Toyota, apologies, again...

Toyota president Akio Toyoda said Tuesday he accepts "personal responsibility" for the automaker's recalls and safety woes and vowed to rebuild confidence in the company. Toyota announced it was recalling 437,000 Prius and other hybrid vehicles globally to repair a flaw in the braking system, the latest in a series of recalls affecting millions of vehicles worldwide. "I am deeply disappointed by (the recalls) and apologize." "As the president of Toyota, I take personal responsibility. That is why I am personally leading the effort to restore trust in our word and in our product." He wrote that the company in its 70-year history "has always put the needs of our customers first" and that Toyota "has not lived up to the high standards we set for ourselves" with the recent recalls.

How the Japanese TV presented the last message of the Nagoya firm chief

VDO

I am told by sources in Tokyo that a few months ago, some Toyota US based PR managers resigned, anticipating the difficulties of the firm. Bureaucracy, lack of care for the consumers, lack of proper communication with the public, etc. I am also told that Toyota went cheap on some components. So it's not just a few default, it might be as well a policy.

Time to stop bowing, to stand back and to watch out... anyone.

(Sources: youtube, wire services, reporter's notes)

Palestine: back to the negotiations table? Nothing sure, again.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki

"Political negotiations and international protections needed and we won't be dragged in confrontations with Israel because we know we will loose".

Riad Malki

In Tokyo, visiting Palestine President Abbas stressed yesterday that the peace negotiations must be based on the 2003 performance-based road map presented by the European Union, Russia, United States and the United Nations that calls for Palestine to end "all acts of violence against Israelis" and demands that Israel "freeze all settlement activity" and "take all necessary steps to help normalize Palestinian life within a 4 months agenda."

In the meantime, Israeli forces have raided a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, arresting at least 40 people. The arrests on Monday at the Shuafat camp in annexed east Jerusalem were part of an operation that Israeli police said was aimed at "putting order" in the area. The dispute took a violent turn when Palestinian schoolchildren threw rocks at Israeli police vehicles heading into Shoafat Refugee Camp on Monday, injuring four officers, an Israeli police spokesman said.

We invited at the FCCJ the Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki who accompanies president Abbas, Malki said that any renewed peace talks with Israel, which have been stalled since the launching of a three-week Gaza war in December 2008, must focus on border issues and set a deadline of four months.

The Palestinian cabinet "strongly condemned" what it called an Israeli incursion and its senior officials said negotiations with Israel could resume only if they focussed on borders and other core conflict issues and set out a clear deadline. Citing biblical roots to the city, Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its "indivisible and eternal capital," a claim that has not been recognised internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel after the 1967 conflict, to be the capital of the state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli and Palestinian protesters have squared off on a weekly basis in the past few months during generally peaceful demonstrations staged against Israel's recent seizure of homes inhabited by Palestinians in parts of East Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, the leader of Hamas said yesterday he sees "no prospects' for a Mideast peace settlement, a stand that could reduce Russia's chances of holding a Middle East peace conference that includes the Palestinian militant group. Khaled Mashaal said that Israeli leaders bring "war and occupation, thus blocking meaningful negotiations regarding the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon. "In the nearest future we see no prospects of peace settlement in the region, in Syria and Lebanon," Mashaal said.

How and when a solution ?

The Quartet – the US, EU, Russia and the UN – is expected to hold a high level meeting toward the end of February in Moscow to assess the current diplomatic situation. According to an European official, Abbas still "seems to be maintaining that negotiations at this stage would not lead to anything, and would only undermine his position among his own constituency." The official said it was difficult now for Abbas "to convince his people that going to negotiations would be any different than in the past, and that just as nothing came out of the Oslo process, Camp David, Annapolis or talks with former prime minister Ehud Olmert, so too new negotiations would not likely lead anywhere." "What they fear," the official said of the PA leadership, "is that they will go into negotiations and everything will be opened yet again. They want to know where the starting point is, and their starting point is what they think was agreed in the past: that a Palestinian state will be established on territory along the 1967 lines, that Jerusalem will be a shared capital, and that there will be an agreed – not unilaterally imposed – solution to the refugee issue." Once those principles were agreed upon, he said, the Palestinians would be willing to enter talks and discuss where borders would run, which settlements would be removed and which would stay, and the terms of a land swap.

