If the sky tumbles down on Wall Street, do not panic!

(Sunset in Japan for Whom?)



If the sky tumbles down on Wall Street, do not panic!



Now at noon BBC, on an NHK satellite channel in Japan, is showing a Nobel Prize-winner economist who is commenting, "It is someway worse (than the 1929 Financial Crisis."

This morning NHK TV reported that stock prices in Asian stock markets have been alarmingly falling.

Yesterday a newspaper in Japan gave a warning that the financial crisis got across the Straits of Dover to continental Europe.

It is because U.S. Congress rejected the bailout plan the White House proposed.

But do not panic, folks!

Japanese banks are the least affected by this crisis among financial institutes in the world.



SECTION I: MR. BUSH’S ADDRESS ON SEPT. 24

However, it is unthinkable that eight years after the then President Mr. Bill Clinton had so proudly declared that the U.S. economy entered the era of prosperity of all time that was expected to last forever, President Mr. George W. Bush has admitted that the entire U.S. economy is in danger.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Transcript of President Bush's nationally televised address on the ongoing financial crisis and his administrations proposed bailout for the financial industry:

…
Financial assets related to home mortgages have lost value during the house decline, and the banks holding these assets have restricted credit. As a result, our entire economy is in danger…

With the situation becoming more precarious by the day, I faced a choice, to step in with dramatic government action or to stand back and allow the irresponsible actions of some to undermine the financial security of all….

Once this crisis is resolved, there will be time to update our financial regulatory structures. Our 21st-century global economy remains regulated largely by outdated 20th-century laws.

Recently, we've seen how one company can grow so large that its failure jeopardizes the entire financial system…

In the long run, Americans have good reason to be confident in our economic strength. Despite corrections in the marketplace and instances of abuse, democratic capitalism is the best system ever devised….

And together we will show the world once again what kind of country America is: a nation that tackles problems head on, where leaders come together to meet great tests, and where people of every background can work hard, develop their talents, and realize their dreams.

Thank you for listening. May God bless you.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,427602,00.html
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So, even the toughest bigot among bigots who do not trust any news reported by the media would admit that it is true that there is a large-scale financial crisis that is threatening the authority of the U.S. President.

But, do not panic.

Japanese banks are the least affected by this crisis among financial institutes in the world.



SECTION II: HOW JAPAN FINANCIALLY HELPED THE U.S.

In this decade, U.S. politicians and economist have never presided Japan.

Typically, President Mr. Bill Clinton showed more respect for China than Japan.

Yet, it is Japan that has financially supported not only China but the U.S. in these decades.

For example, during the end of September 2002 and the end of March 2004, Japan purchased U.S. Treasury bonds worth 426 billion dollars.

( http://uekusak.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2008/09/post_65f1.html )

Let’s confirm again how Japan sustained the U.S. economy as the largest underwriter of U.S. Treasury bonds as indicated in the figure below covering from March 2000 to March 2008.

(Click to enlarge. The upper blue line shows the amount of U.S. Treasury Japan purchased.)
http://www.gamenews.ne.jp/archives/2008/06/post_3592.html

Now you should know that unless the U.S. Government officially expresses its gratitude for Japan, this crisis in the U.S. financial sector and Wall Street will not stop.

Indeed, you must realize that unless American super-rich men learn the need to respect those, including Japanese hard working people, whom they must respect, this crisis in the U.S. financial sector and Wall Street will not stop.

Truly, what President Mr. Bush must address is this need to respect those, including Japanese hard working people, whom American super-rich men must respect.

It is because it is money Japanese hard working people have paid as tax to the Japanese Government that has bolstered the U.S. financial sector in these decades.

The U.S. President should include words of appreciation for Japan in his address if he really wants to improve the situation before the God, since the God loves Japan so much, in my humble view.



SECTION III: HISTORICAL CONTEXTS

Respect the God and learn history and then you will not get into panic.

Why did the 1929 financial crisis occur in the U.S.?

The key factor is of course World War I.

It was also, to your surprise, to prevent World War II.

But, as the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, and Japan as well as Russia and China failed to understand the significance of the Great Depression that broke out in 1929, the justice and peace in the world dwindled down to another world war, namely the Second World War.

Then, why has the 2008 financial crisis befallen to the U.S.?

The key factor is of course World War II, the aftermath of which includes the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War in addition to the Cold War.

It is also, to your surprise, to prevent World War III or Armageddon, part of which might be the War on Terror.

It is time the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, and Japan as well as Russia and China must learn to respect what they are determinedly supposed to respect.

It is the God and history, first of all.

I will discuss this issue in earnest later, since only a religious approach can be effective to tackle this scale of incident critically influencing all the mankind.


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

If world governments and businesses are equally treated as financial entities, top 100 entities in terms of financial power include 51 international businesses.

Top 300 international businesses per sales occupy wealth that accounts for 25% of all the wealth in the world.

There is even a concern that those businesses are aiming at buying devaluated assets of bankrupt companies at lower costs.

In other word, they are waiting for the Great Depression as a big chance to buy out otherwise costly and invaluable assets and facilities from bankrupt companies and individuals.

Some critics and economists in Japan and the U.S. are now condemning the governments and politicians for this debacle threatening the entire U.S. economy as well as the global economy.

But, it may be time for citizens, consumers, tax payers, and voters to focus on the underlying philosophies and religions international businesses rely on for their existence and justification (though communism and religions of the 20th century do not work as the U.S. President implied in his recent speech).

It is so, since the Devil loves the Great Depression.

Follow the God and the Christ!

Love the God or money?

Answer it now!

So, Godspeed!



(If the sky tumbles down on Wall Street or the Tokyo Bay, darling, darling, stand by me…
http://players.music-eclub.com/?action=player&sid[]=122198 )

Source: http://players.music-eclub.com/?action=user_song_detail&song_id=122198)





Mat 9:29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.

Mat 9:30 And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.

Mat 9:31 But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.

FOUR FOREIGN MINISTERS OF JAPAN IN 2002

FOUR FOREIGN MINISTERS OF JAPAN IN 2002



This Sunday, namely yesterday, I read a book I had signed out from a nearby public library the other day.

----------------------------------------
In early December 1999, Mr. Akitaka Saiki, a high ranking bureaucrat of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called Mr. Masaru Sato.

Mr. Saiki in his office specially installed in the Prime Minister’s Office told the specialist of the same ministry Mr. Sato that the then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi wanted to talk with him immediately.

Accordingly the telephone line was switched to connect Mr. Sato to the late Mr. Obuchi.

The then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi himself asked Mr. Sato some questions on Russia.

The late Mr. Obuchi wanted to know whether Mr. Vladimir Putin would succeed Boris Yeltsin.

Mr. Sato answered that it depended on how Mr. Putin would deal with the Chechen War.

The then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi told the notable specialist on Russia Mr. Sato that he expected Mr. Sato to continue to watch Russian situations, adding that the prime minister himself would get more information from “Jews.”

Mr. Masaru Sato wrote in his famous book published in 2005 that he had thought that as Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi had watched Mr. Sato’s appearance in an NHK TV program on Russia broadcast the other day, the late Mr. Obuchi must have wanted to talk with him directly, since Mr. Sato used to make briefing on Russian situations to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi in those days though Mr. Sato was technically not an authorized elite member of the Foreign Ministry like Mr. Saiki but a specialist.

