"Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit" - Ice Cream and Comic

Public Parks around Tokyo

Ice Cream and Comic

I was watching white clouds slowly moving in the sky.

I thought I had not wondered why clouds floated in the sky when I was an elementary school boy or even when I was a science student in a university.  It is a too natural matter.  Clouds are floating in the sky.  There is no mystery.  Floating in the sky is what clouds should be.

I had never thought that H2O, a water molecule, was lighter than the air molecule consisting of oxygen (O2) and nitrogen (N2) mostly.  H2O has a weight of a certain multiple of 18, while the weight of O2 is that of 32 and the weight of N2 is that of 28.  Water as gas is lighter than an oxygen and nitrogen gas.  Accordingly water gas, namely vapor, floats higher than oxygen and nitrogen.

But when a water gas is condensed to liquid water, its density becomes larger than O2 or N2 gases.  So, rain drops on the ground.  A cloud consists of liquid and gas water.  They are narrowly floating above oxygen and nitrogen.

Then I saw green leaves of trees.  There were scores of trees with thousands or more young trees in a public park of May.  Then I saw the ground with full of small particles of sands and earth.  They are many.  I thought there are 300 billion stars in a galaxy and there are 300 billion galaxies in the universe.  So, in a total, more than 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10^23) stars in the universe.  And as we can divide the sky to 180 degrees x 180 degrees, in a narrow window of 1 degree x 1 degree we can see 10^19 stars at night in theory.  It is too many.  But it is not 10^10000 or more.

This universe and the nature are well designed with a great number of elements and components with stable structure.  But they were all created from one single explosion of vacuum energy 13.7 billion years ago.  How can this initial energy develop to the universe and the nature we see today?  It is a big wonder.  It cannot be possible without a great designer.  God designed it very well.

And God finally sent special spirit to a group of the primates who became mankind.  Before sending special spirit to a certain type of living things, God set this universe and nature.  What a great plan it was!

However a man is born and dies.  And his spirit disappears from this universe and nature, though it works lively in it till his death.  Whatever exists and happens between his birth and death must belong to God more than to him.

If you admit this theory, you will think that mankind has to live according to the will of God.  But, there is almost no one in this world that lives 100% according to the will of God.  Only one exception is Christ Jesus.

And what Christ Jesus said to mankind is to love God with all of their hearts and strength.  It means love is the key to connecting mankind to God.  But how can we prove that we love God so much?  How can we be rewarded for our loving God?

I stopped thinking.  It was time.  I started to walk and then heard elementary school boys in the low grades passing by and talking: "I will have an ice cream and then read a comic."

I later ate ice cream and checked a comic titled Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen).

Barefoot Gen is a Japanese manga series by Keiji Nakazawa. Loosely based on Nakazawa's own experiences as a Hiroshima survivor, the series begins in 1945 in and around Hiroshima, Japan, where the six-year-old boy Gen Nakaoka lives with his family. After Hiroshima is destroyed by atomic bombing, Gen and other survivors are left to deal with the aftermath. 

Barefoot Gen ran in several magazines, including Weekly Shōnen Jump, from 1973 to 1985. It was subsequently adapted into three live action film adaptations directed by Tengo Yamada, which were released between 1976 and 1980. Madhouse released two anime films, one in 1983 and one in 1986. In 2007, a live action television drama series adaptation aired in Japan on Fuji TV over two nights, August 10 and 11.

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

http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/virtual/VirtualMuseum_j/exhibit/exh1102/exh110211.html


This anti-nuclear comic has been translated into English, French, Spanish, Russian, and other eight languages.  You may purchase one.  You may even eat an ice cream that must have been impossible luxury for the young boy Gen on August 15, 1945.





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Mar 5:7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
Mar 5:8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
Mar 5:9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

"in thy fear will I worship" - The Hurt Locker and The Opium Money

Around Tokyo

The Hurt Locker and The Opium Money

SECTION I: The Hurt Locker

I saw an American movie The Hurt Locker that was awarded a big prize in 2008.

The Hurt Locker is a 2008 American war film about a three-man Explosive Ordnance Disposal (bomb disposal) team during the Iraq War. The film was produced and directed by Kathryn Bigelow and the screenplay was written by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded as a journalist in 2004 with a U.S. Army EOD team in Iraq.

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

It is not an impressive movie but it tells why the US has failed in Iraq through the War on Terror as proven by the rise of IS or the Islamic State.

The film must reflect the general tendency of Americans concerning the war in Iraq.  There are no serious descriptions of Iraqi people or ordinary Muslims in Iraq who are not responsible for the 2001 Terror and other acts of terror against the US and other Western nations.  

As American soldiers were indifferent with Iraqi people, the filmmaker must have been also indifferent with Iraqi people.  It must also reflect the attitudes of the US Government toward Iraqi people.  

Since 2003, many US soldiers had come and fought in Iraq to destroy the Saddam Hussein Administration and they returned to the US, without real care and compassion to Iraqi people left behind without competitive and effective government.  Accordingly, internal and sectarian conflicts happened to continue to date.  From this chaos, IS terrorists have gained their hegemony in some areas across Iraq and Syria.

The US did not learn anything from the war in Iraq and deepened their relationships with Iraqi people, which is clearly seen in the film The Hurt Locker (except a kind of friendship between an American soldier and an Iraqi boy).  The US Government, soldiers, and citizens did not mind respect, dignity, and welfare of Muslims in Iraq, but they have just pursued their own individual matters through the war.

If the US wants to solve the issue of the Islamic terror, it must solve problems of Muslims.  But, the US simply sent troops to Iraq to destroy social, political, and security infrastructures of Iraq.  What American soldiers mind is their own hurt hearts that were so badly affected through battles in Iraq.

       

SECTION II: Opium and Money

During WWII or since the Imperial Japan's Army occupied Manchuria and started war with China in 1930s, opium was used as a means to raise money for military operation in China and Manchuria by Japanese generals.

However, the Japanese Army officers involved in this illegal business used some private persons to handle opium as their proxies.  One of them succeeded in establishing a big network to grow, harvest, refine, and sell opium in Manchuria and China.  This person called Satomi accumulated big money.  Satomi managed his organization from Shanghai during WWII.

