Saturday, May 16, 2009

"Till All be Fulfilled"



(Around Tokyo)

"Till All be Fulfilled"


The Democratic Party of Japan has today elected Mr. Yukio Hatoyama as successor of Mr. Ichiro Ozawa.

New head of the DPJ Mr. Hatoyama will lead the party into the coming general election. If he should win over the LDP, Mr. Hatoyama will replace Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso.

The very pro-America LDP looks however die-hard trying to keep power, though the ever increasing gap between the poor and the rich in the Japanese society needs a real regime change sometime.

Anyway, the first Japanese prime minister from the DPJ will be either Mr. Yukio Hatoyama or Mr. Katsuya Okada who has competed with Mr. Hatoyama today, though both of the men graduated from the University of Tokyo.

*** *** *** ***

There are many differences between the Roman Empire and the American Empire.

But, two things are strongly common: money and military.

And, the third one might be their facing a climate change, for example:
---------
Did Climate Change Kill the Roman Empire?
By LEE DYE
Dec. 10, 2008

"We are not able to say for sure that climate change was definitely the reason that the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire declined, but rather that we now have data that correlates with the hypothesis historians have put forward," Orland said. "We're just adding data to the big pile that's already there."

Scholars have debated for centuries over the causes of those declines, and no doubt much more was at work than just climate change. But some records indicate that trade and agriculture both declined, which could have been caused by droughts. However, many historians also point to high taxes on goods and farmland as a probable cause for those declines.


http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/JustOneThing/Story?id=6428550&page=2
---------

Little rainfall is sometimes accompanied by a fall of temperature. A dry and cool climate does not fit to the image of the Roman Empire.

Anyway, it was the era when agriculture was the only source for wealth that could sustain the great city Rome where no manufacturing industry existed and no import/export relationship was established with other regions.

If regions colonized by the Romans had suffered from significant decrease of agricultural production due to a climate change for years, the Roman Empire must have lost justification to occupy the region. To feed a million citizens in Rome, they absolutely needed a nice climate.

(To be continued...)




(Grand, il a été vraiment très bien. It is so, since it looked like "ad rem"...   

http://www.just-oldies.com/1969/this_magic_moment.htm )





Mat 5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Friday, May 15, 2009

"Give thy Rewards to Another"




(To and Through Tokyo; click to enlarge.)


"Give thy Rewards to Another"


Look around. You see many industrial products around you. To let them function, you need electricity. But, it is not 1950's or 1960's anymore. Those appliances must be intelligently controlled.

Jet planes, cars, TVs, computers, and cellular phones must be intelligently controlled. Even power generation plants must be intelligently controlled using many technologies which are embodied through various electronic devices.

All the modern equipment is controlled by a small computer chip inside it. The computer chip is called microcomputer (microprocessor).

Of course, there are other types of semiconductor devices Korean makers, Taiwanese makers, and Chinese makers are good at mass-producing.

But, the core of the electric and electronic devices is the microcomputer (microprocessor), since it functions with a CPU, software, and memory inside it.

High quality of this modern life and society is based on mankind's invention of the microcomputer (microprocessor).

But, who produces it most? It is Japan.



Even to save energy in using electric or electronic equipment, you have to control functions of the equipment intelligently. You desperately need microcomputers for energy saving and preventing unnecessary emission of CO2 in addition to realizing complicated and high-quality functions.

To fight the global warming, you need microcomputers (microprocessors). And Japan is the No.1 country in this technology.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microprocessor

*** *** *** ***

The Roman Empire was supported by coins and troops. These are two major pillars that separated the Empire from any other nations with more longer history and culturally richer background.

And, the coins allowed the Empire to recruit and maintain soldiers who served the Empire for the salary paid in the form of coins. This scheme is rather modern than of antiquity.

The Empire must have learnt how to buy service of soldiers as well as engineers.

----------------------
Pay
From the time of Gaius Marius onwards, legionaries received 225 denarii a year; this basic rate remained unchanged until Domitian, who increased it to 300 denarii. In spite of the steady inflation during the 2nd century, there was no further rise until the time of Septimius Severus, who increased it to 500 denarii a year. However, the soldiers did not receive all the money in cash. From their pay was deducted the money spent by the state for clothing and feeding each soldier, therefore the net salary was not very high.