When scholars forcing the US views enter the arena: It gives this document:

"Imposing Middle East Peace an analysis" by the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre

Quotes "The continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank seems to have finally locked in the permanence of Israel’s colonial project. Israel has crossed the threshold from the Middle East’s only democracy to the only “apartheid regime” in the Western world. But forceful outside intervention may provide one final hope to reverse the settlement enterprise and achieve a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. In the absence of forward movement on the “peace process,” third-party initiatives once thought to constitute unwanted interference now appear to be the only path to the conflict’s resolution. Proposals emanating from Europe and the Palestinian Authority could pave the way for an exercise of Palestinian self-determination in the occupied territories, but only if the US sets aright the chronic imbalance of power between Israel and the Palestinians. If left to their own devices – including, as some have proposed, to reconcile their conflicting historical “narratives” – the further usurpation of Palestinian lands, and the disappearance of the two-state option, is all but ensured. The outcome will depend in large measure on whether the Obama administration transitions from a role of “facilitation” to one of “intervention” before Israel’s settlement policy consigns the two-state solution to the dustbin of history."

http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=31815

In other words, Abbas is working with the US and not as sincerely with the other partners of the Quartet for a solution that his people won't accept nor Israel...

Ainu claim independence to Prime Minister Hatoyama

Ainu were recognized as indigenous people in 2008, they now want independence!

Being Japanese, an illusion of homogeneity?

On Hokkaido, northern island of Japan, the original inhabitants are the Ainu (アイヌ). An indigenous ethnic group of Japan like Maori or Tahitians in the Pacific. Historically they spoke their own language and lived in Hokkaido, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin.

Most of those who identify themselves as Ainu still live in this same region, how many are they today? Ainu backgrounds hiding their identities and confusion over mixed heritages makes it difficult to answer. Official estimates of the population are of around 25,000, whilst unofficially the number is upwards of 200,000 people.

The Ainu people were victims of a genocide since the 15th century. Oppressed, hunt, murdered, they never stopped claiming that the land and their culture be given back, never heard by Japanese rulers. Nothing to envy to Tibetans facing China invasion in the 1950's or the "Bretons" of France killed by the French republicans in the 18th century.

In 1899 the Japanese government passed an act labeling the Ainu as former aborigines, with the idea they would assimilate - this resulted in the land the Ainu people lived on being taken by the Japanese government, and was from then on under Japanese control. Also at this time, the Ainu were granted automatic Japanese citizenship, effectively denying them of being an indigenous group.

Today, many Ainu dislike the term Ainu because it had once been used with derogatory nuance, and prefer to identify themselves as Utari (comrade in the Ainu language). In official documents both names are used. Today Ainu leaders claim recognition of their language, culture, and from the new Democrat government of Yukio Hatoyama.

This interview is the most impressive I ever made of an Ainu leader obtained while I visited Hokkaido very recently invited by the 2010 APEC Sapporo Secretariat, an interview of Mr Sawaiaku who is the head of the International affairs department of the Ainu Association. Cheerful, a lot of humanity, he compares the political movement of the Ainu to the fight for peace and freedom of Pacific territories aborigines. Pay attention to the last question asked.

VDO (at Ainu cultural promotion center and museum, Sapporo Pirka Kotan)

Mr. Sawaiaku: "The most urgent thing I'll ask to Yukio Hatoyama is the return of our territorial rights to the Ainu people."

His requests are strong: Ainu independence, Ainu territory rights and recognition of the land of the Ainu and of their way of life and language. His requests in this outing also show they want to disband from the Japanese economic and social system ruled by Japanese government, this document testifies the hardship endured by Ainu for generations.

For many Ainu people and their political supporters, in other words, the Ainu Cultural Promotion Law is not the end of a struggle for recognition, but rather the start of an ongoing process of negotiation with the Japanese state about the boundaries of self determination. The law's most important feature is that it does at least mark recognition by the state that there is something to negotiate about and someone to negotiate with. In this sense, it represents an important break with the entrenched assumption that all Japanese citizens share a single race, culture and identity. Given the unequal power relationship of the participants, however, this new phase of negotiation will be a long and difficult one whose outcome remains uncertain.

Ainu are indeed indigenous and minority peoples

As signatories of the United Nations Treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which was signed by Japan in 1979, the Japanese had been forced to face the issue that the Ainu were indeed indigenous and minority peoples, which supported the Ainu in their pursuit of their rights to their distinct culture and language. There are many different organizations of Ainu trying to further their cause in many different ways.

There is an umbrella group of which most Hokkaido Ainu and some other Ainu are members, called the Hokkaido Utari Association, originally controlled by the government with the intention of speeding Ainu assimilation and integration into the Japanese nation-state, which now operates mostly independently of the government and is run exclusively by Ainu.

On 6 June 2008, a bi-partisan, non-binding resolution was approved by the Japanese Diet calling upon the government to recognize the Ainu people as indigenous to Japan and urge an end to discrimination against the group. The resolution recognized the Ainu people as "an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture" and rescinds the law passed in 1899.

Though the resolution is historically significant, Hideaki Uemura, professor at Keisen University in Tokyo and a specialist in indigenous peoples' rights, commented that the motion is "weak in the sense of recognizing historical facts" as the Ainu were "forced" to become Japanese in the first place.

