Nasrallah's Game
By Adam Shatz at The Nation (31.07.2006 Issue).
Sunday, 23 July 2006
Friday, 30 June 2006
Growing Up Gitmo
By Lara Setrakian at ABC News (29.06.2006) :
Omar Khadr isn't your average Guantanamo detainee. A Canadian citizen of Arab descent, Khadr was taken into U.S. custody when he was 15 years old on charges of killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. Now 19, Omar has spent four years of his teenage life growing up at Gitmo.
And now that the Supreme Court has ruled that trying Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law, it's unclear when, or if, he'll get the chance to argue for his freedom.
Tuesday, 27 June 2006
Young generation in 2 minds about Japan
Hiroshi Matsubara's interview with Wang Min at Asahi.com (26.06.2006). On China and Yasukuni, Kenji Miyazawa.
Monday, 26 June 2006
What's in it for them to return us to 'prewar values'?
By Roger Pulvers at The Japan Times (25.06.2006). A must read.
Also see "Japan's Conservatives Push Prewar 'Virtues' in Schools" by Norimitsu O'nishi at The NY Times (11.06.2006).
Sunday, 25 June 2006
Saturday, 24 June 2006
Thursday, 22 June 2006
Board seeks guests who sat during 'Kimigayo'
At a Toda assembly meeting on June 13, Ryoichi Ito, the head of the education board, was informed that some guests did not stand up and sing the anthem at the ceremonies.
"It makes me seethe with anger," Ito replied. "It disrupts the order of ceremony. If it is true, then we must know (who did not stand)."
Simply, Ito-san is idiotic.
Via 絵ロ具 (20.06.2006).
Wednesday, 21 June 2006
The ugly truth about everyday life in Baghdad (by the US ambassador)
Confidential memo edited by The Independent (20.06.2006).
Free culture and the internet: a new semiotic democracy
By Elizabeth Stark at Open Democracy (20.06.2006).
NHK's Finest Hour : Japan's Official Record of Chinese Forced Labor
By William Underwood at ZNet (20.06.2006).
Friday, 16 June 2006
US Seen as a Bigger Threat to Peace Than Iran, Worldwide Poll Suggests
By Ewen MacAskill at The Guardian/CommonDreams (15.06.2006).
Thursday, 15 June 2006
Lieutenant Watada's War Against the War
By Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith at The Nation (26.06.2006 Issue).
Just what are "Incomplete Jews?"
By Michael Standaert at NthPosition (06.06.2006). Via Euro Correspondent. Worth a read.
Wednesday, 14 June 2006
Image of U.S. falls again
By Brian Knowlton at IHT (14.06.2006) :
Favorable views of the United States dropped sharply over the past year in Spain, where only 23 percent now say they have a positive opinion, down from 41 percent in 2005, according to the survey, which was carried out in 15 nations this spring by the Pew Research Center. In Britain, Washington's closest ally in the Iraq war, positive views of America have remained in the mid-50s in the past two years, still down sharply from 75 percent in 2002.
Other countries where positive views dropped significantly include India (56 percent, down from 71 percent since 2005); Russia (43 percent, down from 52 percent); and Indonesia (30 percent, down from 38 percent).
In Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States, only 12 percent said they held a favorable opinion, down from 23 percent last year.
Declines were less steep in France, Germany and Jordan, while people in China and Pakistan had a slightly more favorable image of the United States this year than last.
Tuesday, 13 June 2006
Fuss over fingerprinting
Community Page readers on Japan's new immigration law at The Japan Times (13.06.2006).
Monday, 12 June 2006
Parce qu'il n'y a qu'une espèce humaine
By Etienne Balibar, Marie Desplechin, Gérard Noiriel & Bertrand Ogilvie at Libération (12.06.2006).
Stop Rokkasho
Homepage by Ryu'ichi Sakamoto. Here is a signature form for petition. Hope that you all around the world will join this activity.
Sunday, 11 June 2006
Britons begin to turn away from alliance with America
By Peter Riddell at Times Online (07.06.2006).
"Ce pays est-il encore une démocratie ?"
Josyane Savigneau interviews Kurt Vonnegut at Le Monde (08.06.2006).
Saturday, 10 June 2006
"I Knew that I Would Die in There"
By Roman Heflik on "World Cup and prostitution" at Spiegel International (09.06.2006).
Friday, 09 June 2006
Google is voicing some doubt over China
By Thomas Crampton at International Herald Tribune (08.06.2006).