However, when the Empire of Japan surrendered to the US, Satomi was arrested in Japan as a war criminal by the US military.  Mysteriously, he was not indicted and freed without trial.

Then Satomi used his hidden fortune to support some right-wing politicians.  One of those politicians was Nobusuke Kishi, ex-prime minister of Japan and a grandfather of incumbent PM Shinzo Abe.  It is also believed that Kishi was also involved in opium business as Kishi, a leading bureaucrat of the Empire of Japan at the time, had been dispatched to and worked in Manchukuo (a nation established in Manchuria by the Empire of Japan) in late 1930s.  So, after WWII, it looks natural, Kishi received money from Satomi who also ran his opium network in Manchukuo.

If this rumor is true, the assets PM Abe inherited from his grandfather Kishi include money earned by Satomi and other secret agents of the Imperial Army during WWII in opium business in China.

Every family has a dark side, and the Abe family can be no exception.


Hopefully, a film based on this rumor might be made in future under the title of The Opium Money.  It will be a big hit in Japan and China, at least.
 




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Psa 5:6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
Psa 5:7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.
Psa 5:8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

"ponder the path of life" - In the Case of Nobusuke Kishi

Around Tokyo (44 km and 42 km to the sea)

In the Case of Nobusuke Kishi

Nobusuke Kishi, a grandfather of incumbent Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, made his first trip to the US in 1926 to attend the Sesquicentennial International Exposition hosted by Philadelphia.  At the time, Kishi was a young and rising elite bureaucrat of the Imperial Government of Japan.

In 1926, Philadelphia hosted the Sesquicentennial International Exposition, a world’s fair, to commemorate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Although it opened to great fanfare, the exposition failed to attract enough visitors to cover its costs. The fair organization went into receivership in 1927 and its assets were sold at auction.

  http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/sesquicentennial-international-exposition/

Kishi was impressed by the scale and power of the American industry.  For instance, automobiles were regraded as a kind of luxury in Tokyo at the time.  But Kishi saw many used cars piled and deserted in fields and suburbs in America.  The rising Japanese government official realized that the US had industrial power beyond comparison with the Empire of Japan.  GDP of the US was more than 10 times larger than that of the Empire.  So, though there were many things to learn from the US, those advanced features of America could not be simply introduced to Japan.  The industrial base was so different.

Kishi left the US for Europe after attending the Exposition in Philadelphia.  His business trip extended from the UK to Germany.  His memory about the UK was that it was very cold in London.  And, as walkout and strikes were going on in factories around London, he could not encounter then-famous black fogs there.  

In Germany, Nobusuke Kishi found a clue to boost the Japanese industry and the society.  Germany did not have abundant natural resources in contrast to the US.  But German industrialists, scientists, and engineers were fully exercising their talents to develop advanced technologies.  Kishi thought the German way of boosting industry could apply to Japan.  America was too large and rich with too lucky circumstances in terms of natural resources and democratic systems.  The American way could not fit Japan, though the Empire of Japan was successfully promoting its industrial revolution, the only and first example in Asia.  But, Japan could adopt the German way by concentrating resources to key industrial fields and technologies.

When Kishi returned to Tokyo, He submitted a report to inform senior bureaucrats of what he had observed and thought in the business trip to the US and Europe.

The Empire of Japan progressed to a great extent in the industry sector till 1941 when the Empire entered war with the US as part of WWII.  But, all the Japanese bureaucrats and military leaders, who shared the same view on the US as Kishi's, never dreamed of starting war against the US to occupy Hawaii and California and destroy the American industry.  All they aimed at in their strengthening the Imperial military was to prevent advancement of the US military force, which allowed the US to colonize the Philippines at the time, to the Far Easy including the Empire of Japan, Manchuria, and mainland China.  From the beginning, the Imperial Government of Japan had no intention to enter an all-out fatal war with the US.

Nonetheless, the US Government wanted to join the UK in the war against Nazi Germany, since WWII had already started in Europe.  As the Empire of Japan was a military ally to Nazi Germany, the US Government wanted the Empire to start a war against the US.  The war between the Empire and the US would automatically lead to the American entry into the war against Nazi Germany.

Accordingly, the Roosevelt administration imposed various stern economic embargo against the Empire of Japan, in addition to a conventional racist policy against Japanese immigrants.  Specifically, when the Imperial Government sent troops to Vietnam through negotiations with France, the colonial master of Vietnam at the time, President Roosevelt stopped all oil export to Japan.  The Imperial Navy lost its main fuel source.  The world second largest naval fleets of the Imperial Japan would be unable to sail in a year or so.  The Imperial Government was driven into a corner; it had to decide to whether it should withdraw all the troops from Vietnam and China as the US so demanded, or it stood against the US to check and suppress the US navy while advancing to Indonesia with big crude oil fields under control of the Netherlands. 

Kishi, who became one of top officials of the Imperial Government at the time, and other leaders of the Empire thought that if the Empire had accepted the US demands, the US always determined to enter the war against Nazi Germany would further pose new difficult requests.  So, they planned and executed the Pearl Harbor Attack, hoping that the US Navy would be simply unable to interfere the Empire's advancement to Southeast Asia to obtain crude oil and other natural resources they could not import from the US anymore.

Nobusuke Kishi was promoted to a state minister by Prime Minister Hideki Tojo immediately before the Pearl Harbor Attack carried out in December 1941.  When the Empire was defeated in 1945 after long and fierce battles and suffering Hiroshima/Nagasaki atomic bomb attacks, Kishi, as with Tojo, was arrested as a war criminal by the US military stationed in Japan and led by General MacArthur.  Eventually, General Tojo was executedin December 1948, but Kishi was in prison in Tokyo only for three and half years.  Kishi was acquitted and freed in 1948.

Kishi later became a lawmaker through winning general elections.  And, in 1957, Nobuuske Kishi was elected in the Japanese parliament as the 56th prime minister of Japan.

