Be forewarned. There are spots in this translation I straight up gave up on. Maybe I will edit it later. The short story is that PM Noda is seeking an agreement with the LDP and Komeito in order to have better cooperation in the Diet. This is not a good translation!
PM Noda proposes a meeting with heads of the LDP and Komeito to create a 3 party mutual understanding accord
New PM Noda sought meetings with LDP President Tanigaki Sadakazu and New Komeito representative Yamaguchi Natsuo to communicate his idea for an accord between the three parties that included a review of the DPJ Manifest and fortified his desired idea for cooperation in policy discussions and diet operations. Upon his seperate meetings with the two politicians on the first, he will launch his plan for the new cabinet on the second. Changes to the new cabinet include, former party policy research chairman Jojima Koriki, and New Komeito member Jimi Shozaburo has been reappointed as Finance and Postal reform Minister.
National Diet Strategy Committee Chairman Hirano Hirofumi (DPJ) called for a meeting between LDP member Aisawa Ichiro and Komeito member Urushibara Yoshio on the 31st. At the secretary-general meeting with DPJ secretary-general Koshiishi Azuma on the first, if the 3 party accord is the plan accepted during the party leader conference than the LDP promised to implement it.
In the middle of August before PM Noda accepted the prime ministership, the LDP and Komeito indicated their idea to call for a grand coalition but the DPJ leadership stated in regard to this conference of party leaders that "rather than a grand coalition we appeal for cooperation in the Diet before the formation of a new cabinet". With the LDP and Komeito's idea sought during the early stages of the extraordinary session of the Diet, concerning the National Diet management cooperation Noda's administration's move is made sure of.
I started this translation before the actual election for a new PM took place, but I got distracted/it took me longer than expected. Noda ended up winning and maybe I will talk a little bit about it later. Suffice to say, no one mentioned anything at work about their being a new PM.
DPJ mainstays and young members endorse Maehara, Kaeda represents Ozawa-faction core
On the DPJ election bulletin from the 27th, the 5 announced candidates presented 20-25 names of DPJ members endorsing their candidacies.
Former foreign minister Maehara received endorsements from 24 members. Maehara's group within the DPJ, the Ryouunkai, occupied a majority of the spots. Some of the backbone and young member names that stood out are: Hosono Koji, Furukawa Motohisa, Komiyama Yoko, and Watanabe Shu.
Mabuchi Sumio (former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation) received 20 endorsements. Mabuchi gathered 13 votes from lower house members including Taki Makoto and party members from around the Nara area. He also recieved 4 votes from members close to former representative Ozawa Ichiro, House of Concillors member Martti Turunen, and Yokomine Yoshiro.
Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Kaeda Banri received support from 25 members close to Ozawa Ichiro after Ichiro announced his support for Kaeda on the 26th. With Ozawa's coordination of Kaeda's announcing of his candidacy, former Minister of the Environment Ozawa Sakihito, former Minister of Forestry, Agriculture and Fisheries Akamatsu Hirotaka of the ex-Socialist Party group, and former Deputy Director of the Government Secretariat Matsuno Yorihisa also lined up in support of Kaeda.
Minister of Finance Noda Yoshihiko recieved 25 votes of support from his and Prime Ministerial aide Renho's group the Kasei Group. From Naoto Kan's group, Former Minister of National Strategy Arai Satoshi, DPJ Secretary-General Okada, Vice-Chair of the Committee of Diet Strategy Nakagawa Masaharu, and members close to Chairman of Party Policy Genba Koichiro joined in support of Noda.
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Kano Michihiko received support from 25 party members. Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Tsutsui Nobutaka and other members well acquainted with agricultural policy gathered in support of Kano. From Hatoyama's group, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Ohata Akihiro, Budget committee of the Upper House of the Diet Maeda Takeshi from the Haneda group,and other members with long political histories supported Kano.
The next article is from today. I picked it because it was short! High school student finds a 5-inch American unexploded ordnance. Don't worry, no one was evacuated!
High School Student digs up Unexploded Ordnance in Okinawa "Is it some kind of part?"
Around 7 p.m. on August 30th next to Okinawa Prefecture, Yaese-cho's Kochinda Athletic Park, a male first year high school student (16) found a 13cm diameter, 40 cm in length unexploded ordnance and called the police emerbency tip board. Because it was liable to explode if a fuse was affixed, the Japanese Self Defense Force carried out an emergency collection of the ordnance at 9 p.m. that evening. There was no evacuation of residents and no injuries occured.
According to the prefectural police, the ordnance was a American-manufactured 5-inch shell. Half of the shell was buried. The student dug the ordnance up by hand and carried it about 15 meters away to show his friends at the nearby soccer field, then they reported it to police. The student said "I thought I had dug up some kind of part or accessory".
This is an article I translated from Asahi. I am going to be not cool on my blog and start posting translations of stories I come across. These are by no means official or free of flaws.
