"Have faith in God" - One Heroine out of Toyota

Imperial Palace Entrance, Tokyo

One Heroine out of Toyota

There was one young female office worker in the home office of Toyota Motors in Aichi Prefecture.

It was immediately after WWII.  Though Toyota was in a kind of boom during WWII, it lost many business connections and chances since the Empire of Japan lost the war against the US.

So, she was not so much thrilled in her work, though she was assigned to a job to copy various reports, letters, documents, etc.  As there were no modern copying machines at the time, she had to make a fair copy of every sheet in handwriting using carbon paper.  

While doing this carbon copy work, she was drawn to contents of those papers.  At the time the labor union was fiercely fighting the corporate management.  Japan was in recession, so that the company wanted to fire redundant workers.  On the other hand, workers without much to do in workshops were indulged in endless discussions and meetings to build a strategy for negotiations for a wage increase.

She enjoyed vivid exchanges of words between the management and the union recorded  in minute books.  And she also learnt what clever persons would say and what foolish ones would discuss.

As time went by, the Korean War erupted in 1950.  The US Army passed a huge amount of orders to Toyota, though they mostly wanted to buy trucks from Toyota.  Anyway, she observed how a corporation, namely Toyota, recovered from the state of a slump after WWII, riding on a special procurement boom triggered by the Korean War.

But, while other young female workers left the company for marriage, she was still doing the same job of copying documents in office.  She felt that she had to do something, as she found that she was not so lucky in romance in this head office of Toyota 350 km west of Tokyo.

So, one day, she abruptly went into a room of an executive who was responsible for human affairs of whole Toyota, as her desk was close to the director corner.  The executive was surprised to see her coming into his room for some talk without reservation or without following hierarchical protocol; she should have first talked to the manager who supervised her section.   But as she asked him to help her transfer to the branch office in Tokyo (since she was originally born and raised in Tokyo), he understood her.   And after asking some questions of her, finally he said to her to wait for one more year.

And, one year passed.  She almost forgot what she asked of the executive.  But one day suddenly an assistant manager of the personnel department called her working at her desk, saying dryly by phone, "In a week, you are going to be transferred to the Tokyo office.  Get prepared."

Then she moved to Tokyo and worked in the Tokyo branch office of Toyota.  She became the first female Toyota employee who got transferred.

In a few years since she came to Tokyo, she became a part time reporter and writer for some magazines in the social issue field.

It was because she happened to join a circle of  Tokyo intellectuals and professors in the societal issue field and she presented to them her diary where she had mainly written daily incidents in the Toyota headquarters busy in handling the labor union, since she was asked to show them whatever she had ever written.  Though she had written the diary without any intention but for herself, it was highly praised by then leading figures in the literary arena and the academic world in Tokyo when it was actually published in a certain periodical.

As time further went by, she quit Toyota and grew to be an independent writer in the documentary-style work field.  She succeeded so much to even make frequent TV appearances.  The ex-Toyota female office clerk became one of top female journalists in Japan after WWII.

And finally she died in April 2009, leaving many interesting books she wrote based on direct interviews with various persons and hard work to collect and analyze material.

Fuyuko Kamisaka (June 10, 1930 – April 14, 2009) was a Japanese non-fiction author. 

Kamisaka was born as Yoshiko Niwa in Tokyo on June 10, 1930. Her first work, Shokuba-no gunzo (People at a Place of Work), based on her experiences as a worker for Toyota, was published in 1959 and won a prize for works by new authors.
Her best known work is ""Keishu Nazare-en" about a facility for Japanese widows of South Koreans. [1] 

Other works dealt with Sugamo Prison, the Battle of Iwo Jima and vivisection experiments conducted by the Japanese on prisoners of war.

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



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Mar 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

"no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you" - 1840 Opium War

Mt. Fuji, 100 Km Far

1840 Opium War 

The single incident that created the greatest commotion in East Asia in the modern history is the Opium War.

The First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–42), known popularly as the First Opium War or simply the Opium War, was fought between the United Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty of China over their conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, and the administration of justice.

There was an ever growing demand for tea in the United Kingdom, while acceptance of only silver in payment by China for tea resulted in large continuous trade deficits.[7] A trade imbalance came into being that was highly unfavourable to Britain. 

By 1817, the British hit upon counter-trading in a narcotic, Indian opium, as a way to both reduce the trade deficit and finally gain profit from the formerly money-losing Indian Colony. The Qing Administration originally tolerated the importation of opium because it created an indirect tax on Chinese subjects, while allowing the British to double tea exports from China to England which profited the monopoly for tea exports of the Qing imperial treasury and its agents. 

However, by 1820 the planting of tea in the Indian and African colonies along with accelerated opium consumption reversed the flow of silver, just when the Imperial Treasury needed to finance suppression of rebellions against the Qing. The Qing government attempted to end the opium trade, but its efforts were complicated by local officials (including the Viceroy of Canton), who profited greatly from the bribes and taxes. 

In 1839, the Daoguang Emperor appointed Lin Zexu as the governor of Canton with the goal of reducing and eliminating the opium trade. On his arrival, Lin Zexu banned the sale of opium, demanded that all opium be surrendered to the Chinese authorities, and required that all foreign traders sign a 'no opium trade' bond the breaking of which was punishable by death. Lin also closed the channel to Canton, effectively holding British traders hostage in Canton

In June 1840, an expeditionary force of 15 barracks ships, 4 steam-powered gunboats and 25 smaller boats with 4000 marines reached Guangdong from Singapore. The marines were headed by James Bremer. Bremer demanded the Qing Government compensate the British for losses suffered from interrupted trade 

By January 1841, British forces commanded the high ground around Canton and defeated the Chinese at Ningbo and at the military post of Dinghai. 