It is not only Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi that Mr. Sato used to make briefing on Russia in those years but also Mr. Muneo Suzuki, a lawmaker of the LDP, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, and close associate of the prime minister.

http://www.shinchosha.co.jp/book/475201/

--------------------------------------

Today, namely in 2008, Mr. Akitaka Saiki is undertaking higher responsibility in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, especially in Japan’s efforts to take back its citizens outrageously abducted by North Korea in these decades.

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi died, however, so suddenly in 2000.

Mr. Masaru Sato was arrested in 2002 and accordingly indicted for some alleged acts of corruption as if politically victimized; and the case is yet to be finally decided in a higher court; but today Mr. Sato has big reputation as a journalist, though he still keeps an official status in the Ministry

Mr. Muneo Suzuki was arrested in 2002 and accordingly indicted for some alleged acts of corruption as if politically victimized; and the case is yet to be finally decided in a higher court; but today Mr. Suzuki is still a lawmaker, though after tough comeback elections, of a small independent party.

It is during Mr. Koizumi’s premiership (from 2001 to 2006) that Mr. Suzkuki and Mr. Sato suddenly started to be forced to contend against their adverse fates, though it is Mr. Yoshiro Mori that had succeeded the tragic prime minister Keizo Obuchi in May 2000.

In those days, namely in early 2002, it was said that there were four Foreign Ministers in Japan:
The then Foreign Minister Ms. Makiko Tanaka; the LDP lawmaker most influential on the Ministry Mr. Muneo Suzkuki; then North Korean-issue haunted Prime Minister Mr. Jyunichiro Koizumi; and the then Chief Cabinet Secretary Mr. Yasuo Fukuda (who is the oldest among the four but assumed office of Prime Minister from 2007 to 2008).

Ms. Makiko Tanaka was forced to resign as Foreign Minister a few months before the arrests of Mr. Suzuki and Mr. Sato for the reason of inappropriate governance of the Foreign Ministry, and later also forced to resign as a lawmaker due to inappropriate financial management of her office, as if politically victimized, though she now keeps a seat in the Diet again as an independent lawmaker after a tough comeback election, since she is the daughter of a legendary prime minister of 1970's the late Mr. Kakuei Tanaka who was an arch rival of the late Mr. Takeo Fukuda, the late father of Mr. Yasuo Fukuda.

Mr. Jyunichiro Koizumi recently announced his intention to resign as a lawmaker, so that his son will take over his father’s seat in the Lower House on the next general election.

Mr. Yasuo Fukuda stepped down from premiership several days ago as the new Prime Minister was elected in the Diet.

Indeed, former Prime Minister Mr. Yasuo Fukuda should be evaluated rather as behind-the-scenes Foreign Minister in the Koizumi Administration in 2002, in my humble view.

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

If the then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi had not died of a sudden disease in May 2000, there must not have been the Koizumi Administration at least in 2001 and 2002.

It is because the late Mr. Keizo Obuchi was the leader of the then largest faction within the Liberal Democratic Party, while Mr. Koizumi was No.2 of a rival faction where Mr. Yasuo Fukuda and Mr. Shinzo Abe also belonged as future Prime Minister, respectively.

Truly, the then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi fell to a fatal illness during the night time after a tough meeting with Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, the then head of a major allied party of the LDP, in eraly April 2000.

Today, it is expected that Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, the head of Democratic Party of Japan since 2006, will take over the regime from the LDP after the next general election.

But, as you see, Japanese politics is still under the shadow of 2000.

Politicians and parties concerned might finally pull through this shadow when Mr. Ichiro Ozawa assumes the premiership through the coming general election, as he is an alleged old friend of the tragic, late Mr. Keizo Obuchi but also strong ally of Ms. Makiko Tanaka, once an enemy of Keizo Obuchi but still one of notable female parliament members of Japan.

* * *

In addition, I still remember that on one Spring day in April 2000 I saw one or two rainbows while walking in my residential area. It was very rare. Then I think I heard the news from the media that Prime Minister Obuchi was taken to sudden but serious illness which led to his death a month later.

And then TV stations started to repeatedly present how the late Mr. Obuchi looked immediately after the tough meeting with Mr. Ozawa, since it showed some symptoms.

Truly Mr. Ozawa had kept a low-key presence after the death of the then Prime Minister Obuchi until he was elected as the head of DPJ in 2006.

Indeed it has passed eight years. A daughter of Keizo Obuchi is now a minister of the Aso Cabinet. The husband of Mrs. Tanaka, an Upper House lawmaker, has at last left the LDP like his wife did a few years ago. Mr. Ozawa may now have a moral right to become Prime Minister of Japan if he should win the coming general election.

* * *


Now, you had better think about which has a moral right more to be qualified as U.S. President, Mr. Barack Obama or Mr. John McCain, since it has passed seven years since the 9/11 Terror and 40 years since the Tet offensive in the Vietnam War.




Joh 9:28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples.

Joh 9:29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.

Joh 9:30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.

Joh 9:31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

Seniority and Factional Fights

Seniority and Factional Fights



I went to bed last night after a TV news program informed Japanese audiences that they were still unsure if Mr. McCain would venture into an open debate with Mr. Obama, even ten hours before the schedule.

This morning, I have found they are holding it in Saint Louis.


* * *

Now I am checking the debate between Mr. Barack Obama and Mr. John McCain.

Apparently Mr. Obama is far younger than Mr. McCain.

Though ability and popularity are important, respect for an older and experienced person is more important in most cases.

For example, two years ago, current Japan’s Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso was Foreign Minister subject to the then Prime Minister Mr. Shinzo Abe who was almost 15 years younger.

Mr. Taro Aso must have felt very uncomfortable or unhappy if not humiliated.

But, the political situation and interests forced Mr. Aso to serve Mr. Shinzo Abe until Mr. Abe quit his job due to illness, though Mr. Aso moved from the cabinet minister to the LDP Secretary-General in the last days of the Abe Administration.

This time Mr. Aso has been elected as prime minister of Japan with support from a faction Mr. Abe belongs to. But, it is former Prime Minister Mr. Yoshiro Mori who virtually controls the faction Mr. Abe belongs to.

So, when Mr. Aso was elected as prime minister early this week, he took some reprisals. Mr. Aso called Mr. Mori, the virtual boss of Mr. Shinzo Abe, to support the Aso Administration.

Specifically, Mr. Aso asked former Prime Minister Mr. Mori to take up a post as LDP Secretary-General.

It is extraordinary. The LDP Secretary-General is subject to the President of LDP who is also Prime Minister of Japan, as long as the Liberal Democratic Party holds power.

It is tantamount to humiliation if you ask a former prime minister to work again as LDP Secretary-General. But why did Mr. Aso say so to Mr. Mori?

So, it is a kind of revenge.

Mr. Aso must have felt being humiliated while serving Prime Minister Mr. Abe, 15 years younger.

So, this time, Mr. Aso asked Mr. Mori, there years older, to work under him.

It is a simple psychological game. Mr. Aso must know from the beginning that Mr. Mori would never accept the offer, since it was tantamount to humiliation.

