"unto our God for ever and ever. Amen" - American Judaists and Jewish America

Around Tokyo

American Judaists and Jewish America

Today, there are 13.4 million Judaists in the world, 5.4 million of them live in Israel and 8 million live in other regions of the world.

Among the eight million Jewish people outside Israel, a half of them, that is, four  million people live in the US.  And among this four million, more than 2.5 million Jewish people live in New York.

(In other study, there are 6.15 million Jewish people today living in the US.)

Doctors in private practice in New York consist of Judaists in a ratio of 99.99%.  Jewish people account for 5% of those who occupy leading positions in businesses listed in the New York Stock Market.

In a global scope, among top 400 richest men in the world, Jewish people account for 23%.  And among these super-rich Judaists, those involved in real estate business accounts for 20%.

The key to success of Jewish people in the US is their enthusiasm in education and upward mobility.  In most ethnic groups in America, children of blue-collar workers tend to become blue-collar workers, too.  But children of Jewish families living on wages earned in factories or in their own small business never succeed professions of their parents. They have all graduated from colleges and universities to be white-collar workers, middle-class experts, or rich men in various fields.

Specifically, in elite universities in the US, Jewish professors account for 35% of all the professors in those top universities in 1990, though the ratio of Jewish professors in all the professors in the US was just 2% in 1940.

With setting the average American household yearly income at 100, each ethnic group in the American society earns as follows:
1.  Jewish......172
2.  Japanese....132
3.  Polish......115
4.  Chinese.....112
4.  Italian......112
6.  German....,..107
6.  Anglo-Saxon..107
8.  Irish.......103
etc.

(http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeyjmo2/id67.html)

Among all the Jewish population in the US of today, 90% of them are descendants of 2.5 million Judaists who immigrated into the US from Poland and Russia between 1880 and 1920.

However, more prominent is a vast influence some Jewish people have in the America media sector.

Here Is A List Of The Jews Who Own The Major Media In The US: 

 Murray Rothstein: AKA “Sumner Redstone.” Owner of CBS, MTV, LOGO, (Homosexual TV), Blockbuster Videos, Paramount & DreamWorks Movie studios Here. 

 Edgar Bronfman Jr: Principal holder of Time-Warner Corporation. Media venues include NBC Television, Turner Broadcasting, CNN, Warner/Chappell Music, AOL, & Time Magazine Here. 

 Jeff Zucker: CEO of NBC Television Here.
 Michael Eisner: Former CEO of Walt Disney Company. Principal holder of Capital Cites which owns ABC Television. Present owner of The Tornante Company which develops companies in the Media sector Here. 

 Rupert Murdoch: His mother, (by which Jews trace their racial designation), is the Jew, Elisabeth Joy Greene. Murdoch owns Fox Television, TV Guide, Twentieth Century Fox Studio, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and The London Times Here. 

 Peter Chernin: New York born Jew. CEO of Murdoch’s News Corporation & Corporate Director for American Express Here. 

 Mortimer Zuckerman: Owner of US News & World Report and the New York Daily Here. 

 Donald E Graham: CEO & Chairman of the Board of the Washington Post which owns Newsweek Magazine. He is the son of Katherine Meyer Graham, whose father, Eugene Meyer, a wealthy Jewish financier, purchased the Washington Post in 1933. Donald E Graham now oversees the Washington Post operation Here & Here.
http://www.realjewnews.com/?p=194


Jews In The American Media 

MORTIMER ZUCKERMAN, owner of NY Daily News, US News & World Report and chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations, one of the largest pro-Israel lobbying groups. 

LESLIE MOONVES, president of CBS television, great-nephew of David Ben-Gurion, and co-chair with Norman Ornstein of the Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligation of Digital TV Producers, appointed by Clinton. 

JONATHAN MILLER, chair and CEO of AOL division of AOL-Time-Warner 

NEIL SHAPIRO, president of NBC News 

JEFF GASPIN, Executive Vice-President, Programming, NBC 

DAVID WESTIN, president of ABC News 

SUMNER REDSTONE, CEO of Viacom, “world’s biggest media giant” (Economist, 11/23/2) owns Viacom cable, CBS and MTVs all over the world, Blockbuster video rentals and Black Entertainment TV. 

