"salute it" - Patriotic Nobel Prize Winner

Patriotic Nobel Prize Winner

Mr. Shinya Yamanaka of Japan won the Nobel Prize for his iPS study this year.

But he was not a blessed medical doctor.

After graduation from Kobe University, he first worked as a surgeon but could not make great progress in his skill.  So, Mr. Yamanaka changed his career to medical research.  Then he went to the US to advance his study.

After returning to Japan, he started to tackle some biological issue in a university in Osaka.  But he was not regraded as a promising doctor.  He received very limited budget for his study.  There were no assistants in his laboratory.

He even asked his wife and daughter to go to an airport to receive lab mice some US laboratory sent to him.  He was busy taking care of rats in his laboratory alone.  He was really depressed about his circumstances finally.

So, he decided to abandon his medical study.  He thought to go back to a hospital and diagnose patients.  To fix his mind he planned to buy a house.  As a new hose cost much, he thought he could be determined to work as a clinician and make more money.   But, one night his mother saw her late husband in dream at night; he said to her not to have his son buy a new house.  So, following this advice from his late father who had been glad to see his son become a medical doctor in his dying bed some years before, Mr. Yamanaka abandoned the idea of ending the career in research.

He then applied for a position as assistant professor in a university in Nara Prefecture, south of Kyoto.  At the time he held a new subject of study: Make a master cell from a skin cell.

Then Mr. Yamanaka could make great progress. Finally he was rewarded the Nobel Prize to "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent." He could show his iPS cells were "pluripotent, i.e. capable of generating all cell lineages of the body."

One cell on the skin of a man can be engineered to became a primary cell that can develop again to become any organ or part of his body, according to his discovery.

So, if Mr. Yamaka had bought a new house, his discovery would not have been realized.

Today, Mr. Yamanaka is invited by many foreign universities that offer to him a big salary and better environment for his research.  But he is not going to leave Japan.  Then his late father might help him again even in dream at night.



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Mat 10:12 And when ye come into an house, salute it.
Mat 10:13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

"his disciples asked him again" - New Economics for Japan

Tokyo Skytree Tower Street...

New Economics for Japan

Now the annual conferences of IMF and the World Bank are held in Tokyo.

The amount of total assets possessed by Japanese individuals has reached about $20 trillion.

But most of this money is in domestic bank accounts.  And Japanese banks buy government bonds in large quantity.

Even it is suspected that the Japanese Government does not especially recommend Japanese individuals to invest into foreign markets.  Japanese money should be kept in Japan to sustain the government budget.  Maybe they thin so.

Due to deflation, continuing more than a decade, the Japanese Government has experienced a plunge in tax revenues for many years.  The total amount of accumulated financial deficits of Japan gets 200% in a ratio over its GDP, which is the largest or the worst in the world.  Therefore to compensate the budget deficit, the Japanese Government issued so many bonds year after year.

Now the amount of outstanding Japanese government bonds has reached  $9 trillion.  By comparison, the amount of outstanding US government bonds has reached  $14 trillion.

On the other hand, the total accumulated amount of direct investment from Japan to China was $45 billion from 2001 to 2010.  It accounted for about 7% of the total direct foreign investment into China.  However, there is also a huge amount of transfer of technology and know-hows from Japan to China.  Japan has helped Chinese economic growth as one of major players or as the key contributor.

Japanese deflation has progressed in parallel with an increase of Japanese involvement in Chinese industry and economy.  Japanese makers built plants and factories to make the best use of cheap labor force in China.  It is estimated that 6,000 Japanese makers are in operation in China while total 15,000 Japanese businesses have offices and plants in China.  Accordingly, the wage level of Japanese workers in Japan has been heavily influenced.  With intensification of global economy, Japanese workers have to face competition with less salaries.  As a result, tax revenues of the Japanese Government has continued to decline.

But, Japanese businesses are not losing in this global competition in economy and industry.  They are securing reasonable profits, making products with less costs and less wages.  So, corporate executives and other middle-class workers have received reasonable payments.  It resulted in $20 trillion of total assets possessed by Japanese individuals.

In fact, though the Japanese society has suffered deflation for 15 years, the number of wealthy people is increasing in Japan.

What's more, compare with euro and the US dollar, the Japanese yen is appreciated higher; the yen is now the strongest currency in the world.  It is partly because of financial crises the US and the EU are now  struggling with.  It is also partly because of stable transactions of the Japanese Government bond in the Japanese financial market.

But, the Japanese Government has recently decided to take a concrete measure to deal with the huge budget deficit by increasing the consumption tax rate from 5% to 10% in several years.

But, any conventional financial measures do not look like working well in this scale of economy of Japan which is virtually and substantially the second largest in the world.  (Chinese economy does not possess quality necessary to be evaluated on equal terms with Japan and the US.)

So, a new theory is needed to handle the financial problem of Japan.

The point at issue is that such creative work  looks so costly even with $20 trillion of  individual assets all the Japanese have.  But Japan has to devise one.

Incidentally, Japan has no Nobel laureates in economics so far, though 16 Japanese natural scientists have won the Nobel prize.

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Mar 10:9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Mar 10:10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.
Mar 10:11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
Mar 10:12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

"The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you" - American Attitudes toward Senkaku

Tokyo Skytree Tower...the tallest TV tower in the world, 634 meters

American Attitudes toward Senkaku

How has the US Government ever discussed the Senkaku Islands issue?

