Cold Spring
It is cold in Japan in these days, since it snowed in mountainous areas some hundred kilometers north of Tokyo today.
A passenger from Okinawa said on his arrival at the Tokyo Haneda Airport, "Tokyo is 20 degrees (Centigrade) lower than in Okinawa."
In China, a great earthquake occurred again near Tibet yesterday, taking on hundreds of lives.
Tokyo is miraculously spared while Haiti, Chile, and China have been hit by great earthquakes.
A cold spring might be rather blessing, though it might be indicating the end of the global warming era.
Nonetheless, it migh be better to realize another regime change in Japan in case, since great earthquakes hit Haiti, Chile, and China all of whom look like having a controversial regime each.
SECTION I: Fate of Hatoyama Cabinet of Japan
China is also watching intently the proceeding of events involving a U.S. Marine Corps base in Okinawa and the Hatoyama-Obama relationship:
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Japanese PM seeks U.S. support over thorny Okinawa base relocation issue
English.news.cn 2010-04-15 10:45:50
TOKYO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama restated his pledge Thursday to adhere to his self-imposed deadline of the end-of-May to resolve the thorny issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture and will seek to gain support from the U.S.
Hatoyama spoke with U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this week in Washington on the sidelines of a working dinner for the Nuclear Security Summit.
"I strongly asked U.S. President Barack Obama for his cooperation on the relocation issue," Hatoyama told reporters Thursday morning in Tokyo.
The Hatoyama-led Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) government is, according to government sources close to the matter, honing in on a plan to transfer the helicopter functions of the U.S. military facility to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, about 200 kilometers north of Okinawa and 1,400 kilometers south of Tokyo, as one possible option...
Part of the 2006 relocation plan, estimated to cost some 10.3 billion U.S. dollars, would also see 8,000 of the 20,000 U.S. troops currently stationed in Japan's southernmost prefecture relocated from Okinawa to the U.S. island of Guam.
Washington maintains the existing accord remains the best solution to ensure security in East Asia while reducing the burden on Okinawa.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-04/15/c_13252316.htm
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Chinese usually observe things in Japan accurately, though the depth of understanding of Japanese minds is not so remarkable, since Japanese and Chinese have lived for 2,500 years in very different environments through the establishment of Taoism and Confucianism and their transfer to Japan.
If Prime Minister Mr. Hatoyama of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is forced to step down due to this Okinawa base problem before the coming Upper House Election scheduled this summer, the pro-Chinese DPJ will still maintain power under the leadership of Secretary-General Mr. Ichiro Ozawa who is more pro-Chinese than the prime minister.
It is the Social Democratic Party (SDP), one of the coalition partners of the DPJ, that has demanded P.M. Mr. Hatoyama to relocate the entire U.S. Marine base, including helicopter squadrons not planned to move to Guam, to the outside of Okinawa, since the SDP is crucially anti-American and pro-North Korean. If the SDP leaves the coalition, the Hatoyama cabinet has to face a danger of losing a majority support in the Upper House. So, P.M. Mr. Hatoyama has tried to please the SDP by offerring a plan the U.S. cannot simply accept due to a difficulty of future operation of U.S. forces in the Pacific.
It is the judgment of Mr. Ozawa who has given greater importance to a tie up with the SDP that has made the issue complicated, since the SDP claims that American bases must be relocated to the outside of Okinawa. The key factor is not P.M. Mr. Hatoyama but the relationship between Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, a very veteran conservative lawmaker, and the SDP, an anti-capitalism party.
Accordingly, if Mr. Ozawa judges that it is time to leave the SDP as New Komeito can be a new partner after the election, Mr. Ozawa would tell P.M. Mr. Hatoyama to offer a new plan, with a focus on the helicopter squadrons, America will accept despite objection and the threat from the SDP.
Then, this issue that has harmed reputation of the Hatoyama Cabinet will be solved without complaints from anybody but anti-American camps in Japan including the SDP. As a consequence, a majority of U.S. marines will move to Guam and the rest of them, mostly the helicopter squadrons, will move to a new air base in the Okinawa island as planned by the preceding LDP Cabinet, leaving the current Futenma base situated in the middle of a residential area.
Yet, a new negotiation with America on total reduction of American military bases in Okinawa should start anew after the summer election, since Japan and China must maintain peace generation after generation.
(Even if Mr. Yukio Hatoyama is forced to step down from the premiership after the deadline, the end of May, for solving this Okinawa base problem as he set it for himself, the DPJ could lose the election since Mr. Ichiro Ozawa is now so unpopular among voters.)
SECTION II: Shanghai before WWII
The Opium War (1840 - 1842) resulted in occupation of Shanghai by the U.K., then by the U.S. in 1848 and by France in 1849.
After that, there established were two districts under Western rule or Concessions in Shanghai before WWII:
1. American/British Common Settlement
There were 48,000 foreigners, including 18,000 Japanese and 6,200 British, and 1.1 million Chinese in 1934.
British ships accounted for more than 30% of all the ships sailing or anchored on the river; British accounted for almost 100% of high ranking officers at Shanghai Customs Department.
2. French Settlement
There were 19,000 foreigners and 480,000 Chinese in 1934.
Some Japanese were members of the governing board of the Concession, but the Empire of Japan did not occupy these special districts; its Army had no soldiers stationed in Shanghai, except 1,000 or so Imperial Marines.
Accordingly, invasion by Chinese troops into Shanghai and these districts meant an attack on the U.S., the U.K., France, and the Empire of Japan.
It was what happened in 1932 and 1937.
From a standpoint of China to address the Opium War, Chinese could justify their military action to take back the Shanghai Concessions a century later.
However, it resulted in a new large-scale war against the Empire of Japan beyond their easy prospect and expectation in 1937, though the U.S., the U.K., and France could also continue to hold their virtual territories in Shanghai, owning to technically defensive military actions by the Empire of Japan until 1941.
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An old man was lying on the bed in his home being surrounded by his son and a medical doctor who were strongly urging the very sick old man to move to a hospital.
The old man said almost in a whisper, "There is a way of a man to face his last time..." The middle-aged son said earnestly to his dying father, "I was happy, Father, to be a son between you and the mother..."
So, the medical doctor left the house only to be informed three hours later by the son of death of the old man.
A TV camera returned to the house to present the old man lying on the bed in his home surrounded by his son and the medical doctor who were removing some medical equipment from the bed.
Even if you think you would have a chance to live a little longer so long as you are carried into a hospital, would you still choose to stay in your home and face your last time as a man respected so much by his son?
Anyway, this is one scene of a cold day in Japan.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB_7xyx6mhs&feature=related
Only a poor man can claim that he is qualified to enter Heaven as a Judaist, a Christian, a Muslim, or a man; otherwise he will be, I suppose, judged as a rich man after death...)
Joh 4:15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
Joh 4:16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
Joh 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
Joh 4:18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.