"If I may touch but his clothes" - Spirit of a Man with a Red Cap on

 The Tokyo Station

Spirit of a Man with a Red Cap on

When an essayist in Japan felt psychologically uncomfortable, he went to a hospital to be checked by a psychiatrist, though it was not the first time to consult the medical doctor.

The psychiatrist said to his patient, "Your condition might be related to the incident that your mother died early in this year."

The essayist had once told the psychiatrist about the death of his mother.  So, he said, "In the early morning of the day when my mother died, I had a dream that my mother died without knowing that she would die in the day.  Do you believe such spiritual epiphany?"  The doctor replied:"I don't know."  But the patient saw a face of a friend in the face of the psychiatrist.

When the essayist was leaving the hospital, he saw a man with a red cap on coming at the entrance.   As the hospital was operated in an open ward system, he suspected that the man might be a hospital inpatient.  Then to his surprise, the man with a red cap on suddenly extended his hand to him, saying, "Yeah!" in a high-spirited manner  So, in a natural manner, the essayist extended his arm to shake hands with him, saying himself, "Yeah!"

Later, his daughter living and working in New York happened to come back to Tokyo.  Then, she faced a trouble in returning to the US, since some immigration rule of America was changed.  She had to spend several months in Tokyo, arranging her reentry and filling out necessary applications.

Finally, her application was accepted.  Now she could fly back to New York.  But her father, the essayist, could not see her off to an international airport.  He had to make a business trip to some local place in Japan.  So, when he started to go out leaving in the house her daughter who would soon fly away during his trip, he wanted to say farewell to her.  He extended his hand to her, saying, "Yeah!" in a high-spirited manner.   She looked puzzled for a moment.  But she also extended her hand to hold the hand of her father, saying, "Yeah!"

So, a young Japanese woman came back to New York with spirit refreshed, though she never knew that the spirit she had been handed to by her father came from a hospital inpatient with a red cap on in a certain mental hospital.

Indeed there is nothing useless in this world that was created by God.

 



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



Mar 5:27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
Mar 5:28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
Mar 5:29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

"he said unto him, Follow me" - US President in Hiroshima

The Tokyo Station

US President in Hiroshima

US President Barack Obama visited today (May 27, 2016 in Japan Time) Hiroshima to show his concern about nuclear crises and nuclear threats.

(Due to the air bombardment with just one atomic bomb by the US military on Hirohima on August 6, 1945, 140,000 citizens, soldiers, and prisoners of war who happened to be in the west Japan city died immediately or gradually due to radioactive influences till December 1945.)

The reason why nuclear weapons pose so great challenges to humanity is that as its demolition power is so huge that its use means a kind of annihilation of not only enemy troops but also enemy civilians.

But before the use of atomic bombs onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, belligerent nations in WWII had adopted a kind of annihilation tactics: a large-scale blanket or carpet bombings.

The bombing of Dresden was a British/American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, that took place during the Second World War in the European Theatre. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 722 heavy bombers of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city.[1] The bombing and the resulting firestorm destroyed over 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) of the city centre.[2] An estimated 22,700[3] to 25,000[4] people were killed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II

The Bombing of Tokyo, often referred to as a series of firebombing raids, was conducted as part of the air raids on Japan by the United States Army Air Forces during the Pacific campaigns of World War II...
On the night of 9–10 March ("Operation Meetinghouse"),[12] 334 B-29s took off to raid with 279 of them dropping 1,665 tons of bombs on Tokyo. The bombs were mostly the 500-pound (230 kg) E-46 cluster bomb which released 38 napalm-carrying M-69 incendiary bomblets at an altitude of 2,000–2,500 ft (610–760 m). The M-69s punched through thin roofing material or landed on the ground; in either case they ignited 3–5 seconds later, throwing out a jet of flaming napalm globs. A lesser number of M-47 incendiaries was also dropped: the M-47 was a 100-pound (45 kg) jelled-gasoline and white phosphorus bomb which ignited upon impact. In the first two hours of the raid, 226 of the attacking aircraft unloaded their bombs to overwhelm the city's fire defenses.[13] The first B-29s to arrive dropped bombs in a large X pattern centered in Tokyo's densely populated working class district near the docks in both Koto and Chuo city wards on the water; later aircraft simply aimed near this flaming X. The individual fires caused by the bombs joined to create a general conflagration, which would have been classified as a firestorm but for prevailing winds gusting at 17 to 28 mph (27 to 45 km/h).[14] Approximately 15.8 square miles (4,090 ha) of the city was destroyed and some 100,000 people are estimated to have died.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo

No matter if conventional bombs are used, the aerial bombardment on a city is actually targeting citizens.  So, there is no difference between an attack on a city using one atomic bomb and an attack on a city using thousands of conventional bombs.

However, an air raid using hundreds or thousands of conventional bombs in on a city was an extension of an air raid to military installations.  The paradigm was not annihilation of citizens but destruction of buildings, facilities and functions of a city and military installations around the city.  It was not assumed that carpet bombing could kill all the residents in a city, since bombing could not be so dense and concentrated, though the Bombing of Tokyo triggered large-scale fires in down towns of Tokyo that killed so many human lives in addition to burning hundreds of thousands of houses and buildings.

