"this rumour of him went forth" - Live for God but not for Yourself

Around Tokyo

Live for God but not for Yourself

The basic principle is that this universe was created by God for Himself but not for mankind.

But God also created human beings for Himself.  Therefore, men should make full efforts to satisfy God but not themselves.

So, a big question remains: why did God have to create the universe and human beings for Himself?  The clue to this question can be only found in the holy books and especially in the words of Christ Jesus.

Christ Jesus said to accumulate wealth in Heaven but not in this world where wealth gets rotten.  Therefore, we may suppose that God created the universe and human beings to increase wealth in Heaven.  When a man lives a righteous life and does good deeds, helping the poor and saving the weak, his wealth should be created in Heaven.  Angels in Heaven should be glad to see such wealth increasing.

But if a man does not contribute to increasing wealth in Heaven while making himself rich in this world, he should be surely condemned and thrown into the hell.  Accordingly, we can simply understand that rich men are bad and evil and poor men are blessed no matter how difficult their lives are in this material world.

Poor men are destined for Heaven.  But if rich and evil men become so influential and powerful, making poor people suffer gravely, it is natural that God should interfere with the human world.  That is why Christ Jesus appeared in this world 2000 years ago.  However, as God is almighty, He must have known from the beginning that mankind would fail unless God interferes.  So, Christ Jesus came to this world at the right time and would come again at the very right time.  And, watching the global situations, we had better think that Christ Jesus has already come to the human world again.

Indeed, today only a very few people think that they have to live for God since God is the Creator of all that exists.






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Luk 7:17 And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about.

"called his father Jacob to him" - The Vatican and the Emperor of Japan

Tokyo

The Vatican and the Emperor of Japan

The Emperor of Showa instructed Prime Minister Tojo to send an envoy to the Vatican a few months after the Pearl Harbor Attack.

The Emperor himself was involved in choosing the minister plenipotentiary to be sent to the Vatican.  Though it is not considered today that the Vatican played any key role in the diplomacy of the Empire of Japan during WWII, it is very interesting that the Emperor took a rare initiative in Japan's diplomacy in sending the envoy to the Vatican when the Imperial Government had an optimistic view about the prospect of the then on-going war against the US and the UK after the Pearl Harbor Attack of December 1941.

After WWII, the Emperor of Japan recalled why he had tried to strengthen the relationship with the Vatican after the Pearl Harbor Attack.  According to the Emperor, the major reasons were: gather information related to international situations through the Vatican, study a possibility of using a big influence the Vatican had on the world, and prepare for the time to end the war where a tie with the Vatican would be useful.

However, the Emperor of Showa admitted that he had not been able to find a suitable diplomat or a politician who could effectively work on the Vatican, since the war had already started.  And, he also stated that the bad relationship between Hitler and the Vatican had some adverse effect on his plan to make the Vatican more friendly to the Empire.

Nonetheless, it is very interesting that after WWII the Emperor of Showa dared to mention his view on the Vatican.  It showed that the Emperor viewed the world rather pragmatically.  With reference to other information sources, it seems that in Emperor's view the Empire had at the time only two cards diplomatically, that is, the Vatican and the Soviet Union, since the Empire got into the state of belligerence with the US, the UK, etc.

It also represented a common view among learnt Japanese around WWII.  The world was virtually ruled by the Western Powers, and at the core of Europe the Vatican had an implicit influence.  And not only European countries but also Christian countries in Asia, Africa, and Americas would listen to the Vatican.  So, it is better for Japan to keep good relationship with the Vatican.  And, basically, these conditions have not changed to the present day.

But, how has the Vatican viewed Japan in these centuries?

Apparently, the Vatican failed in its mission to Japan since the 16th century.  From the middle 17th century to the middle of the 19th century Japan led by a samurai regime closed the nation to prevent influx of Catholicism.  Even after Japan opened the door and assured freedom of religion to its people after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, there has been no wide diffusion of Catholicism in Japan.  Today, Catholics account for less than 0.4% among the Japanese population.

The relationships between the Vatican and Japan, including one between the Vatican and the Imperial family of Japan, seem to remain yet-to-be-defined.    
 


Emperor of Showa and the Pope in 1981, Tokyo
http://ianhumondai.blogspot.jp/2014/06/blog-post_1076.html


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Act 7:13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
Act 7:14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
Act 7:15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,

"he hardened Pharaoh's heart" - When Emperor Has a Nightmare

Tokyo toward Yokohama 

When Emperor Has a Nightmare

The Emperor of Showa (1901-1989) had three younger brothers.  The eldest among them was Prince Chichibu (1902 – 1953).

Prince Chichibu once wrote that when they were small children they had talked about nightmares.  One of them told that when one had a nightmare he would often place his hands on the chest.  But why?

Some of them said that it would be opposite.  As one put his hands on the chest, he had a nightmare.  But the eldest brother, namely the future emperor of Japan, expressed his opinion rather thoughtfully: "The reason why one often places his hands on the chest when he has a terrible dream is that he wants to protect his heart from a danger he feels in the dream."

So, Prince Chichibu wrote that his elder brother, namely the Emperor of Showa, was a clever person fit for a scientist.  Indeed, the Emperor of Showa was also well known for his biological study.

The Emperor of Showa, who led the Empire of Japan between 1926 and 1945 and democratic Japan between 1945 and 1989, was a very thoughtful person.  Truly, there have been almost no reports or gossips suggesting his foolishness or laughable mistakes, though the media had not been allowed to freely report imperial house matters before the end of WWII.

The most difficult decision Emeoper of Showa had ever made seems to have been related to his status after the defeat of the Empire of Japan in WWII.  Though he was not brought into the Tokyo Tribunal of War Criminals after WWII and not blamed officially for the war, there were strong voices in the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, China, the Soviet Union, etc. for punishing the Emperor of Japan for damage and atrocity the Imperial military had inflicted on peoples around the Pacific Ocean and China.

Even some Japanese thought at the time that it would be probably better for the Emperor of Showa to voluntarily step down, allowing Prince Chichibu to succeed him.  But General MacArthur who led the allied forces stationed in Japan after WWII virtually encouraged the Emperor of Showa to stay in the imperial throne.  The Emperor of Showa met General MacArthur in person 11 times or so till MacArthur left Japan in 1951.  And, the Japanese people never requested the Emperor of Showa to resign officially or publicly in any effective manner.

The great economic success of Japan after WWII might be attributed to its stable states politically and culturally all through 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.  And, the Emperor of Showa must be one of the largest factors of it.  The first half of his reigning period called Showa was full of wars, but the latter half was full of peace and prosperity for the Japanese people.

