"which shall not taste of death" - A Japanese Writer

The Imperial Palace, Tokyo

A Japanese Writer

There was a Japanese writer who helped American soldiers flee from US bases in Japan as they did not want to be sent to Vietnam during the era of the Vietnam War.

The writer, Makoto Oda (1932-2007), became famous in Japan in 1961 as he wrote a book on his experiences of learning in the US in 1959 as a Fulbright student and subsequent traveling in the world.

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

However after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it turned out that he and his organization to help Vietnamese received aid and money from KGB, a spy agency of the Soviet Union.

Oda recruited a young woman in a preparatory school in Tokyo, where he taught English, to an activity of guiding Japanese youths to the world using a special ship around 1980.  The woman later virtually married a member of a Japanese ultra leftist group.  Then she became a lawmaker of the Socialist Party of Japan in 1996.  As time went by, she suffered some money scandal and resign.  However, later she was reelected to come back to the parliament.  And, recently in 2010, she transferred to the Democratic Party of Japan, the incumbent ruling party of Japan.  At the time Mr. Naoto Kan, a leftist politician, was the head of the DPJ and the Prime Minister of Japan.

One common thing among Makoto Oda, the female lawmaker, and Mr. Naoto Kan, is that they are admirer, at least in one time, of North Korea.

Oda once taught in a university in New York.  Where he was taken in a picture with his young daughter.

http://odamakoto.jp/database/photos/photo_22.html

But it is said that his wife is a North Korean resident in Japan.  And it is suspected that she was highly recommended to marry a Japanese intellectual person who had compassion on North Korea.

Indeed, if some Japanese had learnt in Harvard University before the era of JFK, he might still have not forgotten the tragedy of WWII so as to be an anti-capitalism activist.

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



Mar 9:1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

"suffer us to go away into the herd of swine" - American Religion and Politics

The Tokyo Tower...

American Religion and Politics

It is interesting to see how the US is divided into each religious group geographically.

It is also interesting to see how the US is divided into each political party.

So, the areas where Catholic churches have influences are also influenced by the Democratic Party.

It is a little confusing.  The Democrats are against the traditional value system, but the liberal party seems to have a strong base in each of those areas with strong presence of Catholic churches.

Religion in California: 

The religious affiliations of the people of California:

- Protestant – 36%
--- Evangelical Protestant – 18%
--- Mainline Protestant – 14%
--- Black Protestant – 4%
- Roman Catholic – 31%
- LDS – 2%
- Jewish – 2%
- Muslim – less than 0.5%
- Other Religions – 4%
- Non-Religious/ Atheist/ Agnostic – 21%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_California#Religion

Religion in New York: 

As reported in 2001 the religious affiliations of the people of New York were: 

- Christian – 68%
--- Roman Catholic – 38%
--- Baptist – 7%
--- Methodist – 6%
--- Presbyterian – 2%
--- Episcopal – 2%
--- Lutheran – 2%
--- Pentecostal – 2%
--- Other Christian (including unspecified denomination) – 13%
- Jewish – 9%
- Muslim/Islamic – 3.5%
- Buddhist – 1%
- Other Religions – 4%
- Non-Religious – 13%
- 6% of the people surveyed refused to answer.

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

Religion in Georgia: 

Georgia Religion: 

Like most of the other Southern states of the United States, most of the citizens of Georgia are Protestant Christians. On the basis of religion, the inhabitants of Georgia can be classified as under: 

- 70% are Protestant Christians
--- 24% are Baptist
--- 12% are Methodist
--- 3% are Presbyterian
--- 3% are Pentecostal
- 12% are Catholic 
- 3% are Others
- 13% do not follow any religion

http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Travel/georgia-demographics.php

Indeed, JFK was a Catholic.  But is Catholicism a right religion in the US?

If not, it might be a right decision to elect a Republican as US President, though.




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




Mat 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
Mat 8:30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.
Mat 8:31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
Mat 8:32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

"Thou art the Christ" - A Lie about Korean Women

A Lie about Korean Women

There is a Japanese man who falsely diffused the story of Korean women who were forced to work for Imperial soldiers by the Imperial Government of Japan.

Though the man actually admitted that he had lied after his book on this theme were widely read, strong influences of his false act for justice could be widely seen in South Korea and the U.S.  The book explained how Korean women had been taken forcibly by officials of the Imperial Government of Japan without consent into the special work for Imperial soldiers.  But it was later proved to be a fictitious story.  

The Japanese Government conducted research, several times since 1990s, on any official documents left indicating that the Imperial Government had been officially involved in collecting such Korean women.  But no evidence was found.