Now, one of Kishi's grandsons, Shinzo Abe. is prime minister of Japan.  PM Abe looks like being strongly proud of his grandfather Kishi.  Shinzo Abe is very pro-American despite the fact of Kishi's aversion to General MacArthur who ruled Japan for several years after WWII and under whose name Nobusuke Kishi was arrested and put into a jail as an A-class war crime suspect.   

     

The point at issue is that Nobusuke Kishi thought that the Imperial Japan's war against the US was a kind of defense war like General Tojo thought.

The Pearl Harbor Attack was a justifiable act of defense for leaders of the Empire of Japan at the time, no matter how aggressive, adventurous and destructive it was.   

  

   

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Pro 5:4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Pro 5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
Pro 5:6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
Pro 5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

"loose the seven seals" - The Last Word of Hideki Tojo

Rice Paddies around Tokyo

The Last Word of Hideki Tojo

The last word of Hideki Tojo, the prime minister of Japan who ordered the Pearl Harbor Attack of 1941:

I cannot help but feel heartbreaking grief when I recall the situation at the time of opening the war.  The imminent execution of me is consolation for me as an individual (who is desperately looking for a means to make his apology to the Emperor and the Japanese people), but I know that my responsibility for domestic tragedies (of the war against the US) cannot be compensated by my death.  However, as for my responsibility for international tragedies (associated with Empire's war against the US), I plead my innocence in every respect.  I am just forced to yield to force (of the American military).  Personally, I think I will proceed to a scaffold with satisfaction of accepting the blame for domestic tragedies.  Nonetheless, I am truly regretful for my fault of having my colleagues being forced to take responsibility (for the war) and having even low-ranked officers (of the Imperial military) being forced to be punished (as war criminals).

(the rest is omitted)

Former Prime Minister and full general of the Empire of Japan Hideki Tojo reportedly cited this word  hours before he was executed by the US military in Tokyo around midnight or 0:00 a.m. of December 23, 1948.

Today General Tojo is linked to his status, the A-class war criminal of WWII, in Japan.  There is no movement in Japan at all to resuscitate the honor of General Tojo.  However, General Tojo and other A-class war criminals were, rather secretly, enshrined in Yasukuni Shrine of Tokyo in 1978.

In Yasukuni Shrine, fallen soldiers, total about 2.5 million, of the Empire of Japan since late 1860s are enshrined.  The Shrine regards General Tojo and other A-class war criminals executed by the US military as soldiers killed in war.  They have no intention to separate the souls of General Tojo and other A-class war criminals, though there are big arguments in Japan about whether or not the Shrine should separate them from other 2.5 million souls.

Interestingly, Emperor of Showa, who had presided over the Empire of Japan during WWII (and before/after WWII), stopped visiting Yasukuni Shrine when he was informed of Shrine's act of enshrining the souls of General Tojo and other A-class war criminals, though the Emperor visited the Shrine occasionally after WWII.  His imperial son, namely the incumbent emperor of Japan, has never visited Yasukuni Shrine at least since he ascended the imperial throne in 1989.

Put simply, General Tojo was faithful to Emperor of Showa till his death, but the Imperial Family denied their relationship with General Tojo showing no support for, and sympathy with him.  It means that the upper society, as well as the general public, of Japan denies General Tojo and regards him as a war criminal of WWII.

However, the fact that General Tojo admitted in the Tokyo war crimes tribunal, virtually subject to General MacArthur of the US Army, that the Emperor had no responsibility but only he was responsible for the war against the US (and other allied nations) in order to defend the Emperor proved that General Tojo was not a coward.

You may sometimes have to listen to what even a coward would say according to significance of the matter.  That is why I have checked the last word of General Tojo.

Hideki Tojo (1884 – 1948) was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), the leader of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan during much of World War II, from October 17, 1941 to July 22, 1944. As Prime Minister, he was responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor, which initiated war between Japan and the United States, although planning for it had begun before he entered office. After the end of the war, Tojo was arrested, sentenced to death for Japanese war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, and hanged on December 23, 1948.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideki_Tojo

It is said that after WWII the family members of General Tojo had a hard time but they could survive without being under violent attacks from General Tojo's enemies or ex-soldiers.




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Rev 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

"Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works?" - Bad Film Paradise Now

Around Tokyo

Bad Film Paradise Now

I saw a Palestinian movie Paradise Now.

This film was put into DVD in Japan under the editorship of Ms. May Shigenobu.

Mei Shigenobu (1973-) is the daughter of Japanese Red Army terrorist Fusako Shigenobu and of a Palestinian terrorist who was reportedly the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.[1][2] Some news agencies have given her name as May Shigenobu.

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

The father of Ms. May Shigenobu was reportedly killed.  Her mother, Fusako Shigenobu, is now in a Japanese prison.

Paradise Now is not a film ordinary Japanese like to see.

Paradise Now (Arabic: الجنّة الآن‎) is a 2005 film directed by Hany Abu-Assad about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Israel. It won a Golden Globe for best foreign language film and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category.

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

If you are strongly against suicide bombing terror, you will never handle this issue in a manner as Paradise Now does.

There are two factors mingled in this film: individual problems and problems of mankind.  You are free to made a decision on your life and actions.  But having this freedom never means being blessed by God or Allah.  Even Hitler had freedom to eradicate Judaists from Europe, which he actually tried to carry out.

But, as a member of mankind, you have to do what a member of mankind should do and you should not do what a member of mankind should not do.

Any member of mankind should not present terrorists as if they deserve being depicted in a film without clear accusation.

If a film focuses on the human nature of a suicide terrorist, you have to show how he has been brainwashed by terrorist leaders who never blow themselves up in suicide bombing.  The tragedy of a suicide terrorist consists here.

If there had not been any such terrorist leaders around a suicide bomber, he or she should not have carried out suicide bombing.  No poor individual has ever built a terror organization and made up a doctrine to justify suicide bombing and carry it out by himself.  He or she happened to encounter a terrorist group and believe their doctrine.  They are educated and brainwashed to be suicide bombers.  The human tragedy of them is related to this fate.

