Month: June 2005

Assorted news updates

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.

The Robots of the Aichi World Expo I

Over the weekend I was browsing at a bookstore in the world’s tallest building and picked up a fantastic Japanese magazine called Robocon, devoted entirely to fans of robots. Mixing news about cutting edge robotics research with coverage of amateur robotic fighting competition and actual technical articles for DIY robot builders this magazine is an absolute must-have for any Japanese reading robot fan (such as yours truly).

The feature article in this issue is naturally a guide to the robots of the 2005 World Expo currently in progress in Aichi prefecture, Japan. The article consists of a map to all the robot attractions at the expo, as well as several great articles introducing the various robots being presented there. I’m going to try and translate some of the more interesting parts over the next few days, but in the meantime here’s a brief look at one of the cutting-edge anthropomorphic droids.

android girl!

National Geographic has this brief article.

Repliee Q1 (at left in both pictures) appeared yesterday at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, where she gestured, blinked, spoke, and even appeared to breathe. Shown with co-creator Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University, the android is partially covered in skinlike silicone. Q1 is powered by a nearby air compressor, and has 31 points of articulation in its upper body.

Internal sensors allow the android to react “naturally.” It can block an attempted slap, for example. But it’s the little, “unconscious” movements that give the robot its eerie verisimilitude: the slight flutter of the eyelids, the subtle rising and falling of the chest, the constant, nearly imperceptible shifting so familiar to humans.

Surrounded by machines that draw portraits, swat fast-moving balls, and snake through debris, Q1 is only one of the showstoppers at the expo’s Prototype Robot Exposition, which aims to showcase Japan’s growing role in the robotics industry.

But given Q1’s reported glitch-related “spasms” at the expo, it may be a while before androids are escorting tour groups or looking after children—which may be just as well. “When a robot looks too much like the real thing, it’s creepy,” Hiroshi told the Associated Press.

For more information, photos, and best of all video, see the official project website at Osaka University’s Intelligent Robotics Laboratory.

The Japanese language website of NEDO (New Energy and industrial technology Development Organization) has some additional information worth mentioning.

The name “Repliee” is supposed to suggest the French word replique (replica).

The Repliee Q1’s skin is made of silicon and colored in imitation of human skin. The android uses air servo actuators to subtly inflate and deflate the chest in imitation of real human breathing. The Repliee has been designed to respond to its environment in the unconscious ways that a human does. For that purpose it has extremely sensitive touch sensors throughout its body, and different kinds of touched trigger different responses. It also has microphones to pick up and respond to human voice.

Size: 680mm wide, 1,500mm tall, 1,100mm deep
Weight: 40kg
Power: air servos (external air compressor)
Movement: Upper body moves via actuators with 42 degrees of freedom
Operation: controlled via serial link to external computer
Usage environment: indoors
Controller size: 1000mm wide x 680mm tall x 850mm deep
Compressor size: 900mm wide x 1360mm tall x 900mm deep

Update- My friend Matt has posted a very, very recompressed version of a video of the robot responding to touch on his website. On an unrelated note, his newest comic/rant about booth babes at E3 is a good complement to my photo report from Computex. The big difference is that Computex booth babes were made to memorize scripts and give presentations about the products. At least that’s what I think they were doing, since it was all in Chinese.

The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

I hadn’t mentioned this when it was first posted, but noticing that Plunge has just linked to one of my recent posts I remembered that I had meant to.

Plunge over at Plunge Pontificates has written a very long article in five parts on the history and ramifications of the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan that bears reading. I do wish he had included footnotes on cited sources within each page, but he promises that a bibliography is forthcoming, so hopefully we’ll be able to see that soon.

The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or Truman: A Modern Day Hero

As the war was coming to an end, President Truman was faced with an incredibly difficult decision. The fighting in Europe was basically over and the focus turned towards Japan. The decision facing President Truman was how to force Japan to surrender. Not just surrender, but to surrender unconditionally. He could call for an invasion of Japan, an action that would likely result in millions of casualties, he could call for a blockade and continued bombing raids, a strategy that would take untold time, tie up massive resources and cause millions of civilian deaths, or he could try a new weapon, one of unknown but suspected massive power. As we all know, he chose the later.

From that point on, his actions have undergone a scrutiny of unbelievable proportions. He has been savaged as a war criminal, compared to Hitler and condemned a mass murder by some. Others consider his actions heroic. I would like to explain why I feel he is one of the later, a hero.

Xinjiang Put Out Big Old Fire from Qing Times

Xinjiang Put Out Big Old Fire from Qing Times
An old big fire rampaged since the Qing times (1644-1911) on Mt. Xiaohuang, a coal-field in Xinjiang, has been lately completely put out, and up to now all the five major fire areas in the place have been stamped out.