And it is also true that even the Emperor of Showa felt a threat of life a few times in his life.  At least it is well known that the Emperor faced a critical danger on himself in the February 26 Incident of 1936 (a kind of failed coup by young military officers) and in the August 14 incident of 1945 (a kind of failed insurgence by desperate military officers).  The Emperor could of course survive those crises by himself with support from loyal and brave military officers and the like.

The Emperor of Showa seems to have some reasons to have nightmares, but it is unknown how the incumbent Emperor of Japan, the eldest son of The Emperor of Showa, would act when he has a bad dream or whether he has any nightmares at all.




Emperor Showa, as Prince Michinomiya, and his younger brothers in 1921
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirohito



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Exo 7:11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
Exo 7:12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
Exo 7:13 And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

"will he give him a stone?" - The Only Imperial Family Prime Minister of Japan

Tokyo

The Only Imperial Family Prime Minister of Japan

Naruhiko Higashi-kuninomiya (1887-1990) was the only imperial family member of Japan who became prime minister.  He assumed the office of prime minister from August 17 to October 9, 1945, while the Imperial military surrendered to the US on August 15, 1945.  Naruhiko Higashi-kuninomiya was one of key figures who took the helm of Japan in the difficult time immediately after WWII.

Though the Emperor announced his decision for the surrender by radio to all the Japanese people and Imperial troops stationed in and outside Japan, some extreme Imperial Army officers were still determined to fight till their death.

To persuade those die-hard officers, the Emperor and his aids thought it was necessary to appoint an imperial family member as a successor of prime minister admiral Suzuki who resigned after the Suzuki Cabinet successfully unified opinions of the Imperial Government for acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration to surrender.  No matter how bigoted those jingoistic military officers were, they would obey the order for surrender issued by a prime minister who was a clear deputy of the Emperor, thought the Emperor and his entourage.

Indeed, the Empire of Japan still had millions of soldiers and 3,000 military planes when the Emperor expressed his will to surrender in August 1945.  There was a possibility that a military coup could occur in Tokyo.    

Prime Minister Higashi-kuninomiya did his best.  So, it was his Cabinet that signed on the instrument of surrender on the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.  But, he resigned in a month after the historical event.

It was because he thought he lost the trust of General MacArthur.  It was about handling of the famous picture of the Emperor and General MacArthur taken when the Emperor visited the US embassy in Tokyo to see General MacArthur on September 27, 1945.

The Higashi-kuninomiya Cabinet thought it was not appropriate to allow newspapers to show the picture to the general public.  The Emperor looked like a civilian without wearing military clothing he had usually put on during and before WWII.  But he was in formal dress, while MacArthur wore casual military clothing.  The picture simply told that the Emperor was not a sacred man but a defeated man.  It must have been so shocking to the general public, thought the Higashi-kuninomiya Cabinet.  They tried to forbid Japanese newspapers to present the picture.  But, the General Headquarters of the allied forces led by General MacArthur forbade the Japanese Government to forbid publishing of the picture.  So, Prime Minister Higashi-kuninomiya decided to resign.

  
Higashi-kuninomiya was a general of the Imperial Army during WWII.  He was familiar with General Tojo who was prime minister when the Empire decided the execution of the Pearl Harbor Attack in 1941.

One day before the Pearl Harbor Attack, General Higashi-kuninomiya met with General Tojo to persuade him to stop launching war against the US.  Higashi-kuninomiya told Tojo his experience in Paris when he had been in an overseas assignment in France between 1920 and 1927.

In Paris Higashi-kuninomiya talked with Georges Benjamin Clemenceau, a former prime minister of France.  Clemenceau told him that the US was preparing for war against the Empire of Japan.  Higashi-kuninomiya was surprised, saying that Japan never considered a possibility of making war against the US.  But, the old French politician said, "Japan is not good at diplomacy, and Japanese are quick-tempered.  If the US Government should drive the Imperial Government into the corner, the Imperial military would start war.  The US must surely take this strategy.  But, American industrial power far surpasses Japan's.  If a war broke out between the two countries, Japan would surely lose.  Therefore, Japan must be patient to avoid the war."

However, Prime Minister General Tojo said that he could not withdraw Imperial troops from mainland China (which was requested by the Roosevelt Administration) and it was just a difference of opinion between him and Higashi-kuninomiya as to the prospect of the coming war between the Empire and the US.

According to one theory, there was a possibility that the Emperor and his advisers would appoint Higashi-kuninomiya as prime minister before the Pearl Harbor Attack instead of naming General Tojyo for the position.  But, it is said that some advisers thought it was not appropriate to have an imperial family member take responsibility for making war against the US and the UK.  Accordingly, General Tojo took the bold course of opening war with the US and the UK with consent of the Emperor in December 1941.



Naruhiko Higashi-kuninomiya
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%B1%E4%B9%85%E9%82%87%E5%AE%AE%E7%A8%94%E5%BD%A6%E7%8E%8B


Emperor and MacArthur in newspaper on September 29, 1945
http://www.29296.club/u78542624.html



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Mat 7:9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

"take nothing for their journey" - The First Japanese that Traveled Tibet

Tokyo

The First Japanese that Traveled Tibet

When a Japanese Buddhist monk had some doubt about Buddhism, say, 100 years ago, he had to go to the original place where the religion had been first established around the 5th century BC.  But India had long lost traditions of Buddhism.  So, he had to go to Tibet, since Tibet had imported important part or some essence of Buddhism between the 7th and 14th centuries before it was lost in India.

Indeed, Japan imported Buddhism through China since the 6th century, but Chinese themselves had first imported Buddhism about 1st century.  Even in the 7th century, a notable Chinese priest made an adventurous journey to India to bring back many Buddhist sutras.  Therefore, if a Japanese monk had any doubt on Buddhism, it meant there was a need to refer to Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures which Chinese monks translated into Chinese versions, since Sanskrit was a classical language of India.  Or, he must refer to Tibetan scriptures as Tibetans must have more faithfully translated Sanskrit scriptures.

So, Ekai Kawaguchi (1866 – 1945)  traveled to Tibet as the first Japanese that had ever entered the Himalayan country closed to foreigners.  Specifically, he secretly reached and stayed in Lhasa from July 1900 to June 1902, and then from 1913 to 1915.

He brought back to Japan a large collection of Tibetan scriptures, but had a lengthy and public dispute with the other pilgrims about who the Dalai Lama had intended to give them to, causing him to lose some face in the Buddhist world.[17] He did assist the German Theravada monk Nyanatiloka in the 1920s. 

After this Kawaguchi became an independent monk, living with his brother's family for the rest of his life, and earning an income from scholarly publications. He refused to assist the military police when they sought intelligence on Tibet, and died in 1945.[18]
He was a friend of Mrs. Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Society, who encouraged him to publish the English text of his book, Three Years in Tibet.[19] The Government of Nepal issued a postage stamp in 2003 commemorating Kawaguchi's visits to that country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekai_Kawaguchi#Further_travels

Ekai Kawaguchi was a faithful Buddhist.  He never ate meat and fish.  He never tried to make money by selling his experiences on a commercial basis or establishing a new faction of Buddhism in Japan.  After his adventure in Tibet, he tried to edit a Tibetan-Japanese dictionary, which was however never be accomplished when he died in the last year of WWII.