But, this is a kind of harmless fight. By posing such a rude offer to the boss of the largest faction of LDP, new Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso has actually declared that he is the head of all the politicians who belong to LDP; and Mr. Mori is not an exception.

Yet, in fact, Mr. Aso has taken some reprisals against Mr. Shinzo Abe who used Mr. Aso as his minister while Mr. Abe was 15 years younger, since Mr. Mori, the de facto boss of Mr. Abe, is three years older than Mr. Aso.

The same is true of Mr. Jyunichiro Koizumi who actually belongs to the same political faction as Mr. Mori and Mr. Abe.

In his case, the enemy was the then largest faction in LDP called Heisei-Kenkyukai.

What is worse, an economic policy Mr. Koizumi had been committed to was a kind of opposition to the economic policy the Heisei-Kenkyukai group was attached to.

So, in the case of former Prime Minister Mr. Koizumi, his pursuit of his economic policy meant not only a polemic over economic theories but also a factional fight.

Accordingly, some influential economists who were against the Mr. Koizumi’s economic idea were regarded not only as unfriendly third-party economists but also as political enemies.

As the faction Mr. Koizumi belonged to had been treated very badly by the then most powerful Heisei-Kenkyukai faction, he must have even held a personal grudge against LDP politicians who belonged to Heisei-Kenkyukai with some exceptions.

So, his grudge was reflected in the personnel assignment in Mr. Koizumi’s cabinet. He appointed an economist most disliked by Heisei-Kenkyukai to be minister in his cabinet.

For economists it is just a controversy on economic policies; but for Mr. Koizumi it must have been a matter of life and death in his political career, probably, with a bitter memory in his 30-year political life under dominance of rival Heisei-Kenkyukai until he assumed the office of Japan’s prime minister.

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

This kind of issues are a matter of commonsense.

But, as some Japanese politicians were born and raised in a very rich family or an upper-class family, they lack this kind of commonsense.

Even some critics and pundits have enjoyed a privileged professional life too long, they have come to lose this kind of commonsense.

This is what I have felt recently while observing the political situation in Japan.

But, this can apply to the U.S. political community.

It is because now Mr. McCain is referring to Mr. George Shultz, Mr. Henry Kissinger, and Ronald Reagan as well as KGB, while Mr. Obama is relying on some political principles and detailed data domestic and international.

Yet, people sometimes find humiliation or discover their enemies in a public or political arena from a very human point of view or human emotion including pride.

So, if not a fight between the poor and the rich, a true state of a political situation can be sometimes an acute private war accompanied by personal grudges, instead of controversy in economic theories, political principles, social value systems, or even judgement on ability or popularity of politicians.

Therefore, it would be wiser for Mr. Barack Obama, though with excellent ability and popularity, to eventually concede to Mr. McCain rather than prevail his senior rival, if Mr. Obama wants to have a safe and comfortable life after retirement from politics.

(Mr. McCain has proven ability and popularity; but he belongs to the Republican Party that is at least technically responsible for the max. two-trillion dollar wrongdoing case in Wall Street.)

Having recommended so referring to the recent cases in Japan, if somebody with more authority than simple seniority or dominance requests American voters to elect Mr. Barack Obama as U.S. President, he should be elected so.

That somebody can be the poorest man or the most pious man in the U.S. society, according to the teaching of the Gospel.

* * *

That is all for today as their debate is coming to the end with a discussion over missile defense and respect for veterans as being heard through the Internet in Japan.



Joh 9:26 Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?

Joh 9:27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?

Bye Bye Mr. Koizumi; Hello Mr. Aso and Great Depression?

(Northern Extension of Tokyo Metropolitan Area & Shinkansen Express Train)



Bye Bye Mr. Koizumi; Hello Mr. Aso and Great Depression?



Yesterday I went to an old pond nearby to take some evening pictures. When I was running back home, I found the sunset glow to be unusually impressive though not so holy, as I had seen an old couple humbly chanting some on a bench by the pond and a young, nice but humble woman walking with her dog that never bothered me when passing by.

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

According to AP Radio news broadcast this morning from a U.S. military station in Japan, Mr. Barack Obama reportedly said that Mr. Paulson did not understand the policy for Wall Street and Mr. John McCain reportedly said that without deal there would be no debate.

Whether Mr. Obama can understand what is going on in Wall Street or not, it is the fact that it is under the Republican Administration that Wall Street people, since September 2001, has taken and executed the Mafia-like policy to worship money and huge money so blindly and selfishly without shame and conscience, though, under a bad influence of AlQaeda terrorists.
* * *

In Japan, last night, former Prime Minister Mr. Jyunichiro Koizumi made clear his will to resign as national lawmaker. He reportedly said that he would not run for the coming general election. Instead, one of his sons is expected to seek the seat in the Lower House of the Diet Mr. Jyunichiro Koizumi now holds.

This is big news. Indeed, every media has been reporting and commenting on this surprise announcement. It is because in the last general election, held on Sept. 11, 2005, Mr. Koizumi could put in 80 new candidates among almost 300 then-elected LDP Lower House members. There is no denying his feat and contribution to the present superiority of the ruling parties, holding a critical two-thirds majority, in the Lower House of the Japanese national assembly.

Just before this surprise message for the planned retirement, the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington for the first time arrived at the Yokosuka Port, situated at the entrance to the Tokyo Bay, to make it its home base, though it is exceptional for an American aircraft carrier to have an overseas home port.

Yokosuka is the main city in the electoral zone for Mr. Jyunichiro Koizumi.

It looks very symbolic, since North Korea is yet to show any sign of its policy change for releasing Japanese citizens abducted by them in these decades, though Mr. Koizumi as prime minister could take back some from Pyongyang four years ago.

Maybe the era of negotiations between Mr. Jyunichiro Koizumi and Mr. Kim Jong-Il is gone.

* * *


Now a big focus and a spotlight are on new Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso.

Japanese voters are also expecting the general election to be called within a month or so.

A poll rating indicates that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has currently a little edge on its arch rival the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).

(According to the latest Kyodo survey, LDP is supported by 34.9% and DPJ by 34.8% of voters expected to vote in proportional-representation constituencies.)

Mr. Taro Aso of LDP might lose his premiership if he resolved the Lower House at this moment; but what has drawn my attention is not Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, the head of DPJ, often described as old-fashioned and proud.

It is Mr. Richard Koo, an economist and long time friend of Mr. Aso’s.

----------------------------------------------------
Richard C. Koo joined Nomura in 1984 and is now the Chief Economist of Nomura Research Institute, the research arm of Nomura Securities.

Prior to that, he was an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (1981-84) and a Doctoral Fellow of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (1979-81).

http://www.nomura.com/europe/about_nomura/bios/richard_koo.shtml
----------------------------------------------------

Apart from his career and family background, his recent article attracted my attention. Mr. Koo claimed that he discovered new truth in the Great Depression of 1929.

During the Great Depression, American businesses did not borrow money from banks who were offering a huge amount of funds to those suffering companies.

American companies were busy paying back loans. They wanted to make themselves look financially sound and healthy amid the tempest of the economic crisis.

According to Mr. Richard Koo’s theory, American businesses in 1929 and 1930’s were busy getting their balance sheets back into shape while avoiding borrowing money from banks even at near-zero interest rates.