Xinjiang is richly endowed with coal resources, but it has become in turn a place long plagued by most serious coal-field fires known to the world, with over 10m tons of coal being senselessly burnt away every year.

Under the direction of late Premier Zhou Enlai, a special fire-fighting center was set up in 1958. By now, altogether 17 big fires have been entirely eliminated in the region.

Yasukuni: Behind the torii

The Yomiuri Shinbum, one of Japan’s major newspapers, has an excellent three part series online on their English website entitled Yasukuni: Behind the torii.

Part 1 – From govt-run shrine for war heroes to bone of contention

Prior to World War II, shrines were usually managed by the Interior Ministry. But Yasukuni Shrine was categorized as a special government shrine and operated by the army and the navy ministries.

The deities enshrined at the shrine are not mythical or historical figures, but the war dead who gave their lives for the nation. Yasukuni is different from a tomb in that it contains neither the remains of the dead nor memorial tablets for them.

The collective enshrinement of the war dead was informally approved by the army and navy, and then given formal approval by the emperor. Not only military personnel and civilians serving with the military are enshrined at Yasukuni, but also bureaucrats, civilians and cadets.

At the end of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), the Japan-China War (1937-45) and World War II (1939-45), a ceremony was held to enshrine the war dead, and bereaved families were invited to the ceremony. The shrine thus became a place to honor the memory of the war dead.

Part 2 – How the govt and people forgave those convicted by tribunal

When the San Francisco Peace Treaty came into effect in 1952 and the Allied Occupation ended in Japan, there was a nationwide movement for the release of war criminals, and more than 40 million people signed a petition for their release.

In 1953, the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors adopted a resolution calling for a pardon for the nation’s war criminals. In the same year, a law to assist bereaved families of those wounded or killed during the war was revised so that bereaved families of war criminals would be eligible for pensions and compensation.

In 1954, the Public Officials Pensions Law was revised to widen and improve measures to assist war criminals. The government designated the executions of war criminals as deaths incurred in the line of duty and did not establish provisions that would disqualify Class-A war criminals from seeking public office.
[…]

In the end, Class-A war criminals, and Class-B and -C war criminals, including suspects, were released by 1956 and 1958, respectively.

Part 3 – Doctrinal disagreements hamper move

Yasukuni Shrine said it would be impossible to enshrine Class-A criminals elsewhere due to Shinto doctrine.

Procedures by which war dead are collectively enshrined are as follows:

— Their names and addresses are written in India ink on traditional Japanese washi paper.

— A ceremony is held to invoke the spirits of the dead and connect them with their names on the paper so that a list can be made.

— The list is placed behind the main shrine.

Yasukuni Shrine has two artifacts in which spirits are enshrined.

The spirits of Class-A criminals were enshrined with more than 2.46 million others in one artifact, while the other enshrines the spirits of Imperial Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa and Prince Kitashirakawa Nagahisa and their families.

According to Yasukuni Shrine, some observers say all the shrine needs to do to move the Class-A criminals is to erase their names from the list. But shrine officials do not agree. The shrine says it is as impossible to extract the spirits of the Class-A criminals as it is to return liquid to a cup after pouring it into a tank of water.

In terms of Shinto doctrine, spirits can only be enshrined separately when they already have been enshrined in a separate artifact, which can be at the same shrine, as there is no way to retrieve specific spirits that already have been enshrined.

Spirits enshrined at one shrine can be moved to another through a procedure that copies them, in a sense. But this procedure can only copy the entire group rather than specific spirits and therefore, does not provide a solution to the problem, the shrine said.

If bereaved families ask the shrine to separate the spirits of the 14, shrine officials said they would tell them that such an action was impossible under Shinto doctrine.

More Apologies

There has been a lot of writing recently about why Japan still needs to apologize more thoroughly for their past history, but Wired News has a brief sidebar article today reminding us that there are plenty of other apologies out there that still need to be said. How many of the people who are pressuring Japan to pass a parliamentary declaration of apology genuinely want them to do so, and how many are counting on it not happening?

Overdue Apology
Lynching took the lives of over 4,700 people before finally being outlawed in the United States, because the Senate refused for years to pass legislation banning what one senator now calls “an American form of terrorism.” Despite the pleas of seven presidents, efforts to pass anti-lynching legislation repeatedly failed because of Senate filibusters staged between 1890 and 1952. On Monday, the Senate will consider a resolution, sponsored by Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) and George Allen (R-Virginia), expressing official remorse for the past.
— Tony Long

Henry Kissinger doesn’t know Chinese history (or maybe just lies about it)

I’ve seen a few blogs point to this new opinion piece by Henry Kissinger, where he conclusively proves that he has absolutely no knowledge of history, and is willing to spout whatever fiction he needs to make his point.