By the middle of 1842, the British had defeated the Chinese at the mouth of their other great riverine trade route, the Yangtze, and were occupying Shanghai. The war finally ended in August 1842, with the signing of China's first Unequal Treaty, the Treaty of Nanking. 

Belligerents
United Kingdom  British East India Company	Qing Dynasty

Strength
19,000 troops [2]	200,000 men
Casualties and losses
69 killed, 451 wounded	18,000–20,000 casualties

The ease with which the British forces had defeated the numerically superior Chinese armies seriously affected the Qing Dynasty's prestige. The success of the First Opium War allowed the British to resume the opium trade. It also paved the way for opening of the lucrative Chinese market to other commerce and the opening of Chinese society to missionary endeavors.

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

China lost face.   And it took 170 years for China to start to behave as an arrogant empire again.

But it is very important that the bottom line of the British trade in the 19th century came to record a surplus only by its manipulation of opium from India and tea/silver from China.

And this trade system of the UK was only realized through its use of superior military power in India and China.

It is also ironic that this relationship with the UK did not lead to fill-scale modernization of their society in India and China.  But it was Japan that learnt lessons from the Opium War so as to carefully avoid military conflicts with the US and other Western powers when they sailed to Japan to request ending of  Japan's seclusion policy a decade after the Opium War.

By carefully promoting trade with Western powers, Japan succeeded in establishing the modern and Westernized Empire of Japan, especially by applying modern technology to building of mighty navy and army.

As for China, it was from 1980s that its economy and industry started to be modernized with great help from Japan.   And when the UK returned Hong Kong to China in 1997, Chinese economy was already on track to be one of the largest economies in the world, following the US and Japan.



From other perspective, wealth was in India and China but not in England and Europe.

So, after starting the Industrial Revolution, the UK applied new technology to building modern military which they directed to Africa and Asia.  Especially, the UK occupied many sources of wealth in East Asia to enrich itself.  So, the source of wealth was in Asia for the British Empire.

Accordingly it is no wonder that East Asia, including India, is going to be the center of the global economy in the 21st century.

Other source of wealth in the world in this context are of course Japan and the US.    The British Empire could not occupy and exploit wealth in Japan and the US.  The UK could not keep America in its economic territory as the US got independent in 1776.  If the UK had been able to keep America under its governance, the British Empire should be the sole-super power on the earth today.

Japan has never been victimized by the UK, since Japan has never been colonized and invaded by Western powers unlike India, China, and even the US.



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Luk 11:20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
Luk 11:21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:
Luk 11:22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
Luk 11:23 He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.

"if I by Beelzebub cast out devils" - Christ Jesus Unique

Mt. Fuji, Japan

Christ Jesus Unique 

One thing very particular about Christ Jesus is that He was killed by soldiers.

Abraham and Moses were not; Buddha was not; Confucius was not; and the founder of Islam was not killed by enemy soldiers, but Christ Jesus was.

In this context, all the people who has been ever born and killed by enemy soldiers could find a friend in Christ Jesus if not in Abraham, Moses, Buddha, and the founder of Islam.

So, all the people facing a fatal threat from enemy soldiers should cry our for help from Christ Jesus if they are Judaists, Muslims, or Buddhists.  
 
So, all the people in Syria and Gaza should cry our for help from Christ Jesus if they are Judaists, Muslims, or Buddhists.  




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Luk 11:18 If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.
Luk 11:19 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.

"and glorified God" - We Need the Savior

Prime Minister Office, Tokyo

We Need the Savior

Science and technology look like going to pose a great threat to mankind.

With advancement of technology, today even a school boy can get a personal computer which has performance equivalent to that of old super-computers only professionals and experts in first-rate organizations in the world were allowed to use a few decades ago.

If terrorists abuse this power of today's computers, they must be able to design or acquire some dangerous weapons, including  destructive computer viruses.

And ordinary citizens can buy various types of very advanced products that can be easily modified so that  they can use them as destructive weapons, too.

Further, people in the medical science sector can today easily handle and manipulate human genes and cells to produce new or dangerous life or biological weapons.

And, in order to prevent some crazy boys, terrorists, scientists, terror states, etc. from exerting their ability to abuse advanced technology and science, we have to present something more attractive to them, so that they will abandon their malicious plans to pursue other more peaceful interest.

For example, we are actually kind of being forced to allow the young North Korean leader to enjoy very wealthy life so as to stop him from taking a risk of intimidating neighboring rich countries, such as Japan and the US, to extort any material interest.    

In other word, while citizens have globally obtained a dangerous potential by easily accessing high technology and scientific products, if they are not satisfied with their life, they might resort to terror or a kind of terror to destroy the conventional framework of the society, cause a turmoil or a crisis, and then try to steal any wealth.

But we should not promise such citizens any material luxury in exchange of their temporary restraint from abusing technology and science for their material desire.

Rather we must persuade such citizens to behave like responsible members of the society.  For this cause, we have to reinforce our morals and authentic religions.

However, observing the state of mankind today, probably we will fail in achieving the safe society globally while technology and science are developed even by greedy private companies and greedy professors in the academic sector.

That is why we have to ask Christ Jesus to come to our world again.  His Second Coming can only save the world in this context, since modern technology and science were mostly studied, developed, and put into practical use in the European Christian world.


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Act 11:17 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
Act 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.