More importantly, through his observations of Buddhist communities in Tibet and other Asian countries as well as Japan, Kawaguchi concluded that there were no truly righteous monks and orders today.  Temples were no more sacred places.  Buddhist organizations were rotten.  Buddhist rituals turned to be false acts.  So, Kawaguchi renounced his status as a Buddhist priest.

Kawaguchi then claimed that people must not respect Buddhist priests and orders.  But people should practice Buddhism in their daily living.  It is just like a Christian priest who has traveled to Rome and Jerusalem to study Christianity starts to claim that churches and priests are useless or anti-Christian so that people must practice teaching of Christ Jesus in their daily lives.

Indeed there is a Buddhist tenet predicting the decline of Buddhism, called "the latter days of Buddhism."  According to the tenet, Buddhism would be correctly practiced and understood for 500 years after the death of the Buddha, but would not be understood, even if practiced superficially, for the next 1,000 years.  And after these 1,500 years, no more correct practice and understanding of Buddhism would be observed.

Ekai Kawaguchi seems to have believed in this theory.  His countermeasure to this state of lost belief in Buddhism is for everybody to practice the teaching of the Buddha in their daily lives.

However, Kawaguchi died in the last year of WWII.  And, after WWII, American Christianity along with American democracy was widely and openly introduced into the Japanese society.  Even the Constitution of Japan was drafted by Christian Americans subject to General MacArthur, the supreme commander of the allied forces that occupied Japan after WWII.  It might suggest that it is Christianity but not Buddhism that the Japanese people should seriously turn to as the means to save their souls.

Today, in Japanese schools, Ekai Kawaguchi is not introduced as a unique Buddhist but simply as a great adventurer who traveled Tibet 100 years ago where no foreigners were allowed in the country at the time.



Ekai Kawaguchi
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/mitsounob/31873171.html




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Mar 6:8 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:

"called unto him the twelve" - Buddhist Homeless Man in Nagoya

Tokyo

Buddhist Homeless Man in Nagoya

Several years ago, a homeless man was arrested and indicted for violence on a public official in Nagoya City, Japan.

When the homeless man was preparing a meal in a public park, city officials came to him, requesting evacuation from the place.  As the homeless man got angry, he allegedly poured soup on one of officials and grab and locked his head with the arms.

The homeless man was put in a house of custody for one year and five months till a court ruled the case.  He was sentenced to pay a fine of 300,000 yen ($2,500).  But as his term in custody before the verdict translated into 5,000 yen per day, he was immediately released after the judgment without paying the fine.

In some public parks in big cities, such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya , in Japan, homeless people can be sometimes spotted.  Most of them live in very humble tents built using timbers and blue sheets on corners or among bushes of public parks.  But, public administration often tries to drive them out.  Especially when a big official event is held, such as a Summit Meeting, homeless people living in public parks are forced to evacuate the places for a security reason.

The above stated homeless person in Nagoya may be unique in his statement in the court.  He claimed that people in the world were brainwashed.  People are taught to believe in war and wealth as God. And there is competition in the society on how much one believes in this God.  Those who are disqualified in this competition are forced to become lambs to be simply controlled by winners in society.

He further argued: To fight against this evil brainwashing people have to live as homeless persons like the Buddha.  His living as a homeless man is the very practice of this principle.  So, it is a right thing for him to live in a public park; and in terms of his case, he didn't harm the public servant in real.

Of course, a judge in charge was not moved by his statement.  Usually, in such a case as this involving a homeless person, judges simply accept assertion by public prosecutors, the police, and public officers.

However, there are some organizations who support homeless people in big cities in Japan.  Most of members are humanitarians, religious activists, or politically leftists.  But, it is unthinkable today that any radical extremist group mobilizes homeless people to cause social unrest or a riot in Japan.  

According to a survey by the Japanese Government, the numbers of homeless persons in big cities are as follows as of January 2012:
Tokyo.....  2,069
Yokohama..... 595
Kawasaki..... 502
Nagoya..... 249
Osaka..... 2,132
Fukuoka..... 211
(http://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/houdou/2r98520000027ptf.html)

Nonetheless, these figures seem to be underestimated.

Anyway, Christ Jesus and His disciples were homeless, too.



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Mar 6:7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;

"trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy" - Methane Hydrate Causes Tsunami

Tokyo

Methane Hydrate Causes Tsunami

On December 21, 1946, a big earthquake (M8.0) occurred in the Pacific Ocean 50 km off Cape Shiono-misaki situated at the southernmost tip of the Kii Peninsula, south of Kyoto and Osaka.  It is called the 1946 Nankai (south sea) Earthquake.

It caused 1,330 deaths in regions of western Japan on the Pacific Ocean.  As it was just one year after the end of WWII, there was some confusion in handling this disaster.  But it was reported that some towns and villages were attacked by tsunamis as high as 6.5 meters.  The tsunami also reached Hawaii and the US west coasts.  This earthquake was reportedly triggered by a rise of an undersea mass of land stretching 250 km.

One thing particular in this earthquake is that some people saw a lightening phenomenon called earthquake light.

For example, notable Japanese actor Hisaya Morishige (1913-2009) wrote about his experience of encountering this earthquake and a following tsunami in his essay.

Morishige traveled to a seaside town to make business of trading fish.  Though Morishige was living in Tokyo in 1946 with his family after coming back to Japan from Manchuria, where he had worked as an announcer of a radio station during WWII, he happened to travel to Osaka, his hometown, to find a job as he was unemployed at the time.  In Osaka, one of his friends introduced a man living in the seaside town who was familiar with a boss of the fishing industry in the seaside area.  So, Morishige traveled to the seaside town of Tokushima Prefecture.

The earthquake happened before the dawn after a night Morishige met the boss withe the mediator in an inn.  As the boss promised to help Morishige's planned business to sell fish in Osaka, Morishige was sleeping happily.  But the big earthquake and tsunami destroyed his plan as well as many homes in the town, including the mediator's.  

In the darkness, quaking Morishige somehow climbed up a hill behind the inn; then he saw some weird light over the sea.  Workers of the inn told him that some wells had dried up the day before or so.

Some scientists wrote a paper to analyze this earthquake in 2009.  Their conclusion is that Methane Hydrate accumulated on the sea bed gushed out due to the huge seismic activity.  The frozen material consisting of Methane and water molecules jolted so hard delivered the Methane gas which exploded and came up to the surface of the sea, pushing up the surface to cause the tsunami.  It also triggered earthquake light as the gas could take fire when it was mingled with the air and chlorine.

