing an excellent job in Iraq and that many nations are expecting Japan to play a major role in the missions in Iraq.  They take pride in their works.  But then thats only his opionion.  Last year Japan had evacuate 600 troops from Iraq, but they are still supplying the airforce.  Many Japanese are opposing the two year contract, many wanted the mission to end as soon as summer comes around.  But the Japanese government had already allowed the airforce to continue its mission. 

 http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/30/japan.iraq.reut/index.html

Election time!

As many as twelve candidates are running for governor in Tokyo.  There are a wide varieties of people who are running for that positions, from and inventor to and expert in the Chinese practice of feng shui.  Each believing that they can contribute to Tokyo.  Yoshiro Nakamatsu, inventor of the floppy disk and many more inventions, believes that with his innovative ideas he can help with the situation regarding the North Korean missiles attack.  Candidate Kinzo Sakura, a comedian, believes in “right to live and pursue happiness”.  That became his pledge to the citizens of Tokyo.  Those are the few candidates running for this election.  This would be an interesting elections, due to the many variations of people who are running. 

Masterpiece in Japan

Italy is known for their artwork and masterpieces from many widely known artists.  “Annunciation” by Leonardo da Vinci, was lend to Tokyo’s National Museum until June 17.  A rare piece of artwork that hardly left Italy, is traveling 12 hours to get to Japan.  Many security was taken so that “Annunciation” would not be damaged.  The priceless painting is protected by a $50,000 bulletproof crystal window, making sure that they painting would not be destroyed in any ways.  The lending of the painting has enraged many Italitians.  Senator Paolo Amato chained himself to the Uffizi Museum in Florence, Italy in protesting the lending of the painting to Japan.  With the painting in Japan, the Japanese would be able to have a sense of artwork in their museum.  Having such a rare artwork in Japan, the Japanese needs to make sure nothing happens to the painting.  Security needs to be taken seriously in Toyko’s museum. 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/19/davinci.japan.ap/index.html

Americans are “no good” compare to Japanese?

Foreign Minister Aso of Japan has been quoted, saying that with all the problems in the Middle East, only “yellow faces” can be trusted in diplomacy.  “Blond, blue-eyed Westerners probably can’t be as successful at Middle East diplomacy as Japanese with their ‘yellow faces.’”  He is discriminating against many Americans and Europeans in this world, without giving it much thought.  He assumes that everyone who fits that description is “no good” and aren’t productive.  The Japanese claims that they can do things in the Middle East that Americans cannot.  The Japanese government is criticizing and challenging the power of the United States.  Japan feels that since they never started any wars or exploited the Middle East that they would be more successful, than the United States.  They think they can be more successful, but they haven’t tried in doing so.  FM Abe’s government had said many discriminatory things in the past, such as calling women as “birth-giving machines” or the war in Iraq as “immature”.  He believes that yellow faces would be more trustworthy, rather than the blond hair and blue eyes. 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/22/japan.aso.reut/index.html

Security pact within two countries

Japan and Australia decided to sign a security pact with one another.  They had economic relations in the past and now they are moving forward to a security pact.  Australia government provided aid (security) to the Japanese, when the Japanese had a mission in the city of Samawah.  Now that their relationship has grown throughout the years, it was time for the two countries to sign a security pact.  At the signing many discussions would arise.  Such as North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and Japanese commercial whaling.  Even though the two countries have close relations, they still disagree on some issues, such as the whaling situations.  Australian government does not support whaling while the Japanese government does.  Prime Minister John Howard says that discussion about whaling would come up in the signing.  With the oppositions between two countries, the signing would might lead to something else in the future. 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/howard.japan.ap/index.html

China wanting to reconcilled with Japan?

As the controversy of the “war sex slaves” goes on, China wants the Japanese government to acknowledge that they have done something quite wrong.  China wants to continue to settle past disputes with Japan.  In doing so, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing wants Japan to accept their past mistakes, rather than denying it.  The Chinese government wants to develop peaceful agreements with the Japanese government.  They want to continue their normalization with one another.  The two states had developed a peaceful contract with one another for roughly 35 years since the war.  With all of this going on, Taiwan also wants Japan to apologize to all the enslaved women.  The Japanese government needs to forget about all the pride that they have within themselves and confront their history. 

Apologies Wanted

During World War II, Korean and Chinese women were kidnapped and made into sex slaves for the Japanese soldiers.  An estimated 200,000 women were abducted from their homes.  Although there are many documents stating the fact that theJapanese government allowed this to happen, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is denying the whole account.  He is stating that the whole situation was made up and that those women were not forced into sex slaves, they were professional prostitutes.  Citizens in Beijing and Seoul wants a honest apologies from the Japanese and reimbursement.  In 1995, the Japanese government tried to set up a fund for the raped women, but the money did not come directly from the government, rather it was from donors.  Most women who were affected feels that the apologies from the Japanese government is not sincere.  They want them to take responsibilities for their actions. But that is difficult for them to achieve when the Prime Minister is denying the situation.  Japan needs to own up to what they have done to those women.  Many people are not proud of their history, but Japan needs to step it up, if they want respect from the rest of the world.  They need to show sincerity towards those women that has been affected. 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/03/japan.sexslaves.ap/index.html

Dolphin Cruelty

May contain graphic contents.

Dolphin meat: They deserve better(Narrated: Joaquin Phoenix)

Japan is not only hunting whales they are also permitted to hunt dolphins and use them as food. The way the Japanese are treating dolphins is vulgar. They have no sympathy towards any living species. Also, the way they treat their environment affects the whole world. They dump dolphins’ blood back to the ocean without giving it much thought or caring for the environment. Japan should be detained from hunting whales and dolphins.