"Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years" - China in Future

Tokyo Bay

China in Future

The biggest social turmoil expected is not a future one in Iran but in China.

Libya and Egypt have already passed this dangerous phase in transformation of society.  Syria is now undergoing it, and Iran will have to face a drastic revolution.  But the biggest one should be set off in China, being accompanied by a similar but less graver one in North Korea.

It is very unreasonable that Chinese people are forbidden to exercise democratic rights in their society while enjoying the free-market economy.  While they can travel to the US to study in Harvard and other American universities, they cannot even criticize their government.  Such condition cannot last forever.

As the recent anti-Japanese violent protests in Chinese cities indicate, Chinese citizens are only allowed to demonstrate for some anti-Japanese purpose, but they cannot give a demonstration for any anti-government reasons.  There is no freedom of expression in China.  If you, in any city of China, reprove any leaders in Beijing, you will be surely arrested by the police.

The Chinese Government controls all the media in China, except some functions of the Internet.  So, they can hide any facts and truth that are objectionable to the Chinese elites.  For example, the scenes that Chinese demonstrators were attacking Japanese plants and setting fire to Japanese shops in China for the Senkaku issue were completely hidden from the public eye.

This situation cannot be sustained forever.  People will come to get freedom of express and other democratic rights. The Chinese Communist Party will be driven out of Beijing sooner or later.

But such a movement can be a bloody one like what is now observed in Syria.

Between 1912 when the Qing Dynasty fell and 1949 when the People's Republic of China was established, China was in a big turmoil.  Many warlords occupied various regions in China.  The Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalist Party were fighting each other, though they tied up in the war against the Empire of Japan.  And, not only the Japanese Empire but other Western powers and Russia held their own interest in the Chinese Continent.

So, the so-called Japanese invasion of China before WWII was not a unilateral invasion of a well-governed nation with order and law by the Imperial Army.  China was not a well-governed nation with order and law at all at the period of time.  China was in a great turmoil and a civil war.

And, a similar situation might happen in near future in China, far surpassing the degree of the tragedy in Syria.



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



Gen 9:28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
Gen 9:29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

"Jesus took him by the hand" - Politicians and Gangsters

Around the Tokyo Station in the Rain

Politicians and Gangsters

The fundamentals of Japan are of course industry.

Most of people work in fields to take out natural resources, in factories and plants to manufacture products, and in distribution systems and shops to sell goods.  After graduation from universities, colleges, and high-schools, young people usually get involved in economic activities in various fields of industries.

But some others work in the public sector as civil servants in municipal offices or the central government.    

In addition, there are experts in the society such as lawyers and medical doctors.

And above them in the social structure, politicians and lawmakers work in local assemblies and the national parliament which is called the Diet in Japan.

One dark side of Japan has been, however, linkage between some lawmakers and gangsters.

For example, an ex-gangster starts real-estate business.  With support from a bank, it can be very successful.  Then he starts to back a key lawmaker who has influences in the industry.  And the lawmaker gets big money from the ex-gangster businessman and distribute it among other politicians who follow him to form a faction.  Then this political faction might become dominant in a political party; accordingly some of those politicians can be appointed to a state minister in the Cabinet.

So, if a trouble occurs to the ex-gangster businessman and he is put under investigation by the police or public prosecutors, he would ask help from the key politician he has been associated with.  The key politician would tell his henchman who happens to be a state minister to help the dubious businessman.  Them the minister would exercise his power on some bureaucrats to handle the case in favor for his boss or his client.  When the matter is fixed, the virtually criminal businessman would present more money or other convenience for the key politician.

In fact, as this kind of cases became too much to tolerate over the era of the bubble economy around 1990, Japan introduced various improvement and correction in its political system in 1990s.  So, there are not so many cases of political corruption reported nowadays.

But there are many second-generation or hereditary politicians in the National Diet.  They might have no dubious connection with gangsters or ex-gangsters, but their fathers or grandfathers as politicians might have had.  Therefore, in rare condition, such an old dark linkage of his family might surface to harm reputation of a national lawmaker who might be very popular or trusted so much by the public.

So, if you look at a politician, such as Mr. W. Bush, you might feel envious of him; but his father, such as Mr. H.W. Bush, might have a dark connection with a kind of gangsters.

So, Christ Jesus said not to go to a place to see people well dressed and walking proudly.