His Majesty on the Education Law revision
From "Press Conference by Their Majesties The Emperor and Empress of Japan Before Their Majesties’ Visit to the Republic of Singapore and the Kingdom of Thailand" (Imperial Palace, Tokyo, 06.06.2006) at Kunaicho Homepage :
Question 4
This question is for His Majesty The Emperor. Efforts are underway to revise the Fundamental Law of Education of Japan in the direction of promoting patriotism. However, in neighboring countries, including the countries that Your Majesty is scheduled to visit this month, there are concerns that such developments may result in a shift to the kind of nationalist education that existed before the Second World War. Does Your Majesty share that view?Response by His Majesty
The issue of the revision of the Fundamental Law of Education is a matter that is currently being debated in the Diet, and given my position under the Constitution I would refrain from making any comment on the matter.Education is extremely important for the development of a nation and stability of its society, and I believe that the advances that Japan has so far achieved are to a great degree due to the great efforts that our people have made for education.
I hope that the people involved will conduct full discussions on how Japan’s future education should be and that the people of Japan will grow to cherish their own nation and its people, while also having at heart the happiness of the peoples of other nations of the world.
As for the question of whether or not a situation similar to that which prevailed during the pre-war period may arise, the situation nowadays is quite different from that of the pre-war period. I believe that the cause for this difference is a matter which should be left to the historians and, as such, I would refrain from making any comment. However, there is a fact that during the six-year period from 5th to 11th year of Showa or, 1930 to 1936 there was an abnormal situation where a series of attacks on high government officials resulted in the deaths of four standing and former prime ministers. Although the Imperial Diet did continue after that, it did bring an end to the period of cabinets formed by political parties. It would indeed have been extremely difficult for members of parliament or people to speak freely under such circumstances.
I believe that many of the people of Japan will bear in mind that there existed such a period prior to the Second World War and, that Japan will continue along a path on which such circumstances will never arise again.
教育基本法改正について、天皇陛下のコメント。いい感情は抱いていないのかな。判断しにくいところ。
Thursday, 08 June 2006
In Praise of the Maligned Sweatshop
By Nicholas D. Kristof at The NY Times/Donkey o.d. (06.06.2006).
Tuesday, 06 June 2006
Travailler jusqu'à 80 ans ?
Laure Belot interviews Shripad Tuljapurk (demographer and biologist) at Le Monde (03.06.2006).
「８０歳まで働くの？」 高齢化社会の問題は、日本だけというわけではないよ。
Monday, 05 June 2006
Japan’s Worker Co-operative Movement into the 21st Century
By Bob Marshall at Japan Focus (01.06.2006).
Sunday, 04 June 2006
Friday, 02 June 2006
Skipping Toward Armageddon
Michael Standaert's first critical work on Left Behind series is published by Soft Skull Press. It was in August 2005 when I ordered this book at Amazon.co.jp. Nearly ten months passed and now it arrived here. You can download a PDF file, which contains "Introduction" and "Chapter One."
His writing reminds me of Inuhiko Yomota. Do you?
"Soft Skull Not Going with Left Behind" by Steven Zaitchik at Publishers Weekly (02.05.2005).
Thursday, 01 June 2006
Japanese teacher fined over national anthem protest
By David Pilling at Financial Times (31.05.2006).
Wednesday, 31 May 2006
Tuesday, 30 May 2006
Tokyo épinglé par Amnesty International pour discrimination
By Philippe Pons at Le Monde (26.05.2006).
Monday, 29 May 2006
Sunday, 28 May 2006
Saturday, 27 May 2006
Enron's Schemes "The Very Nature of Profit-Based, Market Capitalism"
By Wallace Roberts at CommonDreams (26.05.2006).
"Enormous influence of the business elite on the legislative policies at all levels of government seriously distorts the democratic nature of our society." — Wendy Gramm.
Friday, 26 May 2006
Iraq, Vietnam, and the dilemmas of United States soldiers
By James M. Shelly at Open Democracy (25.05.2006).
Once a Friend and Ally, Now a Distant Memory
By Zachary A. Goldfarb at Washington Post (26.05.2006).
Debord à ras bord
Edouard Waintrop reviews Guy Debord, Œuvres (Gallimard «Quarto»), at Libération (25.05.2006).
Drifting Down the Path to Perdition
An interview with Andrew Bacevich (part 2) at TomDispatch (25.05.2006).