MICHAEL EISNER, major owner of Walt Disney, Capitol Cities, ABC. 

RUPERT MURDOCH, Owner Fox TV, New York Post, London Times, News of the World (Jewish mother) 

MEL KARMAZIN, president of CBS 

DON HEWITT, Exec. Director, 60 Minutes, CBS 

JEFF FAGER, Exec. Director, 60 Minutes II. CBS 

DAVID POLTRACK, Executive Vice-President, Research and Planning, CBS 

SANDY KRUSHOW, Chair, Fox Entertainment 

LLOYD BRAUN, Chair, ABC Entertainment 

BARRY MEYER, chair, Warner Bros. 

SHERRY LANSING. President of Paramount Communications and Chairman of Paramount Pictures’ Motion Picture Group. 

HARVEY WEINSTEIN, CEO. Miramax Films. 

BRAD SIEGEL., President, Turner Entertainment. 

PETER CHERNIN, second in-command at Rupert Murdoch’s News. Corp., owner of Fox TV 

MARTY PERETZ, owner and publisher of the New Republic, which openly identifies itself as pro-Israel. Al Gore credits Marty with being his “mentor.” 

ARTHUR O. SULZBERGER, JR., publisher of the NY Times, the Boston Globe and other publications. 

WILLIAM SAFIRE, syndicated columnist for the NYT. 

TOM FRIEDMAN, syndicated columnist for the NYT. 

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, syndicated columnist for the Washington Post. Honored by Honest Reporting.com, website monitoring “anti-Israel media.” 

RICHARD COHEN, syndicated columnist for the Washington Post 

JEFF JACOBY, syndicated columnist for the Boston Globe 

NORMAN ORNSTEIN, American Enterprise Inst., regular columnist for USA Today, news analyst for CBS, and co-chair with Leslie Moonves of the Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligation of Digital TV Producers, appointed by Clinton. 

ARIE FLEISCHER, Dubya’s press secretary. 

STEPHEN EMERSON, every media outlet’s first choice as an expert on domestic terrorism. 

DAVID SCHNEIDERMAN, owner of the Village Voice and the New Times network of “alternative weeklies.” 

DENNIS LEIBOWITZ, head of Act II Partners, a media hedge fund 

KENNETH POLLACK, for CIA analysts, director of Saban Center for Middle East Policy, writes op-eds in NY Times, New Yorker 

BARRY DILLER, chair of USA Interactive, former owner of Universal Entertainment 

KENNETH ROTH, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch 

RICHARD LEIBNER, runs the N.S. Bienstock talent agency, which represents 600 news personalities such as Dan Rather, Dianne Sawyer and Bill O’Reilly. 

TERRY SEMEL, CEO, Yahoo, former chair, Warner Bros. 

MARK GOLIN, VP and Creative Director, AOL 

WARREN LIEBERFORD, Pres., Warner Bros. Home Video Div. of AOL- TimeWarner 

JEFFREY ZUCKER, President of NBC Entertainment 

JACK MYERS, NBC, chief.NYT 5.14.2 

SANDY GRUSHOW, chair of Fox Entertainment 

GAIL BERMAN, president of Fox Entertainment 

STEPHEN SPIELBERG, co-owner of Dreamworks 

JEFFREY KATZENBERG, co-owner of Dreamworks 

DAVID GEFFEN, co-owner of Dreamworks 

LLYOD BRAUN, chair of ABC Entertainment 

JORDAN LEVIN, president of Warner Bros. Entertainment 

MAX MUTCHNICK, co-executive producer of NBC’s “Good Morning Miami” 

DAVID KOHAN, co-executive producer of NBC’s “Good Morning Miami” 

