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Rob_Hugo@PortNWI started reading on Japan last night. I told myself, let me go back in my mind and see howmany encounters I have had with anything that has had to do with Japan. Here they are. Some of you might find them interesting.
AnonymousWhile in Vietnam last summer, I read a tragic book called The Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc. This was the biography of the brave 9-year-old Kim Phuc who survived a deadly napalm bombing in Vietnam. It was heart-wrenching and startling story. While the devastation caused during the Vietnam War (Conflict as some history texts cite) is not to be slighted, it got me to thinking about the destruction caused by the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even though it’s more than fifty years later, the Japanese are surely dealing with the aftermath caused by radiation poisoning. I am anxious to travel to Japan to learn more… These are my thoughts on Asia!
AnonymousPeople of Wa (Japan), when a person dies, cover the grave with earth to make a mound. When death occurs, mourning is observed for more than ten days, during which period they do not eat meat. The head mourners wail and lament, while friends sing, dance and drink liquor.
It just so happens that I was at an after funeral dinner, last night. It was the thirtieth day of mourning. Their food had no meat, and liquor was served through the ceremony and during and after the dinner. Was it a Japanese memorial? No! In fact it was from a culture far different from that of Japanese. It was a Zoroastrian ceremony (Zoroastrianism-an ancient Persian religion before the convergence of Persia to Islam- is the religious system founded by Zoroaster and set forth in the Avesta, teaching the worship of Ahura Mazda in the context of a universal struggle between the forces of light and of darkness.)
How does this four thousand year old- religion happens to have similar customs to those of Japanese? How do they happen to share the Yin and Yang notion (forces of light and darkness)? Does the word “Mazda” in the term” Ahura Mazda” (referring to god) has any relation to the Japanese word Mazda (zoom zoom zoom)?
The only link I can think of is the Silk Road. Could I possibly be right? What do you think?
I also know of a town in Iran called NISSAN (another Japanese car!). I cannot connect the dots easily. Could it possibly be the same word? I hope to hear some comments from Dr. Yang Ye.
AnonymousThe little I've found on the Silk road indicates anything would be possible. Melons are easily transported.
AnonymousWhen I was a kid, my dad was the director of the Wilshire YMCA and I participated in some of the programs there. I had several Japanese friends. I never thought of them as coming from a different culture or being different, other than in appearance. I'm presuming their families had been here for at least one generation. At times like this, I wonder what their feelings were.
AnonymousI have always known that Jade is a sacred and devine stone. I also know that it's esteemed because it's thought to link its owner to heaven and the gods, as well as bring good health and fortune. Did you know, however, that it's toughness exceeds that of a diamond? I just learned that 50 tons of pressure must be applied to break one cubic inch! Perhaps I should ask my husband to trade in my diamond for a jade ring!!!
AnonymousI just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the speaker on Nov. 15. Her attitude about the changing role of women in Japan was very interesting. The silent protest or was it the silent revolution? It is fascinating.
clay dubeAki Hirota mentioned Japan's outcastes, the eta, on Tuesday. You might be interested in a report on a talk given at UCLA by Daniel Botsman, a visiting professor on this subject. You can read it at:
AnonymousAlthough such a historic novel, The Tale of Genji relates to many of the same obstacles people face today – especially our students. I think Genji symbolizes the “popular” kid that so many of our students want to be. He’s handsome, powerful, intelligent, and talented. He’s got everything any man or boy would want, or so one would think. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the one thing that he yearns for – true love. It’s easy to read the story and demoralize Genji as a male chauvinistic pig. Some of our students might even call him a “player” or a “pimp.” He isn’t to be envied though. While he may appear to be quite popular, it seems that he feels like he’s an outcast. I think that many of our students harbor the same insecurities. Wow…Genji is revered on so many levels!
AnonymousI agree…it was refreshing to hear Aki Hirota discuss Japanese women’s silent protest for equality. Women, especially Japanese women, have been a disenfranchised group for quite some time. As many of you are aware, more than 200,000 young women and girls were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial military during WWII. A book by Sangmie Choi Schellstede called, Comfort Women Speak: Testimony by Sex Slaves of the Japanese Military, gives a harrowing description of the misery faced by 19 survivors. I highly recommend your read the gruesome details depicted in the personal stories of these brave women. If you take my suggestion and read the book, however, you should not close the last chapter thinking that this is something of the past. In fact, Japan is very guilty of committing these crimes today. According to author Louise Brown, author of Sex Slaves, Japan plays a pivotal in the spread of international trafficking in persons. Women are recruited from Thailand, the Soviet Union, and even as far away as Columbia to become sex slaves. Read the article at Trafficking of Women to get informed and learn more.
AnonymousReza,
This is so interesting. I suppose that there are some burial ceremonies throughout Asia that are related as well as other customs.
I can tell you that the word Nissan is a combination of Chinese characters meaning something along the lines of Japanese Engineering or industry. However, the word Mazda has always confused me because the Japanese syllbary doesn't lend itself to such a word.
anyone else know?
dan
AnonymousDuring college about 11 (!!!) years ago, I spent a year in Japan studying language and history. One of the biggest regrets of my life involves the Burakumin.
I lived that year in a govt. subsidized dorm in an area called Mukaijima New Town. the New Town was all govt. welfaresubsidized housing wherein lived the handicapped, the elderly without relations, the insane, the low ranking yakuzas who were out of jail and out of luck, biker gangs, koreans, and buraku.
I have many unusual stories about living and working as a waiter ni this neighborhood for a year. I saw fights, drugs, flashers, arson and more. It was a great place to live to eliminate all my stereotypes of japan as a model country.
While working as a waiter in a coffee shop in town, I was approached by a woman who asked me to tutor needy students. I refused because one of my pet peeves at the time was that nearly everyone I met wanted free English lessons. I would tell folks that insisted upon speaking to me in English (no matter how brutal) that I was there to learn Japanese; not to teach English. I would then flip it back on them sometimes and ask for free Japanese lessons. (I used to like to ask homeless for bus money, too, back in Berkeley, just to see their reaction).
the point of this story and my regret is that these needy students she mentioned were all burakumin. she told me but at the time i didn't really understand what that meant. Who knows if I could've helped them but I do know now I should've done whatever I could.
dan
AnonymousChristine, Thank you so much for linking that article. I was so surpised about the organized crime in Japan, especially the traffiking of women. I was not surpised about Thailand but my picture of Japan today is of a clean, peaceful society. After reading the article I mentioned it to my boyfriend who was born and lived in Japan until he was 10 years old and still has family back there. He was not surpised at all and said that everybody there is aware of the organized crime and how powerful they are. It is an acceptable part of society. Just goes to show how clueless I really am about Asia. Historically and today.
Karen
AnonymousRetro-historians like to condemn the US for dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Human terms every death is a tragedy but in terms of the war it was a logical step. Imperial Japan launched a brutal war of aggression against all nations in the Asian-Pacific region that did not submit to their superiority. Read the somwhat receint book on the Rape of Nanking, it shows the arrogance and inhumanity of the Japanese military government, there are a great many examples in both book and movie form that you could examine that have basicly the same point. It was NOT an isolated incident. And it is still an issue of conflict between the Japanese and several nations including China and Korea.
As for the bombs, we faced an enemy that showed no sign of surrender. Defenders of the Islands we battled on on the road to Japan fought to the death typically. We anticipated 700,000 to 1.5 million US casualitys for the projected invasion of the Japanese mainland and several times that for the Japanese. The context of war must be taken into account as well; War is not a game, you destroy the enemy as they try to destroy you.
We killed far fewer with thost atomic bombs than would have died in the invasion or in the continued conventional bombing raids. We had just launched a massive raid on Tokyo that caused fire-storms that killed far more that our 2 atom bombs.
One other thing, By using the Atomic bob on cities we gave the world a chance to see what these things could do. It has made those countries that have them reluctant to use them. In 1962 the world found itself on the brink...RIGHT on the brink of a nuclear war between the US and the USSR... the visions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki stayed their hand and we used diplomacy to end the crisis. 300 million people owe their lives to the people of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
As food for thought: President Franklin Roosvelt died in 1945 leaving an uninformed Truman with all the decisions. Would either of them have dropped the bombs if they had been at Alamogordo to watch the Trinity test? (the test explosion) or would they have agreed with many of the scientists and set off a demonstration blast first? We only had the 2 bombs so we would have been left with just one and what if it misfired? (By the way, radiation was little understood it was widely believed that it would not extend past the blast radius and so anyone who would be killed by the radiation would have been killed already)
Just some rambling thoughts.
Richard[Edit by="rcate on Nov 28, 10:04:05 AM"][/Edit]
AnonymousHi Dankashima,
You sound like you speak japanese, or at least you are familiar with it. here is another surprize for you. The other night when Mrs. Aki Hirota was speaking, I kept hearing the word "aware" from her. I was curious about the origin of the word. I asked her about the meaning of the word. She said it meant pitiful. In Farsi the same pronunciation exists for this word, but the meaning expands to homeless, or miserable. When she noticed my surprize, she surprized me even more. She said that there are alot of Turkish words in Japanese language. She also said that on some of the Japanese string instruments the picture of a camel is depicted. There are no camels in japan. She thought this could mean that these instruments are originally from arabic cultures. We think the world is very small now, but it must have not been so big back then either!!![Edit by="rrustamzadeh on Dec 1, 7:15:23 PM"][/Edit]