The pressure on Japan to stop whaling has been persistent. Does she have to conform to it? This writer does not think so.
If you use the term 'culture' it is likely to give you the impression that something is immovable from the time immemorial. I do not like to say culture or civilization for this reason. However, whaling is, if anything, definitely a part of Japanese culture. There have been several hundred whaling villages in different parts of the country. The industry has created employment and developed skills. There have been customs and ceremonies associated with it. Many novels have been written, and are written even now, in which the whales are always treated with respect.
Whaling was once prospering in the US and European countries also. When they were putting pressure on Japan to open up in the middle of 19th Century, whaling interests were a very important factor. Those were the peak years of whaling in the Northern Pacific. The first US submarine was named 'the Intelligent Whale'. One Japanese historian dedicated his book on the modern Japanese diplomatic history to 'Captain Ahab of the Pequod'.
Why were they catching whales at that time? It was mostly for obtaining lubricating oil. Even now the whaling countries in Europe use only a small part of the meat for pet food and dispose of all the rest.
In Japan, to the contrary, the whale meat has been much appreciated. There are many ways of eating it. In a country where people did not take to beef or pork until fairly recently, whale has provided the main source of meat, and as such has been looked at as something of a fish. Not only the meat but almost every part of the whale is utilized in one way or other, with practically nothing to throw away.
Has the Japanese caught too many whales to make it an unsustainable industry? Many indicators seem to point to the opposite direction. C.W.Nicol, a writer with marine biological background, of Welsh origin now a naturalized Japanese, once spent a whole whaling season in the Antarctic with the Japanese whalers. He reported, among others, that out of the 728 whales marked in the previous season only 5 were caught in that season. This was in 1979/80. A bit too old? But there is no reason to believe that the tendency has changed.
Should the whaling be stopped at any cost? Let us agree to disagree for the moment. May I, however, ask the extremist group who have dared to attack whaling ships if they are equally against the killing of man by man in the name of a war?
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tragedies in Norway and China
Two tragedies have shaken the world last week.
In one of them, on 22 July, a man detonated a bomb at a building in the centre of Oslo city, and then shot a number of young and unarmed men and women in the near-by island. He is currently under arrest.
When the first report of the incident came, the media reported that the Islamic connection might be suspected, as Norway is a NATO member and as such has sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, and also participated in the bombing of Libya. It seems nothing is further from the truth.
The arrested man, who is a white and is said to belong to an extremist right wing, has said that he has been reading Nazi literature, and is against the immigration policy of the country which is, to him, tolerant of the Muslims. He wanted to start a revolution by his terrorist action.
The media should have known, and we should have known, that Oslo is a city which is known for the Oslo Agreement of 1993 reached by the PLO and the Israeli Government. It was a time when the Middle East peace seemed to be nearer than at any other time till now. It came to a stalemate with the assassination of the Israeli Prime Minister Rabin in 1995. He was shot by a law student at Tel Aviv, an Israeli himself.
Then there was a clash of high-speed trains in China on 23 July. They were the pride of the country. The high-speed trains' network began to be laid down in 2007, in the year before the Beijing Olympics, just as the first Japanese Shinkansen(new trunk line) was first put to use in 1964, the same year as the Tokyo Olympics. But China's network has been widening at an amazing speed. It is now approaching 10,000 kms and is planned to reach twice that length in the near future.
I have often thought of travelling in this high-speed train in China as a tourist. So I am interested to know, for example, if the train is not able to run under a torrential rain with thunders, if there is no mechanical equippment to prevent a second train from nearing in the same tracks, and so on. Above all, how is one going to make out when it is reported, with photographs, that the four carriages of the second train which have clashed into the standing one from its rear on a bridge have been cut into pieces and buried in the ground, including the 'cockpit' itself. Have they searched for the survivors? Are they in a better position to examine the cause of the tragedy this way?
Looking at the network of thses high-speed trains, I also wonder if they are mostly for the purpose of linking more closely the areas already developed, rather than linking the underdeveloped interior ones to them. If so, though I may be wrong, the network will widen the gap which is already existing.
In one of them, on 22 July, a man detonated a bomb at a building in the centre of Oslo city, and then shot a number of young and unarmed men and women in the near-by island. He is currently under arrest.
When the first report of the incident came, the media reported that the Islamic connection might be suspected, as Norway is a NATO member and as such has sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, and also participated in the bombing of Libya. It seems nothing is further from the truth.
The arrested man, who is a white and is said to belong to an extremist right wing, has said that he has been reading Nazi literature, and is against the immigration policy of the country which is, to him, tolerant of the Muslims. He wanted to start a revolution by his terrorist action.
