Whales' naval battle in the Antarctic: Sea Shepherd crew crushed by Japanese ship

The high-tech speedboat the Ady Gil sank in the Southern Ocean on Friday after its bow was beheaded Wednesday by the Japanese security ship the Shonan Maru 2 which accompany Japanese whalers. Each side has blamed the other for the incident, which injured one Sea Shepherd protester. The activists' group lodges piracy charge against Japanese whalers. Sea Shepherd's mother ship is registered in the Netherlands and the group's lawyer, Liesbeth Zegveld, said the group had filed a complaint there. ABC online wrote.

http://tinyurl.com/yblvebd

Japan Times analyzed the media struggle since the collision in the Antarctic waters: This week's collision in which a Japanese whaling ship chopped off the bow of an antiwhaling boat off Antarctica not only highlights the international tussle over the contentious hunt but has also led to a clash between Japanese and Western media as well... When it comes to media coverage of international disputes that touch on value-laden cultural issues, truth, like beauty, seems to be in the eye of the beholder.

http://tinyurl.com/yabm3ad

The film of the crushed boarding, quite descriptive from the Japanese security ship, and quite shocking is the water canon continuing shooting at the Ady Gil's crew even after...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5uptwYWeY8

Naoto Kan, Japan Finance minister, a politician with equal temperament

Left Naoto Kan, right Hirohisa Fujii

Naoto Kan is the new Finance minister of Japan. He

succeeds to minister Hirohisa Fujii who served 3

months before to leave, officially for health reasons,

unofficially because he is tired of Ozawa Ichiro

peddling with risk in his budget policies.

I sure will ask to Kan about Ozawa's major influence

when he comes to visit us at the Press club in Tokyo.

Fujii 's departure is the first resignation by a

member of the Hatoyama so called "center-left"

Cabinet, only about four months after its launch, and

it will likely be a fresh blow to Hatoyama, who has

recently seen a double-digit fall in public support

and the nation's economy struggling to move out of the

prolonged bad state of the economy.

Why Kan? "Deputy Prime Minister Kan was the No. 1

person in providing strong indirect support" for

drawing up the fiscal 2010 budget, Hatoyama answered.

Despite his involvement in the budget drafting

process, however, the 63-year-old Kan, who was

theDPJ's first leader about 10 years ago, does not

have in-depth experience of steering the economy.

Might be a problem indeed.

Kan told reporters that he had once declined to hold

the new post during talks with Hatoyama on Wednesday,

telling him, "There should be a more suitable person."

Kan said he eventually accepted the position following

Hatoyama's strong request. Kan, in charge as soon as

Thursday, will retain the posts of deputy prime

minister and minister for economic and fiscal policy.

With the appointment, Yoshito Sengoku, state minister

in charge of administrative reform, will concurrently

serve as state minister for national strategy, a post

currently held by Kan.

Kan said he wants to consider Japan's revitalization

"in a larger perspective," given that he is keeping

hold of the two posts, when asked by reporters at the

premier's office about his main tasks after becoming

finance chief.

Kan facing the deteriorating economic outlook, his

politician profile will be useful.

Kan, was Health and Welfare minister and former

Democratic Party of Japan president, chnaged the way

the government works as Deputy Prime Minister and

Minister of State for National Policy and Economic and

Fiscal policy.

He’s earned the nicknames ‘Ira-Kan’ and ‘Fretful-Kan’

for his reputed short temper, but his experience with

tackling Japan’s notoriously intransigent bureaucracy

made him an obvious choice for many to oversee the

party’s policies and budget.

Born in Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture as the son of

businessman, Kan graduated in 1970 from the Tokyo

Institute of Technology, and opened a patent office in

1974. He actively engaged in civic movements for

years and achieved a seat in the lower house in 1980

as a member of Socialist Democratic Federation (SDF)

through a grassroots environmental campaign. He

gained national popularity in 1996 when as health

minister he exposed the minister's responsibility for

the spread of tainted blood. At that time, he was a

member of a small party forming the ruling coalition

with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). His action

was completely unprecedented and was applauded by the

mainstream media and the public. Kan also wrote a

best-selling book Dai-jin ("Minister") in which he

writes that ministers should answer to the Emperor.