History, a review of the Ainu genocide

In the mid-1400's, "the Japanese extended their influence over southern Hokkaido, primarily Esashi and Matsumae. Later, they came to op-press the Ainu. To resist the oppression by the Japanese, the Ainu waged the Battle of Kosyamain in 1457, the Battle of Syaksyain in 1669, and the Battle of Kunasiri-Menasi in 1789. The Ainu lost each time. After losing the Battle of Kunasiri-Menasi in particular, the Ainu fell completely under the control of the Japanese.

They remained oppressed and exploited by the Japanese until the Meiji era. In the Meiji era, under the government policy of assimilation, the Ainu were prohibited from observing their daily customs. Given the status of former aborigines, the Ainu were forced to abide by Japanese daily customs. In 1899, the Hokkaido Aborigine Protection Act was passed. The act primarily aimed to provide relief for the Ainu and help them become engaged in agriculture. However, the act designated the Ainu as "former aborigines" and clarified the distinction between the Japanese and the Ainu.

In the late Meiji era, with an increasing number of Japanese colonizing Hokkaido from Honshu, the oppression and exploitation of the Ainu was replaced by discrimination against them. Discrimination against the Ainu still remains today and has become a major social problem.

Various activities are being vigorously promoted to revive the Ainu language and to preserve and maintain Ainu culture, such as traditional dancing and various ceremonies. Ainu language classes are being held in various parts of Hokkaido. Moreover, associations to preserve traditional dancing have been organized to revive and conduct ceremonies such as Iyomante and Chipsanke.

Ainu who lived in Hokkaido, the Kurile Islands and Sakhalin were called "Hokkaido Ainu", "Kurile Ainu" and "Sakhalin Ainu" respectively. Most Ainu now live in Hokkaido. It has been confirmed that a few Ainu people now live in Sakhalin. The census of the Ainu was started by the Japanese in the 1800 s for various purposes, e.g. for putting them to work. The Ainu population from 1807 to 1931 varied as follows : 1807 : 26,256 1822 : 23,563 1854 : 17,810 1873 : 16,272 1903 : 17,783 1931 : 15,969.

These figures (estimated ones) show that the population decreased particularly sharply from 1822 to 1854. The reasons for the decrease were, among others, the spread through the Ainu population of such diseases as smallpox, measles, cholera, tuberculosis and venereal diseases and the breakup of families due to forced labor. According to a current survey conducted by the Hokkaido Government in 1984, the Ainu population of Hokkaido then was 24,381."

June 6, 2008 will go down in the pages of history as a groundbreaking memorial day. On this day, the Diet resolution calling for the government to recognize the Ainu as an indigenous people and to further implement related measures was unanimously passed and approved during the Upper House plenary session. Will Yukio Hatoyama and the new leadership pay attention to what constitutes, brutality included, an other unbearable outrage to humanity?

History of the Ainu

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~wfukui/history.htm

http://tinyurl.com/yz7u8sd

Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity Book by Michael Weiner; Routledge, 1997

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&docId=104119301

Quotes of Richard Siddle :

"The Ainu are the indigenous people of northern Japan. At first glance this may appear a straightforward and uncontroversial statement; after all, the subordination and dispossession of the Ainu under a colonial regime in Hokkaido has numerous parallels among other Fourth World populations like Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, Inuit, Maori, Sami and others, estimated to number between 200 and 300 million people. Sparked into political activism during the wave of worldwide decolonization following the Second World War, many internally colonized ‘native’ or ‘tribal’ populations have redefined themselves as ‘indigenous peoples’.

In common with these other groups, the Ainu were dispossessed of their ancestral land and resources by the expansion of a vigorous colonial state. Traditional life-ways collapsed as hunting and fishing territories were settled by waves of immigrants and transformed into agricultural land. Government policies of relocation and assimilation aimed at the eventual extinction of the Ainu as a people, aided by a system of ‘native education’ that actively discouraged Ainu language and customs.

While clearly supported by the historical record, such an interpretation arouses considerable opposition within Japan. Official and popular history views the creation of Hokkaido as an exercise in ‘development’ (kaitaku), not colonialism. At the level of commonsense understanding a master narrative of seamless national homogeneity denies the existence of the Ainu as an ethnic minority group; the Ainu are regarded as either totally assimilated or biologically extinct.

Nevertheless, a striking ‘ethnic revival’ is underway among the Ainu. The cultural symbols and rhetoric of Ainuness have become highly visible in recent decades as Ainu leaders press their claim for justice and rights as a separate and indigenous people."