The media should have known, and we should have known, that Oslo is a city which is known for the Oslo Agreement of 1993 reached by the PLO and the Israeli Government. It was a time when the Middle East peace seemed to be nearer than at any other time till now. It came to a stalemate with the assassination of the Israeli Prime Minister Rabin in 1995. He was shot by a law student at Tel Aviv, an Israeli himself.
Then there was a clash of high-speed trains in China on 23 July. They were the pride of the country. The high-speed trains' network began to be laid down in 2007, in the year before the Beijing Olympics, just as the first Japanese Shinkansen(new trunk line) was first put to use in 1964, the same year as the Tokyo Olympics. But China's network has been widening at an amazing speed. It is now approaching 10,000 kms and is planned to reach twice that length in the near future.
I have often thought of travelling in this high-speed train in China as a tourist. So I am interested to know, for example, if the train is not able to run under a torrential rain with thunders, if there is no mechanical equippment to prevent a second train from nearing in the same tracks, and so on. Above all, how is one going to make out when it is reported, with photographs, that the four carriages of the second train which have clashed into the standing one from its rear on a bridge have been cut into pieces and buried in the ground, including the 'cockpit' itself. Have they searched for the survivors? Are they in a better position to examine the cause of the tragedy this way?
Looking at the network of thses high-speed trains, I also wonder if they are mostly for the purpose of linking more closely the areas already developed, rather than linking the underdeveloped interior ones to them. If so, though I may be wrong, the network will widen the gap which is already existing.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Japan Women's Soccer Team Wins the World Title
The whole of Japan nearly exploded when Japan Women's national soccer team won the 2011 World Cup final by beating the US team 2-2, PK 3-1. It was in the small hours of 18 July, Japan time, at Frankfurt, Germany. The US team was ranked at the top of the world against Japan's 4th. They were so powerful that, in the past 24 matches between the two, Japan drew three times and lost all the other 21 games. This time also as the score would show it was a close fight. One of the factors mentioned is that the average age of the players was three years younger on the Japanese side. Anyway Japan exploded because this was, with all my respect to the 21 Japanese women players, a miracle, something unprecedented, something too fantastic to believe.
It was too good to believe as, the readers may guess, Japan is currently not in a good shape, and that is so nearly all around. Therefore the New China News Agency is quite right when it reportedly commented on the victory that it will give a nation suffering from earthquake, tsunami and radioactive fallout an unparallelled confidence. The News Agency deserves to be congratulated for such a generous comment.
The national team must have come a hard way in finally capturing the world cup trophy. Not only in women's soccer, but in other women's sports, and also in almost all the major areas of public activities, the Japanese women are handicapped, still now. So much so that in the past year or two we have been startled by the resounding come-back of a forty-year old woman tennis player K. Date Kimiko in most of the major tennis tournaments of the world.
May not be only in Japan. If we see the eight national teams which fought their way into the tournament for the women's soccer championship this time, we notice that with the exception of Japan and Brazil all the others are from the countries with predominantly white population, with many of the usual names of soccer countries lacking. Judging from the newspaper photographs, moreover, few, if any, of the US players are African Americans. It will speak a lot for the existing disabilities along the racial and ethnic lines.
A reader sent a joke to the editor. In Japanese "shushou" means a captain. The captain of the soccer team, Ms Sawa Homare, a great player and a leader, has been selected the MVP this time. But "shushou" also means a Prime Minister. The joke said, under a different shushou the circumstances would change so much.
That apart, let us share the words with which the players went around the stadium after everything was over. "To Our Friends Around the World--Thank You for Your Support."
It was too good to believe as, the readers may guess, Japan is currently not in a good shape, and that is so nearly all around. Therefore the New China News Agency is quite right when it reportedly commented on the victory that it will give a nation suffering from earthquake, tsunami and radioactive fallout an unparallelled confidence. The News Agency deserves to be congratulated for such a generous comment.
The national team must have come a hard way in finally capturing the world cup trophy. Not only in women's soccer, but in other women's sports, and also in almost all the major areas of public activities, the Japanese women are handicapped, still now. So much so that in the past year or two we have been startled by the resounding come-back of a forty-year old woman tennis player K. Date Kimiko in most of the major tennis tournaments of the world.
May not be only in Japan. If we see the eight national teams which fought their way into the tournament for the women's soccer championship this time, we notice that with the exception of Japan and Brazil all the others are from the countries with predominantly white population, with many of the usual names of soccer countries lacking. Judging from the newspaper photographs, moreover, few, if any, of the US players are African Americans. It will speak a lot for the existing disabilities along the racial and ethnic lines.
A reader sent a joke to the editor. In Japanese "shushou" means a captain. The captain of the soccer team, Ms Sawa Homare, a great player and a leader, has been selected the MVP this time. But "shushou" also means a Prime Minister. The joke said, under a different shushou the circumstances would change so much.