But an air bombardment using one nuclear bomb is a different paradigm.  As it is apparent that the huge blast of the bomb could surely kill tens of thousands of people, a nuclear bomb attack means annihilation of residents in a city rather than demolition of city functions and military facilities or making enemy citizens lose the will to fight.

The modern warfare is all-out war.  Warring nations mobilize all the industrial power they have.  Therefore they target industrial bases of enemy countries including cities.  And they would finally target citizens of enemy countries, since human resources are also resources of their industry.  Against this background, the atomic bombs were developed and used by the US military onto the two cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, of the Imperial Japan at the last stage of WWII.

Now any big city, such as New York, can be destroyed with hundreds of thousands of deaths by a few nuclear missiles, each of which is 100 times more powerful than the Hiroshima-type atomic bomb.  Therefore, the US and all the other nations in the world should stop keeping nuclear weapons and intimidating other nations with nuclear weapons.  The use of weapons imply not only the will to win a war but also an intention of killing children, women, old men, and all the noncombatants of cities and everywhere of an enemy country. 

And, it is absurd and evil for mankind to try to develop weapons more powerful than nuclear weapons.



Hiroshima after the atomic bomb attack in August 1945
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/setsuko-thurlow/70-years-after-hiroshima_b_7941322.html

Hiroshima before the atomic bomb attack
http://tsubaki352.at.webry.info/200808/article_1.html
Hiroshima before the atomic bomb attack
http://www.tooa.jp/hari-story.html
**** **** ****



Luk 5:26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.
Luk 5:27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.
Luk 5:28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him.

"the Father hath life in himself" - Aim in Life, Spiritual or Material

The Tokyo Station

Aim in Life, Spiritual or Material

People don't mind much how the world has been built through past decades, centuries, or tens of thousands of years.

It is as if one were thrown into a river and tried just to swim better without thinking about where the river came from and flowed to.  The person who has found that he is just in a river would just try to swim better so as not to die by drowning.  So, it is natural for men to try to tackle challenges posed to them in their daily life, which means for them to follow the norm and custom of the society where they were born in any era of history.

But of course people should think about why and how the world has developed to the present state without getting devoted to living better and earning money.

It means that people should learn history and traditions like even Christ Jesus sometimes referred to The Old Testament.  By learning the past history, men can judge a current situation meaningfully.

However, if one gets great knowledge about past things and a series of events along time, he may abuse it.  But to cope with such evil guys, people should learn history more.

Of course, without knowledge of history, one can avoid evil things and one may try to live as righteous as possible.  Conversely, with knowledge of history, evil one is still evil.  However, with right knowledge of history, most people can judge a present situation more correctly so as not to be misled by evil guys.

In this context, we have to know the origin of today's civilization, epoch-making events in the past, and specific historic incidents.

About 4600 years ago, great pyramids were built in Egypt, which might be regarded as the start point of the material civilization of the modern mankind.  About 4000 years ago, Abraham left the ancient city Ur in Mesopotamia, which might be regarded as the start of the spiritual culture of the modern mankind.  About 2500 years ago, Judaism, Buddhism, and Confucianism were established, which might be regarded as the start of religious conditions of the modern mankind.  About 2000 years ago, Christianity started to prevail.  About 1300 years ago, Islam started to emerge.  Today's world has been shaped in line with this history.

But the most decisive incident for the mankind in the past is that God sent His Son to the world who was called Christ Jesus 2000 years ago.

As God is almighty, the world today was conditioned by this unbelievable incident 2000 years ago.  Since the appearance of Christ Jesus means direct interference by God with the human world.  It cannot be neglected.

And, all these past great incidents tell us that men should not live simply pursuing wealth, happiness, and satisfaction of human desire.  Rather, these incidents suggest that we should be oriented more to spiritual matters rather than material matters.

Accordingly, an end of life of each man should not be realization of rich, safe, and happy life.

Rather, the aim in life for each man should be to understand why God gave life to him or her.  And, to realize the understanding, we have to be more spiritual with support from knowledge of our history. .




http://www.slideshare.net/jmseymour/world-history-characteristics-of-civilization-module-1


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



Joh 5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
Joh 5:27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

"The hour is coming" - Poetry Composing Tradition of Japan

The Tokyo Station

Poetry Composing Tradition of Japan

From the middle of the seventh century to the middle of the eighth century, a project to compile poetry books was carried out in Japan, collecting poets created by people in various classes such as farmers to imperial house members.  This series of poetry books, called the Manyoshu, consists of 20 volumes including total 4500 poets.　

The Man'yōshū (literally "Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves", but see Name below) is the oldest existing collection of Japanese poetry, compiled sometime after 759 AD during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in a series of compilers, is today widely believed to be Ōtomo no Yakamochi, although numerous other theories have been proposed. 