All legionary soldiers would also receive a sizeable sum of money on the completion of their term of service: 3000 denarii from the time of Augustus and/or a plot of good farmland (good land was in much demand). Later, under Caracalla, the praemia increased to 5000 denarii.
...

Roman military equipment, particularly armour, was far more ubiquitous and heavy, especially in the late Republican / Early Imperial era, than that of most of their opponents. Soldiers equipped with shields, helmets and highly effective body armor had a major advantage over warriors protected, in many cases, with nothing other than their shields, particularly in a prolonged engagement.

Roman engineering skills were second to none in the ancient world, and their mastery of both offensive and defensive siege warfare, specifically the construction and investiture of fortifications, was another major advantage for the Roman Legions.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_legion
----------------------

In history, there are only two cases that a nation has not equipped itself with military in proportion to its economic base and technological level.

The first is the Sumerian kingdom of more than 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia.

The second is Japan of today.

(To be continued...)





(I once heard this song. I did not want to listen to it again. But, there it was. Ce n'est pas à l'Empire romain, mais aussi pour l'Empire du Japon, jeune femme.

http://www.fukuchan.ac/music/j-mt/senyu.html )




Dan 5:13 Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?

Dan 5:14 I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.

Dan 5:15 And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing:

Dan 5:16 And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Dan 5:17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.


Thursday, May 14, 2009

"He Saveth the Poor from the Sword"





(It took more than 30 years for the Tokugawas to build the Great Edo Castle early in the 17th century. The castle has been used as the Imperial Palace of Japan since the late 19th century.)


"He Saveth the Poor from the Sword"


(Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Non-Money Economy)


First of all, you must understand the following historical theses, so that no professors of history could take you so lightly:
1) Judaism emerged, since mankind's early civilization in the west failed around 2000 B.C.

2) Buddhism emerged, since mankind's early civilization in the east failed around 500 B.C.

3) Christianity emerged, since Judaism failed around the 1st century.

4) Islam emerged, since Christianity failed around 500.

(5) Non-money economy is expected to emerge, since Islam failed around 2000.)


*** *** *** ***

Now, let's check who the Roman Emperor was when Jesus Christ lived and died, since Jesus Christ truly mentioned the emperor in his teaching concerning tax and conspiracy.

-------------
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero (November 16, 42 BC – March 16, AD 37), was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla.
....
Were he to have died prior to AD 23, he might have been hailed as an exemplary ruler.[82] Despite the overwhelmingly negative characterization left by Roman historians, Tiberius left the imperial treasury with nearly 3 billion sesterces upon his death.
....

The sestertius, or sesterce, was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiberius#Tiberius_in_Capri.2C_Sejanus_in_Rome

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesterces
-------------

It is not a small number. Even toady if you have three billion coins in Japan or the U.S., you would be regarded as a very or super rich man.


(To be continued...)




(Quand le soleil attend aussi grand que la lune, l'humanité est appelée à émerger. That is why we still see this miracle every evening in the sky. That is why somebody must work hard late in the night, darling.

http://www.just-oldies.com/1969/aquarius.htm )



Job 5:10 Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:

Job 5:11 To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.

Job 5:12 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.

Job 5:13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

Job 5:14 They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope in the noonday as in the night.

Job 5:15 But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.





Wednesday, May 13, 2009

"And in His Right Mind"



(Old Great Edo Castle, Tokyo)


"And in His Right Mind"


(Discontinuity of Civilization)


When Christians of the Roman Empire, including the Roman Emperor, started to suppress, segregate, and assail Judaists, the fate of the Roman Empire was decided to be doomed.

And, the Roman Christianity itself proved itself to be fatally flawed, leading to the emergence of Islam.

In short, the three major historical incidents, the predicament newly imposed on Judaists in the Empire, the fall of the Roman Empire, and the rise of Islam were all interwoven in a series of proceeding of the history.

However, blood, sweat, and tears of the movement were mainly embodied through invasions of wild tribes to the Empire, since the Roman Empire was based on coins and troops.


