Tuesday, September 11, 2012

"and I received sight" - Portents

Tokyo Station...

Portents

On September 11, 2001, acts of terror fell in New York and around Washington DC, which changed the landscape of the US forever.

On March 11, 2011,  an act of God befell Japan, which changed the mind set of the Japanese people forever in terms of safety from a big tsunami and nuclear power plants.

The number 11 seems just coincidental.  But, if the God has intention to make people think of these tragic incidents together in a certain way, it is reasonable for Him to have set the dates of the two incidents with the number 11 as a key for connection.

Indeed just nine and a half years after the 9/11 Terror, the great M9.0 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean off Honsyu, the main island of Japan, being accompanied by 15-meter (45 foot) high tsunamis and the subsequent nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima Daiichi.

And between these two historic incidents, there happened the 2004 Great Indian Ocean Tsunami from an M9.1 earthquake that occurred off Sumatra in the Christmas season of 2004.  This Tsunami took more than 220,000 lives, while the 3/11 tsunami took on about 20,000 Japanese.

As the US Government failed in taking effective preventive measures against AlQaeda, terrorists could easily hijacked commercial jet planes in the US.  It was a human-generated calamity.

So, Japanese Government and parties concerned with the nuclear energy sector of Japan also failed in learning lessons from the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami as well as from the 9/11 Terror.  A natural disaster and a human-generated calamity together resulted in the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident of Japan.  Japanese Government and parties concerned with the nuclear energy sector of Japan should have fully examined their regime, regulations, and systems to manage risks on nuclear power plants and study a possibility of occurrence of a great tsunami in the scale of the Indian Ocean one as all of the Japanese nuclear power plants face the sea.

If Japanese lawmakers, experts, bureaucrats, and executives of utility companies had humbly checked their way of preventing a nuclear accident in Japan that could be triggered by a great natural disaster, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident should have been prevented.  In fact, the God gave two warnings to Japan with the 9/11 Terror in 2001 and the Indian Ocean tragedy in 2004.

And, in turn, if the world does not fully regard the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, other nuclear accidents might happen in South Korea, China, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Russia, Europe, North America, etc.

Pu simply, from a Japanese point of view, the 9/11 Terror in 2001 and the 2004 Indian Ocean natural calamity could portend the 3/11 accident in Fukushima Daiichi.  And, the 3/11 accident in Fukushima Daiichi of 2011 could be an advance notice for other future nuclear accident worse than Fukushima Daiichi.



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Joh 9:11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.

Monday, September 10, 2012

"the rising from the dead" - The Season of Election

Around the National Diet Bldg., Tokyo

The Season of Election

This summer was hot like last year.

But, politics in the US and Japan is also hot this year.

There is a kind of similar movement in politics between Japan and the US.

In 2008, Mr. Barack Obama was elected as US President, a revolutionary movement after the era of conservative Mr. W. Bush.  In 2009, a drastic regime change occurred in Japan from the conservative Cabinet mainly formed by the LDP to the liberal and socialistic Cabinet led by the DPJ.

As the US regime change in 2008 preceded the Japanese 2009 regime change, the Japanese politics was somewhat influenced by the great change in the American politics.

During the era of Mr. W. Bush, Japan had a very pro-American prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi. The two leaders shared the same capitalistic view to cooperate in the War on Terror.  And in these three years when liberal Mr. Obama has occupied the White House, the Prime Minister Office in Tokyo was commanded by three prime ministers from the liberal DPJ: Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, Mr. Kan, and Mr. Yoshihiko Noda.

Even during the era of Mr. Bill Clinton who was also liberal, most of the Japanese Cabinets that had power in 1990s were rather liberal, socialistic, and moderately pro-Chinese though the pro-American LDP was in charge of national governance in most of the period.