In 1998, he admitted that he failed to make payments

into the state pension scheme for ten months.

Although the amounts were relatively small, he left to

avoid hurting the party. Additionally, his image had

been hurt by the revelation of an affair with a

television newscaster. After Yukio Hatoyama resigned

as the leader of the party, Kan again took over the

position. In July 2003, the DPJ and the Liberal Party

led by Ichiro Ozawa agreed to form a uniformed

opposition party to prepare for the general election

that was anticipated to take place in the fall.

During the campaign of the election of 2003, the DPJ

called the election as the choice of the government

between the ruling LDP-bloc and the DPJ, with Kan

being presented as the alternative candidate to then

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. His face was used

as the trademark of the campaign against the LDP.

However, in 2004, Kan was accused of unpaid annuities

and forced to again resign the position of leader. On

May 10 2004, he officially announced his resignation.

In mid-October 2005, Kan, who turned 60 in 2006,

proposed the creation of a new political party to be

called the "Dankai (baby boomer) Party." The initial

intent of the party was to offer places of activity

for the Japanese baby boomers - 2.7 million of whom

began to retire en masse in 2007. His hobby is Go, and

he has a wife and two sons, and lives in Tokyo.

On January 6, 2010, he was picked by Prime Minister

Yukio Hatoyama to be the Finance Minister, assuming

the post in addition to deputy prime minister. His

previous statements indicated he would favor the Bank

of Japan to ease monetary policy. "I am advocating a

weak yen to a certain extent," he said publicly in

December 2009.

As Deputy Prime Minister, Kan has said he wants

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to take on a more

prominent international role. With Prime Minister

Yukio Hatoyama having been criticised for dithering in

the DPJ’s early months, Kan has looked decisive and

ready to lead.

It’s early days yet, but if the ruling party’s ratings

continue to slide, would the DPJ be willing to follow

in the well-trodden footsteps of the opposition

Liberal Democratic Party and change leaders after only

a year? Next year’s upper house elections, where the

DPJ hopes to secure enough seats to ensure that it

doesn’t depend on coalition partners, could be a good

test. (Sources: agencies, blogs, wiki, AG quotes)

Ozawa: "If Japan reinforces its military capability"?

Take off at Futenma, Okinawa

I received this in my news summary of the day. Ozawa

Ichiro, the de facto boss of Japan government, definitely

carries on with what some commentators and experts

call his favorite bullying tactics. We had samples on

this blog lately, now his focus is on foreign affairs.

Quotes:

Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Secretary General

Ichiro Ozawa appeared on a TV Tokyo program aired on

the evening of Jan. 4. Discussing the issue of the

U.S. forces' Futenma base in Okinawa, Ozawa said:

"The biggest problem is that the Japanese government,

especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is unable

to speak up to the United States. The U.S. is

annoyed by this."

Ozawa added: "If there is no need for so many U.S.

military bases and soldiers in the front line, [Japan]

should say so clearly (to the U.S. side). It should

just say that we will defend our country properly and

will make international contributions in the following

ways, so there is no need to worry," stating in effect

that if Japan reinforces its military capability, U.S.

military bases can be downsized.

Ozawa refrained from commenting on the pros and cons

of U.S. bases in Okinawa. He said: "I am not in a

position to make comments on specific policies."

Ozawa has been making deceitful statements. He agreed

with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on

"reinforcing" the subservient Japan-U.S. alliance

last year while also advocating an "equal Japan-U.S.

relationship." (Source Akahata January 6th 2010).

Got to be checked further... But at the end, wouldn't

this give more speed to a "G2" formula (China US)

necessary "entente" on lots of things if we follow this

logic, after long arguing with the fundamental doctrine?

No more slaughter, dolphins are humans!

Dolphins' advocates will rejoice with this scientific

discovery, a relief against "The Cove"* type of

slaughter and to give a better approach towards

dolphins, whales (and seals) and the importance of

saving endangered cetaceans and our precious oceans.

