"Thee Things Which Must be Hereafter"
A few years ago, Nippon Television Network Corporation, a major Japanese TV broadcasting station, conducted a popularity poll that resulted in the following ranking of historical characters:
No.1....Oda Nobunaga
(a 16th century warlord of Japan)
No.2....Sakamoto Ryoma
(the last hero of the samurai era in the 19th century of Japan)
No.3....Thomas Edison
(an American inventor)
No.4....Toyotomi Hideyoshi
(a 16th century virtual king of Japan)
No.5....Konosuke Matsushita
(the founder of Panasonic of Japan)
No.6....Tokugawa Ieyasu
(the first shogun of the last samurai dynasty of Japan)
No.7....Hideyo Noguchi
(a Japanese medical scientist)
No.8....Mother Teresa
(a Catholic nun having helped the poor in India)
No.9....Helen Keller
(an American handicapped heroine)
No.10....Hijikata Saizo
(a samurai hero at the end of the Tokugawa samurai regime)
(http://www.pag1u.net/hajime/ijin_ranking.html)
It is a surprise that five of the top 10 heroes are samurais. Two Americans are also highly respected by Japanese TV audiences. While only one Japanese successful businessman is ranked in the top 10 list, three humanitarian-field heroes are highly appraised.
For reference, Cleopatra is No.70; Princess Diana No.12; and Jeanne d'Arc No.83.
But, who and what is Oda Nobunaga?
("Oda" is his surname and "Nobunaga" is his first name. But, a name of a historical figure of Japan is expressed in a Japanese manner: a surname first and a first name next.)
Put simply he is the leading samurai or bushi of the age of bloody provincial wars in Japan from the middle of the 15th century to the late 16th century.
Owing to Nobunaga's bloody success, Hideyoshi could put whole Japan under his control to be a virtual king of Japan. And, owing to Nobunaga's bloody success, Ieyasu could succeed Hideyoshi through fierce civil wars to set the foundation of the last samurai dynasty that lasted from the early 16th century to the late 19th century.
However, Nobunaga owes his success to Western products. He was the first Japanese samurai lord that adopted matchlock guns or harquebuses in a large scale in real battle fields. Nobunaga was also known as a great protector of Catholic missionaries from the Vatican to accept them into his territory, while fighting fierce battles against some Buddhist-sect insurgents. He also promoted importation of Western goods useful for his venture to dominate the whole country with arms and soldiers.
No matter how bloody his success was, Nobunaga acted and behaved like a real hero. He truly looked like having a new paradigm at least in the art of war. He is the No.1 iconoclast in the Japanese history, though he had commonsense enough, for example, to respect support of a samurai's faithful wife.
Yet, put simply he is the leading samurai or bushi of the age of bloody provincial wars in Japan from the middle of the 15th century to the late 16th century.
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The G20 Economic Summit in London was over. Some people are now talking and telling that the era of G2 of USA and China has come.
From the beginning, this economic crisis was triggered in New York and London while China was not cooperating with Japan for global financial stability. Every underlying condition of the G20 Summit does not justify its venue and attitudes toward China.
Finally, let's check the trend of direct investment from Japan to China in the past two decades:
(Source: http://www.fsa.go.jp/frtc/nenpou/2006a/04.pdf
Arranged by EEE Reporter)
And it is all for today.
C'est tout pour aujourd'hui.
(http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~har-snow/Reve_Angerique.mid
Source:http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~har-snow/music.htm)
Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
Rev 4:2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
Rev 4:3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
Rev 4:4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.