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




Mar 9:26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
Mar 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
Mar 9:28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
Mar 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

"of him shall the Son of man be ashamed" - New PM of Japan Promised

Imperial Palace District, Tokyo

New PM of Japan Promised

Mr. Shinzo Abe was today elected as new president of the LDP, the major opposition party in Japan.

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/sakurasakuya7/e/7f3cc8eb97a73b9a0f89a2ab32729883

The conservative LDP had kept power for almost 50 years, except a year or so since 1955, till it lost the 2009 general election to the DPJ that includes many leftist members.

But, Mr. Abe was once prime minister of Japan after Mr. Junichiro Koizumi who had consolidated a diplomatic tie with the Bush Administration.  From 2006 to 2007, LDP lawmaker Abe led Japan as prime minister, taking a nationalistic stance in his governance.  He was even regarded as a kind of dangerous nationalist by The New York Times.

Mr. Abe's father was also an LDP lawmaker who had his own faction with an ambition to become prime minister of Japan.  But Shintaro Abe died in 1991 for some disease to be succeeded by his son Mr. Shinzo Abe.  Shintaro Abe's wife, namely the mother of Mr. Shinzo Abe, was a daughter of Nobuskuke Kishi, the prime minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960.

Nobusuke Kishi is one of the most notable and controversial politicians in the modern Japanese history.  Kishi was an elite official of the Imperial Government of Japan.  He also worked in the Manchukuo Government in 1930s, taking an important part in development of the subject country to the Empire of Japan.  Kishi then became a state minister in the Cabinet formed by Prime Minister/General Hideki Tojyo who launched the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941.  When the Empire of Japan lost the war against the US in 1945, Kishi was taken captive as a war criminal by the US military that occupied Japan.  However, in 1948 Kishi was released from a prison to become a lawmaker of post-war democratic Japan.        

So, being a grandson of notorious Nobusuke Kishi is a big merit for Mr. Shinzo Abe.  When Mr. Abe became prime minister of Japan in 2006, he was 52 years old, the youngest as prime minister of Japan after WWII.  But in the next year, he was taken illness suddenly at the beginning of sessions of the National Diet to resign, surprising the people so terribly.  One of the causes of his illness was defeat of the then ruling party LDP in the Upper House election held a few months earlier.  Mr. Abe was under strong pressure at the time which was said to trigger his illness.

And today, LDP lawmaker Mr. Abe was elected again as new president of the LDP, the major opposition party in Japan, since he was running for this presidential election as he had recovered from the illness that had affected him so badly in 2007.

And as most of today's polls indicate, it is expected that the LDP will take over power from the DPJ now being led by Prime Minister Mr. Yoshihiko Noda in the next general election.  What is more critical is that PM Mr. Noda already promised former President of the LDP Mr. Sadakazu Tanigaki to dissolve the Lower House in near future and hold a general election in exchange of support from Mr. Tanigaki in passing a tax rise bill.  The Lower House has power to choose the prime minister of Japan.  Accordingly, Lower House member Mr. Abe is expected to be elected as new prime minister of Japan after the LDP wins the next general election.

Put simply, as today Mr. Abe became president of the very-pro-American/capitalistic LDP, it is almost promised that Mr. Shinzo Abe will be next prime minister of Japan within a few months at the earliest.

Anyway, the term of office for incumbent Lower House members of the Japanese parliament ends in August 2013.  So, at the latest, Mr. Shinzo Abe of the LDP will be new prime minister of Japan one year later.  It will be his second time as prime minister of Japan after the first resignation in 2007, which is the first case in Japan after WWII.

So, a very rare situation is going to surface in the Japanese politics with a so-called nationalistic lawmaker, Mr. Shinzo Abe.



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



Luk 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

"whereas I was blind, now I see" - One National Treasure in Japan

Tokyo

One National Treasure in Japan

In 1329 a samurai had some notable sword smiths make a sword.  He then dedicated it to a shrine.

Today, the sword is designated as a national treasure.

This is one typical incident of the samurai era in Japan.

A powerful samurai became a feudal lord.  He governed a farming area, including some villages.  He took rice and other agricultural products from farmers as customs.  Then a samurai lord sold rice in the market in a big city to get money if necessary.

But there were usually other authorities in a farming area: shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.

So, it was natural for a samurai lord to donate something important for him to a major shrine or a major temple in his fiefdom so as to be blessed by holy spirits and to be respected by farmers and townsmen.

