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What do you think about the online posting of a video showing collisions between a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol boats near the Senkaku Islands by a Japan Coast Guard member? Is it a big deal? S

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What was supposed to be an international affair is turning into a domestic dispute. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if the LDP and Chinese government made some sort of arrangement prior to this fishing incident. One of the worse things was seeing Ishihara rear his ugly head on the TV and say what was wrong with 'aikokusha' making this video public.

That person should not have made it public, regardless of whether the public should see it or not, because he did not have the authority to do so. It was not his decision to make.

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"knowitall" (is that some newfangled way of saying know it all?)

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If a Video is evidence in an ongoing investigation/court case NO it shouldn't be made public as it can hurt the investigation/case.

Sorry, I don't buy into this thinking of "I am entitled .....".

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I think these days that many videos like this one (showing evidence of crimes) will make their way to the Internet. This is the age we live in now. People can decide for themselves. Personally, I prefer to have some visual idea of what happened. Think of the abuses at the prisons in Iraq. They provided important evidence of wrongdoing. In one part of the current video, the Chinese vessel clearly hits the Japanese one and, as far as one could tell, it could have been avoided by the Chinese ship. My question now is why the Chinese haven't started apologizing yet. The Chinese government would be very worried if this video made its way to the Chinese Internet but, due to the censorship there, it most likely won't. There is always the risk of videos being faked but I don't believe this video is a fake. The Chinese captain of that vessel should still be in custody.

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" if the video was deemed so important it shud (sic) never have been on any servers and access shud (sic) have been limited very few individuals."

Well it wasn't deemed secret for quite a while. The government didn't decide what to do for a long time. The CG quite often disseminates video of its actions. By the time the government big wigs decided what to do, half the coast guard already had seen it. What the government "shud" (is that some newfangled past tense of should?) have done is decide that it was classified from day one.

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A few here have got it right the real criminals in this incident are the ones responsible for the video once the 2 JCG boats returned to port, clearly the fact this video ended up on JCG servers at all shows utter incompetance, if the video was deemed so important it shud never have been on any servers & access shud have been limited very few individuals.

As I said in another thread what happened once the boats docked is all the sempais demanded copies & clearly they were given access & the video spead like a wildfire in the JCG, a huge breach of security in which most who accessed the vid were likely in breach of security rules/laws.

Yet here were set up to crucify ONE guy, imo at most he shud lose his job, the real criminal activity took place LONG before he got his copy of the videos.

And the govt deciding this shud be kept from our view made the biggest mistake of all, bottom line is there are too many idiots to name & prosecute in this festival of incompetance!

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First of all, the taxpayers (japanese and foreigners who pay taxes in japan) should have full access to see this video.

The government is protecting whom ? The government is protecting their interests ( business deals ) or protecting the people from re.tal.i.at.ion ? What ever the cause/ the people of japan should have the right to review the tapes. Even though the islands don't belong to them.

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The problem is the word "edited." Why was the video edited in the first place? What happens if one of the Chinese fisherman also have a video tape that showed the whole incident and it is the opposite of the Japanese's video tape?

The guy should not have uploaded the video in the first place. It wasn't his place to make that decision. He makes the Japanese government looks so incompetent on so many levels.

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i would have to see original footage of a video shot from a helicopter above the ships before i would be willing to say that the chinese are 100% at fault here.

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, i am simply pointing out that all we have seen is edited footage of a video that shows several collisions.

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i am not saying that chinese boat didn't do anything wrong.

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i agree with another poster that this guy is not very much of a hero. the general reaction of the japanese public that this video establishes 100% chinese guilt is WRONG.

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if japan govt can release fishing boat captain why not this man call sengoku38??

this should be most interesting topics to comment .

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its the citizen who makes government by supporting them. its the citizens who pays tax to support government in every field. its the citizen who does everything in kind of their country. so its the citizen who have rights whats going on their country.

i truly support that guy,but you know right time right place pull the trigger so you cannot miss the target,the man was little late ,he should have broadcast little earlier , its the right of every law abiding citizen to know the truth it comes under national security of the country.

govt should not hide those facts it was not so important to hide as we think, neither it was about war nor about nuclear it was just a bunch of Chinese guys trying to cross the territory zone of japan and it was the duty of japan coast guarding their zone ,so no big deal. if govt. would shows that tape earlier those dramatics incident would prevent.well in my point of view the current political leader of japan still need to be more practical then their words by showing right to the people.they need to learn more.

concerning about banning you tube in china ,chinese govt can banned you tube but they cannot banned every peoples feeling freedom and means of media.so we all say Power to People on their Rights

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This just may be a cover-up by both governments. The heads that should roll are those of the captains for not openly discussing the issue. They did not do that so the cover-up has to be directed by government officials from both governments.

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Down to very depth of the genuine version, may I dismiss both versions : the 6 min. & the 44 min. Failed to cover the COMPLETE portrait of the incident...let the real hero to post the full 2 hr. Version before we could comment in an objective manner.