HOWARD STRINGER, chief of Sony Corp. of America 

AMY PASCAL, chair of Columbia Pictures 

JOEL KLEIN, chair and CEO of Bertelsmann’s American operations 

ROBERT SILLERMAN, founder of Clear Channel Communications 

BRIAN GRADEN, president of MTV entertainment 

IVAN SEIDENBERG, CEO of Verizon Communications 

WOLF BLITZER, host of CNN’s Late Edition 

LARRY KING, host of Larry King Live 

TED KOPPEL, host of ABC’s Nightline 

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN Reporter 

PAULA ZAHN, CNN Host 

MIKE WALLACE, Host of CBS, 60 Minutes 

BARBARA WALTERS, Host, ABC’s 20-20 

MICHAEL LEDEEN, editor of National Review 

BRUCE NUSSBAUM, editorial page editor, Business Week 

DONALD GRAHAM, Chair and CEO of Newsweek and Washington Post, son of
CATHERINE GRAHAM MEYER, former owner of the Washington Post 

HOWARD FINEMAN, Chief Political Columnist, Newsweek 

WILLIAM KRISTOL, Editor, Weekly Standard, Exec. Director 

Project for a New American Century (PNAC) 

RON ROSENTHAL, Managing Editor, San Francisco Chronicle 

PHIL BRONSTEIN, Executive Editor, San Francisco Chronicle,
RON OWENS, Talk Show Host, KGO (ABC-Capitol Cities, San Francisco) 

JOHN ROTHMAN, Talk Show Host, KGO (ABC-Capitol Cities, San Francisco) 

MICHAEL SAVAGE, Talk Show Host, KFSO (ABC-Capitol Cities, San Francisco) Syndicated in 100 markets 

MICHAEL MEDVED, Talk Show Host, on 124 AM stations 

DENNIS PRAGER, Talk Show Host, nationally syndicated from LA. Has Israeli flag on his home page. 

BEN WATTENBERG, Moderator, PBS Think Tank. 

ANDREW LACK, president of NBC 

DANIEL MENAKER, Executive Director, Harper Collins 

DAVID REMNICK, Editor, The New Yorker 

NICHOLAS LEHMANN, writer, the New York 

HENRICK HERTZBERG, Talk of the Town editor, The New Yorker 

SAMUEL NEWHOUSE JR, and DONALD NEWHOUSE own Newhouse Publications, includes 26 newspapers in 22 cities; the Conde Nast magazine group, includes The New Yorker; Parade, the Sunday newspaper supplement; American City Business Journals, business newspapers published in more than 30 major cities in America; and interests in cable television programming and cable systems serving 1 million homes. 

DONALD NEWHOUSE, chairman of the board of directors, Associated Press. 

PETER R KANN, CEO, Wall Street Journal, Barron’s 

RALPH J. & BRIAN ROBERTS, Owners, Comcast-ATT Cable TV. 

LAWRENCE KIRSHBAUM, CEO, AOL-Time Warner Book Group
http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/jews-in-the-media-hollywood/

This list tells that today Jewish opinions are American opinions and Jewish views are American views.

So in the near future, Judaists in the US will be more proud among second-tire de-facto Judaists, that is, other Americans of no-Jewish origins.






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Rev 7:11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

"do ye even so to them"

Around Tokyo after a Typhoon 









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Mat 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

"will he give him a serpent?" - Wolves and Dogs

Tokyo Station

Wolves and Dogs

There is a folklore story in a local region around Tokyo.

In a village, people said that there was a wolf in forests and hills nearby.  The wolf chased a villager walking through fields at dusk or at night.  It would not jump, attack, and eat a foot passenger until he stumbled and fell.  But if he could safely walk to the village, the wolf just played a role of a kind of escort.

Indeed once wolves lived in Japan; they are called Japanese wolves.  But they became extinct 100 years ago in Kyusyu, Shikoku, and Honsyu of the Japanese archipelago.  (In Hokkaido, the northernmost island of the archipelago, there also lived another type of wolves that also went extinct 100 years ago.)  Anyway, today no wolves, neither of the Japanese type nor of a northern type, exist in Japan.