Yūto Yoshida (born 15 October 1913) is a Japanese writer and former soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army. He has published under a variety of pen names, including Seiji Yoshida, Tōji Yoshida, and Eiji Yoshida. 

Originally from Yamaguchi Prefecture on the Sea of Japan, Yoshida was stationed in Korea, then a colony of Japan, during World War II; he claimed that he assisted police to kidnap over 2,000 women from various rural areas of the Korean peninsula to serve as comfort women.[3] After the war, he ran as a Japanese Communist Party candidate in the 1947 Shimonoseki city council elections, but was defeated. 

In 1977 and again in 1983, Yoshida published memoirs about his actions during the war.[3] His books and a subsequent 1991 media interview have been credited with bringing about an apology to Korea by Foreign Affairs minister Yōhei Kōno.[4] As Yoshida's memoirs became widely known, he began to attract suspicion. Ikuhiko Hata, a historian at Takushoku University and one of Yoshida's leading critics, pointed to inconsistencies between Yoshida's 1977 and 1983 memoirs, using these to assert that his claims are fabricated.[3] South Korean newspaper interviews with residents of Jeju Island, where the forced recruitment allegedly took place, found no one who admitted to remembering a sweep through a button factory there which Yoshida detailed in his 1983 memoirs.[2][3] In May 1996, weekly magazine Shūkan Shinchō published remarks by Yoshida made to them in an interview, admitting that portions of his work had been made up. He stated that "There is no profit in writing the truth in books. Hiding the facts and mixing them with your own assertions is something that newspapers do all the time too".[5][6][7] In June 2009, 李栄薫(이영훈), who is a professor of Seoul National University, argued that Yoshida's testimony has spread among Korean society after Yoshida published books.  

Since then, revisionist historians seeking to deny or downplay the existence of comfort women commonly mention Yoshida and his testimony; they cherry-pick his work as an example of low-credibility writing and attack his claims that specific women in certain locations were enslaved as comfort women, with the aim of denying that any women anywhere were victims of sexual violence by the Imperial Japanese Army.

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

Even today it is well known that South Korea sends many prostitutes to the world, many of whom are actually in Japan.  And, when Koreans were poorer than today, there must have been many women who were recruited by those in such business.  The traders must have had special connection with some units of the Imperial Army.

In addition, as Korea was annexed to the Empire of Japan in 1910, Koreans were actually Japanese till 1945.

Anyway, what Japanese officials and experts on this issue point to is that the Imperial Government in Tokyo never issued an order to use Korean women for Imperial soldiers, though they admit that there were such women following Imperial troops. The Japanese authority today thinks those women were under private contracts.

So, South Koreans today lie that the Imperial Government was responsible for existence of those Korean women.  And, they lie also when claiming that 200,000 Korean women were abused for such a purpose.  It is a big lie.


### ###

In 1992, a professor of Seoul University and others made a survey on surviving 55 women who voluntarily submitted their names as the so-called comfort women.  An interview per person was conducted in five to six times taking long time.  But, it was judged that more than half of them gave garbled statements.  Finally, they could report testimonies of only 19 women.

Tsutomu Nishioka, a Japanese expert on the history of modern Korea, further checked contents of the reports on those 19 Korean women.  He found that only four of them were victims of "forced recruitment."  But, locations two of the four mentioned as their past work places were found to have not existed during WWII.  And, the remaining two of the four women identified themselves as professional prostitutes in written complaints they submitted to a court when the Japanese Government was set to sue by them.
 
So, finally, there are no Korean women identified so far as true victims of the Imperial Government of Japan that allegedly issued an order to abuse Korean women for Imperial soldiers.


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



Mar 8:29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.
Mar 8:30 And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

"the Spirit said unto Philip" - Be a Local Hero

Be a Local Hero outside the US

Christ Jesus did not advance to Rome to conquer the world.

He could convert Romans into Judaism or Christianity but He didn't.

Rather, Christ told not to go to the way for foreigners.  He said that He came to directly rescue and save poor Israelites.

So, Christ positioned himself as a descendant of Abraham and one member of Israelites of the era 2000 years ago.

But from His work on poor Israelites, His power extended to the whole Roman Empire.  And along with time, it reached whole Europe and areas beyond it.  Now Christianity is the most influential religion in the world as it prevails in North America as well as Latin America.

So, from ancient Israel to the United States of today, the teaching of Christ Jesus took a long journey.  History looks meaningful only for this expansion of Christianity.

In this context, the American political and social involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan should be viewed though it is through the War on Terror.  This movement can be interpreted as that Christianity is moving from the US to the Islamic world if not simply superseding Islam.

Further, the unique relationship between the US and China can be also interpreted as symbolizing movement of Christianity from North America to the Asian Continent.