Lending clarity to the China-Japan dispute 

ANURAG VISWANATH
Posted: Wednesday, Sep 19, 2012 at 0336 hrs IST 

However, the Japanese dismiss this version. They contend that Senkaku/Diaoyu was discovered by Japan in 1884. Then Senkaku/Diaoyu showed no traces of Chinese control, nor did China protest any activity by the Japanese on the islands. It was made a part of Okinawa in 1895 and markers erected. Okinawa was carved from the Ryukuku Islands (once an independent sovereign kingdom incorporated into Japan as Ryuku-han in 1872). The Japanese contend that Senkaku/Diaoyu was never “transferred to Japan via Treaty of Shimonoseki” as the Chinese claim....
Hara notes that Senkaku (and Okinawa) were placed under US control under Article 3 of the peace treaty. The US relinquished its administrative rights over Senkaku in 1972, but despite “reversion” remained stationed in Okinawa. Japan’s residual sovereignty over Senkaku/Diaoyu was recognised by successive Presidents—Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. But Nixon made a departure.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/lending-clarity-to-the-chinajapan-dispute/1004556/0

As Nixon at the time wanted to improve relationship with China to end the American involvement in the Vietnam War where China played some supportive role to North Vietnam, Nixon refrained from continuing support for Japan regarding the sovereignty issue over Senkaku.

Senkaku (Diaoyu/Diaoyutai) Islands Dispute:  U.S. Treaty Obligations 

Mark E. Manyin
Specialist in Asian Affairs
September 25, 2012   

....

U.S. Administration of the Islands, 1953-1971  

U.S. administration of the islands began in 1953 as a result of the 1951 Treaty of Peace with Japan. The Treaty did not mention the Senkakus (Diaoyu/Diaoyutai), but it referred to other islands that had reverted to Chinese control or which China claimed. These included Taiwan, the Pescadores (off the western coast of Taiwan), as well as the Spratlys and the Paracels (both in the South China Sea). Article 3 gave the United States sole powers of administration of "Nansei Shoto south of 29 north latitude (including the Ryukyu and the Daito Islands)...." In 1953, the U.S. Civil Administration of the Ryukyus issued U.S. Civil Administration of the Ryukyus Proclamation 27 (USCAR 27), which defined the boundaries of "Nansei Shoto [the southwestern islands] south of 29 degrees north latitude" to include the Senkakus.  At the time of the signing of the Okinawa Reversion Treaty, several State Department officials asserted that following the signing of the Japan Peace Treaty, "Nansei Shoto south of 29 degrees north latitude" was "understood by the United States and Japan to include the Senkaku Islands." Moreover, during the period of U.S. administration, the U.S. Navy established firing ranges on the islands and paid an annual rent of $11,000 to Jinji Koga, the son of the first Japanese settler of the islands. China has described the U.S.-Japan understandings related to the islands as “backroom deals” that are "illegal and invalid."

http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/198821.pdf

So, the US has conventionally admitted that Japan possesses the Senkaku Islands, since it came to be directly involved in international and diplomatic issues in East Asia after WWII, though the US colonized the Philippines before WWII.

More specifically, the Senkaku Islands are situated far closer to Japan, namely Okinawa Prefecture with so many islands such as Ishigaki, than to mainland China.  The Senkaku Islands also naturally accompanies 36 Okinawa islands.

http://shokasen.blog122.fc2.com/blog-entry-57.html

The island to the right in the Senkaku Islands (in the above map) is called Taisho-to which is possessed by the Japanese Gov. for more than a century  unlike other islands of Senkaku.

Therefore it is very unreasonable that China recently started to release its hostility to Japan in the wake of the transaction of the Japanese Government, concluded in September 2012, purchasing the main island, called Uotsuri-jima, and two other small ones accompanying Uotsuri of Senkaku from a private Japanese owner.

Incidentally, the history of Taiwan has made it a little complicated, but the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) of China regarded the Senkaku Islands as lands out of its territory as Taiwan was then.  It could be confirmed in some old maps made in Ming.  The then Chinese Imperial court regarded Senkaku as part of the Ryukyu (Okinawa) kingdom which brought a tribute to Ming.

Finally, you had better refer to the Historical Analysis on the Senkaku Islands in http://eereporter.blogspot.jp/2010/10/yesterday-two-miracles-however-you.html.


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Luk 10:8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
Luk 10:9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Luk 10:10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
Luk 10:11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

"Peace be to this house" - Obama vs Romney

A Tokyo Street on a Rainy Sunday...

Obama vs Romney

One sub-era is passing by.

China is gong to have a new top team that will lead the nation for the coming decade.

Russia has new Mr. Putin as new president.

The memory of Mr. Blair and Mr. Sarkozy is now so far away.

Japan is also expected to undergo other regime change from the labor-union supported DPJ to the capitalist LDP within a few months at the earliest.

So, there is a strong momentum around the US to allow for a change from Mr. Obama to Mr. Romney.

It is not economy that is at issue.  If the US unemployment is improved, you do not need Mr. Obama any more.  If the   US unemployment is not improved, you do not need Mr. Obama any more, either.

In the era of President Mr. W. Bush, the US exposed so many scandals in the business sector.  But, the stable status of religion in the US sustained its society facing the War against Violent and Mad Muslims through those difficult years after the 9/11 Terror.  No grave spiritual degradation was observed in the US apart from usual and conventional corruption among rich people which culminated in the 2008 Lehman Shock.

But, under the Obama Administration which succeeded in improving the American health insurance system to some extent, loosening of  morals and  other disciplinary problems might be surfacing, though absolute number of crimes has been decreasing in the US.

Especially, nowadays people are engaged in dubious or criminal activities in the cyber space.  So, the trend of Internet crimes in the US must be reflecting some significant spiritual corruption in the US.  

IC3 2011 Internet Crime Report Released   

More Than 300,000 Complaints of Online Criminal Activity Reported in 2011

Washington, D.C.May 10, 2012

FBI National Press Office

FAIRMONT, WV—The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) today released the 2011 Internet Crime Report—an overview of the latest data and trends of online criminal activity. According to the report, 2011 marked the third year in a row that the IC3 received more than 300,000 complaints. The 314,246 complaints represent a 3.4 percent increase over 2010. The reported dollar loss was $485.3 million. As more Internet crimes are reported, IC3 can better assist law enforcement in the apprehension and prosecution of those responsible for perpetrating Internet crime. 

In 2011, IC3 received and processed, on average, more than 26,000 complaints per month. The most common complaints received in 2011 included FBI-related scams—schemes in which a criminal poses as the FBI to defraud victims—identity theft, and advance-fee fraud. The report also lists states with the top complaints, and provides loss and complaint statistics organized by state. It describes complaints by type, demographics, and state.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/february/internet_022411/internet_022411

Though President Mr. Obama was supported greatly by power of the Internet in 2008, it might be contributing to degradation of the American spiritual sector.