Lay, Skilling Convicted in Enron Collapse
By Kristen Hays at AP (26.05.2006) :
HOUSTON (AP) -- Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were convicted of conspiracy and fraud Thursday by a federal jury that laid blame for one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history squarely on Enron Corp.'s two former top executives.
Jurors found that the men, who received tens of millions in pay and stock options, repeatedly lied to cover up accounting tricks and business failures that led to the company's 2001 demise. The collapse wiped out more than $60 billion in market value, almost $2.1 billion in pension plans and 5,600 jobs.
Thursday, 25 May 2006
'We the Japanese people'
By Hikari Agakimi at Asia Times (25.05.2006) :
Japan is in the midst of a grand social transformation. Political manners, economic rules, patterns of everyday life and international relations are all in flux. The last time Japan saw change of great magnitude was after the defeat in World War II by US design. This time there is no blueprint, and the Japanese are groping for a vision. What do the Japanese want?
Wednesday, 24 May 2006
Tuesday, 23 May 2006
LDP may try to take away tax deduction for 'NEETs'
At The Japan Times (22.05.2006).
とにかく、政府は、どんなところからでも税金を吸い上げようとしている。天下りを全面的に廃止するほうが、先決ではないかな。
Neo-Nazi Violence on the Rise in Germany
At Spiegel International (22.05.2006).
Wish that Germans would post a comment.
Saturday, 20 May 2006
Friday, 19 May 2006
Japan anti-terror law may criminalise foreigners
At Times of India (18.05.2006) :
TOKYO: A UN human rights investigator said on Thursday he was concerned that a Japanese law calling for the fingerprinting and photographing of all foreigners as an anti-terror measure was the equivalent of treating them like criminals.
Thursday, 18 May 2006
Wednesday, 17 May 2006
Beware the muted enemy within remilitarizing Japan
By Roger Pulvers at The Japan Times (14.05.2006) :
The Japanese people, thanks to this deliberate LDP policy executed by Nakasone and refined by Koizumi, have accepted the need for a proactive, alerted defense. But the last 20 years have done nothing to bolster and refine the democratic processes in society that could prevent a newly empowered military from once again overstepping its bounds. If you have a full-fledged military under civilian control, then those civilian decision makers need to be controlled themselves by a populace aware of its democratic rights and knowledgeable about how to exercise them.
The postwar era in Japan -- with its deeply felt aversion to militarism -- is over. The question is: If push came to shove, who would stop it from being an interwar era presaging something unimaginable -- even compared with the horrors of the last war?
Tuesday, 16 May 2006
Monday, 15 May 2006
Gender-Equal Society law branded absurd at best, 'fascist' at worst
By Michael Hoffman at The Japan Times (14.05.2006).
Saturday, 13 May 2006
Conspiracy bill raises questions as Diet showdown nears
By Reiji Yoshida at The Japan Times (11.05.2006).
Condoleezza Rice at Boston College? I quit
Steve Almond's open letter to William P. Leahy (president of Boston College), at The Boston Globe (12.05.2006).
Friday, 12 May 2006
Thursday, 11 May 2006
Psychiatrist, 100, fights to clear late convict's name
By Keiji Hirano at The Japan Times (10.05.2006) :
A 100-year-old psychiatrist will lead the struggle to clear the name of Sadamichi Hirasawa, who spent decades on death row after being convicted of mass murder in a 1948 bank robbery known as the Teigin Incident.
"I believe Mr. Hirasawa is innocent, and it is deplorable that people have almost forgotten he was detained for more than 30 years with continual fear of execution," Haruo Akimoto said. "It is a terrible human rights violation by Japan's judicial system."
Jacques Chirac dément "catégoriquement" avoir possédé un compte au Japon
At AFP/Le Monde (09.05.2006) :
Jacques Chirac a vigoureusement nié avoir jamais possédé un compte au Japon, comme l'a affirmé Le Canard enchaîné, a déclaré, mardi 9 mai, l'entourage du chef de l'Etat, qui dénonce une "campagne de calomnies". "Le président de la République dément catégoriquement les informations rapportées par Le Canard enchaîné. Le président de la République n'a jamais possédé aucun compte à la Sowa Bank", ajoute-t-on de même source.
Le Canard enchaîné affirme, dans son édition à paraître mercredi, que le général Philippe Rondot a déclaré au cours de sa déposition le 28 mars devant les juges Jean-Marie d'Huy et Henri Pons, chargés de l'affaire Clearstream, que le président Jacques Chirac possédait un compte crédité de 300 millions de francs au Japon.