The collection is divided into twenty parts or books; this number was followed in most later collections. The collection contains 265 chōka (long poems), 4,207 tanka (short poems), one tan-renga (short connecting poem), one bussokusekika (poems on the Buddha's footprints at Yakushi-ji in Nara), four kanshi (Chinese poems), and 22 Chinese prose passages. Unlike later collections, such as the Kokin Wakashū, there is no preface.

In addition to its artistic merits the Man'yōshū is important for using one of the earliest Japanese writing systems, the cumbersome man'yōgana. Though it was not the first use of this writing system, which was also used in the earlier Kojiki (712), it was influential enough to give the writing system its name: "the kana of the Man'yōshū". This system uses Chinese characters in a variety of functions: their usual logographic sense; to represent Japanese syllables phonetically; and sometimes in a combination of these functions. The use of Chinese characters to represent Japanese syllables was in fact the genesis of the modern syllabic kana writing systems, being simplified forms (hiragana) or fragments (katakana) of the man'yōgana.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27y%C5%8Dsh%C5%AB

The Manyoshu is the oldest and largest collection of poetry in the world.  It is unique in that it includes poetry created not only by emperors and noble people but also by local farmers.  It shows a higher cultural standard in Japan before the eighth century.  It also tells that people were regarded as equal in the art of poetry in Japan in the eighth century.

One of the best poems in the Manyoshu is:
Tago-no-ura-yu uchidete-mireba mashiro-nizo,
fuji-no-takane-ni yuki-wa-furikeru

Stepping out to the Tago beach,
I can see the white high summit of Mt. Fuji,
with on the top snow just falling.

This was composed by Yamabeno Akahito who was an official travelling through a Pacific Ocean coast around Mt. Fuji in the eighth century.

Though letters used to write each poem in the Manyoshu were not Japanese unique kana letters but kanji characters imported from China, it is very rare in the world that not only noble men but also local farmers enjoyed composing poems for 1200 years.  This is one of unique aspects of the Japanese culture.

This tradition of composing poems developed to the art of poetry creation, call kado (the way of poet), that was established around 10th century.  Since then, composing poetry has been one of main arts in the Japanese society.  Even today, at the beginning of each year, the Emperor hosted a poetry party in the imperial palace in Tokyo.

Especially, the precedent emperor, called Showa Emperor, created 10,000 Japanese poems in his 88-year-long life.

There is one poem Showa Emperor (Hirohito) delivered on August 15, 1945, when the Imperial Japan surrendered to the US, which put an end to WWII.


Mi-wa-ikani narutomo-ikusa todomekeri,
tada-tafureyuku tami-o-omoite

No matter what I might become,
I have stopped this long war
Only for falling people I sorrow for.


No matter what role Showa Emperor played for the Pearl Harbor Attack in December 1941, he made his full efforts to stop the war against the US after the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Therefore, Hirohito had been emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989 (in the era of Showa in Japan) through the Second World War, while delivering 10,000 Japanese short poems, though only 900 of his poems have been made public so far as now.



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



Joh 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

"all men should honour the Son" - Church Goers vs Non-Goers in Presidential Election

A Pacific Coast Beach, West of Tokyo

Church Goers vs Non-Goers in Presidential Election

When you meet a stranger, you will surely try to see how evil the man is.

When you are young, you cannot easily judge how evil a stranger is.  But with experiences in society, you will have ability to judge how much you can trust or you should not trust a specific stranger.  This ability is essential for men to live in society.  Otherwise, they may become friends of criminals who are disguising themselves as honest men.  And, this condition is universal in any countries and any communities.

But Christ Jesus said not to judge a person by his appearance.  But you must pay attentions to how much righteous or evil he is.

However, people tend to respect rich men, successful men, and men with status who are dressed up or wearing expensive clothes.  It is completely wrong and against the teaching of God.  To trust someone by his appearance is Satan's teaching.  Especially those who wear expensive clothes other envy are against the teaching of God, since making others envy something is a sin.

That is why essentially priests, clergymen, bishops, cardinals, and the Pope have to wear humble clothes none would envy.

In the 2012 presidential election, voters who go to church more than once per week voted for Romney (63%) rather than Obama (36%).

You cannot tell how pious a voter is only by observing his/her appearance, even though frequency of going to church cannot fully tell how pious he or she is.  But if Romney had been elected as US President in 2012 as more pious voters wanted, Donald Trump must have no chances to prevail in 2016 as we see today.

2012 Presidential Election, Vote by Groups
Obama Romney
RELIGION
Protestants 45 55
Catholics                    56 44
Attend weekly 40 60
Attend monthly 53 47
Seldom/Never attend 63 37
http://www.gallup.com/poll/139880/election-polls-presidential-vote-groups.aspx

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



Joh 5:23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

"whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause" - 65% of 70% Non-Hispanic White Voters

The Pacific Ocean West of Tokyo

65% of 70% Non-Hispanic White Voters

Liberalism, like that pursued by the American Democratic Party, is sometimes dangerous because it can be anti-Christ.