This information comes on our radar screen with the

scientific community who finally joins what ordinary

people and ocean lovers already noticed as a simple

observation of this mammal (not a fish!) for decades.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau studied this long ago (1977) in

"Le Chant des Dauphins" (A Sound of Dolphins).

Now, my question is: Are we smart enough to understand

dolphins...?

Quotes:

"Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most

intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists

suggesting they are so bright that they should be

treated as “non-human persons”. Studies into dolphin

behaviour have highlighted how similar their

communications are to those of humans and that they

are brighter than chimpanzees. These have been backed

up by anatomical research showing that dolphin brains

have many key features associated with high

intelligence. The researchers argue that their work

shows it is morally unacceptable to keep such

intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them

for food or by accident when fishing. Some 300,000

whales, dolphins and porpoises die in this way each

year..."

[Scientists Lori Marino, a zoologist at Emory

University in Atlanta and Diana Reiss, professor of

psychology at Hunter College, City University of New

York established] said "that the cerebral cortex and

neocortex of bottlenose dolphins were so large that

“the anatomical ratios that assess cognitive capacity

place it second only to the human brain”. They also

found that the brain cortex of dolphins such as the

bottlenose had the same convoluted folds that are

strongly linked with human intelligence. Such folds

increase the volume of the cortex and the ability of

brain cells to interconnect with each other. “Despite

evolving along a different neuroanatomical trajectory

to humans, cetacean brains have several features that

are correlated with complex intelligence.” Marino and

Reiss will present their findings at a conference in San

Diego, California, next month, concluding that the new

evidence about dolphin intelligence makes it morally

repugnant to mistreat them."**

2 comments were made following this article in the

publication:

1- "We consider ourselves inherently better because we

demonstrate an “advanced” capacity to articulate our

ideas, thoughts and emotions through written and oral

language." I wonder what a dolphin would comment?

Might be a refreshing change from the angry emotional

toxic comments people leave all over the web. The

capacity of the human to spew hate and engage in

cruelty towards other beings astounds me. Is that

seen in other animals or is that strictly a human

ability? (Japanese name was provided)

2- Lori Marino wrote: "As one of the scientists

mentioned in this article I would like to clarify one

of the statements made. The work I've done on dolphin

brains shows that, when relative brain size is taken

into account, some dolphin species are second only to

modern humans and have larger brains than chimpanzees.

However, I do not think we can "declare" that dolphins

are the second smartest animals on the planet on the

basis of just this information. I do not want to make

categorical or hierarchical statements about matters

that are clearly too complex to warrant a simple

interpretation. The point of our upcoming session and

arguments is this. Given what we now know about

dolphin brains and intelligence we need to rethink our

"accepted" cultural standards of treatment - from

slaughter to capture to confinement in amusement

parks. The scientific evidence is clear that the

suffering imposed by these activities on dolphins is

on a par with what humans would suffer under the same

circumstances. That is the message of the article."

20 minutes a French media summarized a bit emotionally

with this : "Le dauphin est une personne. De

nouvelles études relancent le débat sur l’intelligence

de l’animal. Des droits pour les dauphins. C’est ce

que vont réclamer des scientifiques américains lors

d’une conférence qui se tiendra en février à San

Diego, en Californie. Leur argument? Des études

qu’ils ont réalisées prouvent une nouvelle fois

l’exceptionnelle intelligence du mammifère. Ils

estiment même qu’il pourrait être le deuxième être le

plus évolué de la planète, juste après... l’homme."

I'm not a specialist but I found this surfing on the

Internet:

" There is no parallel between the evolutionary level

of the somatic structure and the brain. Species with

large number of conservative traits may have a very

progressive brain, while species with many derived

features may be at a low level with respect to brain

evolution". By Stephan, Baron and Frahm, in their

1991 book Insectovora (the first volume of the series

Comparative Brain Research in Mammals).

http://www.dauphinlibre.be/brain.htm

Smart enough to be a military dolphin? On this, here

is a description of military uses of dolphins in US

and Russia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_dolphin

Articles references:

-*The Cove http://tinyurl.com/y8lpm5e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw5qgVp0jng

-**Timesonline http://tinyurl.com/y929zwj

-20 Minutes http://tinyurl.com/ycnq8jy

Crise de confiance Japon Etats-Unis, un "test" pour l'Europe et la France?