 (http://sakuya.ed.shizuoka.ac.jp/rzisin/kaishi_24/HE24_181_184_19EnomotoMod.pdf#search='1946%E5%B9%B4++%E6%98%AD%E5%92%8C%E5%8D%97%E6%B5%B7%E5%9C%B0%E9%9C%87++%E7%99%BA%E5%85%89')

Today, a great amount of Methane Hydrate has been found on the sea beds around Japan.  It is expected to be a big future energy source.  However, as the scientific report tells, it can also trigger or augment a tsunami accompanying an undersea earthquake.


After this experience of the natural disaster, Morishige pursued his career as a comedian and then a movie star.  He became a very successful actor, exhibiting various talents.  One of his successful roles in theatrical performances was Tevye of Fiddler on the Roof, a story of a Jewish family in Ukraine.  Morishige played Tevye 900 times in Japanese theaters till 1986.  He was awarded the Order of Culture, the highest prize for scholars and artists, by the Japanese Government as the first case for performers in the genre of popular arts in 1991.

However, Hisaya Morishige did not encounter the 2011 Great Earthquake and Tsunami of the Pacific Coats of East Japan.




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Luk 7:6 Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof:

"neither did his brethren" - Murder Case of a Japanese Film Director

Tokyo

Murder Case of a Japanese Film Director

Kenzaburo Oe (1935-) was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1994 as the second Japanese winner in this field.  It was one year before the Aum Shinrikyo cult group launched a sarin gas attack in Tokyo subway lines in 1995.

Oe had an old friend who was then a film director.  Oe and his old friend Juzo Itami (1993-1997) once studied in the same high-school in western Japan.  Oe respected Itami who showed great talent in literature.  Oe even wrote some novels as he wished to be praised by Itami when Oe was a student of the University of Tokyo and Itami was working as a commercial artist in Tokyo.  Then, Oe won the Akutagawa Award to be publicly recognized as a professional author, and Itami subsequently became an actor (first calling himself Ichizo Itami and then Juzo Itami).

Itami's father was a film director, too.  And, Oe later married a younger sister of Itami.　Oe and Itami are brothers in law.

Juzo Itami became a popular actor, though not a big star, as well as a writer and a reporter for some TV works.  He even acted in some American movies such as 55 Days at Peking.  But in 1984 he directed a unique Japanese movie titled O-Soshiki (The Funeral).  Then he became a very popular film director in Japan.

Itami made some films on unique issues such as tax evasion and civilians' fight against gangsters.  His films were not merely for entertainment but also related to serious social issues if not social justice.  And some gangsters got angry to see his film depicting foolish and dangerous gangsters.

Specifically in 1992 when his sixth movie titled Minbo-no On-na (The Woman Fighting Civil Violence), Itami was actually assaulted by members of a big criminal organization, since the film depicted workers of a hotel fighting against yakuza gangsters.  Itami suffered severe cuts on the face and arms; it took three months for him to recover.  The police arrested five members of the Goto-gumi group subject to the nationwide syndicate Yamaguchi-gumi group.

Juzo Itami publicly announced that he would never be intimated.  And he continued to produce and direct his unique films.  Then, the terror by the Aum Shinrikyo cult occurred in 1995.  The Japanese society was alarmed at cults in general, since Aum Shinrikyo's sarin gas terror killed 13 passengers and injured 6,000 commuters near the government district in Tokyo.

In 1997, movie director Itami produced a new film featuring an act of terror by a cult.  It was titled Marutai-no On-na (The Woman under Police Protection), presenting a story that an actress happened to watch a killing of a lawyer and his wife by a cult member, so that she was put under police protection.  It was based on Itami's experience that he had been put under police protection after the gangsters' attack in 1992.  And as was usual, his wife, an actress, played the leading part.

This film apparently was based on behaviors of the Aum Shinrikyo cult.  There had been some murder cases conducted by the cult, or so suspected, before and after the 1995 sarin terror.

Actually a lawyer fighting the cult was murdered with his wife and young son in 1989.  In early 1995, an old man who was a brother of a rich woman whose assets were targeted by the cult was abducted and killed as he was hiding his sister from the cult.  Even Aum Shinrikyo was trying to use anthrax germs to kill its enemies.

But what was more weird occurred after the large-scale police investigation of the cult in the wake of the Tokyo subway sarin-gas attack by the cult in March 1995: one of top executives of the cult was killed by a gangster-group associated man before the cult's headquarters in Tokyo.  This victim, named Murai, made many TV appearances after the terror in subway lines, so that the general public was very much surprised and alarmed.  As Murai was close to the guru of the cult, Asahara (ne Matsumoto), it looked like a warning to Asahara given by some gangster group that had secret linkage with the cult.  Indeed, there was a rumor that the the Aum Shinrikyo cult was making money by producing and selling drugs through gangsters.

So, Itami's 1997 film might irritate some gangsters that had been some secret business with the Aum Shinrikyo cult that had had tens of hundreds of followers and $100 million assets in its prime.  And Juzo Itami died in December 1997 in a mysterious manner.

The police judged that Itami committed a suicide by jumping from the roof of a condominium building in which he had an office.  There was no trace of struggles.  Even a will written with a word processor was found in his office.  Furthermore, at the time, a magazine reported his adultery with a young woman, which must have made him suffer.

However, it is said that an autopsy found a large amount of alcohol in his stomach.  Itami was not a stupid man who would commit a suicide only because his adultery was publicly reported, and usually a man never drank so much when he was committing a suicide.  Itami was most probably killed by gangsters.

Moreover, it is said that at the time Itami planned to make a film related to the Soka-Gakkai Buddhist Association closely linked to a political party, Komeito.  There was a rumor that Soka-Gakkai sometimes used gangsters to harass their enemies.  In addition, Itami was reportedly interested in the dark side of industrial waste disposal business around which some gangsters were allegedly acting secretly for big money.  Furthermore, some gangsters who had attacked Itami in 1992 had been released from jails around 1997.  It cannot be simply denied that they tried an assault again.

Nonetheless, today, there are no big voices in society that cast doubt on Itami's apparent suicide of 1997.  Even, Itami's brother-in-law Kenzaburo Oe, a Nobel prize laureate and strong peace advocate, doesn't express his doubt about Itami's death.

This is one of difficult case deeply related to the dark side of the Japanese society to which even a Nobel prize seems useless to address them.



Juzo Itami
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juzo_Itami






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Joh 7:5 For neither did his brethren believe in him.

"the land which I shall shew thee" - Lack in Respect for God

Shinkansen Train toward Tokyo

Lack in Respect for God

The lack in respect for history is the lack in respect for God.