Wealth is an enemy of God as Christ Jesus said, but anti-ethics liberalism is also against the teaching of God.  Leftist liberalism regards sometimes traditional customs as something wrong.  However, there are many important traditions for human beings to keep a necessary moral standard.

Evil caused by wealth can be easily understood.  Poverty is a major source of social problems and crimes.  But, liberalism that denies traditional value systems is also damaging humanity and human soundness.

In this context, the American Republican Party supported by wealthy Americans cannot improve society, but the American Democratic party supported by liberal and anti-Christ minorities cannot make people righteous before God.

Donald Trump is a very wealthy man contaminated by capitalism and commercialism.  But his evil characteristics are easy to comprehend.  On the other hand, Hillary Clinton is supported by African Americans and non-elite white Americans.  She might look like more Christian as she supports poor African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities, but she also supports Americans who are too liberal and progressive to be regarded as Christians or believers of God.  Besides, the Clintons are making big money, leveraging their social status, which makes them enemies of poor Americans.

Now, the key to the 2016 presidential election is how non-Hispanic whites vote.  They account for 70% of all the voters.  If Trump is supported by 70% of them, he can secure 49% of all the votes without counting minority's votes.  Then Trump will win, since he can probably get 5%.of 30% minority's votes, which adds necessary 1% to 49%.

But if Trump is supported by only 60% of non-Hispanic whites, he can secure only 42% without counting minority's votes, which make his victory in the general election impossible.

If Trump is supported by 65% of non-Hispanic whites, he can secure 45.5% without counting minority's votes.  Then if he gets 15% plus of 30% minority votes, Trump can get totally more than 50% of all the votes.  But if he can get only 10% of 35%, Trump cannot win.

So, the point at issue is whether 65% or more non-Hispanic whites vote for Trump in the general election.  Probably 50% of them would vote for Trump because he is a white rich man.  And, to be against anti-Christ liberal Democratic movement, 15% of them might vote for Trump.

In conclusion, it will be non-Hispanic Christian Americans that should decide the case.


(In the 2012 presidential election, 59% of non-Hispanic whites voted for Romney while 39% of then voted for Obama.  So, it is unlikely that Trump will get 70% of them.  But 65% might be possible.)



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



Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

"when Jesus was passed over again by ship" - Wolves and Sheep before God

A Pacific Coast Line 200 km West of Tokyo

Wolves and Sheep before God

Human beings want to be happy, rich, superior and respected.  But in what society do they want to be happy, rich, superior and respected?  In the society where they have to make others unhappy or neglect unhappy people for them to be happy, rich, superior and respected, they want to be happy, rich, superior and respected.  That is why being happy, rich, superior and respected is a proof of the sin of making others unhappy or neglecting unhappy people.

But there are differences in degrees of sinners.  From the worst:
1. Those who enjoy making others unhappy or neglecting unhappy people, needless to say they try hard to be happy, rich, superior and respected.
2. Those who don't mind making others unhappy or neglect unhappy people, so that they will do it as much as it is necessary for them to be happy, rich, superior and respected.
3. Those who don't like to  make others unhappy or neglect unhappy people, and they will do it only if it is necessary for them to be happy, rich, superior and respected.
4. Those who don't like to  make others unhappy or neglect unhappy people, and thus they avoid it as much as possible even if it hinders them in getting happy, rich, superior and respected.
5. Those who try to save and help unhappy people without trying themselves to be happy, rich, superior and respected.

The point at issue is that human beings should not want to be happy, rich, superior and respected, but they should follow teaching of God who would give them happiness, wealth, superiority, and respect at His will.

It means that Christ Jesus requests us to change our value system.  We should not live to be happy and successful in this society and to satisfy our desire in this world.  We should live to show full respect to God by following His teaching.

In other words, people are trying to be happy, rich, superior and respected like wolves, while followers of the God teaching are like sheep.  But these wolves are against God who created them.  Therefore, sooner or later the wolves will be punished no matter how much they become happy, rich, superior and respected in this world.

And, wolves and sheep are different species; there are no relationships between them.  It means that those who abandon being happy, rich, superior and respected due to the teaching of God will enter Heaven where those wolves cannot be admitted.

It also means that wolves have no ability to feel greatness and power of God, while sheep has.  If you can understand how great and powerful God is through this material world to the spiritual sphere, you would surely follow the teaching of God.  Compared with glory God promises His followers, worldly happiness, wealth, status, and fame are nothing.  So, the key is the ability to sense existence of God.  Wolves have lost or inherently lack this ability.  But those who are not a 100% wolf might repent and change their minds if they are taught truth.






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



Mar 5:21 And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.
Mar 5:22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
Mar 5:23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.

"if any of you do err from the truth" - No Terror Issues in the World If...

A Pacific Ocean Shore 200 km West of Tokyo

No Terror Issues in the World If...

According to a study, 2,658 people were killed by terrorists around the world in 2014.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3322308/Number-people-killed-terrorists-worldwide-soars-80-just-year.html

However, violence involving guns in the US results in more deaths than those killed by terror.