In this context, a very strong faction of Christianity in the real world might be wanted.  And, Mr. Romney might be rather closer to it than Mr. Obama.  A trend might be in favor of Mr. Romney.


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Luk 10:5 And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house.
Luk 10:6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.

"as lambs among wolves" - Diaries in WWII

The 333-meter Tokyo Tower in Tokyo since 1958...

Diaries in WWII

In the Pacific Theater of WWII, many Japanese soldiers were killed, but some were captured alive.

But it was not only from Japanese prisoners of war that the US military got precious information.

Most of Imperial soldiers and officers of Japan kept a diary even in a battle field.  After a fierce battle was over and Japanese troops were driven out, US soldiers picked up many diaries and other documents from corpses of Japanese and from inside trenches.

Those diaries gave precious military information to US forces.  Americans could understand how Imperial forces were organized and how their bases were fortified in addition to minds and heats of Japanese soldiers.

In order to read and translate these documents and inquire Japanese prisoners of war, the US Government recruited a large number of second-generation Japanese Americans and other Americans who were learning Japanese in universities and so on.

In the Imperial Army, Japanese soldiers and officers were advised to keep a diary.  It was probably regraded as a kind of discipline.  Soldiers wrote many things almost freely without inspection by supervisors.

Especially in lines of battle in the Pacific Ocean, the Imperial Army did not mind if those diaries could be taken by Americans.  Japanese generals thought that Americans could not read and understand diaries Japanese wrote, since the written Japanese language was complicated and difficult.  They even did not strictly control handling of military documents so as not to leave them behind when Japanese troops retreated.  No Japanese elites even dreamed that the US military was mobilizing thousands of second-generation Japanese Americans and other Americans who could read and speak Japanese to get information in front lines.

Of course, in addition to Americans capable of reading Japanese, many Japanese prisoners of war cooperated in reading and interpreting diaries in addition to providing information they had.  (However, it is also true that many Japanese soldiers and officers chose to commit a suicide before being taken captive by US or other allied forces.)

During WWII, the US had not CIA, but their experiences in the war against the Empire of Japan gave precious experiences in collecting information from an enemy whose language and culture were so different from those of the US.

Anyway, even today, many Japanese like to keep a diary.  In primary school in Japan, teachers always teach pupils how to keep a diary.  And they show good examples of a diary.

In addition, it was expected that 100% of Japanese soldiers could read and write during WWII as  the literacy rate of the Empire of Japan was almost 100% far exceeding the wold average at the time.

What's more, Korea before annexation to the Empire of Japan in 1910 had only 10% of the literacy rate.  But 25 years after the annexation, the literacy rate among Koreans increased to 65% in 1936.  The Empire of Japan saved and educated the Korean people who had been abandoned by their royal government before the annexation to the Empire.




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Luk 10:3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

"but the labourers are few" - Voting Right

Tokyo Tower...

Voting Right

How long can Chinese citizens endure the current political condition that they have virtually no voting right.

But it was in 1889 that Japanese citizens got right of vote for the first time, though only rich people could exercise this power.

Those who were 25 years old or older and paid 15 yen or more of direct tax to the central government were given this right of vote.  Those eligible to vote to choose lawmakers accounted for just 1% of all the Japanese people at the time.  But it was vote in an open ballot.

 n 1900, those who were 25 years old or older and paid 10 yen or more of direct tax to the central government of Japan were allowed to exercise anonymous vote.   Those eligible at the time accounted for 2.2%.

In 1919, the tax condition was changed to 3 yen and more.   Those eligible at the time accounted for 5.5%.

In 1925, the restriction on tax was abolished.  All the male Japanese aged 25 or more were allowed to cast a ballot in a national election.  Those eligible at the time accounted for 20%.

So, far before the beginning of WWII or the Pearl Harbor attack, all the Japanese male could participate in national politics.

And when WWII ended in 1945, all the Japanese males and females aged 20 years old or older were given voting right without any restrictions.   For reference, French women also got voting right in 1945 though US women in 1920.

Nonetheless even today  Chinese citizens have virtually no voting right.  Their congress is not a real national assembly.  Their Cabinet is not filled with ministers or secretaries who are chosen through a democratic process.  Their prime minister and president have no democratic backgrounds.

It is time to think about how to introduce real democracy and a true voting system in China.


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Luk 10:2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

"the LORD appointed other seventy also" - Japanese View on China and Korea

The Tokyo Tower...

Japanese View on China and Korea

The First Sino-Japanese War (1 August 1894 – 17 April 1895) was the first big incident Japan was engaged in after the fall of the last samurai regime and the establishment of modern government in 1860s.

At the time the Meiji Government of Japan was tackling treaty revision with the UK.  And when this effort of Japan was fulfilled, not only the Japanese elites but also the general public of Japan felt that their country became an equal partner with Western powers.

Then when they looked around, China, namely the Qing dynasty, and Korea, namely Yi-Dynasty Korea, were behind the times.  China behaved as the sole suzerain in East Asia as it had been for centuries.  As Japan had not been fully subject to Chinese dynasties at least since the sixth century, this situation in Korea did look so irrational for Japan.  As Japan wanted to promote and strengthen economic, diplomatic, and military ties with Korea, the Chinese influence on the Korean royal court was so troublesome.  But, Korean politicians still lived on the old paradigm that the universe worked with China at its center and Korea was the best follower of the Great Chinese Civilization.  

Accordingly, the Meiji Government of Japan started to drive out Chinese influences from the Korean Peninsula.  As Korea was split into a pro-Chinese faction and a pro-Japanese group, the Korean royal government could not manage the situation.  They could not even modernize its society and westernize its industry to have strong military.  Finally, Japan and the Qing dynasty embarked in a war in and around the Korean Peninsula.