His basic argument is quite simple, that we should stop worrying about China. They are in no way a potential threat, militarily or economically, and people who bring up the possibility of conflict with China are just misguided. Here is some of his logic.

China’s emerging role is often compared to that of imperial Germany at the beginning of the last century, the implication being that a strategic confrontation is inevitable and the United States had best prepare for it. That assumption is as dangerous as it is wrong. Military imperialism is not the Chinese style. China seeks its objectives by careful study, patience and the accumulation of nuances.

It is also unwise to apply to China the policy of military containment of the cold war. The Soviet Union was the heir of an imperialist tradition. The Chinese state in its present dimensions has existed substantially for 2,000 years.

Ok, let’s consider his claim for a second. The comparison is amazingly easy to make. Here is a map of China’s Han dynasty, which lasted from 206 BC to 220AD, contrasted with the modern borders of the Chinese and Mongolian states. For those weak at arithmetic I will point out that 2000 years ago is smack in the middle of this period.

han dynasty china

So how do the borders line up? It seems to me that China is about twice as big now as it was then. Let’s note some of the territories controlled the People’s Republic of China that were not part of the Han Dynasty. Well, missing from the map of Han I see:
Tibet
Xinjiang
Manchuria
Mongolia (inner and outer)

And there are also a number of areas that we could consider China proper that weren’t part of the Han state, particilarly the provinces north of the Great Wall, as well as a large region in the south-west near-oh, and of course Taiwan itself!

Oh, but according to Kissinger:

ll major countries have recognized China’s claim that Taiwan is part of China. So have seven American presidents of both parties, none more emphatically than President George W. Bush.

Yes of course. Thank you for the correction. Let’s look at the most recent public statement President Bush has made about Taiwan.

When asked in an interview with the Fox News TV Channel, “Do we [the US] still stand by an agreement, Mr. President, that if Taiwan is ever invaded, we will come to the defense of Taiwan?” Bush said: “Yes, we do. It’s called the Taiwan Relations Act.”

Let’s look at another example of brilliance from Mister Kissinger.

America needs to understand that a hectoring tone evokes in China memories of imperialist condescension and is not appropriate in dealing with a country that has managed 4,000 years of uninterrupted self-government.

Oh yes, China’s 4000 years of uninterrupted self-government. That would include such self-government as the:
Liao Dynasty 907-1125 established in what later became Mongolia by the Khitan tribal leader Abaoji. Liao’s territory included a great deal of Chinese land and people south of the Great Wall region (ancient the Wall itself had crumbled at this point-the modern one was built several centuries later to replace the ancient Han dynasty structure)

Jin Dynasty (1115-1234)-an empire ruled by the Jurchen people, who invaded from the northeast and conquered the entire northern half of the Song dynasty

Ok, so neither Jin nor Liao actually took over all of China, you may be thinking. Well, out of the three final dynasties that ruled China before the Republic of China finally defeated the old Imperial state, twoof them were governments ruled by foreign invaders!


Yuan Dynasty (1271 to 1368)– aka the Mongolian empire. Genghis Khan (Timüjin)begins the conquest of north China, and his grandson Kublia Khan finally finishes the job, making the vast Chinese empire only a part of the vast Mongol empire. Under Mongol rule, ethnic Chinese (often called ‘Han’ in memory of their glorious ancient empire) were legally second class citizens in every level of society.

After the Yuan government in China collapsed native Chinese rule was restored by the Ming.

In 1616 the descendants of the earlier Jurchens, who had recently renamed themselves the Manchu tribe, invaded part of north China and established a dynasty called the Later Jin, which in 1636 became the Qing dynasty, that like the earlier Yuan was a so-called conquest What is meant by this term is a dynasty in which an invading minority establishes control over territory, much like colonialists throughout the recent pre-modern history of most of the world.

So why exactly does Kissinger use utterly false information about Chinese history to make his argument? Well, he does admit

Before continuing on this subject, I must point out that the consulting company I chair advises clients with business interests around the world, including China. Also, in early May, I spent a week in China, much of it as a guest of the government.

at least he isn’t concealing his interests. If he had any subtlety about him then his BS might just be a little less transparent.

Thanks to Danwei for pointing out the article.

More wacked out Japanese Spam

This starts out sounding like a disgruntled employee trying to get back at his boss, but ends up being just another ploy. Enjoy:

Subject: Destroy this site please.