Gun violence in the United States results in thousands of deaths and injuries annually.[1] According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2013, firearms were used in 84,258 nonfatal injuries (26.65 per 100,000 U.S. citizens) [2] and 11,208 deaths by homicide (3.5 per 100,000),[3] 21,175 by suicide with a firearm,[4] 505 deaths due to accidental discharge of a firearm,[4] and 281 deaths due to firearms-use with "undetermined intent"[5] for a total of 33,169 deaths related to firearms (excluding firearm deaths due to legal intervention). 1.3% of all deaths in the country were related to firearms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States

So, it is not simple statistics that makes terror of today more alarming than violence involving guns in the US.

The following world map indicating degrees of danger caused by terror in countries show the significance of terror.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11629161/Mapped-The-countries-facing-the-greatest-threat-from-Islamic-extremists.html

Countries in green are safer, and countries in red are more dangerous in terms of terror attacks.

Developing countries almost mean countries with terror risk.  And most of developing countries are Islamic countries.  And some Islamic countries are big oil producers.  And the modern civilization depends on crude oil.  So, the issue of terror is one of major underlying challenges of the modern world.

But more alarmingly those countries under threats of terror are also countries with higher rates of poverty or higher rates of infant mortality.





Terror is from poverty.  And poverty is caused by wealthy people.  Or poor countries cannot be rich because wealthy countries do not help them.

Poverty and Islam are tow major factors of emergence of terror.  The opposite is rich and Christian countries where no terrorists emerge.

Conversely, rich Christians and Judaists are major causes for terror.  If Europeans and Americans are Muslims and poor, there must be no terror issues in the world.




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


Jam 5:19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
Jam 5:20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

"they sought means to bring him in" - Japanese Paddy Agriculture

Paddy Fields around Tokyo

Japanese Paddy Agriculture

Wheat started to be cultivated in ancient Mesopotamia 8,000 years ago, though they made bread without fermentation.  At the same time, wheat was introduced into Egypt, but by chance ancient Egyptians found fermentation process that was adopted to their bread making.  Then this fermentation bread was imported to ancient Greece.  It paved the way for the ancient Greek-Roman Civilization.

The ancient civilizations in India was also established through wheat cultivation.  However in China, a civilization around the Yellow River, established 6,000 years ago, was based on wheat cultivatioｎ, but its another civilization around the Long River was established based on rice cultivation more than 10,000 years ago.

And, today there is a theory that rice cultivation was imported into ancient Japan from a region that belonged to the Long River Civilization about 3,000 year ago, though it was about 2,500 years ago that rice cropping started to prevail in Japan.

What is remarkable about Japan is that wheat cultivation never became a mainstream of its agriculture.  From ancient days to today, the Japanese have mainly cultivated rice.  No bread making from wheat was tried in Japan before its Westernization that started in the middle of the 19th century.

While the Chinese Civilization partly relied on wheat cultivation, the Japanese Civilization solely depended on rice cultivation.  In this context, Japan is the only major civilization that has developed solely relying on rice and paddy fields.  This is one of unique characteristics of Japan among developed countries and major countries in the world.

From one grain of rice, 200 grains are reproduced, while one grain of wheat produces only 20 grains.   From a same area of crop land, rice provides calories 1.6 times more than wheat does.  In addition to the natural environment suitable for rice cropping and making paddy fields, this efficiency of rice must make it the major staple for Japanese agriculture.

But, paddy agriculture is very different from wheat farming, which fostered uniqueness of the Japanese culture against Chinese and European cultures.  Rice cannot be grown in the concave-convex fields.  To fill the field with water, it must be even.  To set up a paddy field is not so easy as to plant seeds in grassy and uneven land.

As for uniqueness of the Japanese culture, Japanese did not experience full-scale hunting and stock raising era.  They entered the era of rice cropping after a hunting-gathering era.  The Japanese archipelago has no great plains or plain forests suitable for full-scale cattle breeding.

So, while wheat farming and experiences of hull-scale hunting and cattle breeding are common in the mainstream of the world, including Europe, India and China, Japan lacks such traditions.  But Japanese have been engaged in almost solely rice farming.

The key to understanding Japan and the Japanese is this tradition of paddy agriculture.

For example, sushi with rice and seafood is a result of this uniqueness.




Trend of Yield Amount of Rice in Japan
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/raichou/20120718/1342585287


Ranking of Rice Yield by Country

1	China	203,612,200
2	India	159,200,000
3	Indonesia	71,279,709
4	Bangladesh	51,500,000
5	Vietnam	44,039,291
6	Thailand	36,062,600
7	Myanmar	28,767,000	2
8	Philippine	18,439,406
9	Brazil	11,782,549
10	JAPAN	10,758,000

11	Cambodia	9,390,000	2
12	US	8,613,094

Rice bowl
http://kenkou-kokoro.com/archives/507



Wheat


Rice


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



Luk 5:18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him.
Luk 5:19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

"not come to destroy, but to fulfil" - Question on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Pacific Ocean Coast 200 km West of Tokyo

Question on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Tokyo Prefecture has a public budget reaching 13 trillion yen ($125 billion).  It has 160,000 public servants.  Its GDP is about 92.4 trillion yen ($870 billion) equivalent to GDP of the 14th largest country in the world.