Passages in the Gospels that refer to wolves are as follows:

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Luke 10:3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

However, dogs are also not loved by Christ Jesus, either.

Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Matthew 15:26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.

Matthew 15:27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

Mark 7:27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

Mark 7:28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.

Luke 16:21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.


So, I don't think it is appropriate for people to keep a dog.  The more they love dogs, the less they love poor people around them.

According to recent studies on mitochondria, direct ancestors of human beings who today live outside Africa left the African Continent about 100,000 years ago.   However, based on mitochondria studies of dogs, it was 130,000 years ago that dogs were separated from wolves in their evolution.   As wolves did not live in Africa, it is a mystery that dogs and wolves were separated from each other without intervention from our ancestors.  Maybe Neanderthal men kept and domesticated wolves to turn them eventually to dogs.

In other theory based on DNA study of dogs, they were produced from wolves by people living in East Asia between 40,000 years ago and 15,000 years ago.

Yet, one thing sure is that without human beings any wolves have not changed to dogs.  We are responsible to manage dogs.

With advancement of science, now human beings can handle cells and genes of any living species.  We will be soon able to create any new type of species, such as a man with huge wings.  It is dangerous.  This technology can apply to biological weapons.

So, even if the human species should not be terminated in the 21st century, a different version of mankind might be living in the 22nd century.  There is a possibility that the new version of mankind will not share the same emotion, ethic, philosophy, and religion as we have today.    We must stop easy development of genetic engineering and embryo-stem cells.    





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Mat 7:9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
Mat 7:10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
Mat 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

"ye may keep your own tradition" - Mainstream of History of Civilization

In Tokyo

Mainstream of History of Civilization

Roughly speaking mankind started its history of civilization when ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramids in Giza 550 years before Abraham started to leave a territory of a Sumerian kingdom in Mesopotamia.

Roughly speaking, the mainstream of our history of civilization is as follows:

2500 BC - The Great Pyramids are built in Giza, Egypt.

2000 BC - Abraham leaves Ur, heading for Canaan and traveling even to Egypt.

1500 BC - Moses was born while Hebrews stay in Egypt.

1000 BC - King David set the capital of his kingdom in Jerusalem.

500 BC - The Old Testaments are compiled.  The Buddha starts to preach.  Confucius travels to establish his school of philosophy.  Socrates enhances Greek philosophy.　　　　

AD 1 - Christ Jesus was born; Judaists are expelled from Jerusalem and Judea by Romans.

500 -  The Western Roman Empire falls while Christianity is prevailing with the Vatican.

1000 - The first Crusade fights Muslims occupying Jerusalem.

1500 - Judaists and Muslims are driven out of Western Europe and Columbus reaches America.

2000 -  Second Coming of Christ expected after Judaists have returned to Jerusalem and Judea.


This is mainstream history of mankind whether you love it or not.

We have to think about what to do as a member of mankind in the last phase of our history.

The Bible shifts its focus in Genesis 12 from the history of the entire human race to a man named Abram, the first Hebrew, and he lived in Ur of the Chaldees. Later God appeared to Abram and promised him that if he would leave his country and journey to a land that he has never seen, God would make of his descendants a great nation and through them the Savior of the world would come, through his "seed." Later God changed his name to Abraham which means "father of a many nations" and he obeyed God and journeyed to the land of Canaan. The Lord also spoke a promise that anyone who blessed Abraham and his descendants would be blessed and anyone who cursed Abraham and his descendants would be cursed.
http://www.bible-history.com/maps/6-abrahams-journeys.html

By the way, every scholar today believes that Abraham and his clan were not Sumerians.  But the most glorious tribe in the ancient Mesopotamia is Sumerians.  Abraham must have shared this glory.  Abraham must be of Sumerian origin, though he and his tribe adopted Semitic as their descendants later adopted Aramic, Greek, Latin, Germany, English, etc.

We had better think that Abraham was from Sumerians to be parallel with King Khufu and ancient Egyptians who built the Great Pyramids in Giza.