It looks like this film was created with support from Germans who had cynicism in the Palestinian situation.  And its Japanese version was made with support from a daughter of a Japanese female terrorist.  This film cannot bring about peace.






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Exo 5:3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.
Exo 5:4 And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.
Exo 5:5 And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.
Exo 5:6 And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,
Exo 5:7 Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.

"Adam lived an hundred and thirty years" - The Japanese Emperor

Around Tokyo

The Japanese Emperor

There have been 125 emperors in Japan, including those who apparently belonged to a myth rather than real history.  The incumbent Emperor is the 125th emperor.

But, the title of the Japanese emperor, "Ten-no" in Japanese, had not been used till the 40th emperor Ten-mu.

Emperor Tenmu (631 – 686) was the 40th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.  Tenmu's reign lasted from 672 until his death in 686.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Tenmu

Before Ten-mu, the title great king (”oh-kimi" or literally "dai-oh") had been used.  The background against this drastic change is a little complicated.

First of all, Japanese elites knew at the time that China used the title emperor ("ko-tei" in Japanese).  And under the Chinese emperor there were some kings in China.  Monarchs of tributaries to China were also called kings.  But Japanese rulers before the era of Ten-mu had avoided simply using the title king but had called themselves great king each, since Japan was not under direct authority of the Chinese emperor.  And then, when Ten-mu changed this title, he did not interestingly adopt the title ko-tei for himself, though he introduced the new expression ten-no for the same meaning as ko-tei.

Today, Japan uses the English word emperor for ten-no, while they use the same word emperor to express the Chinese emperors of the past as well as other imperial monarchs in other countries of the past, including Roman emperors.  And, they call all the other emperors, except Japanese ones, ko-tei in Japanese.

For Japan: Emperor = Ten-no
For other empires: Emperor = Ko-tei

The kanji characters used for ten-no are of course different from ko-tei, though one of two component kanjis is the same between the two kanji expressions.  The very component kanji ("no" of ten-no and "ko" of ko-tei) is pronounced "no" or "ko" in Japanese as in these cases, though the sound "no" is very exceptional.  It has a meaning of something that emits great light,

The point at issue is that when Ten-mu abolished the title of the ruler of Japan, oh-kimi (great king), he didn't dare to adopt the same expression as the Chinese emperor.  But he used the kanji expression "ten-no" (ten means heaven) though giving the same meaning as ko-tei (emperor).  He carefully made a distinction between the Japanese imperial ruler and the Chinese one.

In the seventh century, China was a super power in Asia, though it did not occupy any part of Japan.  There were no other countries in Asia that could put themselves at the same position as imperial China.  The Chinese imperial court called monarchs of those countries using the title kings or the likes.  For the Chinese imperial court, China was the most advanced country; China was the center of civilization; and no kingdoms could be allowed to stand on a par with China.  Under the heaven, there was only one emperor, who was the Chinese emperor.  This was the Chinese idea and philosophy.

(China knew the existence of the Roman Empire.  Chinese at the time must have known that there was emperor in the Roman Empire.  But Rome was too far. Their military would never face the Chinese imperial military.  Accordingly, Chinese didn't care about the Roman emperor.  However, they probably called it the Roman king.)

Nonetheless, the Japanese ruler Ten-mu adopted the new title ten-no. And, it was accepted by the Chinese imperial court, since Japan was not included in countries which brought tribute to the Chinese emperor.  Japan had and has never been officially subject to China.  The Chinese emperor was not in a position to tell a Japanese ruler what title he had to adopt.

However, it is true that Japan imported many cultural products from China, including kanji letters, Confucianism, Buddhism, etc.  The Japanese imperial court sent official envoys to China from 600 to 894 to learn the advanced Chinese culture, paying full respect to the Chinese emperor, though it was different from paying tribute.  Though there might have been various communications between private sectors of the two countries even in those years, voyages from Japan to China over the East China Sea could not be easy due to typhoons and rough winter weather.  It seems that only the Japanese imperial court could build and send ships that could safely sail across the sea.  (Traveling through the Korean Peninsula to the Chinese capital must have been more dangerous due to some complicated relationships between Japan and Korea at the time.  Korea was a tributary to China in most periods of history.)

Since the beginning of history, Chinese troops never occupied any part of Japan.  And, Japan has never been a country that brought tribute to China.  But, the imperial court of Japan or the ruler Ten-mu carefully avoided using the same kanji expression as that used to indicate the Chinese emperor.  So, Ten-mu called himself ten-no while calling the Chinese emperor ko-tei, with an implication of an emperor for both. 

But why did it take 40 monarchs for Japan to adopt the title ten-no (emperor)?  Why did the 40th Great King of Japan Ten-mu suddenly change his official title to emperor?

There are various theories about it.   But, there were no records about this drastic change.  Ten-mu himself, in addition to any scholars, bureaucrats, and noblemen of the Japanese imperial court, wrote the background.  This is one of mysteries in the Japanese history.

I will later discuss this issue.

Emperor Tenmu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Tenmu
   





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Gen 5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth:
Gen 5:4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:
Gen 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

"called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda" - Another Theory on the JFK Assassination

Around Tokyo

Another Theory on the JFK Assassination

There is a Japanese theory about the assassination of JFK.

A Japanese professor who had studied the JFK Assassination for decades wrote a book about the secret of the JFK Assassination in 2003.  His conclusion is that a US Navy high-ranking officer planned for himself to assassinate President Kennedy in the summer of 1962.

It was not initiated by an initiative of Vice President Johnson, ex-Vice President Nixon, FBI Director Hoover, Mafia bosses such as Carlos Marcello and Salvatore "Sam" Giancana, or ex-CIA　Director Allen Welsh Dulles.  But the assassination plan was made by a single US Navy officer.

This officer was ranked so high that he had daily contact with leading officers in the State Department, CIA, FBI, and other governmental agencies in addition to the Department of Defense.  Through communications with top bureaucrats and chiefs of those agencies, the US Navy officer found that there were many who wanted to kill JFK.  And if they should find that he put into practice the JFK assassination plan, they would rather help and support him.  They would rather help him hide from investigations.