A plan to make Nishigo-mura and Shimogou-chou in southern Fukushima Prefecture into a research and development base by 20 companies including Toshiba and Panasonic in order to research fields such as renewable/green energy, agriculture, and social welfare etc. has been made public. The goal of this plan is to bring economic recovery to the troubled Fukushima prefecture by introducing and supporting new businesses in the area.
Both towns are advancing the plan which uses 50-100 hectares of government land in Nishigo-mura as the primary site. If the no-interest loan purchase of the land is accepted maintenance work will begin within the year. Also, both towns have begun applying for status as a "special reconstruction area" within the year.
If the area recieves that designation, it will get favorable treatment in the form of tax reductions and relaxation of certain regulations.The area is near the Tohoku Shirokawa Interchange, Shin-Shirokawa Shinkansen Station and has good access to Tokyo. According to AT Kearney Consulting, who are promoting the plan, approximately 20 companies have expressed their intention to take part in the plan.
End Translation
Here is a translation of some of the stuff on the map in the article:
The area shaded in red is the proposed area.
Involved fields and companies:
自然エネルギー（東芝）
Renewable energy - Toshiba
植物工場（丸紅、スプレッド）
(I am not sure what the technical term for it is) Indoor Agriculture/Farming - Marubeni, Spread?
物流センター（国分）
Logistics/Transportation Center - Kokubu
介護、福祉、観光 （パナソニック、ニチイ学館、セントケア）
Nursing/Care, Social Welfare, Tourism - Panasonic, Nichii Gakkan, Saint Care
都市インフラ、金融（NTT東日本、アラップ）
City Infrastructure, Finance (East Japan NTT, Arup)
Probably about 6 months ago when I returned to Japan, I remember turning on the TV to some news about Okinawa, only to see a somewhat familiar face on the TV. One, Kevin Maher. Again, tonight I come home with some take out, turn on the news and lo-and-behold it is Kevin Maher, this time he is not a passing figure in the background, but front and center.
It seems Mr. Maher, in a little lecture to some students from American University in D.C. slipped up big time and basically called Okinawans masters of extortion directed towards Tokyo. I will not get into the rough and tumble details of Okinawa and US bases because that is a pretty time consuming task. Instead I just want to put forth my lack of surprise.
I was in some little, I don't know what to call it, I think there was a joke I used to make at the small NGO I worked at in D.C. about all the different things you called call a discussion with a guest speaker. Since there were always ones going on throughout D.C. it seemed necessary to drum up some creative synonyms. Anyways, I was at a discussion at Johns Hopkins SAIS in D.C. with a DPJ member as the guest and Mr. Maher was present. I don't think it would be right for me to go into detail about this discussion, as it was off-the-record and the notes I had for it are on my old computer which is not starting...but saved on a disk drive in the states. I will say that Mr. Maher and said DPJ representative got into a discussion about a more equal US-Japan relationship that was not heated, but definitely not what I would term "diplomatic" or particularly productive on Mr. Maher's side. So when the taker of the notes that have appeared on the nightly news said he did not think Mr. Maher's comments were very diplomatic - I was not shocked in the least. I think I laughed.
The first time I saw him on TV six months ago, I remember hitting up the local bar and talking to the owner, saying something along the lines of "Why does a guy who seems so frustrated about the contents of his job, doing his job." Maybe that will not be for much longer.
Here is a link to the story in Japanese: http://www.asahi.com/politics/update/0308/TKY201103080472.html
Update: Looks like Kevin Maher is being replaced - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/world/asia/11japan.html?ref=asia
And the NYT doesn't like Japan today, I left a little comment on their "In Japan, Young Face Generational Roadblocks" article. It wasn't a terrible article but it has the usual NYT feel aimed at Japan - by that I mean amateurish and predictable. I usually would hope better from probably the world's most important (maybe) newspaper.
I just don't get it. I mean, I totally get it but it doesn't make it any better.
Its not Sputnik. I am talking about how everything involved with China that seems somewhat threatening to American dominance is suddenly of Sputnik caliber. I understand the metaphor. Sputnik served as a call to action that solidified American will to stand up and compete with the Soviet Union. The massive existential threat to the free world for many decades.
China is not the Soviet Union. Chinese development is not a satellite. Chinese students are also not satellites. You can make the logical leap with the metaphor, but why would you want to make that metaphor? Its like, remember the Cold War? Remember all the fear? Let's do that again. Let's have that be our rallying cry!
Live in fear of the eastern menace! Yar!
Give me a break, first it started (ok, it actually started a long time ago if you read my other Sputnik entry, but with a different country) with the PISA results, carried on to some articles and opinion columns in the NYT and now it happens again in an article talking about similarities between China-US economic issues now and US-Japan economic issues of over 20 years ago.
