(common scenery around Tokyo in winter)A Miracle, Miracle; That’s a Miracle!
(C'est un miracle, en fait un miracle.)
SECTION I: Derision
Some viewers might have been laughing at EEE Reporter when they read the report on February 22, "So, the Philippines seemed to be another source of a holy miracle," since no spectacular incident has happened in the Philippines since then.
But, it happened in terms of the first two paragraphs of the report:
“Several days ago, a Japanese TV station reported on a Philippine island and one of villages therein where most of residents are making handguns by their hands manually to earn their humble bread and butter.
It also introduced a suspicion that a Japanese entrepreneur was shot and killed in the island by local killers hired by another Japanese.”
Just after I posted it on the EEE Reporter blog on the last Friday, the police in Saipan, a US territory island in the Pacific, reportedly arrested a Japanese man following a request from the Los Angeles police.
SECTION II: News
The arrested Japanese is now facing a charge of having hired a killer to have him shoot at his wife on a by-place plot in Los Angeles 27 years ago, in order to gain insurance money which the suspect actually later got in the amount of 1.4 million dollars.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/japanese-man-held-in-wifes-80s-death/n20080223175309990007?cid=842
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/23/japan.businessman.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
But, you may wonder why this news of a single Japanese suspect has such a news value.
SECTION III: Truth Behind the Scene
It is true that this case has been virtually regarded as one of the early examples of modern murder-for-insurance cases in Japan being observed somehow so often in media reports since then, though the suspect was not found guilty in Japan after a long judicial proceeding.
The amount 1.4 million dollars or 150 million yen was not small at all then.
It was also the era when the US general public came to be aware of the Japanese economic power overwhelming even another superpower the Soviet Union.
But, the truth is that the suspected Japanese has a very famous aunt, a former actress and influential woman in the Japanese entertainment business.
She was a great heroine as an actress and singer; even today some fans commemorate her performance in 1930’s:
(http://blog.livedoor.jp/chidori527/archives/50913270.html )
(http://blog.goo.ne.jp/yamakyou_2005/e/8e95520376abd0f505608fef813b0c8e )
As there are many fans of old songs or golden oldies in Japan, especially even among relatively young politicians, this only can be a big factor.
But, most interestingly, she reportedly helped with ardor junior actors and singers, such as the late younger brother of the incumbent Governor of Tokyo, grow as very successful entertainers in the Japanese show business after WWII.
(http://mnews.news2ch.net/read.php/1085434247/ )
I don’t know how much intimate some Japanese politicians, such as Tokyo Governor Mr. Shintaro Ishihara, are with former actress Ms. Mizunoe one of whose nephews is now going to be indicted in Los Angeles, though the Japanese Supreme Court in 2003 acquitted him finally of the very charge of the murder-for-insurance case that happened 27 years ago in the U.S.
Yet, you have to take into consideration on this extensive media reporting on the suspect the following fact: the suspect is not an ordinary citizen since he has a very prominent aunt who, though now very old, might be still very popular among old but influential Japanese politicians and other types of celebrities.
(On the other hand, there is a speculation that the suspect’s Internet site might be associated with this raking over the old criminal ashes, since he has been acting like a harsh critic against the present law and order system in Japan.
[ http://www.0823.org/shu1_diary/shu1_diary/ ])
SECTION IV: Over Crimes, Sins and Tragedies
Last night, former Defense Minister of Japan, Ms. Yuriko Koike, joined a TV news-show program that took the arrest of the suspect in Saipan as one of its major features, humbly saying, "I was just an assistant of a TV newscaster at that time…"
Indeed, Ms. Koike drastically changed her career to become a lawmaker in various parties. From a young female TV reporter to a wandering politician traversing the Japanese political arena, she has become a Cabinet Minister a few times though she faced harsh criticism last year when conflicted with the then undersecretary of the Defense Ministry who was however arrested by the Tokyo Public Prosecutor on a charge of bribery late last year as if a miracle had happened to save Ms. Koike’s face.
Indeed, 27 years ago, the World Trade Center Towers in New York had already existed for several years.
Today, they have gone for several years.
Truly three decades correspond to one generation.
And, as Jesus Christ said that a tragedy falling on a person was not due to a sin his parents or ancestors had committed but for the glory of God to appear, we must probably assume that glory of God is gradually emerging over crimes, sins and tragedies that have occurred in these decades.
Personally, I felt only remote respect to the completion of building of the WTC Towers in New York in the wake of the Vietnam War and felt only remote sympathy to the Japanese suspect whose wife was fatally shot in Los Angeles, both almost some 30 years ago when I observed and heard them.
However, I felt no sense of discomfort when I observed and heard that Ms. Koike started to venture into the political arena some 15 years ago.
Now, on which did you feel more a sense of discomfort when you first heard a news report, Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s running or Mr. Barack Obama’s running for US Presidential Primary Election?
(Indeed, 27 years ago, Ms. Koike was as young as some Japanese female newscaster of today. As she has been long in singlehood, she seems to be somewhat carrying an atmosphere of those days.
Truly, 27 years ago, Mrs. Clinton must have been as young as some US actress of today. As she has not divorced, she seems to be somewhat carrying a liberating atmosphere of the post-Vietnam War era.
Doubtless, three decades later, good girls and Mlles., you might look back at the present age retrospectively rediscovering miracles here and there around the EEE Reports, since you are now as young as those ladies 27 years ago.)
“God Did This According To His Eternal Purpose”
(Gott tat dies nach seinen ewigen Zweck.)