(Germanic and Hunnic invasions of the Roman Empire, 100-500 AD)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Roman_Empire

*** *** *** ***

It was not so easy for the great Empire to fall and for its glory and civilization to actually vanish away.

When you are discussing continuity or discontinuity, you have to focus on the magnitude and size of the Empire in addition to the economic and military power.

Indeed people continued to live in Italy and France after the fall of the Roman Empire without interruption; but the splendor and the might of the Empire were not relayed to those people who had no knowledge, know-hows, technology, and management ability of the Empire.

If all the generals and officers were gone, soldiers could not maintain troops or divisions of army. In that case, the army cannot be regarded as continuous in its functions and capability.

*** *** *** ***

For the first half-African/half-European American President to emerge, you had to suffer the 9/11 Terror and the 9/15 Lehman Brothers fall in addition to a $140 oil price hike.

It was not so easy for the American Empire to accept the first half-African/half-European American President.

Accordingly, something may be being discontinued in the U.S.

You, if called a historian or a pundit, had better regard the U.S. as being in the period of discontinuity rather than in continuity.

*** *** *** ***


(To be continued...)



(Personne ne pleure, si un empire s'effondre, mais ils doivent pleurer quand l'effondrement de leurs souvenirs. Gone with a memory can be however an act of love, my dear.

http://www.just-oldies.com/1966/as_tears_go_by.htm )




Mar 5:12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

Mar 5:13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

Mar 5:14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.

Mar 5:15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

Mar 5:16 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.

Mar 5:17 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.




Tuesday, May 12, 2009

"Lest a Worse Thing Come unto Thee"






"Lest a Worse Thing Come unto Thee"



One of the big enigmas in history is as to why Judaists did not return to Jerusalem after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Like Europe left the dominance of the sub-tropical Roman Empire, Judaists seem to have left its sub-tropical traditions forever.

But, why could it be possible?

Is it mainly due to the coming of cold climates over Europe?

Do you really believe the originally sub-tropical tribe, Judaists, came to settle down in Poland as farmers in local villages through later centuries?

Why aren't there any stories about the great journey of Judaists from Jerusalem to Rome, the north of the Alps, the Rhein region, and further Germany, Poland, and Russia to become local farmers.

There must be such a story like ones recorded in the Old Testaments.

While we can trace the great journey of Abraham and Moses, why can't we trace Judaists after the fall of the Roman Empire? Indeed, this is one of the big enigmas in history...


----------------------
The Persecution of the Jews in the Roman Empire (300-428)

James Everett Seaver

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS
Humanistic Studies, No. 30
Persecution of the Jews in the Roman Empire (300-438)

COPYRIGHT, 1952, BY THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PRESS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PRINTED IN THE U. S.A. BY
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PRESS
LAWRENCE, KANSAS

...

Introduction
The persecutions of the Jews during the fourth century A.D. has received scant consideration from the great historians of the Jews such as Jost, Graetz, and Dubnow. Since the fourth century marks the transition from the enlightened toleration of Jews to their bigoted persecution, this neglect by scholars has long needed attention.
...
The legislation of the fourth century emperors at first shows an attempt to protect the ancient privileges of the Jews, and then manifests a gradual submission to the popular Christian demand for persecution and repression. The remarkable coincidence between the fulminations of the church fathers such as Jerome and Ambrose, popular pogroms, and the enactment of repressive laws against the Jews tells the sad story. The fourth century witnessed the passage from Jewish privilege to persecution, from prosperity in the classic world to poverty in the medieval ghetto.

http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/seaver/text.html
----------------------

The mystery of the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Vatican are yet to be fully explained.

It is so, since there is a deep gap between the glory of the Roman Empire and the glory of Renaissance. It is clear discontinuity surrounded by robust ambiguity.

----------------------
Roman Empire

The Roman Legacy
Many modern historians stress the continuity between late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Political structures changed and cities declined, but for the 90 percent of the population who worked on the land, life continued much as always. Roman law, the Latin language, and the Christian religion provided an enormous amount of continuity, yet there were also broad changes. Greco-Roman civilization retreated to the Mediterranean, while inland areas lost the veneer of Roman culture.