However it is estimated that if an M7-class earthquake occurred (whose probability is 70% in 30 years), Tokyo would suffer 23,000 deaths and economic damage worth 95 trillion yen.

But what the Japanese Government and the Tokyo prefectural office are doing is preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with total costs of 1.8 trillion yen ($17 billion).   What is worse, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear accident is not yet completely fixed while about 100,000 people are still in a state of evacuation in Fukushima Prefecture.

But is there any reason for Japan and Tokyo to venture on the Olympics despite the ongoing effect of the 2011 natural disaster and the Fukushima nuclear accident and the coming disaster?

It is a question for Japanese too difficult to answer now.


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




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.

"him that was possessed with the devil" - Haiku Genius Shiki Masaoka

Tokyo-Nagoya Expressway

Haiku Genius Shiki Masaoka

Haiku is a form of Japanese poems, now worldly learnt and practiced.

The most famous author or haiku poet in the history of the Japanese modern literature is Shiki Masaoka, one of the best friends of notable author Soseki Natsume.

Masaoka Shiki (October 14, 1867 – September 19, 1902), pen-name of Masaoka Noboru),[2] was a Japanese poet, author, and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku poetry.[3] He also wrote on reform of tanka poetry.

Some consider Shiki to be one of the four great haiku masters, the others being Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaoka_Shiki

Shiki Masaoka suffered from illness for a long period time, though he wrote many works while he was forced to stay in his home due to illness.

One night he saw a dream.  There was one dying animal.  It was crying hard, being afraid of its death.  Then, there came a rabbit.  The rabbit showed extreme sympathy to the animal, extending its fore-paw to the animal that held it and put it in its mouth.  And then, the animal died in peace and calmness.  Then, there was another animal dying and crying.  Again, the rabbit approached it, extending its fore-paw to the animal that held it and put it in its mouth.  And then, the animal died in peace and calmness.  Then there was another...

When he woke up, Shiki could not help but recall the dream.


Shiki argued what were commonplace haiku and what were not.

According to Shiki Masaoka, commonplace haiku are descriptive in presenting a scene or a situation without much mind of a poet or without much art of handling a subject.


Splitting firewood all alone
Is my younger sister as if
keeping insides for the winter
- Shiki Masaoka

Shiki Masaoka, when he was still healthy, called his mother and younger sister from his local home town to Tokyo so that they could live together, though his father had died many years ago.  But after Shiki became sick, they devoted themselves to care of him.  According to Shiki, his sister was a very tough and cool woman.




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




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.

"the prayer of faith shall save the sick" - The Holocaust and Islamic Wars

Mt. Fuji, Japan

The Holocaust and Islamic Wars

Pious Muslims pray to God five times or so a day.  Muslim women covered their hair and skins with veils or so.  They don't even drink alcohol, at least, so openly.

But contemporary Christian Europeans and Americans do not pray to God so often and their women love to expose their skins.  They have no restriction on drinking alcohol and some of them are drug addicts.

What is worse, under the slogan of liberal or progressive today's Western culture accept abnormal men and women, which Muslims cannot accept.

So, it seems reasonable that God loves Muslims and hates Europeans and Americans.  Accordingly, Satan is attacking Muslims, which can be seen in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.  The more Muslims suffer, the more Satan with corrupt Europeans and Americans is rejoiced.

This is one way of interpretation of the global situation of today from a viewpoint of true religion.

Put simply, the core of Judaism and Christianity has been contaminated by Western material civilization that produced capitalism, commercialism, and worship of money.  But why don't they perish and get terminated, while Europeans and Americans are so rotten and corrupt, being brainwashed by Satan?

The answer is the Holocaust that occurred in WWIII with six million Judaists executed by Nazis.  The aftershock was so grave among Europeans and Americans.  This grave trauma was engraved in the minds and hearts of Europeans and Americans.  It has had effect of protecting them from Satan who wanted to make Europeans and Americans make more wars and kill one another as much as possible.  The reason why the Third World War has not occurred to date is the remaining aftershock of the Holocaust.

No matter how much corrupt and rotten Europeans and Americans, they are still under effect of the Holocaust.  That is why order and law are observed, and total destruction of morals and ethics are prevented in Europe, America and other nations ruled by mostly by the European race.
Today's wars, civil wars, and armed conflicts in the Islamic world must work like the Holocaust.  Its aftershock will be so grave and deep that future Muslims would be prevented from getting corrupt and rotten like the European race.  Of course, this discussion is based on the assumption that the Islamic world will be also modernized and industrialized, getting under influence of capitalism, commercialism, and worship of money as we see in Dubai.