With this notion and confidence, the US Navy officer ventured into forming a plan, contacting Mafia bosses, manipulating some CIA agents, and mobilizing some of his men.  In this process, he picked up Oswald as a decoy.

One interesting line is that this US Navy officer had known Oswald when two of them happened to be stationed in Japan in the late 1950s.  The US Navy officer was working in an intelligence section in a US base in Japan.  Oswald was in charge of helping operation of the spy jet U2 that was flying from a US air base in Japan to the sky of the Soviet Union.

Though Oswald was conveniently pulled into this assassination scheme, he was not told that he was now a member of the JFK hit team.  Oswald was just doing as he was ordered to do.  Oswald did not carry his rifle to the Texas School Book Depository, though he brought a curtain rail in a paper bag to the Depository in the morning of November 22, 1963, as he was so instructed.  Oswald was not in the sixth floor of the Depository when total four hit men fired at JFK.  Oswald happened to leave the Depository after the JFK assassination, which had not been planned, since Oswald was expected to be arrested and shot at by the police in the Depository.  Oswald went to the movie theater by his own thought as the place had been used as a contact place with his handler.  Oswald who had realized that he was truly involved in the terrible JFK assassination must have been a little upset.  So, he entered the movie theater without buying a ticket.  However, Oswald did not lose his confidence in his handlers or manipulators.  So, Oswald kept silence about his association with his handlers or manipulators.

The Dallas police officer Tippit was beforehand hired for some role such as helping real Kennedy shooters run away.  But along with a proceeding of the assassination plan, the problem about evacuation of real shooters was solved in a different way.  Tippit was of no use.  He was ordered to stay in his house as he was off duty on the assassination day.  It was a mystery why Tippit put on the police uniform and was driving an old patrol car.  Anyway, when the US Navy officer was informed by one of his men immediately after the shooting at JFK that Tippit was driving around districts where Oswald and Ruby lived, he ordered to shoot and kill Tippit, which was so executed.

Jack Ruby was really a convenient guy. He had connections with Mafia boss Marcello, who provided two shooters, and Santo Trafficante Jr. of Florida, who also sent two gun men.  Ruby happened to become a key person for success in this assassination plan.  But, he carried it out by shooting Oswald in the corridor leading to a garage inside the Dallas Police Department.

Subsequently, every key person, such as Johnson and Hoover, helped cover the US Navy officer though how much those power elites knew the whole scheme of the JFK Assassination was unclear.  And, it was also unclear who actually worked under direct order from the US Navy officer.  Probably, ex-CIA/FBI agents involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion must have been acting for this assassination plan, since Oswald's pro-Castro activities in New Orleans were a key element in this plan and it needed cooperation from CIA/FBI guys who had been in charge of anti-Cuban activities in New Orleans.

However, the most important point of this theory is that the JFK Assassination was planned and pushed forward by a single US Navy officer who was highly ranked and had various connections with key figures in various governmental organizations.  He could even make financing of this plan by himself.  He could divert some of the Navy budget to this plan.  He paid big money to the four shooters of JFK by stealing a US defense budget.  It was well covered as the US Government increased a budget for the Vietnam War after the death of JFK.        

Believe or not, there is still a mystery about what happened on the dead body of President Kennedy in the navy hospital in Washington DC.  It is so strange that we have only a few photographs and vague reports about the remains of JFK.

Anyway, there was a possibility that one individual US Navy officer could plan and carry out the assassination of JFK using Mafia supplied hit men, Oswald, Ruby, etc., though he would be in Washington DC on November 22, 1963.



The reason why the US Navy officer wanted to kill JFK seems to have been a little complicated.  He himself might have been secretly manipulated by some others.  But one of decisive factors was his opposition to JFK's support for African Americans, according to the Japanese theory.

So, the African American issue is very dangerous.  Probably President Obama cannot reveal the truth of the JFK Assassination.

FILE - In this May 1958 file photo, Lee Harvey Oswald, poses for the camera while stationed at Atsuge, Japan as a U.S. Marine. In early phases of his service at U.S. bases he got good performance evaluations and qualified as a sharpshooter after marksmanship training. But he was court-martialed twice while stationed in Japan, first after wounding himself with an unauthorized pistol and later after a bar fight. (AP Photo)
http://m.ajc.com/gallery/news/who-was-lee-harvey-oswald/gCF7k/




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Joh 5:2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
Joh 5:3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
Joh 5:4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
Joh 5:5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
Joh 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
Joh 5:7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
Joh 5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

"he went up into a mountain" - JFK Assassination and African American Plights

Around Tokyo

JFK Assassination and African American Plights

One shocking fact about African Americans is that some of them have disappeared from the mainstream of the society rather mysteriously.

1.5 Million Missing Black Men 

By JUSTIN WOLFERS, DAVID LEONHARDT and KEVIN QUEALY APRIL 20, 2015 

For every 100 black women not in jail, there are only 83 black men. The remaining men – 1.5 million of them – are, in a sense, missing.
17 missing black men for every 100 black women“Missing” men 

Among cities with sizable black populations, the largest single gap is in Ferguson, Mo.
40 missing black men for every 100 black women 

North Charleston, S.C., has a gap larger than 75 percent of cities.
25 missing black men for every 100 black women 

This gap – driven mostly by incarceration and early deaths – barely exists among whites.
1 missing white man for every 100 white women 

Figures are for non-incarcerated adults who are 25 to 54.

In New York, almost 120,000 black men between the ages of 25 and 54 are missing from everyday life. In Chicago, 45,000 are, and more than 30,000 are missing in Philadelphia. Across the South — from North Charleston, S.C., through Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and up into Ferguson, Mo. — hundreds of thousands more are missing. 

They are missing, largely because of early deaths or because they are behind bars. Remarkably, black women who are 25 to 54 and not in jail outnumber black men in that category by 1.5 million, according to an Upshot analysis. For every 100 black women in this age group living outside of jail, there are only 83 black men. Among whites, the equivalent number is 99, nearly parity.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/20/upshot/missing-black-men.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0

This state of existence of African Americans is truly horrible.  But evil force that has caused this state must be rooted deeply in the US society.