Most of the Japanese people at the time, namely in the Meiji era, supported the Government starting the war as one of Westernized and modern countries in the world against the old-fashioned Asian empire Qing that was against progress of Asia toward full Westernization.  

Put simply, the First Sino-Japanese War meant the right and just war for the Japanese people who believed and supported the progress in new civilization; it was a war between a civilized country (Japan) waking up to a new era and an old-guard empire (China) trying to sleep in an old dream.

But, one notable Japanese politician at the time named Katsu Kaisyu (1823-1899) was against this war.  Ex-elite samurai directly subject to shogun (the king of samurais) Katsu did not despise Koreans and Chinese unlike most of his contemporaries.

Katsu who also occupied key positions in the Meiji Government, such the Navy Minister, said that Japan should not behave like one of Western countries that were busy cruelly colonizing Africa and Asia.

And, even today the psychology of the Japanese people nurtured in the era of the First Sino-Japanese War still lingers in the Japanese society.  But the spirit of Katsu Kaisyu has been also alive in both the leftist camp and the nationalistic group in the Japanese society, though it does not necessarily mean an increase of Japanese who become so pro-Chinese or pro-Korean.

Anyway, in the samurai era, Japanese people did not especially despise Chinese and Koreans.  They rather respected many cultural and religious figures in China and Korea as culture came to Japan through the Korean Peninsula from the Asian Continent.  




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Luk 10:1 After these things the LORD appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.

"Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years" - China in Future

Tokyo Bay

China in Future

The biggest social turmoil expected is not a future one in Iran but in China.

Libya and Egypt have already passed this dangerous phase in transformation of society.  Syria is now undergoing it, and Iran will have to face a drastic revolution.  But the biggest one should be set off in China, being accompanied by a similar but less graver one in North Korea.

It is very unreasonable that Chinese people are forbidden to exercise democratic rights in their society while enjoying the free-market economy.  While they can travel to the US to study in Harvard and other American universities, they cannot even criticize their government.  Such condition cannot last forever.

As the recent anti-Japanese violent protests in Chinese cities indicate, Chinese citizens are only allowed to demonstrate for some anti-Japanese purpose, but they cannot give a demonstration for any anti-government reasons.  There is no freedom of expression in China.  If you, in any city of China, reprove any leaders in Beijing, you will be surely arrested by the police.

The Chinese Government controls all the media in China, except some functions of the Internet.  So, they can hide any facts and truth that are objectionable to the Chinese elites.  For example, the scenes that Chinese demonstrators were attacking Japanese plants and setting fire to Japanese shops in China for the Senkaku issue were completely hidden from the public eye.

This situation cannot be sustained forever.  People will come to get freedom of express and other democratic rights. The Chinese Communist Party will be driven out of Beijing sooner or later.

But such a movement can be a bloody one like what is now observed in Syria.

Between 1912 when the Qing Dynasty fell and 1949 when the People's Republic of China was established, China was in a big turmoil.  Many warlords occupied various regions in China.  The Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalist Party were fighting each other, though they tied up in the war against the Empire of Japan.  And, not only the Japanese Empire but other Western powers and Russia held their own interest in the Chinese Continent.

So, the so-called Japanese invasion of China before WWII was not a unilateral invasion of a well-governed nation with order and law by the Imperial Army.  China was not a well-governed nation with order and law at all at the period of time.  China was in a great turmoil and a civil war.

And, a similar situation might happen in near future in China, far surpassing the degree of the tragedy in Syria.



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Gen 9:28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
Gen 9:29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

"Jesus took him by the hand" - Politicians and Gangsters

Around the Tokyo Station in the Rain

Politicians and Gangsters

The fundamentals of Japan are of course industry.

Most of people work in fields to take out natural resources, in factories and plants to manufacture products, and in distribution systems and shops to sell goods.  After graduation from universities, colleges, and high-schools, young people usually get involved in economic activities in various fields of industries.

But some others work in the public sector as civil servants in municipal offices or the central government.    

In addition, there are experts in the society such as lawyers and medical doctors.

And above them in the social structure, politicians and lawmakers work in local assemblies and the national parliament which is called the Diet in Japan.

One dark side of Japan has been, however, linkage between some lawmakers and gangsters.

For example, an ex-gangster starts real-estate business.  With support from a bank, it can be very successful.  Then he starts to back a key lawmaker who has influences in the industry.  And the lawmaker gets big money from the ex-gangster businessman and distribute it among other politicians who follow him to form a faction.  Then this political faction might become dominant in a political party; accordingly some of those politicians can be appointed to a state minister in the Cabinet.

So, if a trouble occurs to the ex-gangster businessman and he is put under investigation by the police or public prosecutors, he would ask help from the key politician he has been associated with.  The key politician would tell his henchman who happens to be a state minister to help the dubious businessman.  Them the minister would exercise his power on some bureaucrats to handle the case in favor for his boss or his client.  When the matter is fixed, the virtually criminal businessman would present more money or other convenience for the key politician.

In fact, as this kind of cases became too much to tolerate over the era of the bubble economy around 1990, Japan introduced various improvement and correction in its political system in 1990s.  So, there are not so many cases of political corruption reported nowadays.

But there are many second-generation or hereditary politicians in the National Diet.  They might have no dubious connection with gangsters or ex-gangsters, but their fathers or grandfathers as politicians might have had.  Therefore, in rare condition, such an old dark linkage of his family might surface to harm reputation of a national lawmaker who might be very popular or trusted so much by the public.

So, if you look at a politician, such as Mr. W. Bush, you might feel envious of him; but his father, such as Mr. H.W. Bush, might have a dark connection with a kind of gangsters.

So, Christ Jesus said not to go to a place to see people well dressed and walking proudly.



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Mar 9:26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
Mar 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
Mar 9:28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
Mar 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

"of him shall the Son of man be ashamed" - New PM of Japan Promised

Imperial Palace District, Tokyo

New PM of Japan Promised

Mr. Shinzo Abe was today elected as new president of the LDP, the major opposition party in Japan.

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/sakurasakuya7/e/7f3cc8eb97a73b9a0f89a2ab32729883

The conservative LDP had kept power for almost 50 years, except a year or so since 1955, till it lost the 2009 general election to the DPJ that includes many leftist members.