Therefore in this case of the sword, a samurai called Okawara Tokimoto asked sword smiths named Osafune Kagemitsu and Osafune Kagemasa to make a good sword.  Then, Tokimoto donated it to a shrine called Hiromine Jinjya which is situated in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture near Osaka/Kyoto., though Tokimoto was originally from the Chichibu region, Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo.

At the time, namely around 1329, Japan was governed by the first samurai regime with its capital in Kamakura, 60 km west of Tokyo.  Kamakura samurai leaders gave a feud to each of their subject samurais.  So, Okawara Tokimoto was given a territory in Hyogo, 700 km far from his home ground in Saitama.  And his act of reverence for a dominant shrine in his feud resulted in preservation of a fine sword over a time period of 700 years.

So, as you see in the picture above, a successful samurai in Japan 700 years ago had such a sword as is today ranked as a national treasure of Japan.

It also tells that before modernization and westernization of Japan or during the samurai era, the society was under the rule of sword in Japan.  But samurais respected shinto and Buddhism.  The symbol of their soul, namely a sword, was also subject to religion, too.  And they might rather donate a better sword to a shrine or a temple than they had and used as a way of expressing their reverence for religion.  This is one of Japanese traditions.


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



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.

"their laying await was known of Saul" - Christ at the Right Time

Toward Tokyo Bay

Christ at the Right Time

When Christ Jesus was walking with His followers, what did he talk about?

 In His era, the world must have looked so simple.  Only Romans had power to govern the world around Jerusalem.  Egypt now belonged to Rome.  But the east of the Euphrates remained out of power of the Roman Empire.  And, Israelites had to live subject to Romans, though they could maintain their religion.  Great cities at the time must be Rome, Athens, and Alexandria.  Not so many mighty cities were there around the Mediterranean.

So, Christ Jesus did not tell much about international situations surrounding Palestine at the time.

Then, was it just domestic issues and problems that required the emergence of the Son of God among Israelites at the time point in history?

For example, should we consider that Jaudaists at the time degraded themselves so much that they needed Christ to save their society.  Or as their religion went astray, did they need Christ to save their souls?  Maybe, it might have been just domestic crises that requested the first coming of Christ Jesus in those specified years.

However, the timing of His emergence in ancient Israel must have been critical.  He should come in those years around AD 1.  Indeed, He might have come 100 years earlier or later, but He appeared in the very years.

If Jesus had come 100 years later, Jerusalem had been already destroyed by Roman troops.  If He had come 100 years earlier, the region called Galilee was just conquered and annexed to the territory of Judaists so that it could not be a good stage for early activities of Christ..

In c.135 BCE, John Hyrcanus, Simon's third son, assumed the leadership and ruled as high priest (Kohen Gadol) and took a Greek "regnal name" (see Hyrcania) in an acceptance of the Hellenistic culture of his Seleucid suzerains. Within a year of the death of Simon, Seleucid King Antiochus VII Sidetes attacked Jerusalem. According to Josephus,[46] John Hyrcanus opened King David's sepulchre and removed three thousand talents which he paid as tribute to spare the city. He remained as governor as a Seleucid vassal. For the next two decades of his reign, Hyrcanus continued, like his father, to rule semi-autonomously from the Seleucids. 

The Seleucid empire had been disintegrating in the face of the Seleucid–Parthian wars and in 129 BCE Antiochus VII Sidetes was killed in Media by the forces of Phraates II of Parthia, permanently ending Seleucid rule east of the Euphrates. In 116 BCE, a civil war between Seleucid half-brothers Antiochus VIII Grypus and Antiochus IX Cyzicenus broke out, resulting in a further breakup of the already significantly reduced kingdom. 

This provided opportunity for semi-independent Seleucid client states such as Judea to revolt.[47][48][49] In 110 BCE John Hyrcanus carried out the first military conquests of the newly independent Hasmonean kingdom, raising a mercenary army to capture Madaba and Schechem, significantly increasing his regional influence[50][51] 

Hyrcanus conquered Transjordan, Samaria, Galilee, and Idumea (also known as Edom), and forced Idumeans to convert to Judaism:

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


So, for Christ Jesus to encounter fully the Roman power, it must have been just around 1 A.D. when Galilee was cultivated fully by Judaists and the last remnants of Alexander the Great were wiped away from the east part of the Mediterranean.

In summary, it was probably not only domestic situations of Israelites but some diplomatic or neighboring situations for the nation of Judaists that set the timing for the First Coming of Christ among Israelites.

Today, some such situations also seem to be set in these days around Jerusalem, Israel, Palestine, the Middle East, and the world.

As I mentioned, the Second Coming of Christ Jesus  must have already started around 2010.


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Act 9:23 And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him:
Act 9:24 But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.
Act 9:25 Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.
Act 9:26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

"if any man did confess that he was Christ" - Civilization

Near Ueno, Tokyo

Civilization

What is civilization?

You might think of the Great Pyramids in Giza, but Christ Jesus never mentioned the Pyramids.

Or you might think of City Rome which Christ Jesus never mentioned, either.

Christ Jesus did not even praise Athens, though Greek was the common language among the elites in the era of Christ Jesus.

Civilization is based on great production of agricultural products that allowed for stable maintenance of a community.  The community grows with an increase of population.  And then it will need law and order.  And what can be authority for governance of the society with law and order is a religion.  And this religion should be moralistic.  In this context Judaism could be the core of civilization.

However, the Greek/Roman Civilization was established and sustained without Judaism or any other moralistic religion.  So, the Civilization was not rooted in sound ground.  It must have been destined that the Greek/Roman Civilization would be destroyed someday.  And it would be lost like the ancient Egyptian Civilization.

So many great works by ancient Greek philosophers would be lost, and so many great works and systems developed by ancient Romans would be lost.  They should have been forgotten in history.

However, with advancement of Judaism and Christianity into the region influenced by the Greek/Roman Civilization, they could survive on a sound basis in terms of morality.  As Europeans got a true religion, Christianity, its future success was promised, since they came to be able to carry out all the works of Greek/Roman Civilization into a new phase of development.

As the Greek/Roman Civilization got a new moralistic core, Christianity, it has survived into the 21st century.

So, for any emerging countries, including China and India, it is critical how they will face Christianity.  For example, the reason why Muslims cannot well adapt to the modern material civilization lies in this issue of religion.  For Muslims to be materially successful, they have to accept the modern European Civilization which was an extension of the Greek/Roman Civilization with Judaism and Christianity embeded there.

As for Japan, Japanese understanding of Judaism and Christianity is deep enough to master the European Civilization, though 99% of the Japanese people are not Christians.

But, what should be more concerned about is how well Chinese could understand Christianity.  If they cannot get over this hurdle, China could be the second Nazi Germany in the worst case.   That is a nation with great industry but with a very wrong basis for its civilization.   
  
 

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


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.

"And he asked his father, How long is it ago" - President Mr. Obama

Toward Ueno, Tokyo

President Mr. Obama

Some commonsense tells that something is yet to be uncovered about Mr. Obama.

Who's Really Running Obama?
April 27, 2009  

RUSH: This is not a trick question. Why do you think there's somebody, whoever it is, behind Obama? 

CALLER: Because I don't think he's good enough to have done all of this all on his own. 

RUSH: You mean at age 47 and as a community organizer, you're not really prepped to be president? 

CALLER: You betcha. Yes, I do. 

RUSH: And after a hundred days working in the Senate, you're not qualified enough to be president? 

CALLER: No absolutely not. 

RUSH: So you think that somebody picked Obama because they knew that the combination of things Obama is -- his race, his eloquence, his ability to read the teleprompter -- would sort of make him immune from any criticism, that nobody will have the guts to be critical of Obama? 

CALLER: I think so. I think he's been primed for a lot longer than most of us ever even imagine. Now, I may sound a little crazy, and maybe I'm a little bit of a conspiracy kook.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2009/04/27/who_s_really_running_obama

Some people think that Mr. Soros is behind Mr. Obama.

Soros Says Obama ‘Has Lost Control’ of U.S. Economic Agenda
By Kim Chipman - Feb 20, 2011 2:00 PM GMT+0900

George Soros, a billionaire hedge- fund manager who has donated millions to Democrats, said Democratic President Barack Obama “has lost control of the agenda” on the U.S. economy, leaving it “now in the hands of the Republican Party.”
Soros is a major donor to the Democratic Party. He gave $2.5 million to an independent political group established by John Podesta, now an Obama adviser, in 2008 and contributed $50,000, the maximum allowed, for Obama’s 2009 inaugural celebrations. For the 2004 campaign against Republican President George W. Bush, Soros contributed $27 million to Democrats, according to Congressional Quarterly’s Moneyline.... 

Soros also discussed the Middle East and praised Obama’s handing of the revolt in Egypt that led to the ousting of Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak. 

Soros predicted that Iran’s ruling regime also will topple within the year, though warned the situation there could become “very ugly” before this happens.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-18/soros-says-obama-has-lost-control-of-the-agenda-.html

But, Mr. Soros was not in Chicago.

Posted: March 17, 2010 10:13 AM
The Community Organizers Who Discovered Obama 

Throughout his political career, President Barack Obama has frequently referred to his years as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago. During this time, as a means of achieving social justice, he learned how to develop leadership potential and respond to the needs of the people. The organization in which he got his start, the Gamaliel Foundation, is a faith-based group that helps create grassroots change around jobs, housing, health care and other issues. I talked to Gamaliel's President, Ann Smith, about President Obama back when he was just starting out, and the impact he's had on a new generation of young organizers. 

CYNTHIA: You must have so many stories about President Obama, from back when he started community organizing. Can you share some? 

ANN SMITH: Greg Galluzzo [Gamaliel Foundation co-founder and executive director] always says that when he met Barack, he never thought of him as having the potential to become President. When Barack went off to Harvard Law and came back to get people registered to vote, he led a training event for us. After he finished training, someone in the audience said to Greg, "You know, I think he's going to be the President of the United States one day." When he was an organizer, he was extremely disciplined and wrote wonderful weekly reports for all of the three-plus years he was there. Of course, at some point Greg threw them all away. (laughs) There's not a single one left. But at the time, people didn't see him for what he was going to be. They just saw him as being extremely intelligent and someone who could take advantage of opportunities, which he did.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cynthia-gordy/the-community-organizers_b_502297.html

And, finally we have to check Rockefeller, a friend of Mr. Clinton.

Obama fund-raiser at Sen. Jay Rockefeller's mansion. A Great Gatsby of a pool report. But I digress...
By Lynn Sweet on July 8, 2008 9:46 PM

Michael Powell of the New York Times wrote a delicious pool report--with his ruminations about the role of wealth in our society--covering high-dollar fund-raisers headlined by presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Tuesday night, with one in the elegant "chateau" of Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa.)

Rockefeller is married to Sharon Percy, the daughter of former Sen. Charles Percy (R-Ill.), whose career in the Senate ended when he was defeated by Democrat Paul Simon. Simon hired one David Axelrod away from his job as a Chicago Tribune political writer, launching Axelrod on his political career when he joined the Simon campaign.

Today Axelrod is Obama's chief strategist. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) went on to win the seat held by Simon. Click below for the magnificent Powell pool report....

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/07/obama_fundraiser_at_sen_jay_ro.html

So, it is not a phantom that is behind President Mr. Barack Obama.  A group of rich men who are afraid that their base of wealth in the American society is eroded by their enemy rich men.  Mr. Obama is expected to fix some problems in the American society that might become a source of terror within the US.


***　*** *** ***




Mar 9:20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
Mar 9:21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
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.

"he preached Christ in the synagogues" - Relatives of the Last Emperor in the US

Tokyo Tramcar...

Relatives of the Last Emperor in the US

A Japanese woman was born in the US in 1917, so that she was given US citizenship.

But as her Japanese father committed a suicide, she returned to Japan with her mother and other family before WWII.

Then in Tokyo she met a grandson of the prime minister of Manchuko.

Manchukuo was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China. In 1931, the region was seized by Japan following the Mukden Incident and in 1932, a sympathetic government was established, with Puyi, the last Qing emperor, installed as the nominal regent and emperor.[1] Manchukuo's government was abolished in 1945 after the defeat of Imperial Japan at the end of World War II.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchukuo

The man she married had an elder brother who married a younger sister of the Emperor of Manchukuo, namely the last emperor of China and the first emperor of Manchukuo.

When the Empire of Japan surrendered to the US and pulled out all the Imperial troops from China, Manchurian, and the Korean Peninsula, the great civil war was set off in China between communists led by Mao Tse-tung and nationalists led by Chiang Kaishek.

With this turmoil further going on, the Japanese woman who had moved to Beijing with her husband and daughter felt danger on herself who was Manchu (Chinese), Japanese, and also American.   Her husband and his relatives lost power they had enjoyed in Manchukuo as the Chinese Communist Party occupied the region north of Beijing.

In addition, all the Americans who came to live in Beijing and other part of China after the surrender of the Empire of Japan decided to leave China as the Chinese Nationalist Party the US supported militarily was losing the civil war.  So, the Japanese woman with the US citizenship decided to leave Beijing for Japan with other Americans to avoid capture by Chinese communists.

When Mao Tse-tund declared the foundation of the People's Republic of China in Beijing, there were almost no Americans in China, including the Japanese American woman.

In Japan she decided to divorce, since there was no perspective of the situation in China changing for her benefit.  And, as she started to work in the General Headquarters of allied forces led by US General MacArthur in Tokyo, she met an American officer to marry him.

Then, she and her husband went back to the US; the American Occupation of Japan also ended.

Decades later, she found that her daughter having been left in China wanted to see her.  It was the era of President Nixon, and the relationship between the US and China was getting improved over the Cold War.

So, she made the best effort to call to the US her daughter and her husband with their daughter.  But it was help from her brother working in New Jersey that actually found the way to take her daughter out of communist China through Hong Kong.  It was also advantageous for them that then Chinese Premier Chou En-lai had promoted a special diplomatic measure to keep useful Chinese in society of Western countries, such as the US.

However, the American husband of the Japanese American woman got ill and died at the time.  Then her Chinese daughter came to the US.  The husband of the daughter started to work in a firm the brother of the Japanese American woman ran in New Jersey.

So, in the US since the era of President Nixon, some relatives of the Last Emperor of China have been living, though they are actually Japanese or half Japanese.



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



Act 9:20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

"Go thy way" - 100 Year Old Japanese

Tokyo...

100 Year Old Japanese

There lives a man near Fukushima Daiichi who became 100 years old this April.

He lived in Okuma Town where the Fuksuhima Daiichi nuclear power plant is situated.

Mr. Yoshida now lives in complex housing in Aizu-Wakamatsu City, Fukshima Prefecture, 100 km west of the crippled nuclear power plant.

When Mr. Yoshida was an elementary school boy, he moved to Tokyo with his family from Okuma Town.  Then he experienced the historic 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake that took on tens of thousands of Tokyo citizens.  So, he grew up in Tokyo to become an English teacher and get married.  However, he was  drafted to be sent to Manchuria in 1941 when the Second World War started.

As air raids by US air forces were intensified in Tokyo, his wife decided to move to Fukshima Prefecture though it was not easy to get a ticket of a train going out of Tokyo at the time.  In February 1945, she got a chance to get on a train for Fukushima; it was one month before the Great Tokyo Air Raid where 100,000 Tokyo citizens were killed by bombing from B29s.  She now thinks that if her trip had been delayed, she should have been killed.

When the war was over, Mr. Yoshida was taken captive by Russian troops.  He was forced to work in mines in Siberia for three years.  But he had a luck to return to Japan in 1948.  He started to teach English in school in Fukshima City, 70 km west of Fukushima Daiichi.  After retirement, Mr. Yoshida moved to Okuma Town, his home town, where he started to spend the rest of his life with his 75-year old son and great-grandchildren.  Then, in March of the last year, the nuclear power station in Okuma Town got into a big trouble within an hour of an M9.0 earthquake; the Fukushima Daiichi plant invited a huge nuclear accident when it was attacked by 15-meter-high tsunamis.

When the big earthquake occurred, Mr. Yoshida was in his home.  A tsunami drove sea water up to a location 100 meters from his home.  But he had to leave his home due to the nuclear accident leaving his estate behind.

Nonetheless Mr. Yoshida plans to go back to Okuma Town if it is more than five years from now that he is allowed to return to his home so close to Fukuhshima Daiichi.

As of September 2012, there are 51,376 people in Japan who are 100 years old or older.  Mr. and Mrs. Yoshida are two of them.



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



Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

"he saw a great multitude about them" - Dangerous Syria

Dangerous Syria

A Japanese journalist Junpei Yasuda flew to Syria to cover the civil war.

His reports are recently introduced in various TV programs in Japan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbdqka5JdBs

In terms of trade of Syria, the European nations of Germany, Italy, France, and Spain accounted for 30% of the total Syrian export value.

Global Exports in 2008 by Syria

Market Value: 13,300 (millions)

Exports To	Trade Value	Share	Growth
	(thousands)	(%)	(% 5yr)
Iraq	2,507,109	18.85	384.30
Germany	1,630,637	12.26	5,665.84
Lebanon	1,289,121	9.69	546.70
Italy	1,179,148	8.87	(9.23)
France	1,008,147	7.58	(2.34)
Saudi Arabia	911,231	6.85	155.52
Egypt	677,388	5.09	510.13
Turkey	602,069	4.53	63.33
Algeria	455,641	3.43	953.59
Spain	422,455	3.18	105.76
United States	375,822	2.83	107.13
Jordan	362,404	2.72	137.77
Kuwait	229,626	1.73	306.87
Netherlands	205,560	1.55	62.00
United Kingdom	173,908	1.31	81.77
Austria	131,281	0.99	1,130.07
United Arab Emirates	125,223	0.94	157.11
Republic of Yemen	121,630	0.91	443.67
Greece	97,504	0.73	186.68
Japan	90,247	0.68	349.62
Sudan	90,079	0.68	371.75
Libya	80,866	0.61	120.08

http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/syria/tradestats/

These nations now occupying the land area of the ancient Roman Empire have a strong tie with Syrian businesses and officials.

If they think ending the civil war in Syria is good for them, they will be fully engaged in promoting the settlement of the internal armed conflict within Syria.

But, if they have no room in their diplomatic and political capability, they would just stand aside from Syria in the tragedy.  As the Greek Crisis and the euro crisis have taken their energy for so long, it looks very difficult that the descendants of the ruler of the Mediterranean embark on fixing the bloody calamity on the east end of the great sea.

However, in terms of import, a different aspect of Syria surfaces.  Russia and China have loomed as major partners of Iran.  Including Ukraine, too, they accounted for almost 40% of the total Syrian import value.

Global Imports in 2008 by Syria

Market Value: 15,060 (millions)

Imports From	Trade Value	Share	Growth
	(thousands)	(%)	(% 5yr)
Russia	2,330,552	15.47	578.60
Ukraine	1,766,972	11.73	217.22
China	1,590,282	10.56	221.05
Malta	1,442,780	9.58	NA
Italy	753,074	5.00	172.34
Saudi Arabia	609,838	4.05	84.63
Egypt	558,972	3.71	178.44
South Korea	544,310	3.61	83.77
Iraq	413,144	2.74	321.01
Turkey	368,643	2.45	22.47

http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/syria/tradestats/

Taking them together, it can be said that as the concerned European nations are so busy now in tackling their own financial and economic problems and thus have no time to interfere in the Syrian civil war, Russia and China are taking advantage of the tragic situation in Syria for their global strategy.

Put simply, Syria looks like a victim of struggling for supremacy between the West and the East (Russia and China).

In this context, the state of Syria might be close to the Vietnam War that continued through 1950s to 1970s.


(to be continued)


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Mar 9:14 And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them.
Mar 9:15 And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.

"then came the twelve" - Somalia

Tokyo...

Somalia

In Somalia, a boy was abducted by insurgents.

He was trained in a camp; they seemed to plan to use the boy as one of young soldiers who were to be ordered to carry out a suicide attack.

But finally, his mother came to rescue the boy.  She paid about $400 to Islamic insurgents.  The boy was freed.

This is the most moving story I found today.

More specifically, the Somalian boy was about 15 years old when he was taken captive by al-Shabaab.  In the training camp where he was forced to live and fight, there were many youths aged between 12 and 15.  And it was three months after that his mother could finally rescue him.  But the lucky boy recalled that 20 of his friends were killed in battles, including his best friend.  Now he has started to go to school as he wants to be an architect.  

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European companies use the sea off Somalia as an unregulated dump yard.

They load dangerous industrial wastes in ships which sail to Somalia.  Then they dump every kind of dangerous factory wastes into the sea.  They just pay $3 per ton of wastes to Somalian persons of influence or military cliques while it would cost $1000 in Europe.

However some Somalian people living on the shore came to become ill for unknown reasons.  It is apparent that they were damaged and harmed by poisonous chemicals and components included in the dumped industrial wastes.

Especially after the 2004 Great Indian Ocean tsunami, many Somalian people started to develop a radiation disease.  Actually 300 Somalians died.  The UN found that European ships disposed of radioactive wastes in the sea off Somalia.  

Of course, Somalia is full of pirates.  But they are under threat of radioactive contamination.



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Luk 9:12 And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place.
Luk 9:13 But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people.
Luk 9:14 For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company.
Luk 9:15 And they did so, and made them all sit down.
Luk 9:16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.
Luk 9:17 And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.

"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.

"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.

"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.