For example, the tragedy of Mesopotamia or Iraq today is rooted in the lack in respect of the modern people for God.  Mesopotamia is the birth place of the urban civilization of mankind.

The tragedy of Egypt is rooted in the lack in respect for God.  Egypt is the birth place of various cultural and religious elements that had a profound influence on the ancient Greek Civilization.

Due to these tragedies or the lack in respect for God, Arab nations are today suffering wars, arms conflicts, bloody political feuds, and economic disarray accompanied by many refugees.

The tragedy of Afghanistan is also rooted in the lack of respect for God.  Afghanistan was a key region for the Empire of Alexander to stand against Asia.

The tragedy of Syria is also rooted in the lack of respect for God.  Syria is a key region for the Roman Empire to stand against Asia.

And, now Greece is in a tragedy, while the country produced the ancient Greek Civilization that became a major basis for the European Civilization that has continued to today through the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages.

But what does it mean, the tragedy of Gaza, in this context?

Maybe next tragedies might happen in Israel and Europe due to the lack of respect for God.  And then, God will be fully angry.

We can also see many minor tragedies in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.  These regions that belonged to the cultural area influenced by the ancient Indus Civilization might also incur anger of God.

As for the US, as Americans chose an African American, Mr. Barack Obama, as President, God might not be so much angry.  But, for China, its arrogant, rotten, and reckless policies domestically and internationally might arouse anger in God.  And, for Russia, its political and military movements should surely anger God.

In addition, Africa and Latin America are full of corruption and bloody incidents, which might also arouse anger in God, too.

The 21st century must become a century of Anger of God.  There is a possibility that a fatal factor in future destruction of the whole human society is formed in this century.  Like an increase of the amount of CO2 possibly now causing the global warming, some dangerous elements must be being generated and accumulated now.  And at some time in future, this trend will cross a threshold for total destruction.

If mankind today cannot fix those tragedies in Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan, Syria, Greece and so on, they cannot prevent a future fatal tragedy.  Peoples in the world must first have a fear of God.  The earth, the nature, and the history of mankind belong to God.  If mankind harm them, God would punish human beings.

As the first step to show our respect for God, we have to abandon our desire for money, since Christ Jesus said to hate money and love God.



http://pilgrimpassing.com/2012/11/30/is-god-angry-anymore/



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Act 7:2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
Act 7:3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
Act 7:4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.

"with what judgment ye judge" - First Oswald and then Planning

Tokyo

First Oswald and then Planning

When you want to assassinate a US President, for example JFK, you would think that you have to find a scheme to make yourself completely safe from the police.

If you could assassinate a US President, it would be meaningless provided that you are arrested.  You would first of all think about how to secure your safety.  And, till you find a solution to this question, you would not go into specific planning or actions for the assassination.

So, when you get an idea of how to hide yourself completely behind the scene of the planned assassination, you would push ahead with the intrigue.

In this context, when you find Oswald, your planning would start.  Or the whole plot to assassinate JFK started with finding Oswald who would be surely mistaken as the assassin of JFK to make safe the true culprit.

Accordingly, the true culprit of the assassination of JFK must have been someone that had known Oswald very well.  But he must have been also able to use Ruby who would kill Oswald if necessary.  But was there anybody that knew Oswald and Ruby very well and that could manipulate them?

We may as well think that the true culprit of the JFK assassination started to think of the assassination in real when he found that he could use Oswald, and his co-conspirator started to make up a concrete plan to carry out the assassination when he found that he could use Ruby.   Oswald and Ruby would perfectly hide them from the police and the general public, they must have thought.

To kill JFK was not a difficult task, but to hide themselves was a difficult task for them.  But when they found availability of Oswald and Ruby, this difficult issue must have been resolved.  Everybody in the world would think that Oswald was the very shooter and Ruby was a mysterious guy.  But they would never imagine who the true culprit and the  co-conspirator were.

But when was Oswald identified as a convenient dummy by the true culprit?

One of theories is that the true culprit had information about Oswald since Oswald had been stationed in Atsugi, Japan, as a marine.  Oswald apparently looks like having been recruited by CIA during his assignment in Japan.

But how did the true culprit come to know the co-conspirator who knew Ruby?   It must tell what type of profession he had.

Anyway, everything must have begun with Oswald.  The whole scheme of the JFK assassination must have been built around Oswald.

But how much did Oswald realize his role and the then-on-going plot to assassin JFK?  Was he upset or had he been fully brainwashed?

One thing sure was that when JFK's car was approaching to the Dealey Plaza he did not join co-workers to have a look at JFK's motorcade, which is very strange, since Oswald was interested in politics.  He was inside the Texas Schoolbook Depository Building without seeing JFK from a window.  He was taking lunch and buying a cola.  And after encountering a policeman in the eating place of the building, he immediately left it for his boarding room to take up a handgun and went to the Texas Theater.

Till the rifle found in the sixth floor of the building was identified as the one that belonged to Oswald, there was no reason to arrest him or connect Oswald to the assassination of JFK.  He could have a plenty of time to get away.  Or, he had had a plenty of time before November 22, 1963, to make a plan for his escape, if he had been the murderer of JFK.  But he entered the movie theater in Dallas without buying a ticket.

Finally, the true culprit and the co-conspirator could completely hide behind Oswald and Ruby.




US Military Base in Atsugi, in the suburb of Tokyo
http://www.airports-worldwide.com/japan/atsugi_naf_japan.php



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Mat 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Mat 7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

"the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes" - Almost No Christianity in Asia

Tokyo Bay

Almost No Christianity in Asia

More than 90% of the Filipino people are Christians.  In South Korea, Christians account for about 30%.  Bu they are exceptionally Christianity-influenced countries in Asia.

Africa and Americas where no ancient civilizations comparable to the ancient Greek Civilization existed except Egypt, however, are under strong influence of Christianity.

Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism as well as Islam in Asia prevented wider and deeper infiltration of Christianity.  Persia (or Mesopotamia in ancient days), India, and China were great nations with rich culture comparable to the ancient Greek Civilization.  Areas around these ancient great nations have not accepted Christianity, developed in Europe, so easily.

For example, a certain Japanese elite man who joined the Iwakura Mission (1871-1873) sent to the US and Europe by the Meiji Government in its effort to modernize and westernize Japan after the Meiji Restoration wrote when observing the US and Europe:
Europeans are greedy.  They love too much material luxuries.  As the nature of Europe is relatively poor in comparison with Asia, they rely on material civilization to enrich their lives.  They tend to become wild as their nature, so that they need strong and binding religion.  That is why they have built many great churches in every city.  But Asians love spiritual matters more than Christians.

Indeed, in the east of the Euphrates Christianity has prevailed only in the Philippines as a religion supported by a majority of people.  Indeed, Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam had never prevailed in the Philippines.  