Economies of the ummah
SAKIB SHERANI — PUBLISHED AUG 12, 2013 08:05AM

The most authentic list comes from the seminal 2010 study by the Pew Research centre, which lists Muslim-majority countries at 49. Including the Muslim population of countries that have a large Muslim minority cohort, such as India and Nigeria among others, the combined total of adherents to Islam is around 1.62 billion, or roughly 23pc of the world population. 

Muslim countries account for 21.7pc of the world’s land mass, with the largest Muslim country in terms of geographic size being Kazakhstan. It is followed by Algeria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. 

Nearly 22pc of the Muslim population of the world resides in the Arab countries, while almost 1.3 billion Muslims are residents of the remaining Muslim-majority countries.

The aggregate size of the economies of all Muslim countries put together is around $5.7 trillion — or 8.1pc of the world total. The largest economy in the Islamic world is Indonesia with a size of $846 billion, followed by Turkey ($775bn) and Saudi Arabia ($577bn). Iran is the only other Muslim country with a GDP larger than $500bn.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1035026

At least there is potential for economic success in the Islamic world.  The key to success must be a change of the Islamic paradigm.  For example, if Muslims are given another Koran that recommends them to import the essence of the Western civilization, apart from religious aspects, future Muslims might leverage science and technology developed in the Western world more smoothly.



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



Jam 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

"let him sing psalms" - A Long Way to Recognize God

A Mountainous Area North of Tokyo

A Long Way to Recognize God

The relationship between God and the whole mankind and also each individual is the last and the most important issue for the human species.

In any civilization, including the ancient Egyptian one, there is a religion and a myth.  Animals do not think about somebody with super and super-natural power.  They are just afraid of danger brought on them by other animals or natural phenomena.  They are not thankful to the nature that nourish them.  But human beings started to think, from a log time ago or millions of years ago, that there exited spirits, namely non material existence, in environment within or out of the nature, since their minds and hearts were spiritual.

"Something very powerful, horrible, or merciful must exist beyond the nature," they must have thought.  And as human beings advanced in their recognition and cogitation, they came to think there might be something that controlled their fates, since some people were lucky and others were very unlucky beyond the limit of individuals' efforts.  And, "that something must be spiritual existence," they must have concluded.

Human beings living 10,000 years ago or a million years ago thought about their death.  They of course knew that their physical death meant the end of work of their minds and hearts.  But as they could recognize that their minds and hearts constituted their own inner domain, they thought that their souls, the sources of work of their minds and hearts, should belong to another world.  And the world must be an independent world from the material nature. "When we die, our bodies are destroyed and decayed but their souls must survive in another world," human beings came to believe clearly at least 250,000 years ago when Homo sapiens was established or as some groups of primates or the genus Homo came to believe so, they became Homo sapience whose only existent group is us, the mankind.

The development from the stage of primates to the mankind through the phases of Homo species must be guided by the development of recognition of spiritual existence and realization of inner souls of their own minds.

Family Hominidae: humans and other great apesSubfamily Ponginae

Subfamily Ponginae  

• Tribe Pongini

• Genus Pongo

• Bornean orangutan,  Pongo pygmaeus

• Sumatran orangutan, Pongo abelii 

Subfamily Homininae

• Tribe Gorillini

• Genus Gorilla

• Western gorilla, Gorilla gorilla

• Eastern gorilla, Gorilla beringei

・Tribe Hominini

• Subtribe Panina

• Genus Pan

• Chimpanzee (common chimpanzee), Pan troglodytes

• Bonobo (pygmy chimpanzee), Pan paniscus

　・Subtribe Hominina

• Genus Homo

• Human, Homo sapiens

• Anatomically modern human, Homo sapiens sapiens

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominidae

Anatomically modern humans evolved from archaic humans in the Middle Paleolithic, about 200,000 years ago.[3] The emergence of anatomically modern human marks the dawn of the subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens,[4] i.e. the subspecies of Homo sapiens that includes all modern humans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomically_modern_human

In this context, it has been just 200,000 years since some species on the earth started to clearly sense and respect some spiritual existence.

Conversely, because one species came to sense existence of souls and spiritual entities, it could develop from domains of orangutans,  gorillas, and chimpanzees.  And, some group in the species further developed their recognition of souls and spiritual entities to become Homo sapiens sapiens.

Therefore, the key feature that characterizes the mankind is its recognition of its souls and spiritual entities around it.

In this context, the decisive factor that allowed for evolution of living things to the mankind is self recognition of their souls and spiritual entities around them.  Therefore, what made formation of the human species possible is not physical features but strength of self-recognition of their souls and ability to sense the spiritual world.

Since a living thing was first generated on the earth 4 billion years ago, there was always a group of living things that focused on their inner world that developed to minds and hearts through the phases of one-cell organisms, multicellular organisms, fishes, amphibians, mammals, primates, and homo sapiens sapiens.

The tendency of human beings to focus on their own inner world, souls, spiritual domains, and God is not a result of evolution.  But rather, a driving factor of evolution to the human species from, extremely, one-cell organisms.  Our ancestors must have been always focusing on their internal spheres even when they were one-cell organisms, multicellular organisms, fishes, amphibians, mammals, and primitive primates.

