NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE NEFARIUM AUGUST 11 2016
August 11, 2016 / /
Japan's first lady Akie Abe goes off the reservation... or does she? This is one of the strongest indications to Joseph of just how angry the Japanese are, and how strong the desire is for a divorce...
Okinawa Murder: Japan's Abe to Urge Obama to Prevent Crimes by US Military
Japan’s First Lady Attends Protest Against US Military Base in Okinawa
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This symbolic gesturing by the wife of the Japanese PM also coincided with another event happened in Japan, in a recent televised address to the nation Akihito hinted at his possible abdication.The rare and unusual move by the Japanese monarch also came right after a hard-liner Japanese politician Yuriko Koike’s recent replacement to moderate Yoichi Masuzoe as new governor of Tokyo early this month, Yuriko is a big proponent of close U.S-Japan ties and an advocate for Japan to acquire nuclear weapons.
Last month’s arbitration on South China Sea in the Hague ruling overwhelmingly favored the Philippines against Chinese claims, Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop then later Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull were among the first top politicians to claim the ruling as “final”, “legally binding” and “in accord with international laws”, the event has been widely interpreted by mainstream media in the West as a triumph of “global effort” to curb “Chinese aggression” in SCS, despite the fact the UN published a short article shortly after the ruling on its Chinese website stating the so called “Hague Court” is actually not part of the UN or any other international organizations. China knows better, which is why it has been calling the entire fiasco as a “farce” from the begining.
Tough the vocal Australian foreign minister whom grouped with U.S. secretary of state John Kerry and Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida to posture a unified stance on SCS against China during the recent Summit in Laos, she was also been caught holding foreign minister Wang Yi’s hand as well as chattering with him at the dining table since she just happened to be sitting next to the Chinese FM, and when opposition defense sporksperson Stephen Conroy urged Australia to send naval and air forces to conduct “freedom of navigation” exercises along their American allies in light of recent Hague ruling, he was critisized by the FM as “highly irresponsible”.
Signs of lack of cohesion among U.S. allies in the region occuring not only in Japan and Australia, but in the Philippines as well. Even more troublesome for the Americans is the new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte who has expressed willingness to mend ties with China on SCS issue even before the “Hague Court” ruled against China, as Duterte dispatched Fidel Ramos as his special envy to Hong Kong in a bid to mend ties with China last week, the former Philippine president was also instrumental in helping Arroyo ascending to the top office during whose presidency Philippines and China witnessed an improvement of their bilateral relations, which ensured a relatively speaking peaceful situation in the disputed SCS as the two sides agreed to share resources (worth noting is the fact a similar proposal was offered to the Japan by China during the same period in regard to disputes in the “East China Sea”) before Arroyo was arrested on corruption charges back in 2010, after which the replacement Benigno Aquino III’s administration saw a reversal to Philippine’s relation with China and increased escalations in the SCS. Duterte has vowed to pardon Arroyo even before he was elected president, and on July 19th, only a week after the infamous “Hague ruling” against China, Philippines Supreme Court dismissed the case against former president Arroyo, then three weeks later, Ramos was in Hong Kong meeting with top Chinese diplomat Fu Ying, meanwhile, Duterte has twice accused U.S. ambassador Philip Goldberg of “meddling in Philippines affairs” and twice called him “son of a bitch”.
The recent humiliating diplomatic defeat in the Philippines, a country they are bidding on to spark a military confrontation which would not only involve the Japanese but potentially lead to WW3 as blatantly ‘warned’ by George Soros last year seem to have blowed up in their faces. Just as the background behind SCS theatre is drastically changing, from that of potential “war” to “peace”, potential trouble quitely looms over the “East China Sea” at the same time.
Yuriko Koike, newly-elected governor of Tokyo, is a member of the Nippon Kaigi/”Japan Conference”, an “ultra-right” and “nationalist” faction wielding a great deal of influence over Japan’s conservative government. Shintaro Ishihara, another “governor of Tokyo”, who is also affiliated with the Nippon Kaigi and sharing similar views with that of Yuriko(also a proponent for Japan to develop nuclear weapons), played instrumental role in damaging Japan-China relation when he launched his campaign of “purchasing Senkaku/Diaoyu islands” under Tokyo city’s name back in 2012, which violated mutual understandings reached between Japan and China for “cooperation in the East Sea”, which both sides agreed to set the issue of Senkaku island aside and not making any unilateral provocations. And when Ishihara stated his desire to ‘purchase’ Senkaku islands he just happened to be in “Washington”.
It seems someone is trying to stir trouble in the “East China Sea” even as the “South China Sea” fiasco is fizzling, given the ‘post-war’ Japanese monarchy’s efforts at mending ties with China, one could not exclude the possibility Akihito’s recent televised address was aimed at sending a “message” to Shinzo Abe, and his wife’s subsequent Okinawa trip, Abe’s “response”? Or, given that both highly symbolic events happened on the same day, were they actually “coordinated-effort”?
in any case, the overall geopolitical pattern seem to be American allies in the region are all internally fractured, these nations all seem to have been caught between the U.S. and China’s intrigues and rivalry, and its precisely the plot theme in “The Secret City” starring “Fringe”s Australian actress Anna Torv, a new Australian TV series.
there is a 2013 Japanese film called “Human Trust” worth of mentioning, according to that film, the looted wealth of Asia in the form of gold bullions during WW2 was shared with America after the war, the two sides have been jointly operating a special Fund which gives them the power to control world economy for decades, until a Japanese renegade decided to use the Fund to help mankind at large instead of serving just few shadowy elites interests before he was stopped short and arrested by CIA agents. At the begining of the film, it subtly hinted at a certain connection between this special “Fund” and Japan’s post-war miraculous economic recovery, the scandal of Lockheed Martin bribing Japanese Prime Minister, Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008, and “Fukushima disaster” in 2011, another tentative evidence that someone in Japan want to “divorce”?