But, Mr. Abe was once prime minister of Japan after Mr. Junichiro Koizumi who had consolidated a diplomatic tie with the Bush Administration.  From 2006 to 2007, LDP lawmaker Abe led Japan as prime minister, taking a nationalistic stance in his governance.  He was even regarded as a kind of dangerous nationalist by The New York Times.

Mr. Abe's father was also an LDP lawmaker who had his own faction with an ambition to become prime minister of Japan.  But Shintaro Abe died in 1991 for some disease to be succeeded by his son Mr. Shinzo Abe.  Shintaro Abe's wife, namely the mother of Mr. Shinzo Abe, was a daughter of Nobuskuke Kishi, the prime minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960.

Nobusuke Kishi is one of the most notable and controversial politicians in the modern Japanese history.  Kishi was an elite official of the Imperial Government of Japan.  He also worked in the Manchukuo Government in 1930s, taking an important part in development of the subject country to the Empire of Japan.  Kishi then became a state minister in the Cabinet formed by Prime Minister/General Hideki Tojyo who launched the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941.  When the Empire of Japan lost the war against the US in 1945, Kishi was taken captive as a war criminal by the US military that occupied Japan.  However, in 1948 Kishi was released from a prison to become a lawmaker of post-war democratic Japan.        

So, being a grandson of notorious Nobusuke Kishi is a big merit for Mr. Shinzo Abe.  When Mr. Abe became prime minister of Japan in 2006, he was 52 years old, the youngest as prime minister of Japan after WWII.  But in the next year, he was taken illness suddenly at the beginning of sessions of the National Diet to resign, surprising the people so terribly.  One of the causes of his illness was defeat of the then ruling party LDP in the Upper House election held a few months earlier.  Mr. Abe was under strong pressure at the time which was said to trigger his illness.

And today, LDP lawmaker Mr. Abe was elected again as new president of the LDP, the major opposition party in Japan, since he was running for this presidential election as he had recovered from the illness that had affected him so badly in 2007.

And as most of today's polls indicate, it is expected that the LDP will take over power from the DPJ now being led by Prime Minister Mr. Yoshihiko Noda in the next general election.  What is more critical is that PM Mr. Noda already promised former President of the LDP Mr. Sadakazu Tanigaki to dissolve the Lower House in near future and hold a general election in exchange of support from Mr. Tanigaki in passing a tax rise bill.  The Lower House has power to choose the prime minister of Japan.  Accordingly, Lower House member Mr. Abe is expected to be elected as new prime minister of Japan after the LDP wins the next general election.

Put simply, as today Mr. Abe became president of the very-pro-American/capitalistic LDP, it is almost promised that Mr. Shinzo Abe will be next prime minister of Japan within a few months at the earliest.

Anyway, the term of office for incumbent Lower House members of the Japanese parliament ends in August 2013.  So, at the latest, Mr. Shinzo Abe of the LDP will be new prime minister of Japan one year later.  It will be his second time as prime minister of Japan after the first resignation in 2007, which is the first case in Japan after WWII.

So, a very rare situation is going to surface in the Japanese politics with a so-called nationalistic lawmaker, Mr. Shinzo Abe.



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Luk 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

"whereas I was blind, now I see" - One National Treasure in Japan

Tokyo

One National Treasure in Japan

In 1329 a samurai had some notable sword smiths make a sword.  He then dedicated it to a shrine.

Today, the sword is designated as a national treasure.

This is one typical incident of the samurai era in Japan.

A powerful samurai became a feudal lord.  He governed a farming area, including some villages.  He took rice and other agricultural products from farmers as customs.  Then a samurai lord sold rice in the market in a big city to get money if necessary.

But there were usually other authorities in a farming area: shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.

So, it was natural for a samurai lord to donate something important for him to a major shrine or a major temple in his fiefdom so as to be blessed by holy spirits and to be respected by farmers and townsmen.

Therefore in this case of the sword, a samurai called Okawara Tokimoto asked sword smiths named Osafune Kagemitsu and Osafune Kagemasa to make a good sword.  Then, Tokimoto donated it to a shrine called Hiromine Jinjya which is situated in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture near Osaka/Kyoto., though Tokimoto was originally from the Chichibu region, Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo.

At the time, namely around 1329, Japan was governed by the first samurai regime with its capital in Kamakura, 60 km west of Tokyo.  Kamakura samurai leaders gave a feud to each of their subject samurais.  So, Okawara Tokimoto was given a territory in Hyogo, 700 km far from his home ground in Saitama.  And his act of reverence for a dominant shrine in his feud resulted in preservation of a fine sword over a time period of 700 years.

So, as you see in the picture above, a successful samurai in Japan 700 years ago had such a sword as is today ranked as a national treasure of Japan.

It also tells that before modernization and westernization of Japan or during the samurai era, the society was under the rule of sword in Japan.  But samurais respected shinto and Buddhism.  The symbol of their soul, namely a sword, was also subject to religion, too.  And they might rather donate a better sword to a shrine or a temple than they had and used as a way of expressing their reverence for religion.  This is one of Japanese traditions.


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



Joh 9:25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

"their laying await was known of Saul" - Christ at the Right Time

Toward Tokyo Bay

Christ at the Right Time

When Christ Jesus was walking with His followers, what did he talk about?

 In His era, the world must have looked so simple.  Only Romans had power to govern the world around Jerusalem.  Egypt now belonged to Rome.  But the east of the Euphrates remained out of power of the Roman Empire.  And, Israelites had to live subject to Romans, though they could maintain their religion.  Great cities at the time must be Rome, Athens, and Alexandria.  Not so many mighty cities were there around the Mediterranean.

So, Christ Jesus did not tell much about international situations surrounding Palestine at the time.

Then, was it just domestic issues and problems that required the emergence of the Son of God among Israelites at the time point in history?

For example, should we consider that Jaudaists at the time degraded themselves so much that they needed Christ to save their society.  Or as their religion went astray, did they need Christ to save their souls?  Maybe, it might have been just domestic crises that requested the first coming of Christ Jesus in those specified years.

