Take a look at a NY Times interactive map prepared by NASA. It shows the distribution of radiation, loss of lives from the earthquake & tsunami, as well as the centres of the aftershocks since the main earthquake. It also offers a probable death toll of 14,554 people, though at this point the confirmed deaths are 13,232.
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Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
The death of a sushi franchise
Spare a thought for the endangered blue fin tuna the next time you have your next sushi - in Japan or outside, since this type of Japanese cuisine has become very popular around the world in the last few years, precipitating over-fishing.
NY Times covers this story. Mind you, this could be a liberal in the media having a panic attack. Irrespective this is a valuable resource that needs to be managed...and given Japan's obsession with all things 'sushi', I bet they could care less about the long range implications of tuna stocks...In Japan, sushi is political.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Tsunami imagery from Japan
Imagery of Japan's tsunami. Weeks after the event here is some more imagery of the tsunami. It is among the best imagery I have seen. It will be interesting to see if they ever track down the guy running away from the tsunami.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Might Japan face civil war?
We are accustomed of course to Japanese people being so obedient and civil, you might be inclined to question my thesis that Japan might well be confronting a threat of civil war. But consider the following:
1. There are a great many Japanese people who are struggling to make a living; to get ahead in this economy.
2. There is this nuclear program opposed by the public, launched by the government irrespective of public concerns.
3. There is the lying by the government about the dangers
4. There is the fact that people have no effective voice in government, and never had. It was all a delusional pretense. People did not think it through. They still don't.
5. There is a great deal of unrest around the world; most particularly in the Middle East
6. There are issues endless corruption in government
7. There is the spectre of a huge public sector debt of 220% of GDP, with plans for another spend on this earthquake funding of $US0.5 trillion. There is the problem of 20 years of economic stagnation.
8. There is the prospect of increasing hardship as the population comes to terms with fuel shortages, higher taxation.
We might asks - what could happen? Already many Japanese decide to take their lives. We might expect more suicide. Might we expect a charismatic leader to emerge given the political stalemate in the parliament. The parliament seems to be bogged down by corruption issues.
At some point people tend to break. People who have repressed their anxieties or frustrations are the worst. In Japan, it poses a systematic risk. Already many Japanese children decide to live and marry abroad. Might we expect another exodus? The Japanese have traditionally made a virtue of suffering. Is there any sign that that will finally break? I don't see it. I think they would need to be lead by some charismatic leader, and there is no sign. Having said that there might be a political campaign that I am not aware of. The Japanese are among the most organised people in the world; but most organisation is government-driven. Anyway, it is something to watch for. The tsunami might be another step towards chaos. I don't see any trigger for Japan to reach its tipping point. Perhaps one might emerge out of this crisis. Many a city mayor who is heralded for their courage and quick thinking who becomes a national hero.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Hague Convention poor system for arbitrating international marriages
Japan is considering its policy stance on the Hague Convention governing International Child Abduction. The reality is that its not really even abduction so long as Japan offers its citizens another legal standard.
Japanese women can be just as manipulative as (Western) men can be abusive. There is no question that some Western men are predators when it comes to their pursuits of Japanese women. Japanese women are famous for being submissive. That is a cultural generalisation that has allowed a great many men to play the odds. Some men denied validation seek out Japanese partners because they can also have intimacy issues. Likewise submissive Japanese women can tolerate abusive Western men enabled by their 'mute' compliance.
This ought not dispel the possibility that Japanese women are capable of manipulation. Whilst Japanese women do not generally display a great sense of ambition; make no mistake they will distort reality to achieve their subjective, nurturing desire to retain their children. The prospect of a Japanese government which retains the stereotype of Western men being abusive is of course not helpful. Japanese culture upholds this 'superiority' based on their notion of civility which is based on some notion of 'sensibility', 'courtesy' or consideration for others. The reality is that value system is far more a pretense than a genuine respect for rights or the interests of others, and the stereotype of Westerners being 'aggressive' or uncivilised 'egoists' plays into such issues where Japanese women are able to 'play victim' without proper scrutiny of the issue. Consider the following quote from a women in the Japan Times article:
"If Japan were to sign the Hague Convention . . . (my child would) be forced to live with an abusive father and be exposed to violence again....And I will become a (declared) criminal."
When I first read this I assumed she was concerned about some form of prejudicial treatment....but in fact she is worried about having broken the law in the West, and being accountable for that. Her desire is to avoid Western legal enforcement because the Japanese system created a loophole. The reality is that this woman does not deserve to be in prison. Her actions speak more about the poor legal system which turns people into adversaries.