(sources: Ainu museum, Hokkaido university, Wikipedia, Reporter's notes)

Asian Gazette 2010 ©

Sapporo Snow Festival: Encounter with snowballing Japanese army

From Sapporo on the northern Hokkaido island in Japan

(札幌市- Coordinates: 43°4′N 141°21′E) is the fifth-largest city in Japan by population. It is the capital of Hokkaidō Prefecture, located in Ishikari Subprefecture, and an ordinance-designated city of Japan. Sapporo is best known outside Japan for hosting the 1972 Winter Olympics, the first ever held in Asia, and for the annual Yuki Matsuri in the city, internationally referred to as the Sapporo Snow Festival, which draws more than 2 million tourists from around the world. The city is also home to Sapporo Brewery which is a must to taste with the Sapporo Ramen (Noodle soup with miso) when you hang around Susukino night district with a friendly gang of freezing reporters.

Sapporo Snow Festival is one of Japan's largest winter events, funniest, and attracts a growing number of visitors from Japan and abroad every year. Every winter, about two million people come to Sapporo to see the hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures which line Odori Park,the grounds at Community Dome Tsudome, and the main street in Susukino. For seven days in February,these ice statues and sculptures (both large and small) turn Sapporo into a winter "dreamland of crystal-like ice and white snow." Now this looks like a pr agency pamphlet, but quite right, it is a place to visit as Hokkaido is blessed with love for nature and protection for the environment (G8 2008 at Toyako). And there is "un-je-ne-sais-quoi" of provincial atmosphere, relaxing from hectic Tokyo. Hokkaido also being the mecca of ski in Japan with a powder snow that fits all adventurous endeavors.

There I met Morioka-san, a respectable official of the Japanese army -the "Japan Self Defense Forces"- explaining me why his soldiers turned into sculptors and played ice cutting and snow balls for this Sapporo Snow Festival: When I asked him: "are you on military training here and is it a part of the defense responsibility with the civilians?" JSGDF Morioka has this to say: "We have done it for decades now..."

VDO

JGSDF Morioka, soldier & ice sculptor

How to make a giant Snow Statue?

All is here http://www.snowfes.com/english/daie/index.html

- 7 celsius, Sapporo Odori Park, breezing in the wind

APEC 2010

But soon Sapporo will get warmer and will welcome one of the major APEC 2010 ministerial meeting.

http://www.2010apec-hokkaido-sapporo.jp/en.html

What is APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation?)

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region .

APEC is the only inter governmental grouping in the world operating on the basis of non-binding commitments, open dialogue and equal respect for the views of all participants. Unlike the WTO or other multilateral trade bodies, APEC has no treaty obligations required of its participants. Decisions made within APEC are reached by consensus and commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis.

APEC has 21 members - referred to as "Member Economies" - which account for approximately 40.5%1 of the world's population, approximately 54.2%1 of world GDP and about 43.7%2 of world trade.

APEC's 21 Member Economies are Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; The Republic of the Philippines; The Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States of America; Viet Nam.

Purpose and Goals

APEC was established in 1989 to further enhance economic growth and prosperity for the region and to strengthen the Asia-Pacific community.

Since its inception, APEC has worked to reduce tariffs and other trade barriers across the Asia-Pacific region, creating efficient domestic economies and dramatically increasing exports. Key to achieving APEC's vision are what are referred to as the 'Bogor Goals' of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific by 2010 for industrialised economies and 2020 for developing economies. These goals were adopted by Leaders at their 1994 meeting in Bogor, Indonesia.

Learn more about the Bogor Goals in the 1994 Leaders' Declaration.

Free and open trade and investment helps economies to grow, creates jobs and provides greater opportunities for international trade and investment. In contrast, protectionism keeps prices high and fosters inefficiencies in certain industries. Free and open trade helps to lower the costs of production and thus reduces the prices of goods and services - a direct benefit to all.

APEC also works to create an environment for the safe and efficient movement of goods, services and people across borders in the region through policy alignment and economic and technical cooperation.

Sapporo Mayor Fumio UEDA, host of the APEC ministerial meeting

(Quotes: Apec, Sapporo City Mayor Ueda Fumio, Mofa, Vice Governor HokkaidoTakahara Yoji)

Toyota's downturn tragedy : too big, too fast, too arrogant, critics shoot!

Akio Toyoda bows and apologizes at the news conference

Toyota's president left seclusion to apologize and address criticism on friday that the automaker mishandled a crisis over sticking gas pedals. Akio Toyoda, appointed to the top job at Toyota Motor Corp. last June, promised to beef up quality control, saying, "We are facing a crisis." Akio Toyoda, 53 years old and grandson of the Nagoya firm founder apologies. Taking responsibility, he also orders swift action to tackle the braking system problems of some of its highly-popular Prius hybrid gasoline-electric models, but stopped short of saying whether such steps would take the form of a recall or voluntary repairs. Quotation agency targets now the manufacturer and enters into the negative appreciation mary-go-round turmoil.