However, after the establishment of human beings with a feature of focusing on souls and spirit, they had to still live long and go a long way till they found the Sole Creator of the Universe who is the only and one God.

Today, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam claim that their is only one God who created the whole world.   And, all the mankind knows it.  So, it has taken 4 billion years that living things on the earth come to correctly believe in existence of God that created all the living things.

So, the future evolution of homo sapiens sapiens should also rely on this feature of the mankind of focusing on their own souls, the spiritual domain, and God.



https://muttslikeme.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/treeolife3.jpg%3Fw%3D500%26h%3D600



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




Jam 5:12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
Jam 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
Jam 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

"we shall reign on the earth" - Holy Authority vs Democracy

Around Tokyo

Holy Authority vs Democracy

How could Christ Jesus get foods?

To know the answer, we have to live and act like Him.  We have to live and act as God wishes, and then God should feed us like He feeds birds in the sky.

As Christ Jesus said, we have to first seek holy justice, and then whatever is needed for our lives should be given by God.

In this way, as Christ Jesus was traveling from a village to another, God must have provided foods and meals for Christ Jesus through villagers who were healed by or came to believe Christ Jesus.

In other word, Christ Jesus had no need for money to buy foods, since villagers who saw miracles offered meals for free.

And remarkably, Christ Jesus did not beg foods like today's politicians beg votes from voters.

The big difference from the world of today with democratic political systems is that Christ Jesus had holy authority.  Politicians today have no such authority.  And voters in a democratic nation have also no divine authority.  Voters' voice is not a voice of God.

Voices of God can be only delivered by saints such as Christ Jesus in any era.

In this context, to make the world better, we had better to strengthen our faith so that God would give some authority to some members of our society.  It is because democracy can be controlled by voters who might even follow Satan.



https://wordtrace.wordpress.com/tag/wallpaper/page/5/



Presidential candidates without holy authority
http://www.texasgopvote.com/government/why-are-americans-angry-008822


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



Rev 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Rev 5:11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

"they shall be called the children of God" - To stop Trump, Have More Faith in God

A Local Area North of Tokyo

To stop Trump, Have More Faith in God

Christ Jesus said to love God with all of your might and ability, which means putting the highest priority in the teaching of God.

However, people usually put the highest priority in their own lives with riches, security, wealth, safety, and other factors of their own happiness.

According to the teaching of Christ Jesus, we have to put the teaching of God before our individual matters, family matters, social matters, national matters, and even matters of the human species.  We have to live for God but not for ourselves, our families, our communities, our nations, and the human species.

It is because though our physical bodies are made of molecules and atoms, our minds and hearts are made of our spirits God gave to us individually.  Our ability to recognize ourselves with consciousness and use higher intellect was given by God.  The work of our brains and power of minds and hearts are linked to the spiritual world that is above the material world.  As Christ Jesus suggested, God sends spirits to human beings.

Put simply, we have to admit that we were created by God and we are not simple results of random phenomena of the nature.

If we don't put the highest priority to God, we will put our desire to the highest position.  That is why Hitler could take the leadership in Germany before WWII.  That is why dictators such as Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Qaddafi, etc. took power.  It is because people without faith in God would try to be happy by sacrificing others, especially, the poor, the weak, the handicapped, the minority, etc.

In this context, the American politics is paradoxical.  If Americans want to liberate people perfectly as some Democrats claim, they have to have deeper faith in God as some Republicans claim.  In reality, less faithful Democrats are focusing on justice for minorities, which could be only realized by more faithful Republicans.

This discrepancy of American political and religious domains has led to the rise of the Mafia-type figure named Trump.  The cause of popularity of Presidential candidate Trump lies in this inconsistency of the American political and religious conditions.

To stop Trump, Americans have to keep the teaching of God first and foremost.





http://israeliside.com/2014/11/dictators-must-go-2/



http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-donald-trumps-fascist-inclinations-do-not-bother-his-fans-20151214-story.html


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



Mat 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Mat 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"for I am a sinful man, O Lord" - For Human Beings to be Complete

Mountain Area North of Tokyo

For Human Beings to be Complete

Christ Jesus said to be complete like your Father in Heaven who is God.

To be complete is to perform something 100% to requirements.  For example, to finish a work in any genre must meet this teaching.  But, believing in God 100% will be complete belief.

You can make efforts that may be measured by quantity of your achievements.  For example you may walk 100 km, 1,000 km, or 10,000 km.  But you cannot see when it will be complete.  But, if you walk in a wrong direction, no matter how much you may walk, it is incomplete.

But if you never lose a right direction, your 10 km walking to the right direction may be complete.  In this sense, to find a right direction is the first step for us to be complete.

Christ Jesus also said that we cannot serve both God and Mammon at the same time.  If we serve God 100% in our daily lives, we may be complete.  But if we serve God 50% while enjoying riches, social status, and privileges, it cannot be complete.

To be complete as a human being is to live 100% as God requests us to live.




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




Luk 5:8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
Luk 5:9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: