Prince
Read Capt Snooze posting re: the Marianas. Did you do any research or thinking before posting? So far most of your posts have just not stood up under scrutiny. I researched your post, and agreed with you about the Dokdo/Takeshima islands. Did you research mine (or even yours) and come to any new conclusions re: the Kurils and Senkakus/Daiaoyus?
I can imagine that China will veto Japans bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council. China is after all the country that vetoed peace keeping for Macedonia and Guatamala soley because they recognise Taiwan. A very judicial use of their power.
Do you not think that the country that provides the second largest amount of funds to the UN should have some say in how it is used?
Permanent council membership for a defeated power should not be viewed as a reward for that country, but as a necessity for the U.N. organization. Inclusion passes no judgment on the issues of the past, but is aimed at rejuvenating the organization so that it can better deal with the issues of the future.
Denying Japan permanent council status would hurt Asia at least as much as it would hurt Japan. Asia is a far less cohesive region politically than Europe (with its not-half-bad European Union). Boosting Japan to the top council tier would increase the region's clout in the U.N. Whatever their differences, Asian nations have many problems in common -- from currency stability to regional epidemics to nuclear proliferation. This is why Japan's Security Council seat is not South Korea's, or China's loss, but Asia's gain.
Beijing should weigh very carefully the cost of vetoing the application of Japan, with which its international trade is now huge. For more than a decade, China's leadership has wisely prioritized economic development, with impressive results, in large part by never allowing its eye to be diverted frivolously from the prize: "to get rich is glorious," to coin a phrase.
Do you have any knowledge of textbooks in China? Chinas involvement in the Korean War is dismissed in 1 sentence. Completely absent is any mention of Chinas invasion and colonization of Tibet. Also there is no mention of the 1962 attack on India, or the 1979 attack on Vietnam.
Those who live in glass houses....?
Again I ask, have you every lived in Japan? Your statements and knowledge of Japanese people seem to reflect that you have no experience of Japanese people. Of course Japanese people know that most of their written language is made up of Chinese characters. No, the Japanese eyes do not glaze over. It is not an issue with them. Many people tell me that the Chinese readings are much harder than the Japanese ones. There is no problem admitting that the writing came from China.
I assume you are referring to the Japanese when you say the Nipponese. Nipponese is not considered an appropriate way to refer to the Japanese. Either you have lived in Japan and know that and want to be derogatory, or you have not lived in Japan and dont really know what you are talking about.
I live in quite a conservative rural area. We are not far from the big city, but there are not many foreigners here and most people are very traditional Japanese. Everyone I have talked to is embarrassed about the war. They understand that it happened, and they dont really understand why they committed these atrocities. They do not understand why the government is not making the textbooks that reflect this.
I was expecting a much more conservative closed society when I came here. I cannot say how it was 10 or 20 years ago, but in my experiences the people are thoughtful and repentent. I was playing sho-ji with some old ladies the other day. They understand that Japan is an island nation and they were discussing if it is more likely that the Japanese originally came from Korea or China. These ladies were all over 60 years old.
Most of the problems I have living in Japan are the rigidity of rules and the bureaucracy rather than the actual people. Took me two hours to open a new bank account last week cos I have 2 middle names. The computer prefers 2 names total, can handle 3 but flipped at 4. But of course all 4 names are on my id so muct be used.
Day to day life can be frustrating, but where is it not? and I do really enjoy it here.