What is just as tasteless in the recent NYT article is entitled "Maybe Japan Was Just a Warm-Up to the Rivalry with China" . That is all Japan was, a warm-up to some other threat in the East. At the end of the article it brings the ridiculous Sputnik analogy up again. It just oozes of nationalist, confrontational rhetoric. We are in a battle or match and we needed to warm-up. But now we are ready to hit the field and crack some skulls. Booya.
I went into Starbucks today, got a mocha and sat down in a big poofy blue chair. Next to me were these two girls who were probably in high school. Upon sitting down, there is a quick silence (I'm listening to my iPod at the time) and then some giggling. One of the girls said to the other - ”もっと英語を勉強したらいいねー” or something like that, which translates to "It would have been nice if I studied English more".
I don't know what we would have talked about in pretend 'her having studied more English world' but I'm glad when I sit next down to random people I immediately make them feel insufficient. Great.
I'm not a total failure at food/cooking, but I am far from a success.
Tonight's dinner was not terrible, but the slightly edible kinoko rice from yesterday was even more so slightly edible today. Oh well. I blame my rice cooker, maybe.
In general I find it slightly difficult to make food for myself alone. At least I know my Nanban Chicken is still pretty baller...
I got back from a long vacation, maybe I'll talk about it. But today and yesterday I felt violently thrust back into my normal life and it has been a bit jarring and honestly kind of lonely. But, I still want to keep on for awhile despite this sudden depression.
So there is this guy called Mr. News. His job here is basically to take the big topics in the news and put into 1-2 hour episodes in front of various Japanese entertainers called geinojin (the scourge that they are of TV) hoping that people may actually watch something they should probably watch in the first place. Some episodes are better than others.
Anyways, the episode on China is on right now. While there has been some moments of insight, most of it is find questionable things China does and we, the geinojin, scowl. laugh, looked surprised as foreboding music plays in the background.
I'm all for pointing out the things that are unsavory that China does, or that any country does, but in an atmosphere that is "lets all come together and use serious problems of another country as a perverse, collective entertainment" I lose the ability to take it seriously. And that is the point I think. There are big problems, but taking them seriously is a drag - let's make a TV show about the news instead of watching real news, so after the show is over its like the end of an episode of my favorite drama not part of the world out there.
5 months later. I have been in Japan for about 4 months, I will be for at least 8 more, hopefully 20 more. Anyways.
So I am sitting in my apartment and pick up a book left around (not mine, I won't get into why a library of books just happen to be in my apartment) entitled: The Japanese Educational Challenge: A Commitment to Children by Merry White, who was of, at least at the time this book was published, Harvard.
I am just into the introduction when I read: "And, when Japanese children test higher in math and science than any others in the world, the battleground of competition seems to be shifting to schools. The subject of internal criticism and movements for reform for much of the post-Sputnik era, education in the West now seems to face a new "Sputnik": the Japanese child, as goad, goal, and measure of success." (p.2).
I find this pretty funny in regards to the new PISA 2010 results being called by many people, including Chester E. Finn Jr in the Wall Street Journal (btw that name is so white) in his Dec. 8th article "A Sputnik Moment for U.S. Education".
I see Japanese students everyday, they are no Sputniks. I'm sure the one's in Shanghai are no different. They are just students in a society that values education. I just find it kind of problematic that students are used in such a nationalistic analogy, even if schooling has obvious nationalist aspects, as the Space Race.
I for one am all for more funding for schools and better education back in the homeland - too bad it takes some nationalist fear for people to see the value in educating themselves. It may be worth putting in the time, effort, expertise - all of which I lack for a blog post - to see where high achieving students such as those in Shanghai end up going on to for post-secondary education and later employment (because you know companies don't cross borders and the US is like, not a destination for Chinese students).
World Cup has been going so I have been watching too much of that. Also, getting my Japanese level back up to near JLPT 2 where it should be. Quick rundown of things clogging the blog pipeline: Chinese currency, Daremo Shiranai still coming, more Cadiz goodies, and some other assorted things. Hopefully around July most of this will be up.
The following is the beginning of a series of posts about my recent adventure in rural Ohio visiting relatives. There will be at least three more of these kind of posts with more pictures included!
The Arrival
Cadiz sits in Harrison County in the southeast part of Ohio near Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The area is rural, rolling, and rusting. I know little about the area, but what I do know probably trumps what the vast majority of people know about this small, aging coal town whose largest claim to fame is as the birthplace of Clark Gable.
Cadiz is the hometown of my mother and my grandfather. From their recollections the only reason Cadiz ever existed was because of coal and it was in between some other places that mattered. Today there are still miners, but no coal – the miners commute to where there is coal. Things also move faster so that which exists between places of some import are more prevalent and closer in time. Cadiz just is and that is all there is to it.