That apart, let us share the words with which the players went around the stadium after everything was over. "To Our Friends Around the World--Thank You for Your Support."
Sunday, July 10, 2011
An Okinawan Writer Speaks His Mind
A few days ago, 85-year old Mr.Ooshiro Tatsuhiro, a prominent writer from Okinawa itself, has given a long interview to the Asahi newspaper, frankly discussing the US bases there and related subjects. Here I will summarize his main points.
Ooshiro says that as long as there are US bases in Okinawa the war(the Pacific War)is not over for him and also to Okinawa as a whole. Why? He bitterly recalls the history in which the Meiji government forcefully broke up the local dynasty to integrate Okinawa into the late-19th century Japan, thus to complete the Restoration. Okinawans began to be discriminated within Japan itself. During the war years, in the newly fortified Okinawa islands the inhabitants fought fiercely in order to get recognition as the Japanese citizens. After the war the exposure to the violence by the US military personnel.
As of 1951 more than 70% of the Okinawans wanted the islands to be returned to Japan. But contrary to their wishes the then PM Yoshida Shigeru chose to keep the islands in the US hands in return for gaining independence for the rest of Japan. He intensely hates Yoshida because of this. Probably he did not consider Okinawans as Japanese.
When Okinawa was returned to Japan(in 1972, with all the US bases in tact), he supported the move because the basic human rights which were in the habit of being violated would be respected by the application of the Japanese Constitution to Okinawa. But his expectation was betrayed. The US extra-territoriality is still rigidly in place.
The core of the US bases question is the strong Okinawan identity to get back the land lost to the bases. He has recently written a short story focused on the Hutemma base question with the determination that they will recover the identity that they are living there. At the end of the story a dancer dances the Ryukyu dance which he calls the soul of Okinawa. The music becomes inaudible because of the helicopter flying overhead. When the war machine is gone, however, the music comes back, and the dance and the music come to the end right at the same moment.
During the four decades after the return of Okinawa, the policy of the Japanese government has always been that of the stick and carrot. The government has no intention whatsoever to persuade the US to mitigate the situation and to move the bases out of the islands. The Wikileaks have shown that our diplomats have got only the maintenance of the US-Japan alliance in mind. Why so afraid of the US? It is as if Japan is their protectorate. As the consequence the structure of political discrimination for the keeping of the alliance at the expense of Okinawa has been established.
Very uniquely Ooshiro has pointed out the similarities of Okinawa and the nuclear-threatened Fukushima, two of the 47 Prefectures into which Japan has administratively divided. The nuclear plants have been concentrated in less densely populated places with all the dangers involved, and the energy generated there has been put to the use in big cities, the same as the way the bases have been concentrated in Okinawa. The way many had to leave their native places in Fukushima is again the same as in Okinawa where many have been deprived of their land by the bases.
Ooshiro says that as long as there are US bases in Okinawa the war(the Pacific War)is not over for him and also to Okinawa as a whole. Why? He bitterly recalls the history in which the Meiji government forcefully broke up the local dynasty to integrate Okinawa into the late-19th century Japan, thus to complete the Restoration. Okinawans began to be discriminated within Japan itself. During the war years, in the newly fortified Okinawa islands the inhabitants fought fiercely in order to get recognition as the Japanese citizens. After the war the exposure to the violence by the US military personnel.
As of 1951 more than 70% of the Okinawans wanted the islands to be returned to Japan. But contrary to their wishes the then PM Yoshida Shigeru chose to keep the islands in the US hands in return for gaining independence for the rest of Japan. He intensely hates Yoshida because of this. Probably he did not consider Okinawans as Japanese.
When Okinawa was returned to Japan(in 1972, with all the US bases in tact), he supported the move because the basic human rights which were in the habit of being violated would be respected by the application of the Japanese Constitution to Okinawa. But his expectation was betrayed. The US extra-territoriality is still rigidly in place.
The core of the US bases question is the strong Okinawan identity to get back the land lost to the bases. He has recently written a short story focused on the Hutemma base question with the determination that they will recover the identity that they are living there. At the end of the story a dancer dances the Ryukyu dance which he calls the soul of Okinawa. The music becomes inaudible because of the helicopter flying overhead. When the war machine is gone, however, the music comes back, and the dance and the music come to the end right at the same moment.
During the four decades after the return of Okinawa, the policy of the Japanese government has always been that of the stick and carrot. The government has no intention whatsoever to persuade the US to mitigate the situation and to move the bases out of the islands. The Wikileaks have shown that our diplomats have got only the maintenance of the US-Japan alliance in mind. Why so afraid of the US? It is as if Japan is their protectorate. As the consequence the structure of political discrimination for the keeping of the alliance at the expense of Okinawa has been established.