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Mar 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Mar 7:10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
Mar 7:11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
Mar 7:12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
Mar 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

"to him that knocketh it shall be opened" - Heroes who Saved Tokyo from Civil War

Around Tokyo

Heroes who Saved Tokyo from Civil War

Tokyo was half destroyed twice in the past.

In September 1923, the Great Kantō earthquake destroyed 381,000 houses and killed about 100,000 residents in and around Tokyo, while forcing 1.9 million people to suffer any damage or evacuate.

In March 1945, the US Air Forces sent 470 B29 bombers to Tokyo.  They destroyed 270,000 houses and buildings and killed 80,000 citizens and wounded 41,000 residents.  The total number of afflicted people were 1.1 million.

However, in the samurai era when Tokyo was called Edo, a big earthquake occurred around Tokyo killing more than 10,000 people in 1855, and a big fire was set off in 1657 killing more than 100,000 Edo residents and in 1772 killing more than 15,000.

But in the civil war that put an end to the last samurai regime in Edo in 1868, the whole city of Edo was at risk for becoming a fierce battle field.  At the time, the Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, already lost his will to fight, though the capital Edo of the Tokugawa samurai government was still defended by thousands of samurai troops subject to the shogun.　　

Besides about 1.5 million residents lived in Edo.  If more than 10,000 anti-Tokugawa samurai troops, equipped with advanced rifles and cannons imported from the UK and France and led by a powerful samurai leader Saigo Takamori (1828-1877), had been determined to take over power from the Tokugawa clan by force, Tokugawa samurais deployed around the Edo Castle should have set a fire to Edo streets and fought to their last breath, sacrificing so many citizens.

However, both the sides entered the last minute negotiations to allow Tokugawa camps to surrender without battles and abandon the Edo Castle to the revolutionary troops tied up with the imperial authority.  Leaders of the imperial samurais promised not to punish or execute Tokugawa Yoshinobu and his subordinate samurai warriors.  In this way, Edo could escape the war damage.

And this critical negotiation was conducted by Saigo Takamaori, a top military leader of the anti-Tokugawa camp, and Katsu Kaisyu, one of top samurai ministers of the feudal Tokugawa regime.

This is one of the most well-known event in the modern Japanese history.  Both Saigo and Katsu are regarded as great heroes in the Meiji Restoration.  However, Saigo was originally a lower-class of samurai of the Shimazu Clan in Satsuma (presently Kagoshima Prefecture, the most southwest region of Japan); Katsu was a self-made samurai bureaucrat in the Edo government.  If the era had been peaceful and normal, they must not have become such historical characters.  But Saigo Takamori acted as the representative of the Emperor and the coalition of anti-Tokugawa imperial samurais, and Katsu Kaisyu represented the Tokugawa shogun (the king of samurais) to save Edo, later called Tokyo, from tragedy of the civil war in 1868, though some fierce battles continued between samurais on the Tokugawa side and imperial samurais in the regions north of Tokyo for months.

As I mentioned Saigo Takamori yesterday, it would be appropriate to take a look at a brief description about Katsu Kaisyu in a common source of information.

Count Katsu Kaishū (1823 – 1899) was a Japanese statesman, naval engineer during the Late Tokugawa shogunate and early Meiji period.[1] 

Katsu was born in Edo (present day Tokyo) to a low-ranking retainer of the Tokugawa Shogun. 

As a youth Katsu Kaishu, whose given name was Katsu Rintaro (Kaishu was pseudonym), studied Dutch and European military science, and was eventually appointed translator by the government when European powers attempted to open contact with Japan. Katsu developed the reputation as an expert in western military technology. 

In 1860, Katsu served as captain of the warship Kanrin-maru, (with assistance from US naval officer Lt. John M. Brooke), to escort the first Japanese delegation to San Francisco, California en route to Washington, DC for the formal ratification of the Harris Treaty. The Kanrin Maru, built by the Dutch, was the first Japanese vessel to sail to the Western world. Kaishū remained in San Francisco for nearly two months, observing American society, culture and technology. 