But what President took an opposite stance to the African American issue?

Why Blacks Loved John F. Kennedy

His brief presidency didn't introduce any new civil rights laws, but JFK appointed African Americans to high positions and acknowledged Latino concerns.

BY: RICHARD PRINCEPosted: Nov. 19 2013 9:27 PM

Fifty years after John F. Kennedy's assassination, it's easy for some to dismiss his brief presidency, as conservative commentator Brit Hume did on "Fox News Sunday." Hume, a senior political analyst for FOX News Channel, said of Kennedy on Sunday, "despite the thinness of the record . . . he has been the subject of the most successful public relations campaign in political history. . . . it is a legend bordering, I think, on myth." But Kennedy's ties with blacks and Latinos were no myth during those tumultuous years when the civil rights movement was gaining steam and African Americans, particularly, were seeking allies in the White House. Black journalists, some of whom were in the trenches covering the movement of which they were necessarily a part, shared in that hope. 

"Even though he would leave no new civil rights laws as his legacy," Simeon Booker, the retired longtime correspondent for Ebony and Jet magazines, wrote this year in his autobiography, "Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter's Account of the Civil Rights Movement," "JFK nevertheless captured the heart of black America, becoming the best-loved chief executive in history. 

"Applauded for appointing Negroes to high offices, Kennedy went even further, breaking down many racial barriers in informal ways. He probably hosted more blacks at White House events than had ever entered the mansion in all previous administrations combined. His appointment of top black leaders including the NAACP's top lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, whom he named to the federal bench, for awhile had some blacks wondering if the new president was actually trying to stall the civil rights movement by a brain drain of its key resources. . . .

Then-Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy with delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles in 1960.

ROBERT ABBOTT SENGSTACKE/GETTY IMAGES

http://www.theroot.com/blogs/journalisms/2013/11/why_black_americans_loved_president_john_f_kennedy.html

As long as truth of the assassination of JFK is not revealed, plights of African Americans would continue, if other African Americans should become US President.

The largest reason for the assassination of JFK could be his intention to help support improvement of the social status of African Americans.  It might have been a risky strategy.  With votes from African Americas John F. Kennedy would win elections more easily, but many European Americans might come to hate JFK even only for this reason.  And especially, some elite white Americans who would not otherwise try to remove JFK might be determined to kill JFK for the racial matter.

The racial matter is always dangerous, since Christ Jesus had a difficult conversation with a Samaritan woman though there seem to have been no big differences between Israelites and Samaritans to us.





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Mat 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
Mat 5:2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
Mat 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God" - Marxism without Love to Neighbors

Tokyo

Marxism without Love to Neighbors

Karl Marx blamed capitalists.  But he didn't blame all the rich men, part of which are capitalists.

Karl Marx had a rich friend, Friedrich Engels.  Actually the living of Marx was supported by money provided by Engels.  Marx, himself, was a kind of scholar whose duty looked like just going to the British Museum to study and check economic data and documents the British Government issued.  Marx had no experiences of working as a laborer.  Though he always lacked money, his living standard was above ordinary laborers, which means he was a kind of rich man.

So, Marxism was created by dirty money Engels earned and gave to Marx.  It cannot be holy.  Marxism is one of products of rotten rich Europeans: Marx and Engels.  It cannot fully serve poor people, workers, laborers, and revolutionists.  It is a kind of theory in a whisky glass.

If you deny capitalists, you have to deny all the rich men of whatever type.  In this context, you have to deny Marx.  What he presented was a theory of anti-capitalism devised by a rich man for laborers.  But the theory needed by poor people must be one of anti-wealth devised by a holy man.

There is an assumption in Marx's theory.  All the capitalists are 100% evil.  It is true capitalists are evil, but they are also human beings.  They enjoy wealth more than they harm and destroy laborers.  And, laborers can find a chance to be a kind of capitalists, since the world has more diversified elements than the framework of capital and labor.

In other word, you have to develop Marxism more.  Your enemies are not only capitalists but all the rich men and evil men.  And as the core of capitalism is accumulation of money, you have to directly focus on money.  Indeed, what should have been written is The Theory of Money rather than Capitalism.  Your true enemy is money.  Capitalism is just one of derivatives of evil of money.

Then you will not trust any theories thought up by a scholar supported by a rich man.  Therefore, you should not trust Marx and his books.

Money makes some people capitalists, while it makes some others scholars of Marxism.  Satan can use both the camps.  Of course, money makes some others leaders of cults or pseudo-religious organizations.  Whatever is made possible by money is not holy.  It is ultimately against God.  Accordingly, any such enterprise will be destroyed by God someday.


Having argued so, still it is profound that Judaists have been engaged in money business for centuries or since the start of rule by the Vatican in Europe in a large scale.  Higher living standards Judaists had been enjoying in Europe before WWII was indeed destroyed.  Though it is difficult to say that God used Nazis to destroy the money-contaminated Judaist society in Europe.

But, we can imagine that God might destroy the money-contaminated Judaist society in America by use of some group of people.  And in this case, due to globalization of economy, the whole world will face a financial and political crisis worse than the 2008 Financial Crisis triggered by Wall Street businesses.

Anyway, Karl Marx was born as a Judaist.  He could totally accept collapse of the European Christian society.  If Marx had found another mean to destroy the Christian Europe, he would have probably resorted to it.


Marxism, an anti-capitalism theory without love to neighbors or human beings, is however a historical fact.  It has been used for some purpose by God.  Truly without Marxism, much worse anti-Christ movements might have emerged in Europe.

Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. Marx's work in economics laid the basis for much of the current understanding of labour and its relation to capital, and subsequent economic thought.[5][6][7][8] He published numerous books during his lifetime, the most notable being The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867–1894).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx#Legacy





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Mar 4:30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?
Mar 4:31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth:

"boldness they may speak thy word" - Love God; Don't Mind Your Own Unhappiness

Tokyo

Love God; Don't Mind Your Own Unhappiness

What does it mean to love God?

Christ Jesus said to love God but hate money.  Then, at least, we have to hate money to love God.  And then what?

