(Tokyo of 2010)Go or Stay?
When they first decided to follow Jesus Christ, what did those Disciples expect?
Leaving their jobs and families for the future of miracles, what did those Disciples expect?
Anyway, the Vatican today cannot be what they initially expected.
The moment they started to follow Jesus Christ, I humbly suppose, they got everything they expected. The question is, of course, when and how they would realize it.
As 2000 years is enough for any issue to be finally addressed, it is time for the Vatican to be as poor as the early Disciples of Jesus Christ were when they first heard the voice of Jesus Christ.
SECTION I: The Korean Peninsula in 1910
For the Empire of Japan, everything started to advance to the Wars against China and the U.S. since its annexation of Korea in 1910...
Understanding of the modern history in East Asia depends on this era, though today combined economic power of Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan could dominate the world in this 21st century.
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Treaty of Annexation
[Annexation of Korea by Japan]
(August 22, 1910)
The Proclamation
Notwithstanding the earnest and laborious work of reforms in the administration of Korea in which the Governments of Japan and Korea have been engaged for more than four years since the conclusion of the Agreement of 1905, the existing system of government in that country has not proved entirely equal to the duty of preserving public order and tranquillity; and in addition, the spirit of suspicion and misgiving dominates the whole peninsula.
In order to maintain peace and stability in Korea, to promote the prosperity and welfare of Koreans, and at the same time to ensure the safety and repose of foreign residents, it has been made abundantly clear that fundamental changes in the actual regime of government are absolutely essential. The Governments of Japan and Korea, being convinced of the urgent necessity of introducing reforms responsive to the requirements of the situation and of furnishing sufficient guarantee for the future, have, with the approval of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan and His Majesty the Emperor of Korea, concluded, through their plenipotentiaries, a treaty providing for complete annexation of Korea to the Empire of Japan. By virtue of that important act, which shall take effect on its promulgation on August 29, 1910, the Imperial Government of Japan shall undertake the entire government and administration of Korea, and they hereby declare that the matters relating to foreigners and foreign trade in Korea shall be conducted in accordance with the following rules:
The Treaty
His Majesty the Emperor of Japan and His Majesty the Emperor of Korea, having in view the special and close relations between their respective countries, desiring to promote the common wealth of the two nations and to assure the permanent peace in the Far East, and being convinced that these objectives can be best attained by the annexation of Korea to the Empire of Japan, have resolved to conclude a treaty of such annexation and have, for that purpose, appointed as their plenipotentiaries, that is to say, His Majesty the Emperor of Japan Viscount Terauchi Masatake, Resident-General, and His Majesty the Emperor of Korea Yi Wan-Yong, Prime Minister, who upon mutual conference and deliberation have agreed to the following articles:
Article 1. His Majesty the Emperor of Korea makes the complete and permanent cession to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan of all rights of sovereignty over the whole of Korea.
Article 2. His Majesty the Emperor of Japan accepts the cession mentioned in the preceding article and consents to the complete annexation of Korea to the Empire of Japan.
...
In faith thereof:
Resident General Viscount Terauchi Masatake
Prime Minister Yi, Wan-yong
http://www.international.ucla.edu/eas/documents/kore1910.htm
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To your surprise, no Korean citizens started to fight against the Empire of Japan in the immediate wake of the conclusion of this treaty.
Virtually no significant armed conflicts erupted between armed Korean officials/citizens and the Empire of Japan.
(It is 1919 that a large scale rebellion led by some religious leaders occurred in the Korean Peninsula being inspired by the Fourteen Points speech delivered by United States President Woodrow Wilson on January 8, 1918, which resulted in 7,509 deaths. [One of influential Korean leaders, Kim Gu, fled to Shanghai to continue his fight against the Empire of Japan and eventually survived WWII.] After this tragic incident, no large scale rebellion occurred in the Korean Peninsula against the Imperial Government in Tokyo until the end of WWII, namely the summer of 1945. In this context, it could be said that this annexation was so successful, since Koreans were so modernized and industrialized.)
Yet, something must have been wrong in this legal and peaceful procedure of the annexation.
It is so, since the Empire of Japan lost three million lives in WWII, in addition, losing all the overseas territories, including Sakhalin.
Note 1: The population in the Korean Peninsula increased after this annexation from 13,130,000 in 1910 to 25,530,000 in 1942, though Japan's population was about 49,180,000 in 1910.
Note 2: The literacy rate of Koreans increased after this annexation from 10% in 1910 to 65% in 1936, though Japan's literacy rate was about 97% in 1910.
SECTION II: Japanese Direct Investment Overseas
Japanese corporations and individuals still invest into the American market more than to any other.
If returns from the American market are, say, calculated at 0.2%, Japan can get $454 million from America every year.
If returns from the American market are, say, calculated at 2%, Japan can get $4.54 billion from America every year.
If returns from the American market are, say, calculated at 20%, Japan can get $45.4 billion from America every year.
In short, Japanese economists should study on how to increase the returns from America, by increasing this rate from 0.2% to 20%.
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Not Quite So Exotic
Hedge funds are hitting middle age.
By Barton Biggs | NEWSWEEK
Published Feb 26, 2010
From the magazine issue dated Mar 8, 2010
...
Then along came the rally of 2009. The Dow was up 21 percent, and the S&P 500, 26 percent. Hedge funds did well, with the mean up 23 percent. For the last two years, according to Morgan Stanley, the hedge-fund mean is up 6 percent, the S&P is down 20 percent, the UBS Commodity Index is off 25 percent, the international index EAFE is off 15 percent, and private equity and real estate are still being sorted out. In other words, hedge funds worked better than almost all other asset classes...
http://publication.samachar.com/pub_article.php?id=8069035&nextids=8069035|8046244|8046245|8001303|7951829&nextIndex=1
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The market players in Wall Street might be applying a kind of economic theory, since 20% seems to be their norm again after the Lehman Shock...
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Without freedom, love cannot be expected.
So, the God gave freedom to Americans, in my humble interpretation.
The consequence is as you see all around.
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Last Refuge for the Homeless: Living in the Car
By Kevin O'Leary / Los Angeles Friday, Feb. 12, 2010
...
"We found six people sleeping in their cars on an overnight police ride-along in December," says John Edmund, chief of staff to Long Beach councilman Dee Andrews. "One was a widow living in a four-door sedan. She and her husband had been Air Force veterans. She did not know about the agencies that could help her. I had tears in my eyes afterwards."
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1963454,00.html
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(http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/wonderyr.htm
Source: http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/wonderyr.htm)
Mat 4:21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
Mat 4:22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.