In 1866, Katsu was appointed negotiator between the bakufu forces and the anti-shogunal domain of Chōshū, and later served as chief negotiator for the Tokugawa bakufu, ensuring a relatively peaceful and orderly transition of power in the Meiji Restoration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsu_Kaish%C5%AB

It is a little ironical that Saigo Takamori died in the civil war in 1877, a war Saigo launched to help disenchanted ex-samurais neglected by the Meiji Government, while Katsu Kaisyu was respected by leaders of the new imperial government and asked to work for them as a member of the imperial Cabinet to live till 1899.

In this way Tokyo has never been a battle field in Japanese civil wars in history owing to the two heroes of Saigo and Katsu, which is a very important historical fact for Japanese of even today.

Katsu Kaisyu, the last samurai hero on the Tokugawa Clan side
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsu_Kaish%C5%AB



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Mat 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

"and my servant shall be healed" - Saigo Takamori and the Bible

Around Tokyo, a Pacific Ocean Beach 

Saigo Takamori and the Bible

The most popular and respected in the era of the Meiji Restoration of Japan was Takamori Saigo.

Saigō Takamori (1828 – 1877) was one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history, living during the late Edo Period and early Meiji Era. He has been dubbed the last true samurai.[1] He was born Saigō Kokichi, and received the given name Takamori in adulthood. He wrote poetry under the name Saigō Nanshū.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saig%C5%8D_Takamori

The samurai era of Japan was put an end to through a civil war between the Tokugawa shogun regime and anti-Tokugawa samurai camps that tied up with noblemen and the emperor.  The anti-Tokugawa coalition mainly consisted of four feudal domains: Satsuma (presently Kagoshima Prefecture), Chosyu (presently Yamaguchi Prefecture), Tosa (presently Kochi Prefecture), and Hizen (Prefecture Saga Prefecture).  Among the four, Satsuma had the strongest samurai forces and the most stable economic base with the most forward-looking feudal ruler Shimazu.

Saigo was a samurai who served the feudal lord of Satsuma, namely the house of Shimazu.  Specifically Lord Shimazu Nariakira (1809-1858) promoted young Saigo from a mere low-level samurai to one of his entourage.  Since US Commodore Perry arrived at Tokyo Bay in 1853, leading his well-armed fleet, to make Japan abandon its closed-door policy, the Tokugawa shogun (namely the king of samurais) and his ministers could not govern Japan as they had done for the past 250 years.  The Tokugawa regime was not well prepared for the new era where Japan had to open the nation, establish diplomatic ties with the US, the UK, France and other countries, and cope with foreign pressure.  So, this samurai government took the plunge and did what they had never done since its establishment of power in early 1600s; they  asked advice from feudal lords who governed their own local domains while being subject to the Tokugawa clan as vassals.   And Shimazu Nariakira of Satsuma situated in the most southwest region of Japan was the one who tried to take advantage of this opportunity so as to expand his influence in the central samurai government in Edo (Tokyo).  In doing so, Shimazu Nariakira picked up Saigo as his close adviser and one of leading staff.       　  

When Shimazu Nariakira died, his nephew took over the position of the Lord of Satsuma, but the real power was in the hand of a younger brother of  Shimazu Nariakira or the father of the new lord.  So, Saigo was demoted by the new rulers of Satsuma twice, as they did not trust Saigo from a lower-class of the samurai world of Satsuma.   However situations of Japan became so tense.  With the Tokugawa shogun losing power, other feudal lords and anti-Tokufgawa samurai came to compete with one another to hold the balance of power.  The Satsuma Clan needed a strong leader with real ability to lead samurai forces and handle political games.  In this dynamic movement that was shaking dignity of the Tokugawa shogun, Saigo was again asked by the Shimazu family to lead the Clan.  

As time went by, other anti-Tokugawa feudal lords and samurai leaders came to admit Saigo's extraordinary caliber.  Saigo was not a good swordsman, excellent bureaucrat, eloquent speaker, smart economist, or prudent scholar, but he is a great strategist, tough negotiator, sharp and courageous operator of samurais, and above all a man of faith and humanity.  Saigo was not hated by other samurais.  Townsmen and farmerss loved his generous-hearted way of living.  Saigo didn't try to be rich and honored.  But he was determined to put an end to the Tokugawa era.