Buildings collapsed, local populations revived indigenous Celtic art forms, and even Latin was slowly transformed into different languages like Provencal, French, Spanish, and Catalan. The transition proceeded gradually until local creativity shaped the Roman inheritance into the distinctive cultures of medieval Europe.

The rediscovery of Greco-Roman civilization in 15th-century Italy sparked the new era or state of mind called the Renaissance. Sculptors returned to Greco-Roman models of realism, architects copied Greek columns and Roman domes, and literary figures like English playwright William Shakespeare adapted Roman comedies. Philosophers examined the Roman legal codes, and political theorists returned to Roman discussions of freedom and tyranny. Even the Latin of Cicero was revived as a more elevated language than medieval Church Latin or everyday speech.

And the fascination with Roman culture continued as revolutionaries in America and France studied Roman texts and 19th-century portraitists adopted Roman styles. The collapse of the Roman political structure in 476 did not mean that the civilization of Rome was lost.


http://www.crystalinks.com/romanempire.html
----------------------

Stressing the continuity rather reflects a Europeans' wish to be a successor of the glorious ancient Romans.

But, the discontinuity looks like more concerned with paradigms. Europeans did not have a paradigm to establish another Empire after the fall of the Roman Empire. If there had been real continuity in terms of knowledge, technology, economy, and social systems, there must have been another empire in the north of the Alps immediately after the fall of the Roman Empire.

It is so, since Europeans in the Middle Age must have well known the glory of the Roman Empire but they could not build their own empire while nobody harassed such movement, if any.

*** *** *** ***

To avoid future tragedy of the possible fall of the American Empire and also avoid emergence of another tragic Judaists in future or in the 21st century, we have to more carefully study the history with a focus on the fall of the Roman Empire and a state of Diaspora.






(Tous vos aimante à l'empire, Mademoiselle? Swim to the Kingdom of God!

http://www.just-oldies.com/1963/all_my_loving.htm )




Joh 5:12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?

Joh 5:13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.

Joh 5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

Joh 5:15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.




Monday, May 11, 2009

"Great is Your Reward in Heaven"


(Around the Imperial Palace, Tokyo, Yesterday; Click to enlarge.)


"Great is Your Reward in Heaven"

(When the Empire Falls)


Do you want to see the complete fall of the American Empire or the coming of the Ice Age during your lifetime on this earth?

You may be able to, but what does it mean if you die before the 22nd century?

Indeed, without your belonging to history, all of your brain work will be absorbed into the concept of money and self-defense.

Yet, if you belong to history, which is ultimately God, all of your brain work will be related to the universal value system of mankind, which means you are no more a helpless swimmer in the temporal flow of time.

What I want to emphasize is that the lack of effective philosophy during the past Great Depression in 1930's is one of the decisive factors of the tragedy leading to the rise of Nazis.

And, the lack of effective philosophy today can be one of the key factors of the future tragedy involving global warming, cooling, and pandemics.



SECTION I: Two Different Economies

Many American economists and politicians do not still understand something simple and significant while they referring to the Japanese financial crisis in 1990's so often nowadays.

Even in the global era of the 21st century, Japan and America are still two different economies and markets.

If the land of the U.S. was the size of combined California, New York, and Michigan with the same number of the population and GDP, American financial crisis would be more closely related to real estate properties than to financial instruments, making the time for solution longer and the solution itself complicated due to various stakeholders and layered security warranties if not assessment of the value of damage money.

------------------------------
The Japan Times
May 9, 2009

Japan relieved by ‘stress test’


The bulk of bad assets held by U.S. banks, however, are in securitized financial products and derivatives, while the troubled assets in Japan were mainly real estate properties that plunged when the speculative bubble economy imploded in the early 1990s. It is much more difficult to assess the value of the complex financial products and wipe out losses on them than it is with real assets, an FSA official admitted.

------------------------------

Put simply, the American financial crisis could be ascribed to the Mafia-like mind sets of the Wall Street elite, but the Japanese financial crisis was concerned with the national policy of Japan.