My report on RTL France today :

http://www.rtl.fr/fiche/5932715561/le-patron-de-toyota-sort-du-silence-et-s-excuse.html

http://tinyurl.com/y9nt7x4

Toyota is such a symbol of success story that falling is not tolerated. And as if one damage of such magnitude was not enough in this world economic dire trend, some bad feeling of revenge from the American car manufacturers is felt in Nagoya today. Some sources said there is a desire in the US to glue similarity between this industrial Baron apologies and the apologizing of Hirohito to his people prior to surrender. To this nuts comments, I'd say: Totally preposterous and out of proportion. "It's not nice to see a killing, but worst is that we have a kind of racial animosity behind this downturn" one Japanese source told me.

One example with US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood who "has served notice he's "not finished" with Toyota". In such context: how keen will other foreigners be to invest and create jobs wherever Toyota is rooted? "Constantly looking for something wrong with Toyota, whether it's faulty accelerator pedals, slippery mats or something new amounts to little more than political harassment and populist hay making."

Will Toyota's pain be rivals' gains?

The storm might affect other manufacturers and others sectors of the industry as we saw with this pedal problem. "Not too fast" might be the wise comment regarding how globalization or new technologies introduction will go. Especially interesting is to know how the rush to the green car (Hybrid, EV etc.) 'gold mine' will affect the car makers and industrialists? Therefore logical consequences is that the financial sector again might very well bear the blame for pushing up gains without assuming responsibilities and in this field: car security.

Question number 1 now, how will Toyota win the next battle: Regain Consumers and investors confidence? "I will do my best" Akio Toyoda President said after apologizing:

VDO

When the Prius was launched, I met Akio Toyoda, I also met his father during the Aichi World Expo, and I believe this family of industrialists words. But intentions and realizations are two different folders. Toyota will have to reorganize. So, a long story to be continued...

(Sources: RTL, Nikkei, Investors, reporter's notes)

Sumo : Asashoryu quitte l'arène

"Je prends ma retraite", a annoncé Asashoryu (Dragon

bleu du matin), qui vient de remporter sa 25e Coupe de

l'Empereur le mois dernier, devenant ainsi le troisième

plus grand champion de l'histoire du sumo en nombre de

victoires.

VDO A news much commented on Japanese TVs'

Agé de 29 ans, le Yokozuna (Grand Champion) Asashoryu,

dont le vrai nom est Dolgorsuren Dagvadorj, est

soupçonné d'avoir cassé le nez d'un consommateur lors

d'une bagarre après une soirée très arrosée le 16

janvier, en plein tournoi de Tokyo.

"J'ai causé beaucoup de problèmes. A présent, c'est

clair dans ma tête", a-t-il dit devant les caméras. A

24 ans, son compatriote et rival, Hakuho ("grand oiseau

blanc"), dont le vrai nom est Munkhbat Davaajargal, est

lui très apprécié au Japon et demeure désormais le seul

Yokozuna en compétition. Lui aussi a versé ses larmes

rituelles lors de l'annonce de la démission.

Beaucoup de spéculations agitent le monde des médias

sur le montant des indemnités reçues par Asashoryu pour

son Grand Départ.

Le monde du sumo est souvent l'objet de controverses en

raison de liens supposés avec les bookmakers locaux et

les paris sur les "écuries" associant le sport et

l'argent, voire, avec des milieux plus " underground".

You don't understand Japan? Check the online chats!

Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos)

When scholars talk about Japan or China and Taiwan future

in non magical incantations, it gives such a thing :

W... post on the informative NBR forum on Japan

affairs February 1st, following the US weapons sales to

Taiwan that inflames Beijing allowed chatters to open

fire. Quotes : " It seems entirely possible that China

will sooner or later come into possession of Taiwan.

This would alter Japan's strategic position quite

markedly, by substantially increasing China's potential

to threaten both the Ryukyus and Japan's sea lines.

Some would argue that this is irrelevant so long as

China remains a friend of Japan, but Japan must

consider what the price of Chinese friendship may be

and how the possession of Taiwan might affect it."

To this post an other comment from one of my honorable

colleague at FCCJ:

" Does not Japan recognise China's sovereign right to

Taiwan, as one of the conditions for recognition of

Beijing in 1972? Or are we to list this amongst the

several other inconvenient facts that we are supposed

to ignore when it comes to Japan's relations with its

neighbors."

Now simply said, when you ask the question to Chinese

and Taiwanese, which I did, media or diplomats, they

all seem to agree that with the time it is

inevitable... Time is just a variable of uncertainty

by definition.

Other interesting debate on NBR forum : Futenma, Japan

versus China on regionalism leadership, lately on

Chunxao field etc.

http://nbrforums.nbr.org/foraui/list.aspx?LID=5

Naturally it costs to have such forum functions and a

call to support the US Japan forum is made here

http://nbrforums.nbr.org/foraui/list.aspx?LID=5

Sometimes, debates get hot, with occasional

disagreements... Like here on U.S. Japan Alliance

versus China:

2 scholars, one is Chinese and the other one an

American. Both well versed in such themes.