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And now the cops are busting the video guy's apartment looking for "evidence". What a load of bull.

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The general public has no need to see the video.

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When you get to mid August, 1945, tell me whether the military people who disobeyed the civilian government were heroes.

Some of them are considered heroes today, but not 60+ years ago. However, I agree that a military employee who goes against the legally elected government is a bad idea - Besides Japan 60+ years ago, can you say Burma? I think the guy who uploaded the video will get fired (no prison time, even suspended) and then go on TV shows as a semi-talento until his 15 minutes are up.

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Someone could be punished and still be a hero. Many a hero in history has done so knowing full well they'll take the fall.

Yeah, just look at this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner. In China he is a criminal.

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I agree with some14some. Uniformed personnel disobeying lawful orders of the civilian government because they disagree with them is criminal and dangerous. The Coast Guard is a quasi military entity so it amounts to military sabotage on its own civilian government for political reasons. Start reading Japanese history from about 1928 on. When you get to mid August, 1945, tell me whether the military people who disobeyed the civilian government were heroes.

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Someone could be punished and still be a hero. Many a hero in history has done so knowing full well they'll take the fall.

So, he should be fired. But he could still be a hero.

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Whoever in government is trying to fight this should be fired for withholding information. Bravo to the one who posted it. the public has the right to know the truth.

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No big deal. what's the secret that govt is trying to protect? About time people and govt's realise that - with cameras everywhere (keitais) and Web anonimity - almost nothing is secret anymore and got over it.

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I agree with ratpack that the person who released the video should be a hero and I am sure he will soon appear on many TV stations and make a lot more money than working as a coast guard because you have to have guts to pull this off. Justice has been done to the world by him for showing us the truth.

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The Governments outcry at this released video is only natural for any communist country....oh hang on...Japan isn't a communist country is it!!

the Government definitely said they were not going to release the tape to the public

thats because they wanted to blind the public from the truth and the fact that Japan bowed deeply needlessly to China, kissed their proverbials and freed the captain when in actual fact they shouldn't have.

Is it a big deal?

Yeah...it shows how much power Japan has over China....hahaha.

Should heads roll over the matter?

The person concerned in releasing this video should be a hero for pulling back the curtain of secrecy the powers to be covered their people with. But sadly his head will roll because Japan will cave into Chinas overlooking eye and make a scapegoat out of him so that they can say to China once again.....with a deep bow....gomenasai....and hope all relations are back on a more stable footing.

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Is it a big deal? I think so.

Should heads roll over the matter? Not the guy's who uploaded it. I'd admire him, pity he deleted it later but I can understand him trying to protect his job though.

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Should heads roll? Of course, but not the guy that posted the video. The ones whose job it was to surpress the video (and failed) should be the ones on the chopping block. However, the video should have been made public in its entirety from the outset. By surpressing the video it only fuelled China's mistrust and made Japan look like they were trying to hide the facts. You Tube is blocked in China, so the majority of Chinese still have not seen the condemning footage and still believe Japan is trying to cover up the facts surrounding the collision.

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Gurukun, they keep their mouth shut on many many other matters, at work, school, and personal relationships! Its the culture. As for the video, yes he and others should be punished, but not harshly.

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I think the video should have been public from the start. However, anyone in the Japanese coast guard who can't follow lawful orders needs to resign or be dismissed immediately. To have uniformed service personnel contradict a cabinet decision for political reasons is very dangerous. The people elected a party to form a cabinet. The cabinet made a decision. If the people don't like that decision they can vote this government out of office. A coast guard petty officer has no right to violate cabinet policy. This has happened before in Japan. Servicemen violated orders and policies of elected governments. Many Japanese considered them heroes and praised them for doing the right thing. The result was a war with China, U.S., Britain, Holland, etc. that did not end well for Japan.

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The Japanese Govt let the Chinese capt go because China cried for his return. The drunk could have killed somebody (on his own boat, or the JCG boat). Now he's back in China a hero. But the guy who showed the world what really happened is getting investigated for this and that. From this day forward, let's let China do whatever they want to Japan. Japan can keep thier mouths shut to preserve the relationship between the two countries.

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In a Democractic country with Civilan Govt., it MUST NOT happen.

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Speaking as someone outside the matter (i.e. I don't have a stake in either side of the controversy), I have to say I like that some of the tremendous amount of secrecy in the world has been thwarted. The only reason Japan wanted to censor the tape was they were trying to repair relations with China and felt a public viewing of the tape would not help that process. No National Secrets were divulged that I'm aware of. In that regard, it's not a "Big Deal".

On the other hand, the Government definitely said they were not going to release the tape to the public and a government employee did just that. The employee should suffer whatever consequences result from that. Whether his "head rolls" or he just gets fired, he accepted his fate with his actions.

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