Thanks to Mainichi:
20 broken windows, thrown water bottles, tomatoes, eggs, yakiimo, enough so that you can’t step without stepping on something.
In addition to the damage at the embassy, Japanese restaurants, businesses, even Japanese cars were attacked.
The Embassy released the pictures to the Japanese media after Chinese authorities banned foreign reporters from the Embassy area.
From SANSPO:
Yasukuni Shrine in Kudan, Tokyo, held the first “ritual” pro wrestling match “Yamato Land of the Gods Strength Festival” in 44 years on April 10th.
Six matches were held by the ZERO1-MAX wrestling league in the outdoor compound, where the burning flames lit up the fully bloomed night cherry blossoms. The main event, AWA heavyweight world champion Omori Takao (35) successfully defended his title for the second time. Ogawa Naoya (37) of UFO and Takefuji Keiji (42) of AJPW made guest appearances, exciting the 3627 fans crowded into the shrine. “It’s wonderful to be at such a special place,” gushed ZERO1 Representative Otani Shinji (32).
The last ritual match was held in April 1961 with Rikidozan protegees Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki. 5000 people came to see it back then. There was also an historic March 1921 mixed styles wrestling match at Yasukuni between American pro wrestler Ad Santel and Judo star Shoji Hikoo.
ZERO1-MAX would like to make the “ritual” pro wrestling a yearly spring tradition at Yasukuni.
UPDATE: The Japan Times seems to be listing events as they are reported, so keep checking there.
Good wrapup by MSNBC
Shenzhen city protests
Thanks FG
Japan Olympic Committee wonders if China can handle the Olympics in 2008
China’s Foreign Minister says protests “not China’s fault”
Anti-Japanese UNSC Entry Protest Planned in front of UN Apr. 11
Japanese in China fear for their safety: “Hide the Japanese flag” they’re told.
Ishihara criticizes both governments: “China is just directing its internal strife at Japan… Japan is simply calling for calm and not expressing the Japanese people’s frustration to China”
China is said to have “banned journalists” from photographing the damage at the Japanese Embassy.
OK, that’s all. I have work to do.
China’s protests and harassment of Japanese people and business owners continue to remind the world of Kristallnacht. This is receiving broad coverage, so I’ll just link to some of it:
2 Japanese students beaten up at Shanghai restaurant
Two Japanese students were beaten at a restaurant in Shanghai on Saturday night and sustained injuries, the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai said Sunday. The students were beaten with a beer mug and an ashtray by an unknown number of Chinese, consulate officials said.
Japan Times
Mainichi
NYT:
Continue reading China keeps it real… Real dumb
Author Murakami Ryu has taken a break from writing about heroin-addicted prostitutes for the time being to present the Japanese public with a question: What would you do if North Korea attacked?
An ad for his new novel, “Hanto wo Deyo” (Depart the Peninsula), describes the scenario:
As 9 North Korean commandos storm the Fukuoka Dome on opening day, 484 of Kim Jong Il’s special forces storm the beaches in mass transport boats, overwhelming the unsuspecting city a mere 2 hours later. They called themselves the “North Korean Resistance Army”. Read about the miracle that occurs in near-future Japan, where the economy has collapsed and international isolation deepens.
What would Japan do in the event of an invasion? It is entirely possible that even a minor attack could cause mass panic or a run on the banks that would leave Japan even more vulnerable. Comments?
(Thanks to Saru for the link)
I’m too lazy to really do any research about this guy (personal friend of Bush, owned the Rangers with him, on the board at JP Morgan) or who came before him, why he’s the ambassador, what happened to Baker (“In March 2005, he joined Citigroup as a advisor to senior management on international matters.” — Wiki) or anything really. I’ll just let you guys take a look at some clips from his Narita Airport speech. It’s full of meaningless platitudes, but I think there were some interesting bits:
Arigato gozaimasu. Kon nichi-wa.
Can’t imagine how badly he mangled that.