“Or, given that both highly symbolic events happened on the same day, were they actually “coordinated-effort”?”
correction, Akie Abe visited Okinawa on August 6, still, Akihito and Abe are the ones worth paying attention to.
Emperor Akihito’s intention of visiting China prior to “Fukushima disaster” back in 2011 would have potentially put Japan-China relationship on a different track, but even Akihito went ahead with the trip it wouldn’t have been the first time for him since he already visited China back in 1992, where he used phrase like “deeply pained” when making reference to WW2 history, which may be seen as an “apology”, but whats really worth pondering is the fact Akihito was not the first “post-war” Japanese monarch “interested in mending ties with China”
http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/xwrwzhk/peoplemore/200703/19/W020070319332853787589.jpg
back in 1978, after the “Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China” was formally signed in Beijing in August, then vice premier Deng Xiaoping paid a visit to Japan in October where he was greeted by Emperor Hirohito in the imperial palace, Deng told Hirohito, “the significance of this Treaty may prove to be beyond our expectations, what happened is in the past, we should focus on the future, to build a peaceful and friendly relationship between our two countries”.
thats when Hirohito did something “odd”, he did not simply follow a short speech script provided by the Japanese foreign ministry as usually he would, as he responded to Deng in an unusually casual manner “during the long history of the two nations, although there were unfortunate things happened, but just like you said, thats in the past. The two nations have signed the Treaty now, this is really a good thing. From now on, let peace and friendship between the two nations last forever.”
Hirohito also expressed his desire to visit China to visiting Chinese delegations on number of occasions, in fact, even before the signing of the “Peace Treaty” in 1978, three years after Japan normalized relationship with China in 1972 (which happened the very next year after the PRC’s historic returning to the UN in 1971) as the two countries were discussing on the creation of a “Peace Treaty”, emperor Hirohito had for the first time, expressed his willingness to visit China during an interview with ‘Time’ magazine in 1975, when asked on the possibility of paying China a visit, Hirohito said “if the Peace Treaty is signed, to have the opportunity to visit China for me will be very pleasing, but this is a decision for the Japanese government to make.”
Intriguing as it may be, Emperor Akihito was not the first “post-war” Japanese emperor who wanted to ‘mend ties with China” by visiting the country, this often neglected(especially by the Western as well as Chinese medias) “Japanese tradition’ can actually be traced back to the 70s, and to the very Japanese monarch who was actually responsible for the “unfortunate things” that happened during WW2 in the first place.
But given the amount of ‘brainwashing’ in the mainstream media(both Western and Chinese), when it comes to Sino-Japanese relations, the automatic assumption seem to be “Japan kicked China’s ass”, and thats all Japan is worth for when it comes to the history and relation between the two nations, but may be its actually ‘more than meets the eyes.’
Okinawans who own the land measured in tsubos, are paid handsomely in rent by the DoD.
Someone’s family I know well has been receiving $16,000.00 a month rent for the use of some of their land.
It is a very laid back place as opposed to the rest of Japan. There is also an awareness that much of the economy would tank when and if the US leaves the bases and facilities. As it is the young people have little to look forward to even compared to our own millenials!
Sakhalin pipeline project (2013 link with map):
http://www.2b1stconsulting.com/rosneft-and-exxonmobil-to-team-up-on-15-billion-sakhalin-lng-project/
The continuous amount of rapes by US military personal is something the Japanese will not tolerate. In one sense, the US military cannot seem to talk to their troops and tell them rape is wrong. No wonder the Japanese don’t want that US base there, and I think the day will come when the front pages will read “Yankee go home”.
Rape is a part of War. Anonymous unaccountability and a big gun in the hands gives a certain feeling of enpowerment.
That it’s hapepning in japan, shows more of a comment on the type of people they are letting into the army.
The Russians aren’t stupid and would like to unload the Kuril Islands for long time. But this ongoing Okinawa base problem is giving them a nice excuse to be a referee in any Sino-Russian-Nippon settlement of their differences. As for the CSA it’s continuing to dig it’s own grave politically as usual. As for the Japanese PM wife if you believe that story there a bridge in Brooklyn that’s for sale.
Russia plus Japan as a counterbalance to PRChina is the one to watch.
Russia has something in mind that I do not think is completely clear yet with regard to the disputed islands … I have a mild suspicion that Russia will propose to Japan that they will recognise Japan’s rights with regard to the disputed islands claimed by the PRChina provided that the Japanese cede Russian-occupied Sakhalin Is. to the Russians and some of the minor islands return to Japan.