It may seem I am giving Cadiz a bad rap, but I am not…entirely. It is the type of place that is important in history, important to my childhood, and like many things that just are you cannot hold it against it. It is strangely scenic, and not just in the beautiful decay aesthetic. It is rural, it has farms, it has green fields broken by patches of trees, it has rolling hills and old ponds with graying wooden piers. It has a different culture, a culture which I only know from my mother, her father, and my step-grandmother. The last person from Cadiz that I met outside of the circle of my family was when I must have been in 8th or 9th grade – a decade ago. It truly is worlds apart from a Chicago, a New York City, a Los Angeles let alone a major foreign city. It may have more in common (the good and the bad) with a tiny, dying town somewhere else across the globe.
Fujiyama
I am visiting Cadiz for the first time in a long time. It will be the last time I visit for another undetermined amount of time because I am leaving for Japan in August and will be there for at least a year, more likely two. It is time to visit the Mikesell(s, plural is pending on further deliberation), my mom’s side of the family.
My mother and I fly into the airport in Pittsburgh. With bags in hand we ride down an escalator and a poster overhead proudly proclaims – “Yesterday’s airport of the future”. Times must be tough if you have to advertise the fact you were once upon a time on the cusp of modernity. But recently just gave up.
We walk outside and I look to the right to see a figure that I guess is Leeanna, my step-grandmother, so I hesitantly walk her way. At first I am unsure, they must have got a new car and gotten rid of the boat of a Lincoln. Soon my doubt washes away as Leeanna becomes visibly excited waving at me, clad in a bright pink top and white pants that match her teased, short hair. Greetings are exchanged.
My grandfather recently had surgery on his eyes. Leeanna says they put lenses in his eyes. I am no expert on this process so I am not exactly sure the nuance of what happened, but the point is he is wearing giant sunglasses enveloping his normal glasses to keep out the harsh rays of the sun. I am sure everyone has seen these before, but it was nonetheless jarring to see these on my grandfather.
As we drive away from Pittsburgh to eastern Ohio, Leeanna mentions there is a Japanese restaurant near Cadiz. I can hardly wait. Leeanna asks me about food like lo mein and kimchi (which, to my surprise, not only exists out here, but she says she enjoys) and asks me if lo mein is Japanese or there is something like it in Japan. I tread lightly. Leeanna then asks me what ‘Fujiyama’, the name of our dinner destination means in Japanese. This is a tricky question, but I guess it is Mt. Fuji (Fujisan...). So we are going to Fujiyama.
Fujiyama is a Japanese steak house. The idea of the Japanese steak house or hibachi grill is pretty much an American invention. Not to say Japanese people do not eat beef cooked over a hot plate or open flame, but is not steak, and it is not a steak house, rather a yakiniku or teppanyaki place. Hibachi is a Japanese word but is not used as a cooking word. A hibachi is a brazier where coals are kept for heating purposes. Hibachi in the US is nonetheless similar to teppanyaki in that you are cooking meat and other foods (or okonomiyaki) on a hot griddle. This whole genre of dining started in Japan to serve, ironically, Western style food. The theatrical style of cooking the food did start in Japan, but was more popular with foreigners than Japanese people and migrated to the US.
We walk into the restaurant, which was once a Hardees, and besides the differing signage looks the part. The waitress, who has dirty blonde hair with fading pink highlights, has to be in or just out of high school. “Do you want to sit on the hibachi side,” she asks. “Um, hibachi side is okay,” I tell her. That was beyond stupid of me. Personally I do not like the hibachi deal much at all, but I am also with my middle-aged mother, step-grandmother and 88 year old grandfather who still calls Japanese ‘Japs’, so I should be trying to keep things tame. The last situation I should be putting us in is a theatrical dining experience at a Japanese restaurant of questionable repute. I blame Leeanna.
The chef is at the table next to us and gives us a preview of what we are in for with the party of people who came in before us. He starts by igniting a fire ball on the grill. We can feel the heat from across the room. Remember how my grandfather has to wear those glasses because being in the sunlight is a tad bit too intense for him. I begin sweating slightly with anxiety. The anticipation builds further as he tosses food out to the other patrons coaxing them to catch it mid-air. Adding to my growing uneasiness is the liberal spraying of water and saké. I am not sure how we will all come out of this unscathed mentally and physically. What if my grandfather passes right before my eyes amidst dining?
Drink orders. Thank god there is some sort of alcohol list. My mom points out they have the usual Japanese beer assortment; I take a Yuengling. The chef wheels his cart of tricks out and recalls our orders to us. His English is not that great so I do my best to tell the rest of my party what he is saying (note: the server is not Japanese which is by no means odd to me, but mind-boggling to Leeanna).
It starts exactly like the last time, my grandfather’s eyes light up in front of a fireball rising above the skillet a foot from our faces. I am about ready to die. I laugh nervously. He dances around with an egg before breaking it and beginning to cook it on the hibachi. Everything will be ok I tell myself until the chef begins coaxing us to catch pieces of egg that have been cooking on the skillet. I begin to wonder if the young, Asian chef thinks this as some sort of retribution for dealing with middle-America patrons in a dying town in West Virginia by tossing hot, runny egg in their general direction. One thing is for sure, he seems to not recognize that an 88 year old man who can hardly read the menu has no desire to “play with his food”. Intervention is the only option before my grandfather who is in the process of “tolerating it” from having runny egg thrown at him by some “Chinaman”.