Selon Le Canard, le général Rondot a affirmé, citant des documents de la DGSE, que cette somme (environ 45,5 millions d'euros aujourd'hui) aurait été versée sur ce compte, à la Tokyo Sowa Bank, au cours des dernières années par une mystérieuse "fondation culturelle".
シラク大統領は否定しているけど、どうなのかな。隠し子の次は、隠し口座ですか。東京相和銀行をもちだしているところが、いかにもそれらしいのだけど……。
Scraping to fill the shelves of the Bush library
By Derrick Z. Jackson at The Boston Globe (10.05.2006) :
IN THE Texas competition for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, the city of Irving promises $50 million in hotel tax revenue on behalf of the University of Dallas. Baylor University President John Lilley says, ''We'll raise whatever is required." Southern Methodist University may trump that with pedigree. Alumnae include Laura Bush and confidantes Karen Hughes and Harriet Miers. Vice President Dick Cheney was a SMU trustee when he ran Halliburton.
Wednesday, 10 May 2006
2 Years Later, Slayings in Iraq and Lost Cash Are Mysteries
By James Glantz on Fern Holland at The NY Times (09.05.2006) | Permalink.
Monday, 08 May 2006
Saturday, 06 May 2006
Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Bush challenges hundreds of laws
By Charlie Savage at The Boston Globe (30.04.2006), via Irregular Times.
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.
Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.
アメリカ憲法を超越するモーメントが、アメリカ憲法に内在するのかな。憲法学者はどう考えているのか、ちょっと調べてみよう。
In Minamata, a 'sad anniversary'
MINAMATA, Kumamoto Prefecture--The city that gave its name to Minamata disease marked the 50th anniversary Monday since doctors first diagnosed what proved to be the nation's worst case of pollution-related illness in the postwar period.
A sense of betrayal and mistrust of the central government among some citizens pervaded Monday's observances, not surprising since no prime minister has ever visited to assess the situation first-hand.
Minamata resident Fujie Sakamoto, 81, summed up the feelings of many sufferers when she said, "The 50th anniversary is not a festival. The government should be ashamed that it cannot solve the problems of uncertified patients, even after 50 years. For us, this is a sad anniversary."
"水俣に関する空虚な首相談話" at 壊れる前に….
Bush's Last Day
Homepage 01.20.09 via Bring It On!
こんなサイトがあるとは、知りませんでした。任期満了まで、秒単位でカウントダウンしている。キーホールダーまで販売されている。 
When in doubt . . . dust off a fervor so infamously fatal
By Roger Pulvers on "aikokushin (patriotism)" at The Japan Times (30.04.2006).
Monday, 01 May 2006
Death's Dominion
Peter Ackroyd's bookreview on Catharine Arnold, Necropolis : London and its Dead (Simon & Schuster), at The Times (29.04.2006).
すごいタイトルだけど、読んでみたいね。東京だって、死者の上に築かれた都市だもの。
Friday, 28 April 2006
L'"amour du pays" promu objectif de l'éducation au Japon
At Reuters/Yahoo! France (28.04.2006).
Aux termes de cette réforme, l'objectif de l'éducation serait de "cultiver une attitude respectant traditions et culture, l'amour de la nation et de la patrie, le respect des autres nations et la contribution à la paix et au développement de la communauté internationale".
L'un des plus chauds partisans de ce texte est Shinzo Abe, actuel secrétaire général du gouvernement et le mieux placé, pour le moment, pour succéder au Premier ministre Junichiro Koizumi, qui doit démissionner en septembre.
面白いよね、アメリカ奴隷の安倍官房長官が、「愛国心」を教育基本法に挿入するように主張してるんだから。ここでは、小泉首相の後継として紹介されている。ポンスなら、こんな記事は書かないな。
Tuesday, 25 April 2006
'Conspiracy' bill brings Aesop's Fables to mind
In one of Aesop's Fables, a group of mice hold a conference one day to discuss how to protect themselves from a cat. One mouse suggests belling the cat, but when it comes down to who will do it, none of them has the courage to volunteer. The story ends there, and one assumes the mice went back to living as usual in fear of the cat.
But the story could end quite differently, if it were put in the context of the new "conspiracy" bill under Diet deliberation.
Specifically, the "mice" could end up being charged with conspiring to "obstruct the cat's business."
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