Indeed, even before WWII, more than 1,000 missions were dispatched from the US to China.  American Christian organizations have been eager to teach Christianity especially to Chinese.

But from the beginning, if Christ Jesus had converted all the ancient Romans to Judaism or Christianity and helped the Roman Empire conquer the whole Arabic region, Persia, India, and China, Christianity should have diffused and prevailed more easily to the today's Islamic world and the continental Asia without waiting for the foundation of the US.

Or, even by sacrificing this easier path, Christ Jesus decided to first save and cure poor and sick Israelites for his extraordinary love to Israelites.  

It also means that Christ Jesus teaches everybody outside the US to first save and help people where he or she lives but not to come to the US trying to save the world or anything else.

A great mission must start in a local place (but neither in the Roman Empire nor in the US), which must be a lesson we should learn from the great story of Christ Jesus.


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




Act 8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

"When he saw Jesus, he cried out" - History of Chinese Americans

The National Diet Bldg., Tokyo

History of Chinese Americans

In 1820, an arrival of the first Chinese at the US is reported by the immigration committee.

Between 1821 and 1840, more than 10 Chinese come to the US in the two decades.

In 1847, three Chinese students come to New York for study in Massachusetts as the first case.

1850: The total number of Chinese residents in California reaches 4,000.

1852: More than 20,000 Chinese arrives at San Francisco.

1857: A Chinese school is built in San Francisco.

1858: The Californian state legislature institutes a law to prohibit immigration of Chinese and Mongolian people.

1860: A national census reveals that there are 34,933 Chinese in the US.

1864: Chinese workers are employed for construction of the transcontinental railroad.

1865: The Central Pacific Railroad Company hires more than 10,000 Chinese.

1869: With completion of the transcontinental railroad, more than 15,000 Chinese have lost jobs.

1871: An anti-Chinese riot occurs in Los Angeles.

1972: The first Chinese who graduated from an American university, Yung Wing, organizes a Chinese educational mission to send Chinese youths to the US for study.

1878: The US Supreme Court rules that Chinese cannot obtain US citizenship.

In 1880s: Anti-Chinese riots occur in various cities in Colorado, Wyoming, Washington, etc.

1890: A national census indicates that there are 107,488 Chinese in the US.

1918: Asian residents in the US who joined the US Army during WWI is allowed to naturalize.

1943: The US Congress abolishes the Chinese Exclusion Act.

1960: The number of Chinese Americans gets to 433,000.

1965: President Johnson signed his name on the New Immigration Law to abolish the 1924 Immigration Law and allow for immigration from Asia.

1972: President Nixon visits China.

1980: A national census reports that there are 805,000 Chinese Americans in the US, who constitute the largest Asian ethnic group.

1996: Gary Locke becomes the first Chinese American who is elected as governor of state in Washington.

In 1998, Chinese Americans managed 2001 firms, employing 41,684 workers, and ran up 13.2 billion in sales in the US.

2001: Elaine Chao became the first Chinese American cabinet member in American history to serve as Secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush.

2011: Yan Huo, a co-founder of Capula Investment management and is one of Wall Street's highest earning hedge fund managers, garners an estimated net worth of $201 million.

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1850	4,018	—
1860	34,933	+769.4%
1870	63,199	+80.9%
1880	105,465	+66.9%
1890	107,488	+1.9%
1900	89,863	−16.4%
1910	71,531	−20.4%
1920	61,639	−13.8%
1930	74,954	+21.6%
1940	77,504	+3.4%
1950	117,629	+51.8%
1960	237,292	+101.7%
1970	435,062	+83.3%
1980	806,040	+85.3%
1990	1,645,472	+104.1%
2000	2,432,585	+47.8%
2010	3,347,229	+37.6%

Rank	City	State	Chinese-Americans	Percentage
1	San Francisco	California	172,181	21.4
2	Honolulu	Hawaii	38,330	10.2
3	Oakland	California	34,083	8.7
4	San Jose	California	63,434	6.7
5	New York City	New York	486,463	6.0
6	Plano	Texas	13,592	5.2
7	Sacramento	California	20,307	4.4
8	Seattle	Washington	27,216	4.1
9	Boston	Massachusetts	24,910	4.0
10	San Diego	California	35,661	2.7
11	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	30,069	2.0
12	Stockton	California	5,188	1.8
13	Los Angeles	California	66,782	1.8
14	Portland	Oregon	9,113	1.7
15	Chicago	Illinois	43,228	1.6
16	Anaheim	California	4,738	1.4
17	Houston	Texas	29,429	1.3
18	Austin	Texas	8,886	1.2
19	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania	3,402	1.1
20	Riverside	California	2,985	1.0

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

The number of Chinese Americans 3.6 million as of 2006 is however almost nil in comparison with 1.3 billion Chinese living in China.  And new Chinese leaders who will have decisive influences on the Chinese people might have nothing to do with Chinese Americans.  But, how will Chinese Americans living in the US will be affected by such future leaders in China?  Probably not much, as those living in the US are Americans and not Chinese.