However, the timing of His emergence in ancient Israel must have been critical.  He should come in those years around AD 1.  Indeed, He might have come 100 years earlier or later, but He appeared in the very years.

If Jesus had come 100 years later, Jerusalem had been already destroyed by Roman troops.  If He had come 100 years earlier, the region called Galilee was just conquered and annexed to the territory of Judaists so that it could not be a good stage for early activities of Christ..

In c.135 BCE, John Hyrcanus, Simon's third son, assumed the leadership and ruled as high priest (Kohen Gadol) and took a Greek "regnal name" (see Hyrcania) in an acceptance of the Hellenistic culture of his Seleucid suzerains. Within a year of the death of Simon, Seleucid King Antiochus VII Sidetes attacked Jerusalem. According to Josephus,[46] John Hyrcanus opened King David's sepulchre and removed three thousand talents which he paid as tribute to spare the city. He remained as governor as a Seleucid vassal. For the next two decades of his reign, Hyrcanus continued, like his father, to rule semi-autonomously from the Seleucids. 

The Seleucid empire had been disintegrating in the face of the Seleucid–Parthian wars and in 129 BCE Antiochus VII Sidetes was killed in Media by the forces of Phraates II of Parthia, permanently ending Seleucid rule east of the Euphrates. In 116 BCE, a civil war between Seleucid half-brothers Antiochus VIII Grypus and Antiochus IX Cyzicenus broke out, resulting in a further breakup of the already significantly reduced kingdom. 

This provided opportunity for semi-independent Seleucid client states such as Judea to revolt.[47][48][49] In 110 BCE John Hyrcanus carried out the first military conquests of the newly independent Hasmonean kingdom, raising a mercenary army to capture Madaba and Schechem, significantly increasing his regional influence[50][51] 

Hyrcanus conquered Transjordan, Samaria, Galilee, and Idumea (also known as Edom), and forced Idumeans to convert to Judaism:

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


So, for Christ Jesus to encounter fully the Roman power, it must have been just around 1 A.D. when Galilee was cultivated fully by Judaists and the last remnants of Alexander the Great were wiped away from the east part of the Mediterranean.

In summary, it was probably not only domestic situations of Israelites but some diplomatic or neighboring situations for the nation of Judaists that set the timing for the First Coming of Christ among Israelites.

Today, some such situations also seem to be set in these days around Jerusalem, Israel, Palestine, the Middle East, and the world.

As I mentioned, the Second Coming of Christ Jesus  must have already started around 2010.


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



Act 9:23 And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him:
Act 9:24 But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.
Act 9:25 Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.
Act 9:26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

"if any man did confess that he was Christ" - Civilization

Near Ueno, Tokyo

Civilization

What is civilization?

You might think of the Great Pyramids in Giza, but Christ Jesus never mentioned the Pyramids.

Or you might think of City Rome which Christ Jesus never mentioned, either.

Christ Jesus did not even praise Athens, though Greek was the common language among the elites in the era of Christ Jesus.

Civilization is based on great production of agricultural products that allowed for stable maintenance of a community.  The community grows with an increase of population.  And then it will need law and order.  And what can be authority for governance of the society with law and order is a religion.  And this religion should be moralistic.  In this context Judaism could be the core of civilization.

However, the Greek/Roman Civilization was established and sustained without Judaism or any other moralistic religion.  So, the Civilization was not rooted in sound ground.  It must have been destined that the Greek/Roman Civilization would be destroyed someday.  And it would be lost like the ancient Egyptian Civilization.

So many great works by ancient Greek philosophers would be lost, and so many great works and systems developed by ancient Romans would be lost.  They should have been forgotten in history.

However, with advancement of Judaism and Christianity into the region influenced by the Greek/Roman Civilization, they could survive on a sound basis in terms of morality.  As Europeans got a true religion, Christianity, its future success was promised, since they came to be able to carry out all the works of Greek/Roman Civilization into a new phase of development.

As the Greek/Roman Civilization got a new moralistic core, Christianity, it has survived into the 21st century.

So, for any emerging countries, including China and India, it is critical how they will face Christianity.  For example, the reason why Muslims cannot well adapt to the modern material civilization lies in this issue of religion.  For Muslims to be materially successful, they have to accept the modern European Civilization which was an extension of the Greek/Roman Civilization with Judaism and Christianity embeded there.

As for Japan, Japanese understanding of Judaism and Christianity is deep enough to master the European Civilization, though 99% of the Japanese people are not Christians.

But, what should be more concerned about is how well Chinese could understand Christianity.  If they cannot get over this hurdle, China could be the second Nazi Germany in the worst case.   That is a nation with great industry but with a very wrong basis for its civilization.   
  
 

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


Joh 9:22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

"And he asked his father, How long is it ago" - President Mr. Obama

Toward Ueno, Tokyo

President Mr. Obama

Some commonsense tells that something is yet to be uncovered about Mr. Obama.

Who's Really Running Obama?
April 27, 2009  

RUSH: This is not a trick question. Why do you think there's somebody, whoever it is, behind Obama? 

CALLER: Because I don't think he's good enough to have done all of this all on his own. 

RUSH: You mean at age 47 and as a community organizer, you're not really prepped to be president? 

CALLER: You betcha. Yes, I do. 

RUSH: And after a hundred days working in the Senate, you're not qualified enough to be president? 

CALLER: No absolutely not. 

RUSH: So you think that somebody picked Obama because they knew that the combination of things Obama is -- his race, his eloquence, his ability to read the teleprompter -- would sort of make him immune from any criticism, that nobody will have the guts to be critical of Obama? 

CALLER: I think so. I think he's been primed for a lot longer than most of us ever even imagine. Now, I may sound a little crazy, and maybe I'm a little bit of a conspiracy kook.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2009/04/27/who_s_really_running_obama

Some people think that Mr. Soros is behind Mr. Obama.