Essentially, if religion differs, economy should essentially also take different schemes.  But globalization of economy, which has been intensified with development of computers and telecommunications, has conquered the barrier of religion.  Or even before globalization of economy, modern science and industry had been spreading over boundaries of nations and regions with different religions.

Nonetheless, conversely, if we admit universal influential power of modern economy and technology/science, application of them to each nation and regions with different religious backgrounds must be different.  And this difference must contribute to secure development of the world.  If only Europe and America lead the world in economy and technology, the world must be dangerously biased.  Asian cultural traditions must check them and correct biased movements.  In other word, Asians must prevent Europeans and Americans from driving recklessly while influencing all the world.

Yet, if such unique merit of Asia against Europe and America should lose significance and power, the world in a mono-color of Western materialization should face a real crisis.

Good and evil can be found everywhere on the earth in Europe, America, and Asia.  But, if the means with which people realize good and the philosophy based on which people avoid evil should lose diversification in the world, mankind must become very fragile and vulnerable to Satan or dark forces.

For example, if all the peoples in the world belong to European-leading Christianity, they will become rotten and degraded, as with Europeans and Americans, so helplessly.  The world must keep a potential, at least in Asia, to stand against anti-Christ movements in Europe and America.
      


http://joshuaproject.net/global_list?listtype=religions

  


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Mar 7:1 Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
Mar 7:2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
Mar 7:3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
Mar 7:4 And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
Mar 7:5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
Mar 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

"Give to every man" - Japan and China around 1900

Downtown Tokyo

Japan and China around 1900

One of the keywords to understanding Japan of today is the Meiji Restoration of the imperial authority of 1868.

It specifically means a big regime change through a civil war.  In this incident, samurais, or the ruling class of Japan consisting of warrior clans, were split into two groups: the pro-Tokugawa shogun camp and the anti-Tokugawa/pro-imperial camp.  In this armed conflict, the shogun from the Tokugawa clan, or the king of samurais, was forced to step down, putting an end to the feudalistic era of Japan.  Subsequently, samurais who took over power started modernization and westernization in a full scale.

Then the government newly formed with the Emperor of Meiji at its center had to tackle an imminent issue: how to protect Japan from Western colonizing powers.  Especially, Russia coming down from Siberia was a formidable potential enemy.

The Meiji Government of Japan then found that its security and economic development needed keeping hegemony over the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan while making clear the borders to Russia.  In this context, Tokyo requested the Korean Kingdom to open the nation and establish a trading relation with Japan.  However, the Korean Kingdom was a tributary country to China, or the Qing Dynasty.  Inevitably, China and Japan came into collision with each other over the hegemony over the Korean Peninsula.  The Korean Kingdom itself was a secluded nation governed by the noble class that treated Korean farmers like slaves.  There was no possibility that Koreans could modernize and westernize themselves by themselves.

Finally, in 1894 the Empire of Japan, whose imperial constitution was enacted in 1890, started to engage in war against China, which is called the first Sino-Japanese War.   The Empire of Japan defeated China.  Both Japan and Qing had imported a sufficient number of war ships and modern weapons from Western nations.  But the Qing court spent some of its budget for luxuries without taking the Japanese challenge so seriously, while Japan was strengthened not only by modern weapons but also traditional samurai spirit.

China lost its political influence on the Kingdom of Korea.  Tokyo even acquired Taiwan.  And, this war gave a great shock not only to the imperial court of Qing but also to Western nations.  Russia, the UK, France, Germany and so on intensified their invasion of China.  This defeat shook the Qing dynasty more than the Opium War in 1840s where the dynasty was defeated by England.

In the wake of this first Sino-Japanese War, the Empire of Japan came to face directly Russians who had always sent its troops in Manchuria, north of Beijing, through various diplomatic pressures on the Qing court.  Japanese also came to actively engaged in commercial activities in mainland China.  Japanese business men expanded their business to Shanghai and other big cities in China with support from the imperial military of Japan.  As a result, Japanese power of influence came to compete with the UK occupying Hong Kong and the US colonizing the Philippines.  

One of symbolic incident before the Japanese -Russo War (1904-1905) was the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.

The uprising took place against a background of severe drought and the disruption caused by the growth of foreign spheres of influence. After several months of growing violence against the foreign and Christian presence in Shandong and the North China plain, in June 1900, Boxer fighters, convinced they were invulnerable to foreign weapons, converged on Beijing with the slogan "Support Qing government and exterminate the foreigners." Foreigners and Chinese Christians sought refuge in the Legation Quarter (of Beijing). In response to reports of an armed invasion to lift the siege, the initially hesitant Empress Dowager Cixi supported the Boxers and on June 21 declared war on the foreign powers. Diplomats, foreign civilians and soldiers as well as Chinese Christians in the Legation Quarter were placed under siege by the Imperial Army of China and the Boxers for 55 days.

Foreign navies started building up their presence along the northern China coast from the end of April 1900. Several international forces were sent to the capital, with varying success, and the Chinese forces were ultimately defeated by the Eight-Nation Alliance of Austria-Hungary,France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

British Lieutenant-General Alfred Gaselee acted as the commanding officer of the Eight-Nation Alliance, which eventually numbered 55,000. The main contingent was composed of Japanese (20,840), Russian (13,150), British (12,020), French (3,520), U.S. (3,420), German (900), Italian (80), Austro-Hungarian (75) and anti-Boxer Chinese troops.[77] The international force finally captured Tianjin on 14 July under the command of the Japanese Colonel Kuriya, after one day of fighting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion


It was Japanese Marines that most contributed to the victory of the Eight-Nation Alliance.

However, it should be noted that in 1900 there were so many foreign troops around Beijing suppressing Chinese troops and militias.  This is the very situation that Japanese wanted to avoid and could avoid when the Meiji Restoration was carried out in 1868 in Japan.  To avoid foreign occupation of Japan, Japan had to first carry out the great regime change, the Meiji Restoration, to concentrate its national power on a new government with the emperor at its center.  Japan had succeeded in avoiding attacks from the Western powers, but it joined them to invade China.

The complicated relationships between Japan and China actually started with the Boxer Rebellion if not with the first Sino-Japanese War.








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Luk 6:30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.

"even Solomon in all his glory" - Time of the Advent of Christ Jesus

Around the Imperial Palace, Tokyo

Time of the Advent of Christ Jesus

Roughly speaking, Judaists had nothing to do with the glory of Alexander the Great (356 BC to 323 BC).

Judaists had nothing to do with Caesar (100 BC to 44 BC) and Cleopatra (69 BC to 30 BC).

But Christ Jesus was born while Augustus (63 BC to AD 14) presided over the Roman Empire as the first emperor of Rome.