The civil war that put an end to the Tokugawa samurai regime and paved the way for the Meiji Restoration was won by the anti-Tokugawa samurai coalition  that succeeded to take the emperor and noblemen on their side.  And everybody admitted that Saigo Takamori achieved the most decisive feat as the de-facto supreme commander of anti-Tokugawa coalition forces.

In the new Meiji Government established in 1868, Saigo took one of top positions.  He became the first full general of the imperial military.  However, there were many ex-samurais in Satsuma and other local regions who could not secure any positions in the new Government.  Those unsatisfactory ex-samurais appealed to Saigo who eventually left the central Government in Tokyo to go back to Kagoshima and accept a petition from those ex-samurais for leading them in a new civil war.

In 1877, Saigo Takamori, as the leader of Kagoshima rebel troops, died in the civil war called the Satsuma Rebellion.  It is the last civil war in Japan.  Saigo Takamori leading 40,000 anti-Tokyo ex-samurais stood against 300,000 imperial government troops led by generals and politicians who were once Saigo's friends, colleagues, and subordinates.  

Despite this tragic incident or due to this tragic civil war, the general public of Japan respected Saigo Takamori who threw out his success in the new imperial Government but had sympathy with ex-samurais who were neglected by the central Government busy in promoting modernization and Westernization of Japan.

So, Saigo Takamori is believed to have a very Japanese mind as he has been respected and loved by the Japanese populace.  His presence in the Japanese modern history is unparalleled.

The most well know phrase Saigo Takamori spoke or wrote for any commemoration is "Respect the heaven and love people!"  This expression sounds somewhat like Christian.  And, indeed, there is a report that Saigo read the Bible, translated into Japanese or Chinese, with enthusiasm.  Even there is a legend that Saigo taught the Bible to some citizens in his hometown of Kagoshima.

More interestingly Mao Tse-tung (1893-1976), the founder of the People's Republic of China and once the long-time head of the Chinese Communist Party, is said to be an earnest admirer of Saigo Takamori, though it is unknown if Mao Tse-tung had ever taught the Bible to any Chinese.   .

Saigo Takamori, who was also a kind of the head of the intelligence agency of the Shimazu Clan, avoided being taken into a picture.  However, it is widely believed that Saigo looked like this engineered picture.
http://www.page.sannet.ne.jp/tsekine/syouzou-saigou.htm




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Luk 7:6 Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof:
Luk 7:7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.
Luk 7:8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
Luk 7:9 When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

"and entreat them evil four hundred years" - Though you may not call them miracles

A Pacific Ocean Coat around Tokyo




Yesterday I checked cars running on a bypass road beside a hamburger shop with a focus on license numbers of those cars.

I thought I might be able to spot a car with an identical number in each of four digits of a license number, since I recently mentioned a higher probability of my finding such cars there.  Then a few moments later, while I was watching, there came a car with the the license plate number "11-11."  So I soon entered the shop to take some.

Today when I was walking on a beach, I found a small dead shark on gravel.  It seemed to be washed in from the Pacific ocean.   Then I continued walking to find very small translucent fish.  They were all just as large as a half of my finger.  Ten or twenty of them were jumping on wet sands at a water's edge.  Waves carried them and left them on the beach full of sands and gravel.

It was cloudy and no people were swimming, but there were some anglers and families playing with waves.  

This is what happened recently around Tokyo, though you may not call them miracles.

Anyway this shore was above the epicenter of the the Great Kantō earthquake that struck the Kantō Plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū with energy of  a magnitude of 7.9 on September 1, 1923.  This big earthquake took on about 100,000 citizens mainly living in downtown Tokyo.

The numbers in the map indicate intensity of the tremor in the Japanese scale system.
http://www.sei-inc.co.jp/bosai/1923/




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Act 7:6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.
Act 7:7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
Act 7:8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.