Christ Jesus did not specify concrete acts as acts of loving God.  But nonetheless, He requested mankind to love God.  It suggests that mankind know what to love God is.

From the beginning if you deny existence of God, you don't love God.  But if you admit existence of God, you might think God has nothing to do with God.  Then you don't love God.  If you think there must be some relationship between God and mankind as a whole, you might still think that God never helps you personally.  Then you don't love God.

The right answer seems to be like this: From the beginning God created mankind so as to make them love Him.  The true reason why each of mankind lives is for him/her to love God.

In other word, God does not expect each of mankind to become happy.  God requests each person to love God without minding his/her happiness.  It is because it is God that created each of mankind.  However, can mankind accept this theory?  Can they sacrifice their happiness for love to God?

However, this theory explains why there are so many people who believe in God but die a terrible death each.  God can compensate any tragedies believers suffer in this world.  God can give unthinkable happiness in Heaven to anyone who lives a miserable life and dies a terrible death.

The fact that God never unconditionally saves unhappy followers in this world means that our loving of God must be done in one condition that it must be done even in unhappiness without interference of God.

There must be various ways of loving God.  You may be even a pious Buddhist or Hindu.  Some part of the essence of any religion must lead to God.  You don't have to be a Christian or a Muslim to love God.


In theory as God created this universe, mankind is just part of God.  To love ourselves means also to love part of God.  But, God has made it clear that we have to love God more than we love ourselves, part of God.




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Act 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
Act 4:30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

"after that the full corn in the ear" - Good or Evil Matters?

Tokyo

Good or Evil Matters?

The core of Judaism is its definition of good and evil.

According to Judaism, good is to protect the weak and evil is to abuse and exploit the weak.

The teaching of Christ Jesus is on the extension of this teaching.

But what is the definition of good and evil in American Christianity?

For example, it is common sense in China that there is no good but only evil outside a family.  Happiness of a family is good, and this happiness can be only obtained by joining evil outside the family.  This is not sound thinking.  China is not sound.

For Judaists, how much can they uphold the teaching about good and evil?  And how much can they extend this teaching, applying it to the wider world?

Christ Jesus did not teach to be good as much as possible, though He accused evil on many occasions.  He just saved the weak without saying it was an act of good.  And, He rather said that there was no one good except God.

If you think that you are good, you might not rely on God.  If you think you are not good, you might not rely on God, either.

Christ Jesus did not say that it is good to love God with all of one's heart and power.  But He said man must love God.  It is not matter of good or bad.  Mankind is not in a position where they can choose to be good or evil.  Mankind is in a state where they have to love good without relying on judgment on good or evil.

In this context, it is not humane.  Being good or evil is very humane.  But, mankind is not in a state where they are allowed to be humane.  First of all, they must love God beyond the human domain where they can be good or evil.

Anyway, you cannot be regarded as followers of Christ Jesus if you claim that you are good, since if you think you are good, you will be proud of yourself before you love God with all of your heart and strength.

Christ Jesus does not give any chance for Satan to capture His followers, since Satan will tell a man that he is good so that he doesn't need God any more.


If you love God and God makes you good, there will be no room for discussing good and bad, since you do just good under authority of God.  Put extremely, true followers of God will forget what is evil.  They might ask, "What is evil?  I only love God."



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Mar 4:28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
Mar 4:29 But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

"saving Naaman the Syrian" - The American Testament or the Modern Roman Empire

Tokyo Bay

The American Testament or the Modern Roman Empire

In the Old Testament there are many descriptions about wars.

Though Christ Jesus never denied authority of the Old Testament, the Old Testament is full of descriptions of wars and civil wars.  Israelis fought for their survival, asking for help from God.

Christ Jesus also said that He was sent to Israelites.  And He gave warning not to go to foreign countries.  Christ Jesus was a patriot, first of all.  It is rather ambiguous whether He intended to save Europeans, Africans, and Asians by any sacrifice of Israelites.

On the other hand, Judaists thought they were different.  They were representatives of mankind.  They thought and still think that they can sacrifice other races and nations for them to achieve peace and prosperity.  Accordingly, they didn't and still don't mind killing their enemies in war.

This characteristic seems to be observed among Americans.

Americans think they are special.  They are representatives of mankind, they think.  So, they don't mind killing their enemies in war like Judaists.  In this context, Americans resemble Judaists, though it is not clear how much they love the Old Testament.

So, in my theory, Americans can be another Judaists in the next 2000 years.  They will someday start to write their own Testament.  They will justify their wars in the Testament, probably.

But the history might not give Americans such a long time.  If Americans are another Israelites, another Christ might appear.  And another Christianity might be established.  Then Americans will be in a difficult situation.

No Judaists today deny wars their ancestors were engaged in as well as wars they are engaged in.  No Americans will not deny any wars being made or having been made in their history.  Americans are really going to be another Judaists.  But it means that they will be destroyed someday like Israelites were in the war against the Roman Empire.

However, it is very unlikely that another Christ will emerge from Americans.  In this case, Americans might be another Romans.  Then, the whole scenario must be changed.

Anyway, Americans have to think about their significance of existence.




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Luk 4:27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

"So is the kingdom of God" - A New Religion for African Americans and All

Around Tokyo on Sunday Night

A New Religion for African Americans and All

If you were wrongly arrested for murder of someone you don't know, how much would you be upset?

Ricky Jackson, Wrongfully Convicted Of Murder, To Be Freed After 39 Years In Prison
 AP
Posted: 11/20/2014 11:14 am EST Updated: 11/21/2014 5:59 pm EST

CLEVELAND (AP) — A man who spent nearly four decades in prison after being convicted of murder is expected to be freed Friday after a witness confessed he lied as a boy when he told jurors he saw the deadly attack. 

Ricky Jackson had been seeking a new trial and sobbed loudly with his face in his hands as prosecutors dismissed his case Tuesday, The Plain Dealer (http://bit.ly/1vpfhwJ ) reported. 

"I can't believe this is over," Jackson, 57, said, thanking his supporters and his attorneys from the Ohio Innocence Project.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/20/ricky-jackson-free-innocent-wrongfully-convicted_n_6192358.html

So, The Tokyo Shimbun newspaper interviewed Mr. Jackson.