Last week shortly after I was sworn in, the President called to emphasize again how much our relationship with Japan meant to him and to the peace of the world. He asked me to convey to you, the people of Japan and to Prime Minister Koizumi his deep appreciation for your friendship and understanding. The President believes that there is much good that we can do together in the world.
Translation: If you had any doubts about how America feels about you beefing up your defense capabilities, read my lips: keep up the good work!
There is no doubt that we live in dangerous, difficult times but there is also no doubt that these can be times of great opportunity. Sixty years ago, World War II was ending and the world realized that a new era was beginning. In my judgment, September 11th was the last day of that old era and the first day of something new.
Opportunities for Japan? Read further:
Continue reading J. Thomas Schieffer arrives in Japan
When I went to a job fair a few weeks ago, an encounter with the woman at the Defense Intelligence Agency counter stuck out in my mind. After giving her spiel about how their agents are given full weapons training and get shipped to a different foreign country every 2 years, she mentioned that they were especially looking for people who spoke foreign languages. When I said I spoke Japanese her eyes lit up and she asked me to stay after and talk with her in more detail. I had to decline though — I’m not ready for that kind of responsibility.
This article gives me an idea as to why they were so interested:
Pentagon to Stress Foreign Languages
By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 8, 2005; Page A04The Pentagon has ordered a broad effort to expand the foreign language skills of the U.S. military, calling for recruitment of more foreign language speakers, higher proficiency levels for linguists and increased language instruction for U.S. forces.
Among measures still under consideration, a senior defense official said, is adoption of a requirement that all or most U.S. military officers understand a foreign language.
This next passage indicates that they have a need for Japanese. While I guess we won’t be fighting the Japanese any time soon, a friend of mine was saying that they often take Japanese speakers and force them to learn how to read Chinese. Kanji gives them a big head start:
“We’re really aiming to move a big part of the force — that would otherwise only know a few words or nothing — up to some kind of middle category,” he said in an interview.
One option under review is whether to require every officer, in Chu’s words, to “have some degree of competence in one or more of what we call the ‘investment languages,’ ” meaning Arabic, Chinese, Japanese or Korean. “We’ve asked the military services for a concept on how we’d do this,” Chu said.
The “defense readiness index” might give us some indication of where we’ll be attacking next:
Titled “Defense Language Transformation Roadmap,” the report outlined a series of directives to the military services and regional commands, with deadlines for action stretching over the next several years.
By the end of the year, for instance, a Pentagon survey is to be conducted to determine how many military and civilian personnel in the Defense Department speak a foreign language. A Pentagon “Language Office” is being established, and a “language readiness index” will be devised to measure the military’s capabilities.
あいつがどれだけ口が達者か
Do you know what a talker that guy is?!
関谷：お前はあいつがどれだけ口が達者か知らないんだよ。
清水：どういう風に？
関谷：こう言えばああ言う、ああ言えばこう言う、こっちが一個と言えば十言ぐらい返ってくるんだから。
Sekitani: You don’t know what a talker that guy is.
Shimizu: How so?
Sekitani: You say this, he says that, you say that, he says this. If you say one thing, he comes back with about 10 things to say.
Thanks, Chosun Ilbo! (I get it for free at the Korean market).
“Kuchi ga tassha” describes a person who is a good talker, or as ALC puts it, has “the gift of gab.” BTW, if you don’t read kanji so much and want to learn more about the vocabulary used, try putting the permalink in rikai.com.
From Japan Today. I think they need to make all schools in Japan like this. Why is Japan so afraid to let its people become fluent in English??
School conducting most classes in English opens in Gunma
Thursday, April 7, 2005 at 07:26 JST
MAEBASHI — An elementary school that will teach nearly all subjects in English opened Wednesday in a Gunma Prefecture city that has been authorized to run schools emphasizing foreign language education under the state’s deregulation initiative.Gunma Kokusai Academy, a privately run school funded in part by the Ota city government, admitted a total of 166 pupils in the first and fourth grades. The school has no students in the second and third grades and plans to fill up the remainder of classes up to the sixth grade in the next two school years. (Kyodo News)