I will sacrifice myself for my family. I make it apparent to the chef that I am his target, this is a showdown. All food and liquids that travel through the air will be directed at me. Hot egg flies above my head onto the floor (offending my grandfather’s Great Depression sensibilities), hits me in the eye and run down my cheek like a hot tear, and finally lands in my mouth. This must be some sadistic game. My mother is emboldened and after a few misses, one grazing through her hair, she is successful.
After a volley of water by some strange squeezey-toy of a little Asian boy with his pants down, and some cooking in between, out comes the saké. The saké is in a clear container that you would use to squirt different sauces. A cunning weapon. By this time any shame has gone out the window and the more I give in to my captor-gourmand the faster it will all be over. I close my eyes and open my mouth wide as he begins the spray of saké close and moves farther away. Saké makes it into my mouth, cheap, cheap saké. It also makes it in my nose, runs down my cheeks, and basically all over the rest of my face. The sexual innuendo is just off the charts. The session of culinary S&M draws to a close and my partner rolls his cart away to the kitchen.
I ordered the shrimp. It sucked. The food wasn’t even good.
Thus ends the first chapter of my Cadiz, Ohio adventure. We left Fujiyama satisfied (?), stronger and wiser people. I do not have a real pithy comment to add to the end of this, maybe the other anecdotes will, but what can I say about a massive collision of culture and generations in such an absurd setting that does not speak for itself.
Oh yeah, this was the only part. Oh well. (12/11/2010)
East Asian Multilateralism - Francis Fukuyama and Kent E. Calder
Speed Tribes - Karl Greenfeld Taro
Discourses of the Vanishing - Marylin Ivy Gold Rush - Yu Miri
Pacific Alliance - Kent E. Calder Yakuza - David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro Sexual Violence and the Law in Japan - Catherine Burns Hiroshima - John Hersey
International Relations of Asia - Shambaugh & Yahuda eds.
In Progress:
Korea's Place in the Sun - Bruce Cumings
I am a Cat - Natsume Soseki
中国行きのスロウ・ボート 村上春樹 Slow Boat to China - Haruki Murakami (Short Story Collection)
Goal is to finish all of these before leaving for Japan!
So in case you have not noticed, things are getting real on the Korean peninsula. There has been military and rhetorical escalation accompanied by suspension of official and economic relations between North and South Korea, which is disconcerting. Anyways, I have been reading around and trying to make sense of the situation. I think it would be easy for me to say who knows, and that may be a conclusion I come to anyway, but I figure I should at least write something out to brainstorm how this will play-out for Northeast Asia and the U.S.
An interesting development so far has been the call by other nations, namely South Korea, Japan and the United States, for China to respond to the actions of North Korea[1]. It is fairly common for 6-party nations to point to China as the North Korea deal breaker. Therefore, it is not surprising the call is being made, but it will be interesting to see how China responds. If China swings to North Korea and gets out of step with the U.S., Japan, and South Korea, it could signal a chilling of relations between all countries involved. I will try to give a rundown of the event itself, reactions by relevant parties, and the impact of their reactions.
The sinking of the 天安/Cheonan
On March 26th the South Korean patrol boat Cheonan (the characters in the title was taken from a Japanese news source, if the Korean to Japanese is correct then the ships name would be translated into English as ‘Heavenly Peace’ or something in that regard[2]) was sunk around the North/South Korean maritime border[3]. After investigation and deliberation by South Korea (and an international team of inspectors) it was only recently determined to be an external explosion caused by a North Korean torpedo[4]. There have been 46 reported casualties in the sinking of the Cheonan. North Korea has denied any involvement but evidence is fairly convincing otherwise.
Back in late March/early April when I first heard of this, I was not particularly fazed or alarmed because incidents of this nature are not an uncommon occurrence. A history of similar clashes between North and South Korea is detailed in a Christian Science Monitor article here: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2010/0416/Sinking-South-Korea-s-ship-wouldn-t-be-North-Korea-s-first-provocative-act . North Korea also has a history of nefarious behavior with other neighbor countries like Japan. Point being North Korea is no stranger to acting provocatively, but the reactions coming from usual suspect countries has been quite stern.
Reactions
The reaction by South Korea running up to the findings of the recent investigation has been commendably measured. South Korea was quick to, well, be prudent. After multilateral consensus about the causes of the attack South Korea has bolstered its military vigilance and spending, stopping trade and commerce between the two, and an increase of radio/loudspeaker propaganda traffic over the DMZ border. [5]
North Korea has responded to South Korean threats by ending formal relations with South Korea and exiting the non-aggression pact[6]. The fate of the Kaesong economic zone is also up in the air, changing as I write this[7].