Mr. Jackson said that the life behind bars had been colorless and tasteless without hope.  He sought for salvation of his soul by relying on various religions, but only word of his mother sustained him: "Truth will liberate you."

Mr. Jackson also revealed that a certain detective had forced him to admit the murder by pushing a telephone book onto his face and punching him through it.

But when he was released from the prison, he looked up at the sky.  Mr. Jackson was happy to be able to see a wide sky as much as he wanted.

African Americans are very unique people.  They can be compared to Judaists in Europe.  Both the groups of people have been different from other major race, Europeans or European Americans, though most of Judaists look similar to Europeans except some part of genes.

However the core of Judaists is their religion.  Without Judaism, there would be no issues related to Judaists.  If no Judaists stick to their unique religion any more, who would care about them if they do not become Christians.

On the other hand, nobody minds what African Americans believe.  Their outlook only weighs.  Probably the social state of their ancestors would not even matter.  It is only their outlook.  The skin color is stronger than religion in giving an excuse for exercising segregation.

The issue of Judaists is related to our understanding of the past history.  It is a matter of finding the root of our civilization of today.  Modern global civilization and culture are supported by traditions symbolized by existence of Judaists.  The more we study our history, the more we will accept Judaists.

But, African Americans have almost nothing to do with the mainstream of the past history.  They came from Africa to be involved in the modern history on the stage of the US.  They have nothing to do with Abraham who lived 4000 years ago in Iraq.

Rather, African Americans are for the future.  For example, they can accept a new religion without betraying their ancestors.  

In other word, if God should give mankind a new religion, probably they will most earnestly accept it.  In this case, being African Americans should be very advantageous.

But how would European Americans and Judaists overlook African Americans following a new religion based on a tenet that asserts it intends to supersede Judaism and Christianity?

Anyway, if a new religion should prevail in America replacing Christianity and Judaism and the religion should be led by African Americans, their skin color would be a great symbol of this new religion all the Americans would accept.


To God, being regarded as black or white is just a laughable matter, in my view.




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Mar 4:26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;
Mar 4:27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.

"the heaven was shut up three years and six months" - Sadness and Anger of the Poor

Tokyo Downtown

Sadness and Anger of the Poor

One of the most impressive thing I have recently encountered is a composition of a primary school boy.

It was written decades ago or immediately after WWII and included in a book compiled by a notable educator and published around 1951.

At the time, Japan was not fully recovered from the devastation of WWII.  And people living in local villages in mountainous areas were still poor, except a case that timber industry provided them with stable incomes.    Besides, traditionally villagers in mountainous areas had been poor because they had not enough agriculture fields to grow rice, the staple of Japanese agriculture.

So, they made wood charcoal to sell it to people living in the plain who could grow, harvest, and sell rice and other crops to earn reasonable incomes.

The family of the boy was also poor.  His parents made charcoal, too.  But the boy knew that a cooperative association in the area bought charcoal at lower prices.  Therefore villagers opted to bring the product to villages and towns in the plain by themselves rather than sold it to the cooperative association.

The boy went down mountains to help his parents carry charcoal.  Then he saw his parents were looked down on very coolly by residents in a village in the plain.  But no matter how coolly they were received, his parents and other charcoal vendors from the mountains begged and adjured arrogant people to buy any of charcoal they carried in over a long way.

The boy felt anger.  People living in a village in the plain with sufficient paddy fields treated his parents and other poor vendors of charcoal as if they had not been the same human beings.  But he knew any money earned in this business was precious for them.

In sadness and anger, he wrote this hard practice of his parents and other villagers living in mountains.  Those people in towns and villages with plenty of rice fields were the same human beings and they were not especially rich.  They needed cheap charcoal for their living.  But they never hid contempt to those poor vendors from mountains.

As time went by, even Japanese people living in very local areas came to use coal, oil, natural gas, and electricity in a full scale for energy they needed in households.   Today charcoal is not used in any local families in Japan, though some restaurants use it for special cooking.  Such discriminatory treatment to poor charcoal vendors must have been long forgotten in the Japanese society.

Before WWII, there were many peasants in Japan who cultivated leased rice fields.  On the other hand, land owners enjoyed very rich life.  This social structure in farm villages was almost unchanged since the era of samurai before the 19th century.  And these land owners occupied politics in local areas.  Politicians in Tokyo had strong ties with these local rich men.  Though all the Japanese　men 25 years or older had a voting right, only land owners had money to run for election in local areas.

But when the Empire of Japan fell after WWII in 1945 and the US military occupied Japan, emancipation of farming land was enforced.  It was because Americans thought that leaders of the Empire had been strongly supported by local rich land owners.  To eradicate the root of the Japanese militarism, General MacArthur and other American generals thought they had to free Japanese peasants who had become strong soldiers of the empire.  American rulers probably wanted to be trusted by ex-Imperial soldiers for success of their occupation of Japan.

Accordingly, most of land owners lost their paddy fields.  Peasants got the field they had long cultivated almost for free.  This measure had a revolutionary effect in the Japanese society.  One of the reasons for success of American occupation of Japan after WWII was this emancipation of farming land.

But the drastic measure after WWII applied only to agricultural land owners in the plains but not to those who possessed mountains.  Or lands in mountains were not targets of the US-led emancipation of farming land.   Mountain owners in Japan could preserve their wealth and estates.  Therefore, villagers in mountainous areas were left poor.

Probably, villagers in the plain felt they were no more desperately poor as before.  But they didn't feel compassion to those living in mountains.

Success in economy of Japan in later years hid many ugly aspects of the Japanese society.  Factories were built in every local area; people in mountains together with those living in the plain could go and work in those factories to earn enough money.  But there might be still such marble hearts in Japanese people, though such cool attitudes to the poor is universal and can be found in any society in the world.  In this context, Japan is not exceptional.

But the sadness and anger the boy expressed in his essay must be also universal.  The poor really need love of God, since they cannot be loved by the rich and even by the lowest level of the rich.





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Luk 4:24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.