Soros Says Obama ‘Has Lost Control’ of U.S. Economic Agenda
By Kim Chipman - Feb 20, 2011 2:00 PM GMT+0900

George Soros, a billionaire hedge- fund manager who has donated millions to Democrats, said Democratic President Barack Obama “has lost control of the agenda” on the U.S. economy, leaving it “now in the hands of the Republican Party.”
Soros is a major donor to the Democratic Party. He gave $2.5 million to an independent political group established by John Podesta, now an Obama adviser, in 2008 and contributed $50,000, the maximum allowed, for Obama’s 2009 inaugural celebrations. For the 2004 campaign against Republican President George W. Bush, Soros contributed $27 million to Democrats, according to Congressional Quarterly’s Moneyline.... 

Soros also discussed the Middle East and praised Obama’s handing of the revolt in Egypt that led to the ousting of Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak. 

Soros predicted that Iran’s ruling regime also will topple within the year, though warned the situation there could become “very ugly” before this happens.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-18/soros-says-obama-has-lost-control-of-the-agenda-.html

But, Mr. Soros was not in Chicago.

Posted: March 17, 2010 10:13 AM
The Community Organizers Who Discovered Obama 

Throughout his political career, President Barack Obama has frequently referred to his years as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago. During this time, as a means of achieving social justice, he learned how to develop leadership potential and respond to the needs of the people. The organization in which he got his start, the Gamaliel Foundation, is a faith-based group that helps create grassroots change around jobs, housing, health care and other issues. I talked to Gamaliel's President, Ann Smith, about President Obama back when he was just starting out, and the impact he's had on a new generation of young organizers. 

CYNTHIA: You must have so many stories about President Obama, from back when he started community organizing. Can you share some? 

ANN SMITH: Greg Galluzzo [Gamaliel Foundation co-founder and executive director] always says that when he met Barack, he never thought of him as having the potential to become President. When Barack went off to Harvard Law and came back to get people registered to vote, he led a training event for us. After he finished training, someone in the audience said to Greg, "You know, I think he's going to be the President of the United States one day." When he was an organizer, he was extremely disciplined and wrote wonderful weekly reports for all of the three-plus years he was there. Of course, at some point Greg threw them all away. (laughs) There's not a single one left. But at the time, people didn't see him for what he was going to be. They just saw him as being extremely intelligent and someone who could take advantage of opportunities, which he did.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cynthia-gordy/the-community-organizers_b_502297.html

And, finally we have to check Rockefeller, a friend of Mr. Clinton.

Obama fund-raiser at Sen. Jay Rockefeller's mansion. A Great Gatsby of a pool report. But I digress...
By Lynn Sweet on July 8, 2008 9:46 PM

Michael Powell of the New York Times wrote a delicious pool report--with his ruminations about the role of wealth in our society--covering high-dollar fund-raisers headlined by presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Tuesday night, with one in the elegant "chateau" of Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa.)

Rockefeller is married to Sharon Percy, the daughter of former Sen. Charles Percy (R-Ill.), whose career in the Senate ended when he was defeated by Democrat Paul Simon. Simon hired one David Axelrod away from his job as a Chicago Tribune political writer, launching Axelrod on his political career when he joined the Simon campaign.

Today Axelrod is Obama's chief strategist. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) went on to win the seat held by Simon. Click below for the magnificent Powell pool report....

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/07/obama_fundraiser_at_sen_jay_ro.html

So, it is not a phantom that is behind President Mr. Barack Obama.  A group of rich men who are afraid that their base of wealth in the American society is eroded by their enemy rich men.  Mr. Obama is expected to fix some problems in the American society that might become a source of terror within the US.


***　*** *** ***




Mar 9:20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
Mar 9:21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Mar 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mar 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

"he preached Christ in the synagogues" - Relatives of the Last Emperor in the US

Tokyo Tramcar...

Relatives of the Last Emperor in the US

A Japanese woman was born in the US in 1917, so that she was given US citizenship.

But as her Japanese father committed a suicide, she returned to Japan with her mother and other family before WWII.

Then in Tokyo she met a grandson of the prime minister of Manchuko.

Manchukuo was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China. In 1931, the region was seized by Japan following the Mukden Incident and in 1932, a sympathetic government was established, with Puyi, the last Qing emperor, installed as the nominal regent and emperor.[1] Manchukuo's government was abolished in 1945 after the defeat of Imperial Japan at the end of World War II.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchukuo

The man she married had an elder brother who married a younger sister of the Emperor of Manchukuo, namely the last emperor of China and the first emperor of Manchukuo.

When the Empire of Japan surrendered to the US and pulled out all the Imperial troops from China, Manchurian, and the Korean Peninsula, the great civil war was set off in China between communists led by Mao Tse-tung and nationalists led by Chiang Kaishek.

With this turmoil further going on, the Japanese woman who had moved to Beijing with her husband and daughter felt danger on herself who was Manchu (Chinese), Japanese, and also American.   Her husband and his relatives lost power they had enjoyed in Manchukuo as the Chinese Communist Party occupied the region north of Beijing.

In addition, all the Americans who came to live in Beijing and other part of China after the surrender of the Empire of Japan decided to leave China as the Chinese Nationalist Party the US supported militarily was losing the civil war.  So, the Japanese woman with the US citizenship decided to leave Beijing for Japan with other Americans to avoid capture by Chinese communists.

When Mao Tse-tund declared the foundation of the People's Republic of China in Beijing, there were almost no Americans in China, including the Japanese American woman.

In Japan she decided to divorce, since there was no perspective of the situation in China changing for her benefit.  And, as she started to work in the General Headquarters of allied forces led by US General MacArthur in Tokyo, she met an American officer to marry him.

Then, she and her husband went back to the US; the American Occupation of Japan also ended.

Decades later, she found that her daughter having been left in China wanted to see her.  It was the era of President Nixon, and the relationship between the US and China was getting improved over the Cold War.

So, she made the best effort to call to the US her daughter and her husband with their daughter.  But it was help from her brother working in New Jersey that actually found the way to take her daughter out of communist China through Hong Kong.  It was also advantageous for them that then Chinese Premier Chou En-lai had promoted a special diplomatic measure to keep useful Chinese in society of Western countries, such as the US.