It is unthinkable that God sent His Son to the human world very randomly without checking the proceeding of the human history.  One of the mysteries about Christ Jesus is why God had to send His son to the mankind precisely around AD 1 when Rome got its first emperor while perfectly occupying the regions east of the Euphrates, the western part of the Realm of Alexander the Great and his successors.

When looking back to this 2000-year history of mankind, it is clear that the course of the history was set by these men: Alexander the Great, Caesar, and Augustus.  However, in parallel with the political, social, economic, and cultural trends of the world with Western Europe as the leading player, spiritual, religious, and scientific trends were framed by Christianity and Judaism with Islam as a major supplement factor.

However, when Augustus became emperor of Rome without conquering forces in the east of  the Euphrates or even when Alexander the Great decided to return to the West without crossing the Indus River to venture into India, the fate of the Roman Empire or the Mediterranean European power seems to have been set.  These Europeans could not conquer the East.  They could not occupy Persia and India.  So, when Augustus became emperor of Rome, the Empire was destined to be devastated by Asian tribes, which actually happened as the Huns destroyed the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century.

Though the Eastern Empire survived this invasion by nomadic Northern Asian tribe, it lost glory and influential power that had been once comparable to that established by Alexander the Great.

After the Western Roman Empire, the Kingdom of the Franks rose to occupy the regions north of the Alps from the 5th century to the 9th century along with diffusion of Christianity.  Since then, Western Europe developed with Christianity as its religious backbone.  However, Western Europeans could not conquer Asia and the world with the counterbalancing powers such as Muslims, Mongolians, etc. till the Industrial Revolution gave modern weapons to them.

Put simply, without the emergence of Christ Jesus when Augustus became emperor of Rome, Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire should have been more confused and disorganized.  Even the Huns might have had more serious and lasting impacts on Western Europe.  In order to make products of the ancient Greek Civilization survive and inherited, Western Europe must have been restored with Christianity as its backbone after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.  Indeed, legacies of the ancient Greek Civilization was the most important basis of the Industrial Revolution that started in England in the middle 18th century.

When it became clear that the Roman Empire, just being newly shaped by Augustus as the overwhelming empire extending from the Mediterranean to England, could not occupy Asia with a possibility that the Empire would be destroyed by northern Asians centuries later, God sent Christ Jesus to Palestine under the rule of Romans.

In other word, God used the Roman Empire as a vehicle to disseminate His word or Christianity.  And for this purpose, He had to send Christ Jesus when Augustus became Roman emperor.  The timing must have been so exact.

Anyway, the Pope and any other responsible persons must explain why Christ Jesus came to the world around AD 1.

The time of the Advent of Christ Jesus must have been profoundly chosen by God, probably, for the above stated reason.




The Huns Triggered Invasion of the Roman Empire Driving Germanic Peoples 
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B4%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E6%97%8F



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Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

" and gave it to the damsel" - No Japanese Spies in America in WWII

Tokyo

No Japanese Spies in America in WWII

The US built huge air bases in three islands in the Pacific for bombing the Empire of Japan after US fleets and troops took over Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in 1944.

And in August 1945, a small air squadron of B29 bombers attacked Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs, which led to the surrender of the Empire on August 15.

But couldn't the Imperial military notice anything foretelling the atomic bomb attacks?  No, they could not effectively, but...

A special intelligence unit of the Imperial Army was intercepting radio communications between US air planes and air bases in the Pacific Ocean.  The unit had listening facilities around Tokyo.  They could capture radio waves transmitted even by B29s flying around Saipan, Tinian, and Guam.

At the time Japanese intelligence officers could not decipher coded signals the US military was then using, though they could decode US diplomatic coded messages.  However, they discovered that B29s used specific ID numbers like V400, V500, and V700.  It looked like B29 bombers were divided into the three major formations: V400, V500, and V700.  Each formation seemed to be using a specific air base in either of the three islands: Saipan, Tinian, and Guam.  For example, if a B29 radioed a signal 15V500, the bomber was the 15th plane of the V500 air battalion.

In this way, Tokyo comprehended how many B29s were stationed in each of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in early 1945.  But one day in May 1945, the intercepting unit detected a very strange radio signal from a B29 flying from Hawaii to Tinian, which had never happened before.  The B29 sent a message directly to Washington DC.  And this B29 expressed itself as XXV600.  It belonged to a new air battalion.

However, as time went by and more radio interceptions were made,  it became clear that this air battalion had only 10 or so B29s, while each of other battalions had more than 120 B29s.  Japanese intelligence officers paid their attention to movements of this V600 unit.  V600's B29s were only training themselves sometimes flying near to Japan over Iwojima.  Even in such drill flyings, they flew only in a single- or a few-plane formation.   They didn't join air raids being pushed forward by other B29 squadrons.

Then one day, Japanese radars and radio interception facilities detected one B29 of the V600 battalion approaching Japan.  It was flying toward the Inland Sea of the Japanese Archipelago.   When B29s came to bomb Japanese cities on the Inland Sea regions, between Northern Kyusyu and Osaka, they usually came from the west.   But in the sky over the straight between the western end of the Inland Sea and the Pacific Ocean there were no other B29s.  Japanese intelligence officers in radio facilities around Tokyo thought it was funny.   Then several hours later, they were reported that a few B29s that invaded into the sky over Hiroshima, on the Inland Sea, from the eastern direction dropped a new-type of bomb that destroyed most of Hiroshima City.

One of Japanese intelligence officers then remembered that he read a report, weeks before, of intercepted American news that one of US newspapers reported that an important experiment was successfully completed in New Mexico.  It must have been an atomic bomb test.

It is true as the US Government sent almost all of Japanese Americans and Japanese living in the mainland US to concentration camps in the wake of the Pearl Harbor Attack of December 1941, there was none in the mainland US that would spy on US military movements for the Empire of Japan.

But if the Imperial Japanese Army/Navy had had such concrete information that V600 B29s were for the atomic bomb attack mission, they should have sent scores of zero-fighters to the sky over Hiroshima to shoot down these 2 to 3 B29s venturing into Hiroshima with the atomic bomb.

However, there were none in the mainland America that would work for Japanese to spy on the US Government in WWII.

  




US B29 bombers in Tinian Island in WWII
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%86%E3%83%8B%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E5%B3%B6



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Mar 6:27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
Mar 6:28 And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.
Mar 6:29 And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.
Mar 6:30 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.

”Woe unto you” - Rich People Cause War and Terror

Tokyo

Rich People Cause War and Terror

Many people have died or been killed.

The most tragic death is always death in war.  But what would survivors feel to deaths in a war?  In most cases, survivors don't become more religious or holier.  They feel cold reality that they have to earn money to further live on.

From the beginning a war has been always launched by rich people, such as emperors, kings, presidents, ministers, politicians, industrial leaders, and so on.  Their philosophy never changes before and after wars.  Accordingly, people who are controlled and forced to fight as soldiers simply follow the social and philosophical paradigms rich people design and introduce.  Tragedy of wars never improve human nature.