As American economists and politicians have no knowledge and education on the Japanese history and politics, they wrongly assume that the Japan's case must be also related to the Mafia (Yakuza)-like mindset, which is very inappropriate.

That is why Japanese people concerned can learn more than Americans in the same trade do in this global financial crisis.


SECTION II: Little Ice Age to Come

It was hot yesterday and today around Tokyo.

But, it might not be part of global warming but part of instability of ambient temperature decreasing toward a new Little Ice Age.

------------------------------
December 6, 2007
Could Solar Inactivity counteract Global Warming?


After a period of very high solar activity (high numbers of sunspots) in the 20th century, our sun has suddenly gone exceptionally quiet, according to astronomer Dr. David Whitehouse...

Sunspots - dark magnetic blotches on the Sun's surface - come and go in a roughly 11-year cycle of activity first noticed in 1843. It's related to the motion of super-hot, electrically charged gas inside the Sun - a kind of internal conveyor belt where vast sub-surface rivers of gas take 40 years to circulate from the equator to the poles and back...

During the 17th century Maunder Minimum, when sunspots were rare, it was also the period of time when the earth's northern hemisphere was sent into what scientists call the "Little Ice Age."

http://global-warming.accuweather.com/2007/12/could_solar_inactivity_counter.html
------------------------------

The month, August 2008, might be recalled in the future as the month when global cooling has started, since no sunspots were observed in the entire month.

------------------------------
Sun Makes History: First Spotless Month in a Century
Michael Asher (Blog) - September 1, 2008 8:11 AM


(Click to enlarge.)

http://www.dailytech.com/Sun+Makes+History+First+Spotless+Month+in+a+Century/article12823.htm
------------------------------

It is still hot around Tokyo as the month May. But, it looks like a remained effect of accumulated heat during the past decade when the sun's activities were at a higher level as shown in the above figure.

Some Japanese scientists seem to have openly started to take a stance against the prevailing theory that CO2 emission has caused the global temperature rise.

------------------------------
Blog: Science
Japanese Report Disputes Human Cause for Global Warming
Michael Asher (Blog) - January 14, 2009 8:43 AM

Akasofu countered with the statement, "CO2 emissions have been increasing, but the rise in air temperature stopped around 2001. Climate change is due in large part to naturally occurring oscillations". Akasofu says the earth's warming trend began prior to the industrial age, and believes much of the warming seen may simply be a natural recovery from the so-called Little Ice Age, that ended in the 17th century.


http://www.dailytech.com/Japanese+Report+Disputes+Human+Cause+for+Global+Warming/article13934.htm
------------------------------

The Wall Street money believers tried crude oil and subprime loans only to fail and face the "stress test."

But, they have still CO2. They might fully invade the CO2-emission right market with an intention to recover the huge loss they have suffered in the oil and the mortgage markets.

Anyway, investors relying on Wall Street must cool their head. Since a financial crisis would even harm the sound pursuit of scientific truth.

*** *** *** ***

According to a theory, the Roman Empire fell due to a climate change.

At least, it was proven due to the cold temperature in the period immediately after the fall of Rome, no one could build and found another Empire, say for example in south France, to succeed the Roman Empire.

And, when Renaissance began, there was no air of sub-tropical flavor of the past Roman Empire even in the Italian Peninsula.

Indeed, the Roman Empire was an empire of the sub-tropical climate.

Truly, it was the last sub-tropical empire in Europe in history.




P.S. Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, the head of the largest opposition party of Japan, today officially announced his planned but imminent resignation from the post of the DPJ, though he would continute to be a national lawmaker.

So, he will not be appointed to the Japanese premiership if the DPJ should beat the LDP in the next general election.

Incumbent Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso of the LDP might have to meet a more formidable, new rival, if the LDP should secure power...

And, now, friends, you know why I recently rather purchased Japanese magazines each of which cost four dollars or five dollars...

Anyway, this is the biggest news in Japan today as the media have issued extra editions in hasty.






Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Mat 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Mat 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.


Sunday, May 10, 2009


(Around the Imperial Palace, Tokyo, Today)

Today

Today,
I am going to go around Kitano-Maru, probably.

Al The Al