Mr. Koo found that the situation was similar to that observed in Japan in 1990’s.

( http://bizplus.nikkei.co.jp/colm/koo.cfm?i=20080311d8000d8&p=3 )

The Japanese-speaking Taiwanese economist, Mr. Richard Koo, has written that his new theory could not be easily understood by first-rate economists in New York when he first presented it to them.

Yet, Mr. Koo’s theory tells what mind-set the companies involved in the Great Depression would have.

If banks are trying to supply businesses with plenty of funds to put the economy on track for recovery, the ailing companies would not take the money while they are making every effort in payment of their debts.

Nonetheless, Mr. Richard Koo born in Japan as a child of a prominent Taiwanese clan made a mistake common to every economist: misunderstanding of true causal relation along with a time series.

Such behaviors and efforts of businesses to get their balance sheets back into shape, while a slump is going on and banks are generously offering money, are a result of a more profound factor.

As I wrote yesterday, it is a matter of consumers including the super rich, the middle class, and the poor.

The wide gap between them in terms of assets and incomes was a core of the causes for the Great Depression.

It is because being rich means making others poorer. It is because the richer you become the more you try to protect your wealth by sacrificing others and even the whole economy. It is because the poorer you become the less you can buy.

Consequently, if a big recession starts, the rich will not try to prevent it from getting into a real economic crash by sacrificing the value of stocks and bonds they must, ideally speaking, continue to possess, while the poor have no money to sustain the economy by purchasing goods.

Finally, businesses without any hope of the sale of their goods and services will start to keep their own value at least by getting their balance sheets back into shape thorough paying back debts regardless of a prospect of selling itself.

That is why American businesses in 1929 and 1930’s avoided borrowing money from banks even at near-zero interest rates just like Japanese companies did during and after the burst of the economic bubble in 1990’s.

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

That is all for today.

A Japanese Prime Minister changes so often.

But, it is good for the media, since its role will become all the more important.

A minority person or a female politician will be elected as U.S. President sooner or later.

But, it is good for the media, since its role will become all the more important.

Nonetheless, the word of God never changes.

The love of Jesus Christ never changes.

EEE Reporter never changes.

And, the sun will rise again just like the first morning for mankind.

Have a nice weekend!

Choose a nice dog if to walk with.



(Since Mr. Koizumi performed well in the house of the late Mr. Elvis Presley, President Mr. Bush followed suit in the public before cameras. Did you realize it, honey?

http://www.menziesera.com/midi/cruel.mid

Source: http://www.menziesera.com/media/music_jukebox.htm)




Mat 9:26 And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.

Alarming Data Invoking New Great Depression

(North Edge of Tokyo Metropolitan Area Observed from Miles Far)


Alarming Data Invoking New Great Depression


If you can stop the possible occurrence of another Great Depression, you can deserve the title “Hero of the 21st Century.”

But, it seems to be necessary to start this great contribution by making the top 0.1 percent in the economically stratified American society repent so much as to cry before the Christ.

That is why I am writing this way even if you are loved by the top 0.1 percent or the bottom 0.1 percent.

May you try to be loved by the God!



SECTION I: Great Depression to Pearl Harbor Attack

It is well known that 80 years ago a great economic catastrophe was set off in Wall Street, New York, hitting the whole American economy on a scale never observed.

This Great Depression led to strong adherence of the Empire of Japan to the Chinese market relying on its military capability and superiority, which in turn provoked some American elites into taking a hard measure against the Empire.

Consequently, 12 years after the debacle in Wall Street in 1929, the U.S. Government virtually forced the Empire of Japan to attack the Pearl Harbor naval bases by implementing an oil embargo and freezing Japan’s assets in the U.S. while requesting all-out withdrawal of the Imperial Army from mainland China, so that the U.S. could join the war in Europe against Nazi Germany, as the Empire of Japan had mistakenly allied itself with Germany.

So, it is important to review the Great Depression that started in 1929, in order to keep peace in the world, especially in the Era of the War on Terror.


SECTION II: Main Causes of the Great Depression

People were enjoying new products in 1920’s: cars and radios.

However, cars and radios are not the main causes of the Great Depression, but the glitter of new products based on new technologies really made people blind against an approaching crisis and the ever expanding gap between the poor and the rich in the U.S. society after WWI.

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Main Causes of the Great Depression

Paul Alexander Gusmorino 3rd : May 13, 1996

The Great Depression was the worst economic slump ever in U.S. history, and one which spread to virtually all of the industrialized world. The depression began in late 1929 and lasted for about a decade. Many factors played a role in bringing about the depression; however, the main cause for the Great Depression was the combination of the greatly unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920's, and the extensive stock market speculation that took place during the latter part that same decade…

According to a study done by the Brookings Institute, in 1929 the top 0.1% of Americans had a combined income equal to the bottom 42%. That same top 0.1% of Americans in 1929 controlled 34% of all savings, while 80% of Americans had no savings at all…

The large and growing disparity of wealth between the well-to-do and the middle-income citizens made the U.S. economy unstable. For an economy to function properly, total demand must equal total supply. In an economy with such disparate distribution of income it is not assured that demand will always equal supply. Essentially what happened in the 1920's was that there was an oversupply of goods. It was not that the surplus products of industrialized society were not wanted, but rather that those whose needs were not satiated could not afford more, whereas the wealthy were satiated by spending only a small portion of their income. A 1932 article in Current History articulates the problems of this maldistribution of wealth:…

The U.S. economy was also reliant upon luxury spending and investment from the rich to stay afloat during the 1920's. The significant problem with this reliance was that luxury spending and investment were based on the wealthy's confidence in the U.S. economy. If conditions were to take a downturn (as they did with the market crashed in fall and winter 1929), this spending and investment would slow to a halt…

The speculative boom in the stock market was based upon confidence. In the same way, the huge market crashes of 1929 were based on fear…

The market crashes undermined this confidence. The rich stopped spending on luxury items, and slowed investments. The middle-class and poor stopped buying things with installment credit for fear of loosing their jobs, and not being able to pay the interest. As a result industrial production fell by more than 9% between the market crashes in October and December 192948. As a result jobs were lost, and soon people starting defaulting on their interest payment. Radios and cars bought with installment credit had to be returned. All of the sudden warehouses were piling up with inventory. The thriving industries that had been connected with the automobile and radio industries started falling apart. Without a car people did not need fuel or tires; without a radio people had less need for electricity…

http://www.gusmorino.com/pag3/greatdepression/
------------------------------------------------------------

Put simply, if the whole American wealth had been shared equally by all the citizens like distribution of cars and radios in 1929, there would have been no Great Depression that in fact led to WWII where tens of millions of people were killed all over the world, including those victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945.


SECTION III: DATA ALARMING

In a long-term scope, the present age is getting closer to the danger of entering another Great Depression era.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Revised October 13, 2006
NEW DATA SHOW EXTRAORDINARY JUMP IN INCOME CONCENTRATION IN 2004
By Aviva Aron-Dine and Isaac Shapiro

…
- The top one percent of households (those with annual incomes above about $315,000 in 2004) garnered 53 percent of the income gains in 2004.
(Click to enlarge.)

…
- The share of total U.S. income that the top one percent of households received in 2004 was greater than the share it received in any prior year since 1929, except for 1999 and 2000.

Income gains were even more pronounced among those with the very highest incomes. The incomes of the top one-tenth of one percent of households grew more rapidly than the incomes of the top one percent of households. The share of the national income received by the top one tenth of one percent of households increased by 1.6 percentage points from 2003 to 2004; in other words, more than half of the increased share of income going to the top one percent of households actually went to the top one-tenth of one percent of households. (See Table 1.)

http://www.cbpp.org/7-10-06inc.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------------

The above figure is really alarming, since the share of total pre-tax income held by highest income one percent is now coming back to the level of 1929.



SECTION IV: OTHER DATA ALARMING

Related data since 1960 also show an alarming trend.

The focus is always placed on the top one percent or 0.1 percent in the hierarchy of accumulation of Mammon in this world.

We should not blame any super-rich men. But, as businesses are the major player in the U.S. economy and the largest machine to produce and harvest wealth in the society, we cannot neglect a trend of an increase in wealth American CEOs are accumulating.


The above figures are found in the following site:

--------------------------------------------------------------
Wealth, Income, and Power
by G. William Domhoff
September 2005 (updated December 2006)

This document presents details on the wealth and income distributions in the United States, and explains how we use these two distributions as power indicators.

Some of the information might be a surprise to many people. The most amazing numbers come last, showing the change in the ratio of the average CEO's paycheck to that of the average factory worker over the past 40 years…

It's even more revealing to compare the actual rates of increase of the salaries of CEOs and ordinary workers; from 1990 to 2005, CEOs' pay increased almost 300% (adjusted for inflation), while production workers gained a scant 4.3%. The purchasing power of the federal minimum wage actually declined by 9.3%, when inflation is taken into account. These startling results are illustrated in Figure 7….

The claims made in the previous paragraph need much further investigation. But they demonstrate the ideas and research directions that are suggested by looking at the wealth and income distributions as indicators of power.

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
--------------------------------------------------------------

Now we have plenty of data, figures, and graphs suggesting coming danger.

Honestly speaking, it is the wealthiest 0.1 percent of citizens that have the most influence on the situation posing just between the great recession and the sustained business.

If the wealthiest 0.1 percent of citizens lose confidence in market or the whole economy and think to sell stocks and bonds or pull out their investment to protect their own assets, their actions can trigger a great debacle in the financial market.

The U.S. Government must order them to hold stocks and bonds and continue investment if the situation worsens, since it is one of the most effective and simplest way to prevent it from further getting worsened and eventually entering a critical course to another Great Depression.

In other word, stop the wealthiest 0.1 percent from behaving like a terrorist.

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

That is all for today.

Respect old people who have still a memory of life after the Great Depression that erupted in 1929 from Wall Street, New York.

And, remember if you want to be richer today, while the data are showing such alarming signals, you are really accelerating the coming of another Great Depression.

If you have a car and a radio, be content with them.




(Oh, the summer has really gone. Yesterday it snowed in the Hokkaido Island, Japan. Yet, I know you love the summer song if you are in black or white…

http://www.fukuchan.ac/music/j-folk2/shiroisangosyo.html )



Mar 9:17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;

.....

Mar 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Mar 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

NATIONAL ASSETS AS OF 2000 OR 1960'S

(Tokyo)


NATIONAL ASSETS AS OF 2000 OR 1960'S



Without Mr. Sadaharu Oh, Japan could not have achieved such great economic success after WWII or specifically in 1960’s and 1970’s.

Without George Herman "Babe" Ruth, the Great Depression that started in 1929 must have been more painful to American citizens.

Indeed, without EEE Reporter this era might be felt unbearable to some pious viewers all over the world the number of whom might not be so small, since the key word input with "Japanese Trillion Dollar Reporter" in Google Search has returned “EEE Reporter” at the top of its reporting page.


SECTION I: HOME-RUN KING

Mr. Sadaharu Oh announced his planned resignation as manager of a Japan’s professional baseball team.

At the end of this season, he will put an end to his 50-year career in this professional sport business.

It is Mr. Oh who first adopted the flamingo-style batting various variations of which are now commonly observed in the Major League Baseball and the Japanese Professional Baseball.

-----------------------------------------------
Sadaharu Oh retired in 1980 at age 40, having amassed 2,786 hits (third after Isao Harimoto (Jang Hoon) and Katsuya Nomura), 2,170 RBIs, a lifetime batting average of .301, and 868 home runs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadaharu_Oh
-----------------------------------------------

However, Mr. Oh’s father is Chinese, though his mother is Japanese.

That may be why Mr. Oh never tried to compete with the pure Japanese baseball super-star Mr. Shigeo Nagashima, four years older than Mr. Oh, in terms of popularity, even today.

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

In addition, the key to the great batting performance of Mr. Sadaharu Oh is his great practice using a Japanese sword as I once wrote in the EEE Reporter blog.


SECTION II: NATIONAL WEALTH

According to a report in 2005, the national wealth of Japan and the U.S. as of 2000 is estimated as follows, respectively:

JAPAN: $34.5 trillion
USA: $39.5 trillion

Here the national assets consist of non financial assets, consumers’ durable, and net external financial assets.

(http://www.kojin.org/EcoSta/ecosta12_j.html )

Before the September 11, 2001, the War on Terror, the War in Iraq, and the subprime loan crisis, the total national assets of the U.S. excluding domestic financial assets were estimated to 39.5 trillion dollars while Japan’s were 34.5 trillion dollars.

Indeed, Japanese people had been working almost twice harder than average Americans in 1990’s, though U.S. population was then 2.5 times larger than Japan’s. That is why Japan had real national wealth that were equal to 88% of the U.S. national wealth.

Then, something strange happened since September 11, 2001.

Americans started to create false wealth in Wall Street like a mad man.

The U.S. Government also started to print dollar bills like a mad man.

And, the Mafia-like businessmen started to sell subprime loan embedded securities like a mad man.

Consequently, in September 2008, the U.S. has to face a money-market crisis of a scale of one to two trillion dollars.

Yet, as Americans do not look like working as hard as Japanese and other peoples in the world since 2000, America’s national wealth today should not be different from the level in 2000.

As Japanese do look like working as hard as in 2000, Japan’s national wealth today should not be different from the level in 2000.

But, a disparity in financial assets between the two countries looks like one to three, since the total volume in the New York Stock Exchange is $22 trillion (2008) and that in the Tokyo Stock Exchange is $7 trillion (2007).

In other word, the U.S. financial sector has performed almost four times more actively than Japan’s.

But how can they perform it? With what means have they done it?

It is the subprime loan business!!

Therefore, any statistics or figures on financial assets or money beyond the level of 2000 must be a sign of abnormal activities, huge financial frauds, criminal behaviors, and anti-Christ worship of Mammon.

Americans must decisively apply control, regulation, and suppression onto Wall Street.

They have to do so, since the national assets of the U.S. must be just $39.5 trillion or so and Japan’s is $34.5 trillion or so in terms of net worth produced by hard working people in each country.


SECTION III: THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Let’s check two figures that tell the state of the past Great Depression.


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

As you see, for two years after the debacle of the NYSE, the real industrial output in the U.S. continued to fall to half of the level of 1929, hitting the bottom in 1932.

To recover the level of 1929, the real economy took seven years till 1936, though other influences on wider aspects of U.S. economy and the American society persisted even after the end of WWII.

This is the issue Mr. John McCain or Mr. Barack Obama should tackle.

And, it is one of the issues EEE Reporter is trying to address, since he cannot stop feeling a shadow of Armageddon in it.

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

Now, TV live broadcasting from the Lower House of the Japan’s Diet has shown that Mr. Taro Aso, president of the Liberal Democratic Party, is appointed to the new Japanese Prime Minister.

He will soon fly to New York to deliver an address at the United Nations’ general meeting.

However, I wonder why a man cannot become a home-run king and a prime minister at the same time or in one life on the earth.

Indeed, you cannot serve at the same time both hard working citizens and Mafia-like workers in Wall Street, especially if you are President of the U.S. or Prime Minister of Japan.



(In 1962, Mr. Sadaharu Oh started to mass produce home-runs in the flamingo style. The same year a Japanese song started to appeal to a vast majority of American citizens. Have you ever heard it, if not in French?

http://www.menziesera.com/midi/sukiyaki.mid

Source: http://www.menziesera.com/singalong/sukiyaki.htm)


Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

Dan 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

Dan 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

PREDICTIONS AND ACTIONS

(The Diet Building in Beige, Tokyo)


PREDICTIONS AND ACTIONS


In 1990’s, Japan experienced a real-estate market crisis as its total real-estate value reached $20 trillion (2000 trillion yen) including all its territory.

( http://www.news.janjan.jp/government/0606/0606035429/2.php)

Compared with it, the present U.S. crisis can be more reasonably quenched down.

That is why American elite must listen to EEE Reporter and Japanese non-nonsense pundits as well as news reporters in addition to CEOs of Japanese banks and stock companies.



SECTION I: JAPAN'S REGIME CHANGE EXPECTED

American experts anticipate that Japan is going to lose political stability, according to a late-night TV news report in Japan.

(These American experts must be obtaining information on Japan from the EEE Reporter blog, directly or indirectly.)

It is because Japan’s new Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso of LDP to be elected tomorrow is expected to hold a snap election within a month.

It is because his popularity is expected to be kept high only for a month after his inauguration, and every national lawmaker of the ruling parties, the LDP (with 303 seats among total 480 Lower House seats) and the New Komeito Party (31 among 480), apparently wants to save his or her own seat through the early general election, no matter how the ruling parties as a whole will lose their seats, since nowadays the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (114 among 480) is gaining more support unlike the past due to the economic downturn and the widening economic gap in the society.

So, even though the LDP and the New Komeito Party can stay in power after the coming snap election, the gap in the number of seats in the Diet is expected to become smaller between the ruling parties and the opposition parties.

Inevitably, it is forecast that this instability will paralyze the Japanese Government as the Upper House of the Diet has been under control of the Opposition since last summer; accordingly, another snap general election will be requested by the general public who clearly demand the regime change this time so that the Democratic Party of Japan will come into power.

The key driving factor for this change is the denial of following the American way of money business and the American way of respecting the rich and the super-rich.

A majority of the Japanese people have come to think that the LDP has too much absorbed the American way of respecting money and rich people, and has widened the gap too much between the rich and the poor in the Japanese society.

After all, the gravest fact may be that the Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is unable to understand that it is the time to stop respecting Wall Street, in order to make Japan richer and greater.

If the LDP cannot understand the need for this paradigm change, it will lose power sooner or later, even if this conservative party narrowly wins the coming general election.

The right decision for the LDP must be to change their paradigm and stop respecting Wall Street and then hold a general election.

It is so, since the LDP might take a tumble from power in the coming snap election with a chance of 50% or more.

In that case, power in Japan will shift from the very pro-U.S. LDP to the moderately pro-U.S. Democratic Party of Japan.



SECTION II: JAPAN TO RESCUE WALL STREET

Japanese financial institutions are now busy trying to help, rescue, and take part in management of U.S. companies in the same trade:

---------------------------------------------
Nomura gets Lehman's Asia business
Clients query transfer of funds between European and U.S. arms
By Simon Kennedy, MarketWatch
Last update: 11:03 a.m. EDT Sept. 22, 2008

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Japan's Nomura Holdings said Monday it's agreed to take over the Asia Pacific operations of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers and will offer jobs to all of the group's 3,000 workers in the region.

Nomura (NMR: 13.05, +0.05, +0.4%) (JP:8604: news, chart, profile) didn't give a price for the deal, but a person familiar with the transaction said earlier that it would pay $225 million for the business.

The Japanese firm said Lehman ( LEHMQ 0.19, -0.03, -14.0%) has been a strong player in the region in investment banking services, including mergers and acquisitions, execution services and prime brokerage transactions…


http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/nomura-gets-lehmans-asia-business/story.aspx?guid={DC08792B-7E98-4AB5-B3B9-CD70B296638A}&dist=TNMKTW

Mitsubishi UFJ to buy up to 20% of Morgan Stanley
By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
Last update: 9:58 a.m. EDT Sept. 22, 2008

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said Monday it has signed a non-binding letter of intent to buy between 10% and 20% of U.S. financial giant Morgan Stanley.

Mitsubishi UFJ (JP:8306: news, chart, profile) ( MTU, , ) , Japan's largest bank, said its total purchase would depend on the book value of the shares, as determined after conducting due diligence.

A subsequent press release by Morgan Stanley (MS: 27.09, -0.12, -0.4%) , however, said the letter of intent had the investment set to "eventually reach" the 20% level.

In its third-quarter earnings released last week, Morgan Stanley said its book value ran at $31.25 a share. This compares with its trading value, as of Friday's close, of $27.21.

A Dow Jones Newswire report said the Japanese megabank's investment would not be more than 900 billion yen ($8.4 billion).

Mitsubishi UFJ said that as part of the deal, it "would have the right to appoint at least one director to the board of Morgan Stanley."

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/mitsubishi-ufj-buy-up-20/story.aspx?guid={72D4C250-B658-4E87-A0C0-EBE26CBD39FE}

---------------------------------------------

Japan always helps the United States.

Japan has purchased U.S. treasury bonds as many as possible to help the U.S. Government in these decades.

But, this kind of facts has never been made public to the American society by the American power elite who always hinder American citizens from thanking, respecting, and loving Japan, for a special reason probably linked with a racial issue within the U.S. society.



SECTION III: NO GREAT DEPRESSION EXPECTED

Early this year, some American expert studied if another Great Depression would occur due to the subprime loan crisis.

--------------------------------------------------------
You see, Reinhart and Rogoff draw parallels between the current U.S. financial woes and five previous financial crises. All five of these were “associated with major declines in economic performance over an extended period:”
- Japan (1992)
- Spain (1977)
- Norway (1987)
- Finland (1991)
- Sweden (1991)

Of course, none of these are identical to the present 2008 USA, economically, culturally, or politically. However, when one takes a closer look, some of the major parallels are a cause for concern.

The Chronicle of Higher Education did just that. In reviewing the Reinhart and Rogoff paper, they focused on the parallels to the Japan crisis.

Like Japan et al., the United States has seen:
A steep rise in housing prices during the four years preceding the crisis. (The U.S. rise was more than twice as large as the average of the other five.)
A steep rise in equity prices. (Again, the U.S. rise was larger.)
A large increase in its current account deficit.
A decline in per-capita growth in gross domestic product. (In this case, the U.S. situation doesn’t appear as bad as in the five predecessors.)
An increase in public debt. (Here again, the U.S. situation isn’t as bad as in the historical examples – but Reinhart and Rogoff add that “if one were to incorporate the huge buildup in private U.S. debt into these measures, the comparisons would be notably less favorable.”)

The authors' conclusion:
“Given the severity of most crisis indicators in the run-up to its 2007 financial crisis, the United States should consider itself quite fortunate if its downturn ends up being a relatively short and mild one.”

(Click to enlarge.)

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/02/5-historical-ec.html?pagewanted=all

--------------------------------------------------------

The higher you fall from, the harder you hit the ground and the more you will be injured.

The above study was performed before this turmoil in Wall Street involving Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

However, parties concerned now all seem to comprehend that it is dangerous to rely on the principle of the free market under the current situation.

What they need is control, regulation, and suppression to be applied to Wall Street.

If control, regulation, and suppression become the norm in Wall Street and the crude oil market, another Great Depression can be avoided.

But, most importantly, the U.S. Government must always consult Japan for any financial or monetary issue of such a scale as one or two trillion dollars as Japan is the greatest stake holder for the U.S., in order to avoid another Great Depression.

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

That is all for today.

News reporters in Tokyo are busy nowadays to follow the change in power.

Formation of a new cabinet is expected tomorrow.

But, depending on near future situations, the new cabinet and the new Prime Minister will have a very short term of office, say, a month or so.




(There was a Japanese news reporter in the headquarters of LDP looking like Sherry, a Spanish wine:
http://www.fukuchan.ac/music/oldies/sherry.html )


Dan 9:20 And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;

Dan 9:21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.

Dan 9:22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.

Dan 9:23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.




　

UNCHAINED FLOW OF WATER

UNCHAINED FLOW OF WATER




Yesterday, it was rain around Tokyo and thus not hot at all.

In this morning's newspaper issued in Japan, a Japanese scientist is claiming that there is a reasonable concern that the earth has entered a cooling course instead of intensification of warming.

Anyway, it was the last day for the campaign for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party; today the new president of a Japan’s ruling party will be elected who is promised to be selected as the next Japan’s Prime Minister.

Indeed, at around a railroad station near my residence, the five candidates came to appeal to the general public yesterday.

But, I did not go to hear them, though one of the candidates is the first female candidate for the LDP in its history, since nothing is personal at all.

I, instead, went to a museum after dropping at a postal office, though it was Sunday yesterday.


SECTION I: THREE RIVERS

Suppose there are three rivers flowing from the north to the south.

A river flowing on the west side is small but it is used for irrigation of vast rice fields.

A river flowing in the middle is not so small.

The last river on the east side is a big river.

In this topology, people once, namely 250 years ago in Japan, thought that water should be supplied from the east river to the west river in order to increase a volume of water for the irrigation and thus get a better harvest of rice.

But, whatever scheme they might take, the central river must have been crossed by a canal that was to connect the east one to the west one.

The point at issue was a flood.

If the new canal and the central river had been merged at a certain cross, a big and disastrous flood could have happened at the junction when a big rain fell in this region overflowing both the central river and the eastern river.

So, it must have been a kind of overhead crossing.

But, actually, people dug two deep holes on both the side of the junction and connect them through an underground tunnel as part of the new canal.

In this way, rice fields in the downstream of the small, western river were sufficiently irrigated with water increased through the new canal carrying plenty of water from the big, eastern river.

In addition there was no influence on the central river in terms of traffic and transportation.

This is what I learnt yesterday at the museum from a volunteer guide who looked like a retired man.



SECTION II: STONE BRIDGES IN EUROPE

There is an old and big stone bridge in Regensburg, Germany.

--------------------------------------------------------
From the early 6th century, Regensburg was the seat of the Agilolfa ruling family, and in AD 843, Regensburg was the seat of the Eastern Frankish ruler, Louis II the German. From about 530 to the first half of the 13th century, it was the capital of Bavaria. In 1135-1146 a bridge across the Danube, the Steinerne Brücke, was built. This stone bridge opened major international trade routes between Northern Europe and Venice, and this started Regensburg's golden age as a city of wealthy trading families. Regensburg became the cultural center of southern Germany and was celebrated for its gold work and fabrics.

http://www.answers.com/topic/regensburg
--------------------------------------------------------

But, it was not original engineering skills and technologies of medieval Germans that made possible the construction of this big and still useful stone bridge.

It was not even the engineering skills and technologies inherited from the Roman Empire.

They were the engineering skills and technologies imported from the Islamic world.

This is one example of the discontinuity in the European history and also the great influence of the Islamic world on the medieval culture of Europe.

Put simply, the medieval Europe was culturally behind the Islamic world without comparison with East Asia.

That is why we have to be cautions in praising the financial philosophy originated by Anglo-Saxons who were, indeed, rather a minor part of the medieval Europe.

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

That is all for today, since this is Monday.

To make doubly sure, I have no right of voting for the LDP presidency.

Yet, as it is a public holiday tomorrow in Japan, the new Prime Minister will be elected in the Diet this Wednesday.

Indeed we have to elect a national leader who can build a canal and a bridge so smartly and scientifically even in Japan and the U.S.

That is why I think decent and smart female candidates should be respected even in Japan and the U.S.




Gen 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

Gen 9:23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

Gen 9:24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

Gen 9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

Gen 9:26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Gen 9:27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Gen 9:28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

A BAPTISM OF HISTORY

(What difference a moment or a week has made!)


A BAPTISM OF HISTORY



Yesterday Japan won against Syria in a succor match held in a city north of Damascus.

It was a club-team matching for the Asian championship. The Japanese team based in Osaka City lost one goal in the first half, but fought back to get two in the last half.

As Damascus is so important for Christianity, I could not leave the international live TV broadcast to Japan.

Then I watched a late night news program to confirm that Mr. Obama got 48 points and Mr. McCain 44.

This morning, a big typhoon has gone out of the Tokyo region. After a cloudy week, the blue sky has come back, though, with many wandering white clouds as if marooned in the autumn air.


SECTION I: European Castles

Since the Western Roman Empire fell in the 5th century, no massive stone castles were built in Western Europe until the 10th century or 11th century.

Of course, even during the era of the Roman supremacy in Western Europe, no massive stone castles had been built there.

There were no massive stone buildings, fortresses, and walls in London, Berlin, and Paris at all until the 10th or 11th century.

This is one of the most significant aspects of the discontinuity in the European history while ancient Rome was full of massive stone buildings and networks of paved roads and aqueducts if not Pyramids.



SECTION II: "Cement"

Technological expertise of the Roman Empire can be found in its use of “cement” in building a huge structure such as the Colosseum.

However when the Roman Empire fell, this technology vanished; no Western Europeans started to use this technology until the Modern Age began thousand years later.

It tells that engineering and other technological traditions were not inherited seamlessly from ancient Romans to Europeans in the Middle Ages.

It also tells that there was truly huge discontinuity of civilization from the era of the Roman Empire to the era of France, Britain, and Germany.



SECTION III: Roman Military

It is the military that kept and maintained technological traditions of the Roman Empire.

Indeed, the Roman Empire was mainly based on its superior military capability. And the capability means of course technology. There were a variety of types of war machine even in those days. But, they must be protected and preserved within the Roman legions, if not so confidential, so that no other tribes would obtain them to use against the Empire.

In later days of the Empire, they came to hire more and more foreign soldiers. But, in my view, there was no technological transfer from Roman soldiers to those mercenaries, especially, who belonged to tribes living in north of the Alps.

If war technology, including cement as a material to build a strong fortress, had been in the hands of North Europeans, the Roman Empire would have faced the fatal crisis more earlier without waiting for violent intrusion by half-Asian tribes coming from the east with overwhelming horse power and related war techniques.

The military was a core of the organization of the Roman Empire and the key means to secure the abundant transfer of foods and wealth from colonies and foreign regions to Rome.

Therefore, the key factor, namely various technologies, to the supremacy of their military must have been kept and maintained only among Roman troops, though the Empire used many hired soldiers from different ethnic groups.

Inevitably, when the Roman Empire fell and Roman troops collapsed, their technological traditions were lost.

Roma officers who were carrying the technological traditions of the Empire could not find their successors any more, since even Roman soldiers ran to, and hid in, local villages during the rest of their lives or decided not to go back to Rome at all but stay in north of the Alps when the whole military organization crumbled away.

Truly, when the Roman Empire fell and Roman troops collapsed, their technological traditions were lost.

It took 500 to 1,000 years for Europeans to develop their civilization to the level of the Roman Empire’s, though, through many imports from Islamic regions and the East Asia as far as China.


SECTION IV: FALL OF WALL STREET

Then what will happen when the U.S. collapses like the Roman Empire?

Or, will the U.S. collapses like the Roman Empire at all in future?

But, it may be more realistic to think about what will happen after the future fall of Wall Street or at least the future fall of the Mafia-like forces in Wall Street.


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

Another key factor to the prolonged glorious era of the Western Roman Empire is the glitter of civilization.

The city Rome looked like a great capital of whole human races on the shining hills, so observed even from Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Greece, and regions of north of the Alps.

It is because Rome was materially rich with foods and goods sent from many of its colonies and tributary nations, physically massive with advanced engineering, militarily strong and excellent being supported by war technology, and culturally acting like the sole successor of the Greek Civilization.

So, it is a great honor to be a Roman citizen.

This sense of honor and privilege of being a Roman citizen mesmerized many tribes living in peripheral borders and foreign regions.

The similar thing is observed in the U.S. today.

The sense of honor and privilege of being a U.S. citizen seems to mesmerize many people globally.

How to keep and secure this sense among themselves as well as world citizens, if Wall Street should go to smash, must be one of the greatest challenges for the next U.S. Administration to be led by Mr. John McCain or Mr. Barack Obama, in my humble view.

Yet, being a Japanese is also a privileged status just like being an Israelite, in my humble view, in the history of mankind, isn't it, very personally?



Joh 9:20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:

Joh 9:21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.

Joh 9:22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

Joh 9:23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.

Joh 9:24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.

Joh 9:25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

GOOD vs. EVIL (on WALL STREET)

GOOD vs. EVIL (on WALL STREET)


There are two ways for a man to come to revere the God.

One is through reason. Another is through ethics.

In other words, you can prove the existence of God based on the pursuit of scientific truth; you can also prove the existence of God based on the pursuit of good and evil.

Put drastically, when you find an undeniable shadow of the Creator of the universe in your pursuit of scientific truth, you cannot help but accept the existence of the God as the sole creator of the whole universe.

Put drastically, when you find an undeniable shadow of the Governor of the human mind and soul in your pursuit of good and evil, you cannot help but accept the existence of the God as the sole lord of the whole human spiritual world.

Both physically and spiritually, you can find the God.

But, at this point, the most significant problem appears: insurgency against the God.

To our astonishment, mankind, namely a God’s creature, is given ability or a function to revolt against the God.

In this insurgency against the God, a man can even say, “I do not admit the existence of the God.”

Of course, it is made possible, since the God created the Devil who helps living and survival of people who opt to be an enemy of the God.

Therefore, one of the most important questions for mankind is as to why the God created the Devil whose sole mission is insurgency against the God.

Yet, before this discussion, we have to check monotheism and dualism.

If the God is above all, the Devil is under the God.

If good and evil is regarded as essentially equal, it might be conceived that the both are on the same level if not putting the Devil upon the God. Though this thinking is theoretically possible, mankind has proved that its survival is only secured when admitting the supremacy of the God over the all including the Devil.


However, outside the world of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, people have been living traditionally in the following spiritual world:


However, apart from recognition of or belief in the supremacy of the God, a man can still revolt against the God.

It is because mankind accepts the following false order:


In this respect, what is revolutionary for Jesus Christ in the human history is that he clearly declared that the true order is the poverty is above richness.

"God loves the poor but not the rich," said Jesus Christ.

"Happy people do not need God," said Jesus Christ.

But, those Mafia-like workers in Wall Street seem to adopt the following spiritual order.


Whatever belongs to or is linked with justice, such as love to neighbors, the poor, the weak, and losers, is regarded as something at the lower level of the value order by them.

More or less, of course, even ordinary people behave based on the above false order as occasion demands.

Yet, Jesus Christ’s doctrine and injunctions are absolute. He never admits exception.

In whatever situation you are, you must not adopt the above false order; this is the core of his teachings.

That is why Japanese people traditionally by intuition find it impossible to be a Christian.

If you cannot be a Christian, you should not pretend to be a Christian; so honestly Japanese people distance themselves from Christianity.

Indeed, Japan had culturally and spiritually fully developed when it encountered Christianity in the 16th century.

This can be applied to China and India.

That is why Japan, China, and India are expected to take major part in the 21st century when no followers of the teachings of God, such as Judaists, Christians, and Muslims, cannot stop the way of life, namely virtually accepting the above false order while calling themselves monotheists.

Yet, the God might give a great role to poor Christians, poor Muslims, and poor Judaists as He wishes in this century.

Anyway, truth must be so simple that people without education can easily grasp it.

And, people with higher education and advanced experiences must grasp it obediently.

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

That is all for today, since this is Friday.

It is a miracle that only three types of elementary particles, electrons, neutrons, and protons, virtually make our whole body and any other materials around us, in addition to light or photons (which are mostly absorbed and emitted by an electron).

Take three types of round marbles and try to make a man of them, no matter how many of each type you have to use.

If you are a God, you must be able to do it.

If you cannot, you are proven not to be a God at all.

Yet, if a miracle can happen around you to promote your faith in God, you are blessed.

I think the recent Wall Street turmoil is a kind of miracle I expected, since before September 11, 2001 there was no such a huge amount of money on Wall Street to your astonishment.

Indeed, the Devil must have found a great chance in the American mind set since September 11, 2001.

We have to continue our efforts to realize a change in the material value system and the spiritual order system here and there.



("The God never changes. My heart never changes." Have you ever been said to so?

http://www.fukuchan.ac/music/popular/unchained.html)



Mat 9:19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.

Mat 9:20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:

Mat 9:21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.

Mat 9:22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.