Many years ago I was interested in a relationship with a Japanese girl in Cairns, Australia who had a child with an Australian man. What struck me as telling was that she displayed no empathy for the guy who was preventing her from getting a passport for her child; precisely because he was aware that Japan had not signed the Hague Convention. If she was genuine in taking her child to Japan for a visit, she was being punished by the Japanese government because her partner needed to taken precautionary measures to protect his interests.
Labelling Westerners as abusive or 'aggressive' is cultural cringe. In my relationship with a Japanese lady. She was the 'abusive' one in a sense....though it was not threatening to me. There was one incident where she pushed me up against a wall. In another case, she came at me with a knife in anger because an argument ensued over the fact that I said "I wanted to cook a roast lamb the way my mother used to cook it". That is the kiss of death to a Japanese wife who sees cooking as her domain. I don't believe she intended to hurt me with the knife. I think she did not even realise she had it in her hand when she came at me, but I pushed her away in self-defense. The reality is - women can react very emotionally, and very defensively to 'cold logic', which she got in spades from me.
These is a problem. Couples who break up and who want to part ways divide the interests of the children. How to deal with this issue when - only Japan - has a different legal system. The problem of course is that these (usually) women usually have no desire to live in the West after their relationship ends. Where does the child go? commonsense says its best left in the country where it has pre-existing relationships. Abuse of course needs to be investigated...but its not the role of a partner to be the presiding judge and determine the interests of the child if they have a conflict of interest. Japan knows that...they have laws against conflict of interest. Why the obstinate delays to signing this convention.
The Japanese government is creating a lot of paranoia and injury with this law. I do however think there needs to be special international tribunals to deal with such issues. I suggest that each country appoints an advocate for its culture and that two advocates and one independent 'third party' advocate provide arbitration on these cases, because there is a rich personal and cultural context which needs to be explored. This approach is far better than a Family Court which has no informed understanding of the cultural context. The implication is that the Hague Convention is not an adequate framework for dealing with these issues. In the current system people's interests are going to be prejudiced by uninformed courts.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Japanese translation of 'Atlas Shrugged'
Here is a Japanese translation of a book that all Japanese 'free-thinking' people should read. Too many Japanese people who lament the Japanese way of living challenge the values of Japan. This book 'Atlas Shrugged', by Ayn Rand, goes a long way towards developing a coherent intellectual framework to challenge and understand the values of contemporary life. I don't believe Rand achieved complete appreciation of the problem, and certainly she offers only limited 'political inspiration' for Japanese people, however the themes have pertinence to all of humanity.
Her book is among Random Houses' top 100 of all time - the readers choice. Not bad for a book as controversial as this. She is either hated or praised. She has changed people's lives including mine. Japanese people might avoid such controversy. I say they need to confront it. People hate the book and the author precisely because the ideas are threatening. That is reason enough to analyse its content - because you might well be scared of it. Its a horrid little tale about contemporary society....even it its set in a fictional period 50-odd years ago.
Rand is the closest approximation to my own ideas. Eventually I will publish these, but they are still work in progress. One cannot just write one book; one has to write a system of them. In the interim, I only deal with concrete political, relationship, investment issues on my blogs. The coherency will eventually come with publication of the philosophical content.
I personally agree with about 95% of what Rand wrote, and intend to add about 30% to what she didn't say; mostly in the realm of psychology and politics. This is not a criticism, but rather recognition that she was foremost an author who developed a philosophy to develop her characters. If she had written just philosophy, its probable that she would not have bad any influence in her lifetime. She was foremost a 'targeted' purposeful missile, and she struck her target audience. The role of post-Randians like myself is to refine or extrapolate her ideas to give them greater pertinence and coherence. Some ideas are merely implicit in Randian philosophy; but in other areas, there are gaps. Those gaps are often true to her purpose. i.e. Her lack of politics might be construed as a desire to avoid controversy which would bury her deeper convictions.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Japanese CEOs offer solutions to age-old problems
Does the world have anything to learn from Japan's business executives? Reading the CNN press responses to this article, you would think so...but I say think again. This story is about the Japan Airlines CEO who earns less than his pilots.
If such thinking was not based on a collectivist pride, maybe that value system would work wonders for Japan. i.e. If it was about earning your salary. As it stands, it is only delaying the inevitable 'real reform' of values in Japan. The values which mean that people work twice as hard for the same money. The Japanese take pride in suffering to new levels....its about time they gave up working hard and used their brains. They can run around like 'worker ants', but they sadly live by that old thinking...'work hard and you will get ahead'....better to work smart.
The Japanese system is based on collectivist or fascist values with a capitalist facade.
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