The response by the Japanese government is sternly behind South Korea. Japan has begun discussion on ramping up sanctions[8], suspending financial activity between Japan and North Korea, increasing the vigilance of the JSDF (Japanese Self-Defense Force)[9], and calling for action at the UN.
The United States has so far condemned North Korea and asked China to act responsibly to the situation (more specifically US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while touring Asian countries). The United States and Japan have also begun talks in regards to the future of North Korea on regional security[10].
China has called for nations involved to act calmly and act only to maintain peaceful relations on the peninsula[11].
Fallout and Impacts
I doubt conflict will be the ultimate conclusion of the recent turn of events. It is simply in no one’s interest for conflict to occur. There remains interesting implications for how neighboring countries in East Asia and the United States view each other afterwards.
If China continues to play soft with North Korea it will not add legitimacy in the eyes of the U.S., Japan, and South Korea. It is constantly harped on in news sources and from experts that North Korean stability is important to China because of their concern of a possible flood of refugees from North Korea. This is often indicative of China’s motivation for how they handle escapees of North Korea currently. While stability is important for more than just China, the status quo of stability is not favorable to the long term security of northeast Asia. In kind, China’s refusal to provide impetus for reform in North Korea is viewed by the 6-party nations as irresponsible. If China acts in a way unfavorable to South Korea, Japan, and the United States it will only support the idea that although China’s economic and military power has increased dramatically its ability to act as a responsible political entity in the Asian community is questionable. Alternatives fall onto the Japan-US alliance in the Pacific and in general leads to a greater faith in these countries from South Korea. The call for China to be responsible comes not only from the US, but also South Korea as seen in a Chosun Ilbo editorial[12].
The impact for South Korea is so far quite negative. The uncertainty about the escalation has affected the South Korean stock market adversely and the reunification/peace process has undoubtedly been set back. Naturally if war ends up erupting it is not good for either country, North Korea more than anyone, but South Korea could also be in grave danger (think massive amounts of artillery that is pointed at Seoul). It should be mentioned that elections are looming in South Korea and it will be interesting to see how President Lee Myung-Bak will be affected.
I will group Japan and the United States together because there are some impacts that are unique to these two countries. It appears this event will bolster the U.S.-Japan security relationship because the event shows a material reason for having U.S. presence in Japan when the Futenma issue is still very much alive. Also the U.S. and Japanese response in juxtaposition to China’s extended shrugging-of-shoulders makes the U.S. and Japan more viable partners in the eyes of South Korea in the future. I would not expect this impact to be close to a major shift, China is here to stay, but it does not reflect well when you do not take a harder line against South Korea’s now “number one enemy”[13]. Both the U.S. and Japanese military are going to be on guard, but naturally this will affect the U.S. more than Japan.
It is difficult to gauge what is going on and what will happen in North Korea, especially in the upcoming days. There are some things to think about though. The past year has been an interesting one with North Korea, namely in regards to the poor monetary choices by the North Korean government which made North Koreans wealth even more worthless. Succession is also a fast-approaching possibility. If war actually broke out and China cut North Korea loose it could be the beginning of the end and East Asia would have to brace for a collapse in North Korea.
Something Like A Conclusion
My main conclusion is this issue is probably more important for how it reflects on relations between East Asian countries rather than an actual military conflict occurring, at least hopefully so. More specifically it could easily be another case of China refusing to act in a responsible manner. While China is correct in hoping for peace to be maintained, the status quo it supports is not very conducive to stopping brinkmanship or long-term stability. In general China’s position to North Korea is based on economic engagement and procuring natural resources. In and of itself this is not a bad thing because of the leverage it provides China. Personally, this aspect of China’s North Korea policy is important to look at when we think of the effectiveness of sanctions. If China does not engage in sanctions then sanctions become counter-productive, but also it highlights why sanctions are not a particularly effective strategy. Imagine if the U.S. had a similar relationship with North Korea and actually used said leverage responsibly. That is an issue of too little too late, so we can only ask China to do what China should do if its legitimate neighbors should trust China.
Note on sources: I tried to use a variety of sources when looking at this issue and I am sure there are many good ones I missed. I have referenced the Christian Science Monitor, CNN, Reuters, Koreas’ JoonAng Daily and Chosun Ilbo, China’s Xinhua news service and Japan’s Yomiuri.
Most misleading article title I found while doing this entry: "Okada's Japan thrown into chaos by Korea". I thought the reference was to the Foreign Minister Okada...nope it was the soccer coach of the Japanese national soccer team that was defeated by South Korea 2-0...