"For all I know, Mr. A... may be entirely right in

his understanding of the U.S. promise to Japan. If

so, then the treaty is worse than I thought: as

foolishly drafted as it is now past its sell-by date.

On the other hand, if he was right, then Japan would

long ago have taken all kinds of actions it has so far

avoided on all its territorial claims that its

neighbors dispute."

An other forum on Asia exists such as the refined

SSJ-FORUM of the Institute of Social Science,

University of Tokyo

http://forum.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

Interesting and informative tools for Asia watchers

From Russia with Love: 20 bullets!

February 7th at Kudan Kaikan, Tokyo, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and others such as the National Federation of Organizations Demanding the Return of the Northern Territories will gather for the endless repetition of a scenario that let Russians insensitive after decades-old territorial dispute. "The return of the so-called Northern Territories" to Japan.

The Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia, were occupied by Soviet troops in 1945 and are currently under Russian control. Russia and Japan have long been at odds over ownership of the islands, with the dispute blocking the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries since the end of World War II.

Coincidence? Provocation? Theatrical diplomacy? Russian message? Today, right wingers are in ecstasy. Why? A total of 20 bullet marks have been found on the hulls of two fishing boats that returned to a Hokkaido port after apparently being fired on Saturday morning by a Russian coast guard helicopter in waters off one of four disputed northern islands.

VDO

Russian border guards shot at two Japanese fishing boats in what Russia considers its territorial waters near the four disputed Pacific islands. The incident happened at 03:20 GMT on Friday, some 1.5 nautical miles off Kunashiri Island.

As seen on the VDO after the Japanese boats ignored orders to stop for examination, the Sakhalin coast guard department of Russia's Federal Security Service sent warning shots, then Russian coast guards fired at the boats from a helicopter. The boats stopped and returned. The Coast Guard said 15 bullet marks were found on one of the vessels and five on the other. The 19-ton vessels with a total of 15 crew members returned to the Japanese port of Rausu, near Nemuro (a place I visited during the G8 Toyako Summit).

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency said Russian border guards had admitted that they opened fire on the vessels off the coast of Kunashiri Island, confirming Japanese reports of the incident the previous day. A joint investigation into the incident had been launched with the Japanese side,

In Tokyo, Yasuaki Tanizaki, director general of the Foreign Ministry's European Affairs Bureau, lodged a protest with Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Bely over the incident, which he said occurred when the boats were operating appropriately.

To be continued... Russia and Japan, still not in peace technically as no Peace Treaty has never been signed after World War II, do not stop arguing and kicking at each other about fishing zones troubles, pollution, etc... Catching the monitoring by spy boats and submarines, "big ears" (Misawa), in an area of the Northern Pacific seen as attractive by the Tokyo intelligence community' watchers' and where nobody expect anything to change to the displeasure of concerned parties.

"The thing is entirely psycho!", one well versed source told me, in that "Official Face Japan built the military pride of the inhabitants after defeating the Russians in the Japan Russia war in 1904", which led Japan to force Russia to abandon its expansionist policy in the Far East, becoming the first Asian power in modern times to defeat a European power and then Japan, after violating Korea's sovereignty, embarked on an adventurous colonization of Asia that ended with Hiroshima nuclear bombing. Since this time, "Tokyo neo-cons never ended arguing and "branded" the Russians as 'freaks'. Any option to combat Moscow is seen here as a patriot move. Seen as something OK to unite Japanese, so imagine during the Cold War between US Soviet-Union! Now, if anyone 'd lower the heat tension with Moscow, it's the whole symbolic of the Japanese victory on the Russian fleet that is threatened, and so on with the national pride. So, any attempt to soften stances between Tokyo and Moscow is permanently destroyed or interfered, except when money and energy, gas, oil, is at stake!"

For history lovers, here is the recall of events with onwar.com

"In 1898 Russia had pressured China into granting it a lease for the strategically important port of Port Arthur (now Lu-shun), at the tip of the Liaotung Peninsula, in southern Manchuria. Russia thereby entered into occupation of the peninsula, even though, in concert with other European powers, it had forced Japan to relinquish just such a right after the latter's decisive victory over China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95. Moreover, in 1896 Russia had concluded an alliance with China against Japan and, in the process, had won rights to extend the Trans-Siberian Railroad across Chinese-held Manchuria to the Russian seaport of Vladivostok, thus gaining control of an important strip of Manchurian territory..." More on the Russia Japan War on http://tinyurl.com/memygc

And to end on this one, I found the Japanese poster from the 60's

"From Russia, with Love" published in 1957, is the fifth James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming and is considered one of the best in the series, elaborate plots and counterplots between the British and the Russian intelligence agencies. This is the Japanese poster of the movie by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman in 1963 with star Sean Connery as James Bond 007.