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



Luk 8:27 And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.
Luk 8:28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.

"even the winds and the sea obey him" - Annexation of Korea to Japan

Tokyo...

Truth of Annexation of Korea to Japan

The Empire of Japan did not occupy and colonize Korea by force before WWII.

The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, also known as the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty, was made by representatives of the Empire of Japan and the Korean Empire in 1910. Negotiations were concluded on August 20, 1910. The document was signed on August 22, 1910.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan%E2%80%93Korea_Treaty_of_1910

Today most of experts in the world agree that this treaty was valid as an international treaty.

Those who support legality of this Treaty mainly refer to the Elements of International Law, first published in 1836, worked out by by Henry Wheaton.

Most of experts think that it was a common practice around 1900 that a nation that could not sustain itself economically and diplomatically was absorbed by another nation near it that had more influences, national resources, and administrative capability.  But of course, most of politicians in South Korea and North Korea today deny validity of the Treaty.

So, there are only few experts and politicians in Europe, the US, and other regions who doubt validity of the Treaty based on which the Empire of Japan annexed Korea.

However, this annexation can be regarded as a starting point of the troubled history of the Empire of Japan toward the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941.  

First of all, you have to understand that the Kingdom of Korea was a failed kingdom in East Asia while the Empire of Japan succeeded in its industrialization, modernization, and Westernization in the late 19th century.

The Kingdom of Korea of course tried to carry out some reformation of its old social system and economy, while the Empire of Japan financially supported the Kingdom.  However, the Korean elite just enriched themselves, while a majority of its people, namely farmers, could not even read and write.

The royal government of the Kingdom had been freed from the centuries-long control by China as a result of the Japanese-Sino War (1894-1895), but it came under a strong influence of the Russian Empire.  It promoted a tense standoff between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire, leading to the Japanese-Russo War (1904-1905).

After the Japanese-Russo War, some Korean elites started to think about annexation to the Empire of Japan as they knew reformation of Korea became impossible due to internal conflicts among Koreans and a desperately wide gap between the elites and farmers in Korea.

Some Japanese elites were against the idea of taking Korea under direct control.  It was expected that Tokyo had to use a huge amount of money to improve social and industrial condition in Korea.

However, as the Russian Empire continued to extend its influence to Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula, the Imperial Government finally decided to annex Korea to the Empire.  So, the largest motivation for Tokyo to integrate Korea into the Empire was the military reason of stopping the Russian influence from coming down to Japan over the Korean Peninsula and the Sea of Japan.   

But as the Empire advanced to Korea, Manchuria became its front line.  To secure Korea, the Empire of Japan needed to secure Manchuria.  So, the Imperial military forces stationed in Korea and Manchu carried out establishment of Manchukuo, a nominally independent empire of Manchus, while the government in Tokyo had no such a plan.  Eventually, the venturous act by the Imperial military was authorized by the Imperial Government of Japan.  Japanese generals and bureaucrats took leading positions in the Manchuria Government.    

However, to secure Manchukuo, the Imperial troops had to face military challenges by Chinese troops and warlords around Manchkuo.  As they were attacked so often and badly, finally Imperial troops launched a full-scale military campaign in the northern region of China, that is in the south of Manchukuo.

Then, Chiang Kaishek, then Chinese President, started to attack international super-rich city Shanghai some Japanese Marine battalion was defending with some Western troops.  This battle around Shanghai led to the battle in Nanjing, the then Chinese capital, as the Imperial forces destroyed hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops.  Chiang Kaishek and other Chinese leaders fled further inland but continued to fight Imperial troops and divisions being dispatched from Japan proper and coming down from the front line in northern China.

This great and hot movement in the Chinese Continent alarmed the US Government.  They decided to support the government led by Chiang Kaishek in various ways, including sending voluntary air squadrons to fight Japanese planes in the Chinese continent.

And as Hitler attacked Britain, President Roosevelt wanted to join the war in Europe to help the UK.  So, Roosevelt decided to drive the Imperial Government into corner and have it start war against the US, since the Empire of Japan and Germany had built an alliance. The US Government stopped export of crude oil to the Empire whose major source of navy fuel was crude oil from the US.  Finally, the Imperial Government launched an attack at the American naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in December 1941.

So, the annexation of Korea resulted in the Japan-US war as part of WWII.


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



Mat 8:27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!