Smee
Joined: 24 Dec 2004
Location: Jeollanam-do
|
 Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 8:30 am Post subject: "Once There Was Japan . . . " |
 |
|
See, look what insomnia is doing to me.
| Quote: |
Once There Was Japan
By Kim Heung-sook
One of the books I�m reading is the �Lady with an Alien,� an intriguing science fiction in which Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci meets Mario, a boy from the 26th century. It seems both fair and sad that even a genius like da Vinci can�t figure out what the future would be like. For a mediocre person like me, comprehending even the present times is a challenge as events unfold too fast and are often too complicated. Of all the enigmas of today, I find Japan the hardest to figure out and so I consulted Mario about it. Here I retell what the discreet Mario told me:
``Once there was a country named Japan. It had over 3,000 islands and its population topped the world�s 10th largest in your times, but it always wanted to become larger. Its neighbors introduced Buddhism and culture into its territory in the ancient times, but saw its medieval era marked by the emergence of shogunates, the ruling class of warriors called the samurai. In the 16th century, a shogun named Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea, leading an army that rampaged through the neighboring country for seven years.
In the 19th century, Japan opened to the west and established a modern form of government and parliament through the Meiji restoration, subsequently growing into an aggressive world power that waged a number of military conflicts with its neighbors. It won a war with China in 1895 and one with Russia in 1905. Within a few years, it also took control of Korea and Taiwan.
Japan�s expansionism peaked in early 20th century and it paid heavily in the form of both natural and man-made disasters. On Sept. 1, 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake hit Tokyo and the surroundings, claiming about 140,000 lives. While impoverishing Korea during 35 years of colonial rule from 1910, Japan invaded China again in 1937 and, four years later, it attacked the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor.
In 1945, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing over 200,000 people and forcing Japan to surrender unconditionally. The figure can be compared to the 300,000 Chinese civilian victims of �the Rape of Nanking,� the war crimes committed by the Japanese military during its occupation of Nanking from mid-December 1937, and a great number of Koreans and other Asians who were victimized by the Japanese in the early half of the 20th century.
In 1947, Japan adopted a �peace� constitution banning an offensive military and in 1956 joined the United Nations. With U.S. help and a relentless drive for industrial development, Japan became the second largest economy in the world. On the surface, it made a turnaround from a warrior to a pacifist, but its expansionists not only survived but thrived.
Early in the 21st century, Japan had Junichiro Koizumi as the prime minister. He amused and angered neighbors with his assertive foreign policy, finding the staunchest ally in a U.S. president who was even called a �devil� in a U.N. meeting. In September 2006, he was succeeded by Shinzo Abe, whom a commentator dubbed as �the most dangerous politician in Japan.� Born to a family that produced two most conservative prime ministers, Abe didn�t mind Asians� uneasiness about his policy. He wanted to revise the constitution and remove the �defense-only� mask from Japan�s Self-Defense Forces whose expenditures doubled those of South Korea�s in 2005. He also sought to delete clauses about Asian women, who were forced into sex slavery by Japanese military, from his country�s history textbooks.
Michael Moore was so busy filming the secrets of Koizumi�s American friend that he couldn�t investigate what might be a hidden deal between Abe and Pyongyang leadership. In 2002, Abe was pulled out of political oblivion owing to a heated controversy over Japanese abductees in north Korea. While Abe was struggling against a less hawkish candidate in 2006 for the ruling party presidency, north Korea test-fired missiles, changing the public mood in his favor. Whether by luck or plan, Shinzo Abe became the resident of the Kantei at last, realizing his late father Shintaro�s ambition aborted in 1991 due to cancer.�
Mario stopped there, smiling. I told him that I knew that much already and I wanted to learn if Abe�s hard-line policy worked and if the volcanic Mt. Fuji erupted. The prudent Mario said he was not permitted to say that. He just repeated: �Once there was a country named Japan.�
|
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200609/kt2006092923260254330.htm |
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
