Jenkins’ hometown reacts with rage, indifference to visit
“I would have liked to have seen him lined up and shot like a traitor. I don’t care how old he is. He still did it,” said Vera Outland, who had considered lining Main Street with protest signs for Jenkins’ return.
In the end, she decided he wasn’t worth the trouble.
“If you ask me, he was a coward,” said retired U.S. Army Col. Earl Daniels, who went to school with Jenkins and served a combat tour in Vietnam. “I hope I don’t meet him on the street, tell you the truth, because I don’t know how I would react.”
Not exactly the reception that Jenkins has been getting in Japan.
For Chinese, Peasant Revolt Is Rare Victory
I had mentioned when it first happened, back during the anti-Japan protests, but the Washington Post has a very good, long article on it. Well worth reading.
Khmer Rouge trial to get more funds
PHNOM PENH (Kyodo) Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Japan is prepared to cover the $11 million shortfall in funds for a tribunal to bring former Khmer Rouge leaders to justice, Cambodian government sources said.
In a meeting Friday with Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Machimura said Cambodia could use an already allocated Japanese grant to meet the shortfall, according to a senior official who attended the meeting.
Rightists thwart Yasukuni rally by Taiwanese
A group of indigenous Taiwanese gave up an attempt Tuesday to stage a rally at Yasukuni Shrine because they didn’t want to clash with rightists.
They had hoped to protest Yasukuni’s enshrinement of their relatives who died fighting for Japan in the war.
About 50 descendents or relatives led by indigenous legislator Kao Chin Su-mei arrived near the shrine in central Tokyo in the morning on two buses. They decided to scrub the protest after police told them the shrine was surrounded by 100 rightwingers, Kao Chin said.
[…]
Up to 150 officers, including riot police, were mobilized to prevent a confrontation between the two sides.
It’s pretty sad that the rightwingers managed to drive off the protesters after coming all the way from Taiwan. According to a Taipei Times report right-wingers had been threatening the aboriginal protesters before they even left Taiwan.
May Chin said last week her office had received “countless phone calls” warning her group against making the trip.
She said she had also been sent an anonymous postcard which threatened in Mandarin: “I will wait for you in Japan on June 13 so that you can come to Japan and return lifeless to Taiwan.”
You might think that 150 police officers may sound like adequate protection, but I wouldn’t count on Japanese police to keep me safe from anything.