The Roman Empire never became better in terms of respect of humanity while it had been engaged in a series of wars over centuries since its foundation.  The United States has never become better in terms of respect of humanity while it has been engaged in a series of wars over centuries since its foundation, though it has expanded freedom of African Americans and other minorities after each war it has been engaged in.  The same applies to European nations, Russia, China, India, Islamic nations, etc.

But it is very mysterious why God gives some young men a fate of being killed in war.  What is significance for a young man to be given such fate, death in war?  What is a relationship between God and such a man destined to become a soldier and get killed in a war?  How much does God love such young soldiers to be killed in war?

God might be watching if mankind as a whole might learn lessons from wars to become more spiritual, righteous, and pious to abandon war.  But, from the beginning, war is launched by rich people, such as emperors, kings, presidents, ministers, politicians, industrial leaders, and so on.  Accordingly, to eradicate war, mankind should eradicate rich people.

But like the case of the Soviet Union, if superficial communists take power after battles against rich capitalists, their leaders become rich in a superficial communist country.  Wars make them richer in a superficial communist country.

Behind a war, there are many rich people who are promoting it as it makes them richer.

It can apply to terror.  Behind an act of terror, there are many rich people who are promoting it as it makes them richer.

But you cannot eradicate rich people through war.  Only your faith in God can make rich people powerless.  True peace means rule by faith in God.






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Luk 6:25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
Luk 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
Luk 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

"Rabbi, when camest thou hither?" - Imperial Shinto Rites

Around Tokyo

Imperial Shinto Rites

One interest thing about Japan: Shinto rites practiced by the Emperor in the Imperial Palace, Tokyo, 30 times or so per year.

For this purpose, a shinto shrine, consisting of three wooden buildings, is installed in the Palace.  The Emperor usually wears traditional clothes when he performs this sacred duty.

Interestingly, the Empress, born in a normal (though very rich) family without an inherent linkage to the imperial shinto but raised in Catholic environments, is said to be very devout in supporting the Emperor for shinto rites.


The Emperor in Rites in Shrine in the Imperial Palace 
http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/about/gokomu/kyuchu/saishi/saishi.html


The Emperor at Official Work 
http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/activity/activity/01/activity01.html

For example, in coldness of winter, the emperor sits and prays in a sacred room for an hour or more without heating during his religious performance.  It is accompanied by physical pains.  As the Emperor is now so old, some rituals might be simplified, but he insists to carry it on.

The point at issue is if you don't perform sincere and strict religious rituals 30 times or more yearly in Japan, you cannot be respected by the general public as much as the Emperor.

In China and Korea, their Presidents are not linked with any traditional religious authority.

Japan represents East Asia.






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Joh 6:25 And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?
Joh 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

"not up for yourselves treasures upon earth" - Tragic and Crazy Japanese Authors

Mt. Fuji observed from Tokyo

Tragic and Crazy Japanese Authors

Only two Japanese authors have ever won the Nobel Prize: Yasunari Kawabata in 1968 and Kenzaburo Oe in 1994.

It is very strange that this mighty nation Japan with long history has not been appreciated well by the world in terms of literature.  Even the US with only 200 year history has 10 Nobel laureates in literature.  Japan is the nation that produced the world-first full-length novel written by a female author before 1000.  Though there is a language barrier, Japanese authors must receive higher reputation.

But there was one singular author after WWII.  Yukio Mishima gradauted from the University of Tokyo to become an elite bureaucrat of the Government in 1947.  But he quit the job to concentrate on creation of literary works.  Mishima's talent was highly appreciated, though Mishima became a kind of follower of Yasunari Kawabata who had already established his reputation in the Japanese literary arena before WWII.

Mishima's works were translated in English and other European languages.  In 1960s, Mishima was regarded as one of the likeliest candidates for Nobel prize for literature, though it was Kawabata that won the prize in 1968.

In 1956 or 1957, Mishima, already a best-selling author, happened to find a very attractive student, Miss Shoda in a Christian women's college in Tokyo.  At the time, only daughters of wealthy families or upper-class families learnt in universities.  Yukio Mishima himself was from a kind of elite family.  Misihima wanted to marry her.  So, it was arranged that Mishima and Miss Shoda went to see a Kabuki play and take a meal together in Ginza.  But eventually Miss Shoda rejected Mishima.

In 1958, Mishima must be surprised that Miss Michiko Shoda contracted marriage with Crown Prince Akihito.  She became Crown Princess of Japan in 1959.

Yukio Mishoma married in 1958 and continued to write many novels and dramas all of which sold well.  Mishima became one of central figures in the Japanese literary world.  But in 1961, Mishima supported publication of an anti-Imperial House novel where the Crown Princess was beheaded.

However, Mishima gradually became nationalistic.  He played a samurai in a film.  He trained himself physically.  He made many appearances in TV as a popular person of culture.  He organized a nationalistic group oriented toward a sort of militarism.  Though Mishima wrote novels based on Japanese cultural traditions, his social activities became so outstanding with an inclination to nationalism while the society became noisy with anti-Vietnam War student movements and other leftist-triggered violent incidents.  It was the era of the Cold War.    

Then, in 1968, Kawabata won the Nobel Prize, though it was said that Mishima competed hard for the prize with strong support from some authors and critics in the world.

And, in 1970, Yukio Mishima and a few of his followers suddenly occupied a commander office of the Self-Defense Ground Force in Tokyo.  The office was in the headquarters building in the center of Tokyo.  Mishima delivered a nationalistic speech from the balcony of the building to many servicemen who gathered before the entrance of the building.  Mishima called for a kind of coup for a nationalistic cause.  But no one followed him.  Then, Mishima went back to the office to commit a suicide in a harakiri manner.  The Japanese society got extremely shocked.

Yasunari Kawabata, closely associated with Mishma in literature, had nothing to do with Mishima's political activities.  But this crazy incident must have a deep influence on Kawabata.  In 1972, Kawabata committed a suicide in a flat he had near his house in Kamakura, a seashore satellite city of Tokyo, for a mysterious reason.

Since the deaths of Ysunari Kawaba and Yukio Mishima, a Nobel laureate in literature and a strong candidate for the prize, no Japanese authors could win a Nobel Prize till 1994.
    

There must be complicated processes and reasons for the Nobel Committee to present a prize to an author.  And, they must be more complicated when dealing with Japanese authors.


But you may wonder what should have happened if Yukio Mishima had married Michiko Shoda.  Mishima might not have committed a crazy suicide but won a Nobel Prize.  Even Yasunari Kawabata would not have committed a suicide.  And, some Japanese authors might have received Nobel Prizes in 1970s and 1980s.  However, it must be impossible for Empress Michiko.





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Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: