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By Susan Faludi
$17.16
Ha-Joon Chang
$17.79
$35
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By William Pfaff — Will Christmas in America end up like Christmas in Japan, or Halloween in France? That is to say, a merchandising opportunity that eventually flopped.
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President Barack Obama clearly brought great shame upon his nation by taking a deep bow from the waist during his recent visit to Japan. This ill-conceived gesture undoubtedly revealed that he’s weaker than Karl Rove’s chin—and that was even before he got to China.
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news.yahoo.com
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Amid continuing protests by Japanese civilians on Okinawa, President Obama has announced he will create a “high-level working group” to discuss the future of a U.S. Marine Corps air base on the island, a move that appears to be aimed at mending relations with Japan.
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White House / Pete Souza
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By William Pfaff — Who would have thought a year ago that most of the issues of conflict in America’s foreign relations would be made worse during the first year following Barack Obama’s election as U.S. president?
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news.yahoo.com
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With a new populist government in place in Tokyo, the people of Okinawa are stepping up their protest against the relocation of a U.S. Marine Corps air base on the island. They want the base gone altogether.
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telegraph.co.uk
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Worried about catching the dreaded swine flu? Need to update your wardrobe with some stylish and tailored work solutions? You can do both with the Haruyama Trading Co.’s dapper new anti-flu business suit. That, or you could smear yourself in toothpaste, which isn’t exactly the best look for the workplace.
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AP / Alex Brandon
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By Robert Scheer — What if eight years ago the World Trade Center had been leveled by a small nuclear bomb that took out most of lower Manhattan as well? How many millions of innocent civilians would we have killed in retaliation?
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U.S. Navy / MC3 Joshua Cassatt
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By William Pfaff — The most important political question faced by a Japan led by the Democratic Party concerns the Japanese-American security relationship, which is both humiliating and exploitative.
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AP / Itsuo Inouye
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Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party has ruled for all but 11 months since 1955, but a stunning electoral defeat cut its representation in the Diet by perhaps hundreds of seats. The victor in all this, Yukio Hatoyama, called it a revolution and promised to take Japan from a corporate state to a welfare state.
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Flickr / Michell Zappa
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The world’s second-largest economy is back in the black. Japan’s economic growth is positive for the first time in over a year, beating expectations. The good news comes as the economies of Germany and France are also growing and China is in full boom. Kanpai!
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AP / Shizuo Kambayashi
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By Robert Scheer — This week marks the anniversary of a U.S. attack that deliberately took the lives of thousands of children on their way to school.
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U.S. Army Signal Corps
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Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame writes that “official secrecy and deceptions about our nuclear weapons posture and policies and their possible consequences have threatened the survival of the human species.”
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Japanese railway employees use computerized “smile scanners” to be certain they’re offering the best service to customers and greeting them with “natural smiles.” Check out just how happy these people look.
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White House / Pete Souza
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By Chris Hedges — The president had a fleeting moment to challenge the casino capitalism and financial recklessness of our economic and political elite. He could have orchestrated a state socialism that would have provided a safety net for tens of millions of Americans faced with dislocation and misery.
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AP photo / Ahn Young-joon
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By Scott Ritter — North Korea has come under strong international criticism and sanctions for its missile launch, but as a signatory to the 1966 Outer Space Treaty, it is legally permitted to pursue space launch activity. Besides, where is the pandemonium when Japan, Pakistan, Israel, India, Russia and the U.S. refine, test and launch their own ballistic missiles?
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Uh, so we’re not completely sure what to make of this trailer for the Japanese animated series “Cat Shit One” (?!), which features a specialized squad of mercenary sniper rabbits duking it out in the desert with turban-clad camels. Don’t be fooled by the cute-and-fluffy tail action—these bunnies are killing machines.
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Here’s one way to get through a meeting: Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa denies getting tanked at a recent G7 get-together. Nakagawa was caught slurring and nodding off during a press conference, for which he apologized and blamed cold medicine. We’ll have to remember that one. Update
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Flickr.com / PMorgan
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After reconfiguring its output figures, China has finally found itself on the medal podium for gross domestic product, ousting Germany from its role as third largest economy in the world. China’s economy has grown tenfold in the past 30 years, and its development, while marveled at, worries many environmental, human rights and labor activists.
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amazon.com
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A revelatory account of a hidden chapter of the treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II deepens our understanding of American prejudice and the abuse of power.
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By William Pfaff — According to a new report, the U.S. has accomplished little more in Iraq than restoration of the basic services destroyed by the American invasion and the looting that followed. This is after killing or wounding—how many, a half million?—Iraqi civilians in order to liberate them. No wonder the Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at George W. Bush.
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Flickr / Ian Muttoo
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Japanese technology giant Sony Corp. announced Tuesday that it is planning to slash 8,000 jobs—or about 4 percent of its global work force— in response to the deepening international economic crisis.
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commons.wikimedia.org
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Japan’s prime minister says he has information that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is “probably in hospital,” though capable of making decisions. “Anyway, his condition isn’t good,” added Prime Minister Taro Aso, who has been known to dip his toe in outrageous waters.