Air Doll is Koreeda’s latest film, based loosely on a manga by Yoshie Goda. The film follows an inflatable sex doll’s Pinocchio-esque transformation to life, only to quickly discover the discontents of being human. The film begins by following middle aged Hideo, Itsuji Itao, home from his humdrum job as a waiter at Big Boy to his bachelor pad complete with constellation lighting and Nozomi (Bae Doona), his inflatable partner in small talk and coitus. Soon a change begins to happen within Nozomi: she receives a heart and life, trust me there is no back story to this gift and honestly any back story would be a distraction in the film. Unbeknownst to Hideo, while he is out Nozomi begins wandering about the town coming into contact with various troubled characters and finally finding a job at the local independent movie store. Cue love interest with coworker Junichi (Arata). Nozomi’s character develops along with her relationship with Junichi. At the same time, the parallel between Nozomi and real people becomes more pronounced.
Although the film presents a lot of current ‘social ills’, if you will, in Japan, the message is not unique to Japan or definitively Japanese. The heart of the dilemma that faces Nozomi and her human counterparts is how the Self relates and comes to terms with the Other. In other words, interpersonal relationships and self-image is the core focus of the film. Koreeda’s use of a doll (for the time being looking over the cultural propensity to use dolls as vehicles for stories) to explore the subject is extremely fitting. The owner projects itself on the doll and the doll simply reflects back onto the owner what the owner wants. The one-sided nature of this relationship begins to lose its relevance to dolls alone as the film progresses characterized by the line repeated throughout the film by Nozomi, “I am an air doll, a substitute for handling sexual desire”. Later in the film it becomes apparent that the first clause can simply be dropped. Nozomi’s character has the ability to make pithy insights, similar to the unabashed statements of a child, but with much darker content and themes. As Nozomi wrestles with the blurry line she walks her transformation becomes complete by the end of the film.
Bae Doona, a Korean actress, really is a great pick for this film. There are moments that feel awkward near the beginning, but I doubt the desired emotion was anything but awkwardness. Her expressions, her reactions to situations, and her troubled naivety work well for walking the line between human and doll. Naturally, the fact she is Korean surrounded by a Japanese cast does play to her ‘off’ behavior, but boiling it down to her simple Japanese and the fact everyone in Japan knows she is Korean is over simplistic. Much like in “Linda Linda Linda” Bae Doona’s limited use of Japanese makes her expressions more meaningful. The other casting is pretty standard with some popular actors and comedians tossed in for the commercial draw. Not to downplay their performances, especially Itsuji Itao’s which is a big jump from manzai , but Bae really shines in comparison.
I have read some critics’ flak for the length of the movie and the cavalcade of ancillary characters. I’d say fifty percent of it is warranted. While the different characters reflect some social misfits, eccentrics, and the generally looked-down-upons that does not mean they offer anything besides another layer of the same thing. Cutting out maid-lover boy, borderline hikkikomori girl, and the local oshaberi elderly lady would probably be sufficient. The others have a greater relevance to the main thread of the story and are also believable, not easily written off as extreme cases. No question in my mind about the last dandelion scene. It borders on typical melodrama that is just not represented anywhere else in the film and should have hit the floor.
The cinematography is quite different from the previous Koreeda film I talked about, Maborosi. Most of the film is done with tracking shots of varying lengths and at times switching directions in one take. The result is a more fluid rather than austere looking film like Maborosi. It fits the attitude of the film nicely following the swings of emotion Nozomi faces with her newfound heart. The portrayal of the city in which the story takes place is also very real, with slightly subdued color palettes. Personally, it was fairly nostalgic and true to my experiences living around Osaka (although the story does not take place in Osaka) – down to the storefronts and political posters in the background. Once again, this part of the film deviates greatly from the more manicured and symbolic shots of Maborosi, but is still fitting for Air Doll.
After my first viewing the movie stayed with me until the next day. It is a sad movie and the sadness is palpable. Despite being a more commercial movie a lot of the scenes and messages are typical of Koreeda’s earlier films. Although some of the craftsmanship differs, I came away from the film surprised with how well Koreeda carried the theme throughout the film and how it ended.
When watching films before it seemed to be without order or forethought, just what I was watching at the time, but I have decided to put a little more rhyme to my reason and discipline for an ongoing spurt of movie watching and re-watching. I have decided to do some films of Koreeda Hirokazu/是枝裕和. The first picture I will discuss will be Maborosi (幻の光). I will try to do Air Doll (空気人形), Nobody Knows (誰も知らない), Still Walking (歩いても、歩いても), After Life (ワンダフルライフ), and an old blog entry that tied Hana (はなよりのなほ) to a book I happened to be reading at the time. Koreeda makes great films. As far as Asia is concerned, he and Kim Ki-duk are probably my favorite directors who began working in the past couple decades.
Maborosi – Maboroshi no Hikari – 幻の光 – Illusion’s Light
This film, made in 1995, is Koreeda’s first big release outside of Japan. Despite it being the oldest, it is the one I have only recently viewed. The film begins in Osaka, with a newlywed couple (Ikuo and Yumiko) who have a newborn son (Yuichi). The first arc of the film which builds up the relationship between Ikuo and Yumiko comes to an end upon Ikuo’s apparent suicide. After the passing of a few years, Yumiko is set up with a man, with some Osaka connections, who has also lost his spouse and is left with his young daughter. This is not the arranged marriage-as-prison film you may foresee, the man, Tamio, is far from a disagreeable person. Yumiko and Yuichi move to the Noto Peninsula (about 250 miles northeast of Osaka) where Tamio and his daughter live. The rest of the film follows Yumiko’s acclimatization to her new situation and lingering feelings about Ikuo.
The film unsurprisingly deals with subjects of loss, transition, and to some degree the classical existential dilemma of absurdity in the face of death. The last theme is admittedly arguable, but the random and unexpected manner of Ikuo’s death is a large cause of the angst and trepidation Yumiko wrestles with throughout the film. Yumiko’s inability to stop her grandmother from wandering off home to her death sets up the idea of futility in the face of death for Yumiko and the audience. The other themes of loss and transition are more obvious rather than inferred.
The other themes tend to have motifs tied to light. Light is used a lot by Koreeda in a variety of ways, often in combination with tunnels, doors, windows, and tatami shots. Moreover there are a few types of light: bright showers of light, dull yellow and at times blue light, and chiaroscuro-esque lighting. The bright showers of light are rare and usually isolate and focus on an object otherwise kept in darkness or dim light. Dull yellow and blue light, especially pale blue light reflecting off the ocean at the Noto Peninsula, tends to highlight burdensome moments, or moments of reflection on loss. These two different types of light evoke different feelings but towards a similar purpose. Lastly chiaroscuro, which is emphasized by the almost persistent use of dark clothes, as if to be in mourning, gives characters a ghostly, featureless presence on camera.
The effect of the lighting and objects that denote transition gives Yumiko especially a transient, depressed air. In contrast, Yumiko’s son and new daughter seem to acclimate easily to the change in their lives. The scene which is an obvious turning point is when the children are playing in the surrounding area a common motif shows up – the dark tunnel, illuminated at the end. The major difference is the light at the end of the tunnel is verdant and spring-like. Yumiko is unable to make a similar transition, and her new husband does not show any similar trepidation ostensibly until later. This is how the tension in the film is carried out. Yumiko sits or tucks away her loss, she hides it like the bell she hides from Tamio later, and the film follows her through it. The other quotidian adults and quick to adapt children serve as useful counterpoints.
Besides lighting, the tatami-level shots in the film add to Yumiko’s meditative, ghostly qualities. Personally, in Ozu’s films tatami-level shots have always represented what goes unsaid in conversation. Often the viewer is inspired with a sense of loss as they have to piece in the unsaid. Although not an Ozu film, it has a similar effect for me. Especially when the tatami shots are coupled with yellow light and black clothing the feeling is amplified. The best example being Yumiko sitting at the main table alone, wearing the usual black garb, with an intense yellow light, and holding the bell she had given Ikuo before his death. The scene evokes a stoic, austere figure – soon to finally break down.
The end of the film has Yumiko following a funeral procession until finally, around dusk, she is standing alone on a rocky shore jutting into the ocean, soon after Tamio arrives. If there is any resolution to the film’s dilemma it is simply everyone has inexplicable moments. Despite Ikuo and Yumiko having a relationship where little seems to be going wrong, with both characters leading happy if modest lives, something happened. What happened is inconclusive, which seems once again characteristic of the inferred theme I discuss earlier.
The film is a visual film. There is a lot of thought put into the shots and the mood they create, and it shows. That being said, it is purposefully slow in some regards, but it works. If you dislike films like that, work on it is all I can say. The music, composed by Chen Ming Chang, is also well suited to the film.
Dodes'ka-den - Kurosawa's first color film. I could not finish it and I think it is the first time I have not been able to finish a Kurosawa movie. The use of color is kind of nice to look at, but not enough to overlook all the other problems. The story is a vignette of different characters living in a slum with a variety of problems. The character and story development is not very good and it just feels like a jumble. 2/5
Stray Dog - Hey it was pretty good. 3.5/5
Honey and Clover(film) - A nice break. 3/5
A Story of Floating Weeds - Really enjoyable. I have not watched many silent films, let alone silent Ozu films. The story is about an traveling theater troupe stopping a town where the troupe leader has a mistress and a 20-21 year old son (who is unaware that said troupe leader is his father). Anyways, young love, jealousy of current mistress etc. follows. I think Ozu's style of filming (often called tatami-level) fits silent films very well. 4.5/5
Fear and Trembling - This is actually a reviewing. This is a French film about a Belgian woman born in Japan but spends a good part of her adolescent life in Belgium where her parents are from. She returns to Japan to work as a translator, but instead her job often appears to be discovering how to navigate the Japanese business culture the hard way. There are some problematic and overly-dramatic moments but overall its a good watch. 4/5
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