However, the American husband of the Japanese American woman got ill and died at the time.  Then her Chinese daughter came to the US.  The husband of the daughter started to work in a firm the brother of the Japanese American woman ran in New Jersey.

So, in the US since the era of President Nixon, some relatives of the Last Emperor of China have been living, though they are actually Japanese or half Japanese.



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



Act 9:20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

"Go thy way" - 100 Year Old Japanese

Tokyo...

100 Year Old Japanese

There lives a man near Fukushima Daiichi who became 100 years old this April.

He lived in Okuma Town where the Fuksuhima Daiichi nuclear power plant is situated.

Mr. Yoshida now lives in complex housing in Aizu-Wakamatsu City, Fukshima Prefecture, 100 km west of the crippled nuclear power plant.

When Mr. Yoshida was an elementary school boy, he moved to Tokyo with his family from Okuma Town.  Then he experienced the historic 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake that took on tens of thousands of Tokyo citizens.  So, he grew up in Tokyo to become an English teacher and get married.  However, he was  drafted to be sent to Manchuria in 1941 when the Second World War started.

As air raids by US air forces were intensified in Tokyo, his wife decided to move to Fukshima Prefecture though it was not easy to get a ticket of a train going out of Tokyo at the time.  In February 1945, she got a chance to get on a train for Fukushima; it was one month before the Great Tokyo Air Raid where 100,000 Tokyo citizens were killed by bombing from B29s.  She now thinks that if her trip had been delayed, she should have been killed.

When the war was over, Mr. Yoshida was taken captive by Russian troops.  He was forced to work in mines in Siberia for three years.  But he had a luck to return to Japan in 1948.  He started to teach English in school in Fukshima City, 70 km west of Fukushima Daiichi.  After retirement, Mr. Yoshida moved to Okuma Town, his home town, where he started to spend the rest of his life with his 75-year old son and great-grandchildren.  Then, in March of the last year, the nuclear power station in Okuma Town got into a big trouble within an hour of an M9.0 earthquake; the Fukushima Daiichi plant invited a huge nuclear accident when it was attacked by 15-meter-high tsunamis.

When the big earthquake occurred, Mr. Yoshida was in his home.  A tsunami drove sea water up to a location 100 meters from his home.  But he had to leave his home due to the nuclear accident leaving his estate behind.

Nonetheless Mr. Yoshida plans to go back to Okuma Town if it is more than five years from now that he is allowed to return to his home so close to Fukuhshima Daiichi.

As of September 2012, there are 51,376 people in Japan who are 100 years old or older.  Mr. and Mrs. Yoshida are two of them.



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



Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

"he saw a great multitude about them" - Dangerous Syria

Dangerous Syria

A Japanese journalist Junpei Yasuda flew to Syria to cover the civil war.

His reports are recently introduced in various TV programs in Japan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbdqka5JdBs

In terms of trade of Syria, the European nations of Germany, Italy, France, and Spain accounted for 30% of the total Syrian export value.

Global Exports in 2008 by Syria

Market Value: 13,300 (millions)

Exports To	Trade Value	Share	Growth
	(thousands)	(%)	(% 5yr)
Iraq	2,507,109	18.85	384.30
Germany	1,630,637	12.26	5,665.84
Lebanon	1,289,121	9.69	546.70
Italy	1,179,148	8.87	(9.23)
France	1,008,147	7.58	(2.34)
Saudi Arabia	911,231	6.85	155.52
Egypt	677,388	5.09	510.13
Turkey	602,069	4.53	63.33
Algeria	455,641	3.43	953.59
Spain	422,455	3.18	105.76
United States	375,822	2.83	107.13
Jordan	362,404	2.72	137.77
Kuwait	229,626	1.73	306.87
Netherlands	205,560	1.55	62.00
United Kingdom	173,908	1.31	81.77
Austria	131,281	0.99	1,130.07
United Arab Emirates	125,223	0.94	157.11
Republic of Yemen	121,630	0.91	443.67
Greece	97,504	0.73	186.68
Japan	90,247	0.68	349.62
Sudan	90,079	0.68	371.75
Libya	80,866	0.61	120.08

http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/syria/tradestats/

These nations now occupying the land area of the ancient Roman Empire have a strong tie with Syrian businesses and officials.

If they think ending the civil war in Syria is good for them, they will be fully engaged in promoting the settlement of the internal armed conflict within Syria.

But, if they have no room in their diplomatic and political capability, they would just stand aside from Syria in the tragedy.  As the Greek Crisis and the euro crisis have taken their energy for so long, it looks very difficult that the descendants of the ruler of the Mediterranean embark on fixing the bloody calamity on the east end of the great sea.

However, in terms of import, a different aspect of Syria surfaces.  Russia and China have loomed as major partners of Iran.  Including Ukraine, too, they accounted for almost 40% of the total Syrian import value.

Global Imports in 2008 by Syria

Market Value: 15,060 (millions)

Imports From	Trade Value	Share	Growth
	(thousands)	(%)	(% 5yr)
Russia	2,330,552	15.47	578.60
Ukraine	1,766,972	11.73	217.22
China	1,590,282	10.56	221.05
Malta	1,442,780	9.58	NA
Italy	753,074	5.00	172.34
Saudi Arabia	609,838	4.05	84.63
Egypt	558,972	3.71	178.44
South Korea	544,310	3.61	83.77
Iraq	413,144	2.74	321.01
Turkey	368,643	2.45	22.47

http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/syria/tradestats/

Taking them together, it can be said that as the concerned European nations are so busy now in tackling their own financial and economic problems and thus have no time to interfere in the Syrian civil war, Russia and China are taking advantage of the tragic situation in Syria for their global strategy.

Put simply, Syria looks like a victim of struggling for supremacy between the West and the East (Russia and China).

In this context, the state of Syria might be close to the Vietnam War that continued through 1950s to 1970s.


(to be continued)


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



Mar 9:14 And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them.
Mar 9:15 And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.