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Flickr / BBQ Junkie
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Here’s a little something to get that dad or grad you may have missed these last couple of weeks: Honda is rolling out the first commercially available hydrogen fuel-cell car. They get great mileage, emit only water vapor and run real smooth, provided they don’t Hindenburg. True to form, some Southern Californians are already on the waiting list.
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AP photo / Ng Han Guan
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Chinese state media are reporting that more than 50,000 people could be found dead as a result of the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Monday. That’s substantially higher than earlier estimates. The government has already confirmed close to 20,000 deaths.
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businessandmedia.org
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It’s become a visual meme in our culture, but some World War II veterans don’t believe that Joe Rosenthal’s seminal image of Americans hoisting the flag on Mount Suribachi should be appropriated or altered in any way. In fact, some vets, like Donald Mates, believe repurposing the photo, as Time magazine has just done for an issue about global warming, is tantamount to blasphemy.
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www.buddhismus.at
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Speaking from Japan, the Dalai Lama told reporters that he has supported the Beijing Olympics “right from the beginning,” but that protesters have a right to voice themselves. His government in exile, however, released a statement in opposition to the demonstrations that have followed the Olympic torch.
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When asked in a New Hampshire town hall meeting about the possibility of being in Iraq for 50 more years, John McCain says it could be 100 years and that would be “fine with me” so long as American troops aren’t getting killed. Comparing Iraq to South Korea and Japan, McCain suggests it would behoove America to maintain a long-term military presence there.
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greenpeace.org
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Under the pretense of scientific research, a fleet of Japanese whaling ships is hunting the humpback whale for the first time in decades. The whaling mission plans on killing roughly 1,000 animals in all, including 50 or so humpbacks. While Japanese officials claim the purpose of the mission is to study whale organs, the meat from the animals will be sold commercially.
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AP photo / Kyodo News
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Japan’s education ministry has generated protest in Okinawa by erasing one of the country’s worst moments from history textbooks. Okinawans who lost loved ones when the Japanese army ordered them to commit suicide during World War II are bitterly battling the historical omission.
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AP Photo / David Guttenfelder
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Japan’s unpopular prime minister, Shinzo Abe, abruptly announced on Wednesday that he is stepping down. While Abe’s resignation sounds like it should be welcome news, given his lack of public and official support, it looks like even his exit strategy has caused controversy.
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AP Photo / Shizuo Kambayashi
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By Robert Scheer — During a week of mayhem in Iraq, in which terrorists have rightly been condemned for targeting schoolchildren, it is sobering to recall that this week is also the 62nd anniversary of a U.S. attack that deliberately took the lives of thousands of children on their way to school in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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You may have seen the bumper stickers: “Another Environmentalist for Nuclear Power.” With oil prices high and the planet cooking, some prominent green voices want us to reconsider nuke plants. Long before Monday’s earthquake in Japan started a nuclear plant fire (causing a radioactive water leak), writer Rebecca Solnit was trying to stop this line of thinking in its tracks, calling it defeatist and naive.
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North Korea simply refuses to engage in the six-party talks until it receives $25 million in disputed funds. The disarmament deal struck by Washington and Pyongyang is now being held up by “technical problems.” U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill expressed his frustration: “The problem is, you can’t expect all these large delegations to sit around while it is being sorted out.”
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By Ellen Goodman — During World War II, the Japanese army enslaved and raped 100,000 to 200,000 young women. By denying this atrocity, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and others have brought shame back to Japan.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Most people believe Israel and Iran have a substantially negative impact on the world, according to a BBC poll of 28,000 people in 27 countries. Canada and Japan rated highest among nations that were seen to have a largely positive influence.
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washtimes.com
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A top North Korean leader on Thursday reaffirmed his nation’s intention to disarm, calling a nuclear-free Korean peninsula the “dying wish” of former dictator Kim Il Sung. Kim Yong Nam, the North’s second-in-command, said his regime “will make efforts to realize” that wish.
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rottentomatoes.com
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The Japanese daily Sankei says it has obtained an internal government report outlining the requirements for building a nuclear weapon. The Japanese government denies that it intends to build such a device. However, public pressure has mounted following North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.
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U.S. National Archives
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The woman known as “Tokyo Rose” has died at the age of 90, almost 60 years after she was imprisoned for broadcasting propaganda messages to U.S. soldiers in WWII. Pardoned in 1977, the Japanese-American Iva Toguri never agreed to renounce her citizenship, and was convicted of treason in a sham trial in 1949.
Posted on Sep 28, 2006
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Illustration by Peter Scheer
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The retail giant has met its match in the Japanese consumer: Seiyu, Wal-Mart’s Japanese division, has posted $465 million in losses for the first half of 2006. It’s not looking good overseas for the shopping mecca?German and South Korean divisions were shut down earlier this year after poor performance.
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Marching in Chicago: Resisting Rahm Emanuel’s Neoliberal Savagery
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