(Sources: wire services, ann, l'histoire, tass, xinhua, upi, reporter's notes)

Japan interpretation on the art of kickbacks

Kickbacks usually refers to political corruption...

A bullet arrived in the mail Thursday at Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's office in Tokyo's Nagata-cho district, and another one was sent to Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa's office in the Diet building along with a threatening letter. Hatoyama, Thursday evening : "I truly hope this kind of despicable act is stopped", who added that "people should confront politicians with words if they have complaints." Awful situation with DPJ leader Ozawa Ichiro, the DPJ "Shadow Shogun" and his troubles with Tokyo Prosecutor Office for alleged kickbacks.

VDO: The DPJ ruling party is ashamed with the financial scandal, Japanese commercial TV

Since last month, envelopes containing bullets and letters criticizing Ozawa have been sent to his office and home, at the headquarters of the ruling DPJ, and to the TV Asahi.

After these tricky facts, I read this information published in a forum on Japanese politic and social affairs: "The 2001 Mediation for Profit Prohibition Law (Assen Ritoku Kinshiho) makes it a criminal offense for politicians (and their state-funded secretaries) to profit by receiving money or goods (i.e. kickbacks) in return for exerting influence on government employees in areas such as public works contracts." in SSJ-FORUM Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo http://forum.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

Of course it is right. Now my understanding is that the Ozawa-san's case is not that easy to directly invoke the mentioned law since the influence he has exerted is not to profit the main contractors of the public enterprise but to the sub or under-sub contractors. Of course this has to be double checked. Also we can not say that it is absolutely illegal in Japan to exert influence on private companies, especially if it is a private contract.

In other words, I guess Ozawa Ichiro is a kind of a boss of bid rigging, which is well known as Dango in Japanese. The problem is that Ozawa's activies appear as totally unclear and should be opened to public knowledge.

As one of my sources told me I do not wonder wether this Ozawa case is "to lead to the decline in support for all the politics". I'd rather say, can Japan (and elsewhere) implement new rules and have them respected in this field of political bribery? Well... hum... no, no. "First of all these are not kickbacks, these are just "technical violation" of the rules on political contribution!"

I see...

(sources: ann, wire services, reporter's notes)

Burma deconstructed! Opium and repression

Demonstrations 2007 against the Burmese junta

Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy leader,

will be released from house arrest in November, a

government minister has told a gathering of local

officials, according to two people who attended the

meeting. The information could not be verified

independently but three people who attended the meeting

said the comment was made to an audience of several

hundred people in Kyaukpadaung, a town about 565 km

(350 miles) north of the former capital, Yangon. The

three witnesses requested anonymity.

Suu Kyi, detained for 14 of the past 20 years, was

sentenced to a further 18 months of detention last

August for harboring an American who swam uninvited to

her lakeside home. That incident took place in

May 2009, just before an earlier period of house arrest

was due to end. Taking into account the three months

she spent in a prison guesthouse after the incident,

her 18-month sentence would end in November.

Planned election would be the first since 1990, when

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party

scored a landslide victory that the country's junta

refused to recognize.

Jailed opponents

Maung Oo also said detained NLD vice-chairman Tin Oo

would be released on February 13, and that the

government would pursue an international-style market

economy after holding "free and fair" elections,

including loosening restrictions on car imports. Tin

Oo, 82, a former defense minister and retired general,

has been in prison or under house arrest for more than

a decade.

A nightmare for Burmese monks and population, Asian

Gazette already reported about the situation of Burmese

refugees who escaped from Burma after demonstrations

mid- 2007 to neighboring countries.

Here is a report about the opium traffic from the

Irrawaddy newspaper

"Opium Addiction 'Poisoning' Palaung, Says Report"

Increased opium cultivation in ethnic Palaung areas of

northern Shan State is creating widespread addiction

and poisoning Palaung youths, according to a new report

by the Palaung Women's Organization (PWO). The report

titled “Poisoned Hills,” which was released on Tuesday,

said that opium fields are flourishing not only in

“insurgent and cease-fire areas,” as claimed by the UN,

but also in Burmese government-controlled areas.

The Palaung researchers said they conducted field

surveys in Namkham and Mantong townships in the Palaung

region between 2007 and 2009, and found that the total

area of cultivated opium had increased up to fivefold

over three years—from 963 hectares in 2006-07 to 4,545

hectares in 2008-09. Lway Nway Hnoung, one of the

researchers on the report, said she collected

information by conducting interviews with local

villagers, village heads, drug addicts and relatives of

drug addicts from about 100 villages in the region.

Several housewives said that drug addiction often led

to stealing and domestic violence within families and

that the youths in the region often lost interest in

studying, she said.