Very uniquely Ooshiro has pointed out the similarities of Okinawa and the nuclear-threatened Fukushima, two of the 47 Prefectures into which Japan has administratively divided. The nuclear plants have been concentrated in less densely populated places with all the dangers involved, and the energy generated there has been put to the use in big cities, the same as the way the bases have been concentrated in Okinawa. The way many had to leave their native places in Fukushima is again the same as in Okinawa where many have been deprived of their land by the bases.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Why the US Forces Should Withdraw from Japan?
So the US forces will be departing from Iraq and Afghanistan. It is because they have found that there are no enemies to fight any more in these countries(there were none in Iraq from the start). Hopefully it will create an atmosphere conducive to the cut in the size of the US forces in and around Japan also? They must have understood by now that there are so many US bases in Japan, and the people are suffering from the training exercises, breaking of the rules, accident, crime and so on? The common people of the US may not be aware of them, as yet, but surely the military must know them, and must be of the view that it's time that at least some of their forces should be withdrawn from Japan also, at least from Okinawa, with so much concentration of bases, unconditionally? That would surely be of great help in bringing about more peaceful atmosphere around Japan and the whole of Western Pacific? After all have not the US forces stationed in Japan much too long?
On 21 June, two days before Obama's withdrawal speech, and also two days before the bloody fighting in Okinawa finally came to an end sixty-six years ago, hence 23 June being a very memorable day particularly in Okinawa, the Foreign and Defense Ministers of Japan and the US met in Washington. This so-called two plus two is an institutionalized meeting between the two countries. They met for the first time in four years. They agreed that, contrary to the above expectation, the presence of the US forces in Japan has increased in importance in order to keep the deterrent capability based on the military alliance. There is not only nothing new here, but it is putting a cart before the horse.
The US forces have been using Japan and particularly Okinawa as a stepping-stone to be deployed further in Afghanistan and Iraq. Why is it that, when they are being withdrawn from those places, the two must talk about the increased importance of their presence? Deterrence is an age-old Cold War theory identifying an enemy and justifying more armament. Is it possible to find a new enemy for the war-weary world? A Colonel in Libya? And neither of the two are economically strong enough to talk of deterrence. The US should mind the next Presidential election which is almost round the corner, and Japan, needless to say, the recent disaster.
Even more startling is the agreement, which must have been reached with the full knowledge that the Okinawan people are almost unanimous in opposing it, that the Hutenma airbase should be moved to another place where a couple of runways, each 1,800 metre long, should be built in a V-shape by reclaiming from the sea rich in coral reef. It is 15 years that the decision was taken to move Hutenma elsewhere, an airbase most dangerous in the eye of the local inhabitants, but it is absolutely impossible to find an alternative. Together with the announcement that the notorious MV22 "Osprey" transport plane-cum-helicopters will come to Hutenma later in 2012, the withdrawal from Afghanistan is, for want of a strong will for peace, not going to make a positive impact on the atmosphere in East Asia.
On 21 June, two days before Obama's withdrawal speech, and also two days before the bloody fighting in Okinawa finally came to an end sixty-six years ago, hence 23 June being a very memorable day particularly in Okinawa, the Foreign and Defense Ministers of Japan and the US met in Washington. This so-called two plus two is an institutionalized meeting between the two countries. They met for the first time in four years. They agreed that, contrary to the above expectation, the presence of the US forces in Japan has increased in importance in order to keep the deterrent capability based on the military alliance. There is not only nothing new here, but it is putting a cart before the horse.
The US forces have been using Japan and particularly Okinawa as a stepping-stone to be deployed further in Afghanistan and Iraq. Why is it that, when they are being withdrawn from those places, the two must talk about the increased importance of their presence? Deterrence is an age-old Cold War theory identifying an enemy and justifying more armament. Is it possible to find a new enemy for the war-weary world? A Colonel in Libya? And neither of the two are economically strong enough to talk of deterrence. The US should mind the next Presidential election which is almost round the corner, and Japan, needless to say, the recent disaster.
Even more startling is the agreement, which must have been reached with the full knowledge that the Okinawan people are almost unanimous in opposing it, that the Hutenma airbase should be moved to another place where a couple of runways, each 1,800 metre long, should be built in a V-shape by reclaiming from the sea rich in coral reef. It is 15 years that the decision was taken to move Hutenma elsewhere, an airbase most dangerous in the eye of the local inhabitants, but it is absolutely impossible to find an alternative. Together with the announcement that the notorious MV22 "Osprey" transport plane-cum-helicopters will come to Hutenma later in 2012, the withdrawal from Afghanistan is, for want of a strong will for peace, not going to make a positive impact on the atmosphere in East Asia.
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