Now, in 2012, the US has to choose liberal Mr. Obama or conservative Mr. Romney as new president.  In Japan, the LDP is to hold its presidential election in this September; the DPJ also plans to call an election where the new head of the party is to be elected though incumbent Prime Minister Mr. Noda is one of the most hopeful candidates.  And, after the elections in both the major parties, it is expected that a general election is to be held at any time.

It is because Prime Minister Mr. Noda promised Mr. Tanigaki, the President of the LDP, to hold a snap election as Mr. Tanigaki wishes in exchange of help from Mr. Tanigaki and his LDP to pass a critical bill for PM Mr. Noda.  Noda has made it his big agenda to pass a bill to increase the rate of the consumption tax from 5% to 10% in a few years.

However, Mr. Tanigaki today announced that he would not run for the presidential election of the LDP.  On the other hand, Mr. Noda now faces three rivals in the election of his party.  So, the first stage in this election season in Japan has just started.

But, it is most likely that the general election in Japan will be held after the 2012 US Presidential Election.  Accordingly, who will be elected, Mr. Obama or Mr. Romney, as the next US President must have a deep influence on the minds of Japanese voters.

If Mr. Obama wins, the liberal DPJ, presently a major ruling party in Japan, might not lose so badly the coming general election for new members in the Lower House of the National Diet.    

If Mr. Romney wins, the capitalistic LDP, presently a major opposition party in Japan, might also win the coming general election for new members in the Lower House of the National Diet.       

(From surveys conducted by the Media, it is expected that the very pro-American LDP will take over power from the very pro-Chinese/Korean DPJ in the coming general election.  So, from the Japanese point of view, the Republican candidate Mr. Romney is expected to defeat the Democratic candidate Mr. Obama in the American Presidential Election.)

If the season changes to the fall, the atmosphere around the Japanese parliament will continue to be hot.
 



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Mar 9:9 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.
Mar 9:10 And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.
Mar 9:11 And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come?
Mar 9:12 And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought.
Mar 9:13 But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.

Saturday, September 08, 2012

"save Jesus only with themselves"- No More Wars

Tokyo Station...

No More Wars

It is 11 years since the 9/11 Terror on the World Trade Center in New York.

It is said that 3,000 people were killed on the day, Sept. 11, 2011.

And, the subsequent War on Iraq took lives of 5,000 soldiers on the US and its allies side, 1,000 of war subcontractors in the private sector on the US side, 9,000 Iraqi security soldiers (newly formed after the collapse of Hussein's regime) subject to the US, 5,000 Iraqi troops commanded by Saddam Hussein, 15,000 armed insurgents against the new Iraqi Government, and about 100,000 Iraqi civilians.

And also, in the subsequent War in Afghanistan, it is estimated that more than 5,000 soldiers and war subcontractors in the private sector on the US side were killed while more than 38,000 Taliban and AlQaeda fighters were killed.

The news about the 9/11 Terror spread all over the world on the day, Sept. 11, 2011.  People who were later killed in those wars must have heard of the news, too.  How many of them felt that they were facing coming danger?  It is very, very horrible.

Of course, if then US President George W. Bush had not decided to launch those wars, many of them should have been living even today.

It can be also said that if the Imperial Government had not decided to launch the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, the Empire of Japan should not have lost 1.7 million soldiers, the US should not have lost 350,000 soldiers, and the UK 86,000.

It really looks like that mankind has not learnt a lesson from past tragedies.

It is very difficult to stop every terrorist from starting an act of terror along with his plan.  But it is more difficult to prevent top leaders of a nation from deciding to go to war after suffering terror.

Even in the era of Christ Jesus, Israelites could not refrain from touching off the revolt against the Roman Empire, while they had been blessed and taught directly by Christ Jesus Himself.  In the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), it is estimated that 20,000 Roman soldiers were killed and 250,000 to 1 million Israelites lost lives.

As even Isrealites could not refrain from starting the war against Romans despite the great effort by Christ Jesus to educate them, it might be inevitable that today's leaders could not abandon the idea of going to war when they were put in such a situation as the 9/11 Terror.