According to local villagers who were interviewed, the

widespread availability of the drug was responsible for

more and more men and boys becoming addicts. “The only

men who aren't using drugs are the monks who stay in

the monasteries,” one Palaung woman reportedly said.

In a village surveyed in Mantong, it was found that

that the percentage of men aged 15 and older who were

addicted to opium had increased from 57 percent in 2007

to 85 percent in 2009, according to the report.

The PWO report said that drug addicts “flock openly to

drug camps” in Namkham where dealers sell heroin and

amphetamines from their houses. Namkham and Mantong

are under the control of the Burmese government forces,

although they were previously administered by the

Palaung State Liberation Army until it surrendered to

the Burmese armed forces in 2005. The report said that

local Burmese authorities—the army, police and

pro-junta militia—were involved in the drug trade.

Police have reportedly formed "anti-drug teams" in the

regions. However, instead of eradicating poppy fields,

they are extorting large sums from local farmers and

then letting them grow the crop, the report said,

adding that during 2007 and 2008, in Mantong, at least

37 million kyat (US $37,000) in bribes was collected

from 28 villages. The report emphasized that “a

negotiated resolution to the political issues at the

root of Burma’s civil war and political reform are

needed to address the drug issue” which is impacting

the region.

“As long as this regime remains in power, drugs will

continue to poison people in Burma and the region,”

said Lway Nway Hnoung. According to the 2009 annual

survey of poppy cultivation in Southeast Asia by the

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the

total area under opium poppy cultivation in Burma in

2008 was estimated at 28,500 hectares, representing an

increase of 3 percent from the 27,700 hectares under

cultivation in 2007. The largest region for opium

cultivation was Shan State, the UNODC survey said,

where 89 percent of the total opium poppy in Burma was

grown. Southern and eastern Shan states accounted for

53.7 percent and 33 percent respectively. Northern

Shan State remained low with a cultivation area

representing only 3 percent of national cultivation,

even though it had increased by 105 percent from 2007

and by 233 percent from 2006. Neighboring Kachin and

Karenni states remained with low levels of

cultivation—5 percent and 6 percent respectively in

2008, according to the UNODC.

Newspaper sources http://tinyurl.com/yzbr4zz

UNODC Report on narcotics in Burma:

Opium cultivation in South East-Asia remains relatively

limited. Just under 34,000 hectares of opium was grown

in the region in 2009, a quarter of the amount grown in

Afghanistan. Worrisome is the situation in Myanmar

where cultivation is up for the third year in a row –

an 11% increase from 28,500 ha in 2008 to 31,700 ha in

2009. Most of this increase came in the Shan State

where 95% of Myanmar’s poppy is grown. More than a

million people (most of them in the Shan state) are now

involved in opium cultivation in Myanmar, an increase

of more than a quarter over 2008.

However, the overall value of the crop is falling since

yields were down 28% to 10.4 kg per hectare, production

fell 20% (to 330 metric tons), and prices are more or

less stable (at just over US$ 300/kg). In total, the

potential value of opium production in Myanmar fell by

15% from US$ 123 million in 2008 to US$ 104 million in

2009. Increased instability in north-eastern Myanmar

(where most of the opium is grown) seems to be

affecting the opium market. There are indications that

ceasefire groups – autonomous ethnic militias like the

Wa and Kachin – are selling drugs to buy weapons, and

moving stocks to avoid detection.

While South-East Asia’s once notorious opium problem

has been contained, there are worrying signs that the

situation in Myanmar is starting to unravel.

Governments and donors need to stay the course and

ensure sufficient duration of commitment and funding

for all aspects of the drug issue : security,

development, and health. In Lao PDR, cultivation was

up 19%, although the overall total is low at 1,900 ha,

as is the yield at 6 kg/ha. Nevertheless, with a kilo

of opium fetching US$ 1,327 per kilogram (due to stable

demand and scarce supply), this illicit crop remains

attractive to farmers, especially as the prices of

other locally produced commodities are falling. This

Report features a chapter on what is being done to

promote development in the remote northern province of

Phongsali, Lao PDR.

In order to consolidate recent gains, the country in

general needs more development assistance particularly

for remote communities, and greater access to drug

treatment. It also deserves support for the

implementation of its National Drug Control Master Plan

(2009-2013). While focusing on the opium problem

(mostly in rural communities), we should not lose sight

of rapidly increasing production and use of synthetic

drugs (mostly in cities) in the Greater Mekong region.

It would be a Pyrrhic victory for drug control if

South-East Asia’s appetite for opium was simply

replaced by a new craving for ampethamine-type

stimulants.

Opium Poppy Cultivation in South-East Asia

Source : United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control. Lao National

Commission for Drug Control and Supervision

Date : 14-Dec-2009

http://tinyurl.com/yztrtqv