Lettre économique et financière

La volonté du nouveau gouvernement japonais

d'entretenir une relation plus égalitaire avec les

Etats-Unis va-t-elle favoriser l'Europe et la France ?

C'est en ces termes que la "Lettre économique et

financière Japon-Corée 16 décembre 2009" interprète la

crise d'urticaire survenue dans les relations

politiques et militaires entre Japon et USA.

Citation:

"2010 sera sans doute une année test pour l'Europe au

Japon. Nous avons une carte à jouer qui n'existait

pas avant l'arrivée des démocrates au pouvoir. Si la

relation avec les Etats-Unis se banalise un peu, si le

Japon dans son ensemble est vraiment prêt à chercher

de nouvelles références et de nouveaux partenariats,

alors nous devrions mieux nous placer sur de nombreux

dossiers de coopération industrielle et technologique,

de même que sur les grands contrats. Un nouvel espace

devrait pouvoir se créer aussi pour la négociation

économique Europe-Japon que beaucoup appellent de

leurs voeux. Une chose est certaine néanmoins: les

bénéfices à attendre de la nouvelle approche japonaise

n'arriveront pas de manière spontanée, il faudra aller

les chercher. A cet égard, la relation politique

France-Japon sera déterminante en 2010."

Fin de citation

✍ Un appel à une visite au Japon du président français

Nicolas Sarkozy et son épouse Carla?

✍ L'Asie est-elle passée dans une dimension de

développement économique et politique comparable à la

construction de l'Europe, et ce faisant, voit ainsi

s'amenuiser les clichés véhiculés par les marchands de

guerre?

Beaucoup, ici, le constatent d'ores et déjà.

"2010 Otoshidoma", Japan will not drown her sorrows!

A kimono dressed female diver holds a cash envelope,

an “otoshidama” envelope during an event in a famous aquarium in

Tokyo.

“Otoshidama” are monetary offerings given to children

at the start of each year. Cash is certainly an issue

for Japanese and they look right at their elected

prime minister to address the Great Recession.

"He is out of the reality, he should do something,

they say, but not destroy what Japan achieved." I

heard this comment from lots of Japanese during the

new year holidays.

Here is an interesting opinion from the Mainichi

shimbun about how 2010 starts. Quotes:

The public's expectations that the Democratic Party of

Japan (DPJ) could revive Japan brought about a

transfer of power last year. It was a fact that the

economy remained sluggish, there were various social

problems and the social security and medical programs

were beginning to crumble prior to the August general

election. Rural areas in particular had been hit hard

by the economic downturn. Moreover, Japan's influence

in the international community had declined

considerably.

Under these circumstances, it is natural that the

administration of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama

declared that it would carry out the Heisei-Era

Reform.

There is a glimmer of hope in the prospects for

people's livelihood and the social security system.

However, there appears to be a long way to go before

Japan puts the economy on a recovery track. The

fiscal 2010 budget draft has raised questions about

how the government will secure financial resources for

its policy measures.

The Hatoyama administration's poor handling of Japan's

relations with the United States, the core of Japan's

diplomatic policy, has caused friction between the two

countries. The government has failed to show a clear

national strategy, due to his preoccupation with a

political funding scandal in which two of his aides

have been indicted.

...

Considering Japan's current situation, it is natural

that the government tends to be inward-looking. There

are numerous urgent tasks to be addressed. At the

same time, however, Japan is required to proactively

work on global issues to fulfill its role as a

developed country in the age of globalization. Even

though the economy remains sluggish, Japan has

potential power. The country is expected by the world

to play an important role not only on environmental

policy, but a wide diversity of issues.

If Japan improves its ability to send influential

messages to the international community and draws

attention from the world, it will vitalize Japan. It

will also attract excellent human resources to Japan.

The government is required to have such a long-term

strategy to revive Japan.

End of quotes, here is the article http://tinyurl.com/yzc9e9r