Target URL: http://knowledge.yahoo.co.jp/ (tr: address changed to protect the innocent)

Hello, everyone, I started working part time at this online dating site 6 months ago, and at first I pretended to be a woman (nekama) and was pretty good at it, getting several responses from customers. But a difference of opinion with the boss got me sent to the spam department where I send tens of thousands of spam messages a day. I guess this e-mail would also be considered spam, huh? Yes, of course it would.

OK, enough about me, here’s the reason for this e-mail. I want you all to to help destroy the most profitable section of this company to get them back for moving me to the spam department. This would be beneficial to you all, and the company won’t even know why it’s happening, leaving them with nothing to do but cry about it. Here’s the strategy:

1. Enter your gender, location, nickname, e-mail address and password and send it in.
2. An e-mail will come back to you with a login link. Use that link to login with the user name and password you created.
3. This will take you to the profile entry area, so quickly make a profile and proceed to the member’s menu.
4. Enter the verification code to use the free 500 points, a 5,000 yen value.
5. This will be a good value for you. Now preparations are complete for my strategy to make the company cry.
6. Now the important part: After seeing your profile men pretending to be women (nekama) are certain to come at you. Those with no dot before their nicknames are all nekama, and those with a dot are all “free” (tr: ie: real), so only respond to those with a dot before their names. Check this in the profile lists. There should definitely be some members with and without dots before their names. DEFINITELY do not respond to the ones without dots. That’s because if you use all your free points on nekama the strategy is a failure! After that you can all enjoy talking to the “free” women. I mean, there are only about 12-15 of them each day! Since they are definitely not nekama the probability of meeting them should definitely be much higher, so keeping in touch with them won’t be a waste of time. I can imagine the worried faces of my bosses when they see that registrations are up but they aren’t responding to the nekama. HAHAHA!
Remember, the target site is http://news.goo.ne.jp/

That is all, you may begin your mission. Thank you very much.

Umeda Hankyu Department Store to be Rebuilt

From Asahi:

Construction to begin August 16

Hankyu Dept. Stores announced that it would begin construction on the rebuilding of its flagship store in Umeda (Osaka Kita-ku) on August 16. Beginning in the South part, they will complete the first stage of construction by Fall 2007. Since the store will lose 30% of their its total sales floor space during construction, Hankyu plans a broad reduction in its living room and food merchandise while maintaining the present level (90%) of floor space for its main product, clothing. It is a strategy aimed at minimizing the effects of construction while trying to attract customers in the fiercely competitive North District of Osaka.

The reconstruction will come in two stages, to be fully completed in the Spring of 2011. After completion, the new building will be an composite commercial building (41 stories above ground, 2 below, with the department store taking up 13 of them). Sales space will expand from the current 61,000 square meters to approximately 84,000 square meters to become the largest department store in Japan.

However, the company predicts that it will not be able to avoid a loss in revenue during the construction, placing an estimate of 25% from current sales numbers (192,000,000,000 yen in March 2005). Such concerns drove the decision to change the sales structure in an effort to increase sales as much as possible.

After beginning construction, Hankyu will tear down an event area in the north side of the store and build a new 5-story building in order to save floor space. They will also install a temporary sales area above the concourse of Hanyku Umeda station.

This will create 5,000 square meters of floor space, securing space for women’s clothing, dry goods, and cosmetics. They will also eliminate some of their restaurants and a rooftop playground.

Further measures to counter revenue losses will be needed when the second stage of construction begins in Autumn 2007. By 2014, Hankyu plans to open 4 suburban department stores and 6 supermarkets a year in an effort to transform their revenue structure.

In “Kita” the North District that includes the JR Osaka Station area, rival department store Daimaru is also planning an expansion, and Mikoshi, which closed in May, has plans to open a store in a new building on the north side of Osaka station. While enduring a rebuilding period, Hankyu is attempting to grow in scale and “maintain its position as number one in the region.”

Comment: I’ll miss the old Osaka, but maybe the new one will look even cooler somehow.

China to ban foreign animation during prime time

The East China Daily reported that the Chinese government plans to ban popular Japanese anime and American cartoons from prime time television (5-9pm) in an effort to develop domestically-produced animation.

It is as yet undecided when the ban will take effect, but it is said that regulations on cartoon character merchandise are also possible. The moves are sure to set off debate both in and out of China since such laws may violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. The Daily writes that this may affect attendance at Hong Kong Disneyland, set to open this September.

China’s television stations are already required by the government to include Chinese-made cartoons as 60% of their cartoon schedules, but outside of China Central Television, this rule is not being followed by regional stations. It is said that this is the reason why the CCP decided to take stronger measures.

America’s Disney cartoons and Japanese anime such as “Captain Tsubasa” (a soccer-themed cartoon), “Chibi Maruko-chan” (a family-oriented comedy), and “Super Magic Hero Wataru” (Some fantasy thing) are popular.