Nonetheless, it is against the teaching of Christ Jesus to begin a war.


http://www.monacome.com/2008/09/911-september-11-2001-terrorist-attack.html


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Mar 9:8 And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.

Friday, September 07, 2012

"John was risen from the dead" - Effects of Obama

Around the Japanese Parliament Bldg., Tokyo

Effects of Obama

Obama was not a man who wanted to be rich by becoming a politician.

But, he could enjoy being rich as everybody while there are many poor people.  And, eventually he has become a rich man.

He is not a fellow poor man in Chicago any more.

But for Obama to be rich, he had to first help the poor to be trusted and elected by them.  So, it has become the secondary matter for Obama to save all the poor guys in Chicago.  He is too busy handling Wall Street, GM, new energy, China, etc. as a rich US President.  Besides, nobody blames him for incompleteness of his mission to completely save poor residents in Chicago.
What Does Obama Really Believe In? 
By PAUL TOUGH
Published: August 15, 2012
...
As Obama’s time on the South Side progressed, he grew preoccupied by the fate of Roseland’s young people, especially the teenage boys, who seemed increasingly directionless and hopeless. It was not just money they were lacking, he realized, but something deeper. As a boy, Obama spent several years in Indonesia, with a close-up view of third-world poverty, and in his memoir, Obama compared the lives of the children he saw in Altgeld Gardens with the lives of the children he saw as a boy growing up in the slums of Jakarta. In many ways, Obama wrote, the Indonesian slum-dwellers had it better. “For all that poverty, there remained in their lives a discernible order,” he explained. “The habits of a generation played out every day beneath the bargaining and the noise and the swirling dust. It was the absence of such coherence that made a place like Altgeld so desperate.” 
In the spring of 1987, Obama wrote, he began to feel that “something different was going on,” on the South Side. It was a subtle shift — “a change of atmosphere, like the electricity of an approaching storm” — but to Obama, that spring brought to Roseland the “sense, shared by adults and youth alike, that some, if not most, of our boys were slipping beyond rescue.”...

And so in 2009 and 2010, the Obama administration put a tremendous amount of money, very quickly, into the hands of low-income Americans. As part of the Recovery Act, the administration extended the eligibility rules for existing programs like food stamps and unemployment insurance, and the combination of the collapsing economy and the more generous rules meant the programs grew quickly. The number of individuals receiving food stamps rose to 45.1 million in 2011 from 27.4 million in 2007. From 2008 to 2010, an additional 6.8 million people, mostly children, began receiving Medicaid. Temporary changes in the eligibility criteria for various tax credits, including the earned-income tax credit and the child tax credit, produced tax refunds for millions of low-income workers, often totaling thousands of dollars a year....

In Roseland, the stimulus may not have made things much better, but it stopped them from getting much worse. Food stamps helped some families get enough to eat, teenagers got summer jobs, some tenants received help with their rent. A stimulus grant to the Chicago public schools helped pay for the YAP program, which let Steve Gates start working with children like Jasmine and Damien. But it was, by definition, a temporary fix.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/magazine/obama-poverty.html?pagewanted=all)
Obama must have learnt that all he had ever learnt and acquired was useless for his great mission to save all the poor in Chicago.  And as he had nothing other than what he had ever learnt and acquired, he had no means to completely eradicate poverty in Chicago.  So, he could excuse himself for his failure, since he had no means and tools effective for the great mission.

But, of course, Romney would not be interested in the great mission to completely overcome poverty in Chicago if Romney should be elected as President.

But, poor people in Chicago would understand that Obama did as much as he could for them.  Nobody would blame Obama for not becoming poor as much as they are.  

One great experiment might be going to end as the 2012 Presidential Election has started with Obama and Romney, two strangers for poor people in Chicago.


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Luk 9:7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him: and he was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John was risen from the dead;
Luk 9:8 And of some, that Elias had appeared; and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again.

Thursday, September 06, 2012

"power on earth to forgive sins" - Chiang Kaishek in 1927

Around the National Diet Bldg., Tokyo

Chiang Kaishek in 1927

Chiang Kaishek visited Japan in 1927 as he temporarily stepped down from the leading position of the Nationalist Party.

This visit to the Empire of Japan was, probably, the most decisive moment and chance to avoid the tragic war between the Empire and China that would be set off a decade later, though Chinag and Japanese counterparts failed to grasp it.
Chiang Kai-shek (1887 – 1975) was a political and military leader of 20th-century China... 
Chiang was an influential member of the Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang (KMT), and was a close ally of Sun Yat-sen. He became the Commandant of the Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy, and took Sun's place as leader of the KMT when Sun died in 1925. In 1926, Chiang led the Northern Expedition to unify the country, becoming China's nominal leader.[3] He served as Chairman of the National Military Council of the Nationalist government of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 to 1948. Chiang led China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which the Nationalist government's power severely weakened, but his prominence grew. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek

He stayed in Japan 40 days on this occasion, moving from a Japanese port city Kobe to Tokyo.

Chiang met some Japanese leaders in politics and business.  But the most important meeting was the one with Giichi Tanaka, the then prime minister of the Empire of Japan and a general of the Imperial Army.

Chiang asked Tanaka about his opinion about future of the relationship between the Empire of Japan and China.  But PM Tanaka did not answer the question; instead, he asked Chiang why he came to Japan.  Then, Chiang said that his aims were,

To request Tokyo not to tie up with rotten military cliques in China and Manchuria but to support the Nationalist Party,

To request Tokyo not to interfere with the military campaign of his party to conquer northern part of China and thus achieve unification of China in a revolutionary manner, and

To  request Tokyo to adopt a diplomatic policy toward China based on economic relationships but not on military concerns.

Hearing this answer, General Tanaka said to Chiang not to try to promote in haste the military campaign in northern China but concentrate Chiang's efforts in southern China.

So, Chiang argued against Tanaka, saying that the goal of the Chinese revolution was to unify China, so that the military operation in northern China should be carried out so quickly.  "And without unification of China, East Asia cannot be stable," said the Chinese young leader.

Chiang later commented that when he had used the expression of unification of China, Tanaka suddenly blanched his face (to hide some emotion inside).  So,  Chiang Kaishek understood that Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka had no intention to cooperate with Chinag and the National Party.  The Empire of Japan must have come to take Manchuria or northern part of China, so Chiang felt.

Eventually ten years later in 1937,  Chiang Kaishek started to attack the Imperial troops stationed in North China and Shanghai, though the Empire of Japan had already established its protected nation in Manchuria which was called Manchukuo.  These battles that started in 1937 continued till the end of WWII in 1945 through the Pearl Harbor attack.

But, if Japanese PM Giichi Tanaka and other leaders had had more compassion for the rising Chinese leader Chiang in 1927, many tragic incidents must have been avoided in Asia through the Second Japanese-Sino War and the Pacific theater of WWII.

Chiang Kaishek
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek

Giichi Tanaka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanaka_Giichi

It is also notable that Chiang Kaishek was educated in the Empire of Japan:

Chiang grew up in a time period in which military defeats and civil wars among warlords had left China destabilized and in debt, and he decided to pursue a military career. He began his military education at the Baoding Military Academy, in 1906. He then left for the Tokyo Shinbu Gakko, an Imperial Japanese Army Academy Preparatory School for Chinese students, in 1907. There he was influenced by his compatriots to support the revolutionary movement to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and to set up a Chinese republic. He befriended fellow Zhejiang native Chen Qimei, and, in 1908, Chen brought Chiang into the Tongmenghui, a precursor of the Kuomintang (KMT) organization. Chiang served in the Imperial Japanese Army from 1909 to 1911.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek



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Mat 9:6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

"Peter answered and said to Jesus" - A Holy Baptism

A Tokyo Subway Station...


A Holy Baptism


One of enigmas about Christ Jesus' life is that he received baptism from a man.
The baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his public ministry. This event is recorded in the Canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. In John 1:29-33, rather than a direct narrative, John the Baptist bears witness to the episode. 
In the New Testament, John the Baptist preached a "baptism with water", not of forgiveness but of penance or repentance for the remission of sins (Luke 3:3), and declared himself a forerunner to one who would baptize 'with the Holy Spirit and with fire' (Luke 3:16). In so doing he was preparing the way for Jesus.[4] Jesus came to the Jordan River where he was baptized by John.The baptismal scene includes the Heavens opening, a dove-like descent of the Holy Spirit, and a voice from Heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased."

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

There are many arguments as to why He had to receive baptism while Christ Jesus never committed a sin.  Will God be christened by a man?

But, it was like children's play for Christ.   John the Baptist was doing something so primitive to the eye of Christ Jesus.  He might have even laughed at it.  Instead, Christ Jesus decided to encourage John as He saw that John was sincere and pious.  So, instead of correcting the way of John's administration, Christ Jesus decided to have John continue the way with good faith.

After this incident, whenever John the Baptist performed baptism on a sinner, he must have recalled Christ Jesus receiving baptism from him.  Accordingly, John must have felt so solemn when he administered baptism.  John must have seen the image of Christ in a man receiving baptism, which made John feel so blessed.

Christ Jesus' act of receiving baptism from John was not for Christ Himself but for John the Baptist.

It is so because without holy help a man cannot administer baptism on so many sinners from whom evil spirits should come out to defile the one baptizing them.

The incident gave great strength spiritually to John.

http://s.webry.info/sp/michi0103.at.webry.info/201206/article_59.html

Suppose that you are John the Baptist.  Then here comes God.  He lets you take a superior position against Him.  How do you feel?  Do you think now you are superior to God?  There are no such fools.  You will wonder whether this act of baptizing God is the worst blasphemy.  You would be, then, surely condemned forever.  But if you see God forgiving you, your faith in God will be so uplifted.  What honor you have been given, you must feel.  You will never betray God who loves you so much by positioning you above Him, if once, though.



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Mar 9:5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.


Tuesday, September 04, 2012

"they were talking with Jesus" - Battles against Cancer

Tokyo...

Battles against Cancer

Researchers in Japanese universities (Osaka Medical College and Kyoto University), etc. have developed a new method to combat cancers using neutron beams.

It is different from conventional ways to use neutron beams to destroy cancer cells.  Currently, neutron beams also destroy normal cells around cancer cells, thus causing pains in a patient.

But the new method uses boron to be injected into the body of a patient.  Then boron atoms converge into cancer cells.  When neutron beams are radiated to the cancer cells, neutrons cause radioactive reactions in the cells containing boron, leading to discharge of neutrons from the cells which destroy other cancer cells around them.  The flying distance of neutrons used in this method is just 0.009 mm.  They don't harm other cells and organs.

The equipment to radiate neutron beams has a size of 3 meters (9 feet) x 3 meters x 3 meters, costing about 2.5 billion yen ($30 million).  So this machine can be installed in an ordinary hospital, though a conventional neutron machine is placed in a nuclear reactor.  

This equipment can radiate an amount of radioactive rays in 20 to 30 minutes that is equal to the amount of rays discharged from a conventional facility in six weeks.

http://maoccoy.tumblr.com/post/30835947429


Researchers in other Japanese universities (Tokyo Women's Medical University and Tokyo Medical University) are also engaged in study of a new method to kill cancer cells using laser rays.  They use a special medical agent that generates active oxygen when receiving light.  So, this agent is injected into the body of a cancer patient so that it will converge into cancer cells.  Then, laser beams are radiated to activate the agent.  Resultant active oxygen destroys the cancer cells.

 


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Mar 9:4 And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.
Mar 9:5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

Monday, September 03, 2012

"exceeding white as snow" - Fukushima Rice


Imperial Palace, Tokyo


Fukushima Rice

Japanese eat rice, but not wheat products, as the principal food, at least, till lately.

All over Japan, most of agricultural land is used for rice farming.

So, there are many paddy fields in Fukushima Prefecture, too.  But, almost half of those rice fields faced the nuclear threat from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.  So, last year some rice harvested in Fukushima showed a radiation dosage level higher than a provisional allowable level for safety of 500 Bq/kg.  As a result, 17,000 tons of rice harvested in Fukushima last year were stopped from delivery to be stored in special store buildings.

So, this year the Prefectural office of Fukushima decided to test all the rice bags (30kg each) produced in the prefecture to measure a radiation dosage.

For this purpose they purchased 190 units of special test devices.  They plan to test all the rice bags (12 million bags) of rice produced in Fukushima Prefecture.

Fukushima rice is sold, for example, at 5,000 yen ($60) per 5 kg in a department store in Tokyo.

Further, the general agricultural study center of Fukushima found that existence of potassium in the ground has an effect of preventing radioactive cesium from mingling into the rice plant.  Many farmers sprinkled potassium into their rice fields.

Peaches and other agricultural products produced in Fukushima Prefecture are also delivered to market after radioactive checks from Fukushima.


Radiation Doses in Fukushima Prefecture as of September 2:

Iitate 0.824 uSv/h

Minami-soma 0.38 uSv

Fukushima City 0.69 uSv/h

Koriyama 0.51 uSv/h

Shirakawa 0.21 uSv/h

Iwaki 0.10 uSv/h

Aizu-wakamatsu 0.10 uSv/h

(Tokyo 0.07 uSv/h, London 0.08 uSv/h)


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Mar 9:3 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

Saturday, September 01, 2012

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

The Imperial Palace, Tokyo


A Japanese Writer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Friday, August 31, 2012

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


The Tokyo Tower...

American Religion and Politics

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

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


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

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

Religion in California: 
The religious affiliations of the people of California:

- Protestant – 36%
--- Evangelical Protestant – 18%
--- Mainline Protestant – 14%
--- Black Protestant – 4%
- Roman Catholic – 31%
- LDS – 2%
- Jewish – 2%
- Muslim – less than 0.5%
- Other Religions – 4%
- Non-Religious/ Atheist/ Agnostic – 21%
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_California#Religion

Religion in New York: 
As reported in 2001 the religious affiliations of the people of New York were: 
- Christian – 68%
--- Roman Catholic – 38%
--- Baptist – 7%
--- Methodist – 6%
--- Presbyterian – 2%
--- Episcopal – 2%
--- Lutheran – 2%
--- Pentecostal – 2%
--- Other Christian (including unspecified denomination) – 13%
- Jewish – 9%
- Muslim/Islamic – 3.5%
- Buddhist – 1%
- Other Religions – 4%
- Non-Religious – 13%
- 6% of the people surveyed refused to answer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_New_York

Religion in Georgia: 
Georgia Religion: 
Like most of the other Southern states of the United States, most of the citizens of Georgia are Protestant Christians. On the basis of religion, the inhabitants of Georgia can be classified as under: 
- 70% are Protestant Christians
--- 24% are Baptist
--- 12% are Methodist
--- 3% are Presbyterian
--- 3% are Pentecostal
- 12% are Catholic 
- 3% are Others
- 13% do not follow any religion
http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Travel/georgia-demographics.php

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

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




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

Thursday, August 30, 2012

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



A Lie about Korean Women

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

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

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

Yūto Yoshida (born 15 October 1913) is a Japanese writer and former soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army. He has published under a variety of pen names, including Seiji Yoshida, Tōji Yoshida, and Eiji Yoshida. 
Originally from Yamaguchi Prefecture on the Sea of Japan, Yoshida was stationed in Korea, then a colony of Japan, during World War II; he claimed that he assisted police to kidnap over 2,000 women from various rural areas of the Korean peninsula to serve as comfort women.[3] After the war, he ran as a Japanese Communist Party candidate in the 1947 Shimonoseki city council elections, but was defeated. 
In 1977 and again in 1983, Yoshida published memoirs about his actions during the war.[3] His books and a subsequent 1991 media interview have been credited with bringing about an apology to Korea by Foreign Affairs minister Yōhei Kōno.[4] As Yoshida's memoirs became widely known, he began to attract suspicion. Ikuhiko Hata, a historian at Takushoku University and one of Yoshida's leading critics, pointed to inconsistencies between Yoshida's 1977 and 1983 memoirs, using these to assert that his claims are fabricated.[3] South Korean newspaper interviews with residents of Jeju Island, where the forced recruitment allegedly took place, found no one who admitted to remembering a sweep through a button factory there which Yoshida detailed in his 1983 memoirs.[2][3] In May 1996, weekly magazine Shūkan Shinchō published remarks by Yoshida made to them in an interview, admitting that portions of his work had been made up. He stated that "There is no profit in writing the truth in books. Hiding the facts and mixing them with your own assertions is something that newspapers do all the time too".[5][6][7] In June 2009, 李栄薫(이영훈), who is a professor of Seoul National University, argued that Yoshida's testimony has spread among Korean society after Yoshida published books.  
Since then, revisionist historians seeking to deny or downplay the existence of comfort women commonly mention Yoshida and his testimony; they cherry-pick his work as an example of low-credibility writing and attack his claims that specific women in certain locations were enslaved as comfort women, with the aim of denying that any women anywhere were victims of sexual violence by the Imperial Japanese Army.

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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

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



Be a Local Hero outside the US

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

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

The National Diet Bldg., Tokyo

History of Chinese Americans

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

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

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

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

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

1857: A Chinese school is built in San Francisco.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1943: The US Congress abolishes the Chinese Exclusion Act.

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

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

1972: President Nixon visits China.

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

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

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

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

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

Historical population
YearPop.±%
18504,018
186034,933+769.4%
187063,199+80.9%
1880105,465+66.9%
1890107,488+1.9%
190089,863−16.4%
191071,531−20.4%
192061,639−13.8%
193074,954+21.6%
194077,504+3.4%
1950117,629+51.8%
1960237,292+101.7%
1970435,062+83.3%
1980806,040+85.3%
19901,645,472+104.1%
20002,432,585+47.8%
20103,347,229+37.6%

RankCityStateChinese-AmericansPercentage
1San FranciscoCalifornia172,18121.4
2HonoluluHawaii38,33010.2
3OaklandCalifornia34,0838.7
4San JoseCalifornia63,4346.7
5New York CityNew York486,4636.0
6PlanoTexas13,5925.2
7SacramentoCalifornia20,3074.4
8SeattleWashington27,2164.1
9BostonMassachusetts24,9104.0
10San DiegoCalifornia35,6612.7
11PhiladelphiaPennsylvania30,0692.0
12StocktonCalifornia5,1881.8
13Los AngelesCalifornia66,7821.8
14PortlandOregon9,1131.7
15ChicagoIllinois43,2281.6
16AnaheimCalifornia4,7381.4
17HoustonTexas29,4291.3
18AustinTexas8,8861.2
19PittsburghPennsylvania3,4021.1
20RiversideCalifornia2,9851.0

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

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



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

Monday, August 27, 2012

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

Tokyo...

Truth of Annexation of Korea to Japan


The Empire of Japan did not occupy and colonize Korea by force before WWII.
The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, also known as the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty, was made by representatives of the Empire of Japan and the Korean Empire in 1910. Negotiations were concluded on August 20, 1910. The document was signed on August 22, 1910.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan%E2%80%93Korea_Treaty_of_1910
Today most of experts in the world agree that this treaty was valid as an international treaty.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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