Bunchan1 comments

Religion and politics are strange bedfellows! They do not mix!

Waiting for a sever Chinese protest on the one day meeting!

There may come a time when those in Japan who take the position of hiding your head in the sand will prove to be a rather unfortunate mistake. The PRC has now aggressively decided to plant an oil rig in the territorial economic waters zone of Viet Nam which China disputes. That tiny country has aggressively put China on notice, and has seen a PRC Coast Guard vessel ram their ship in their own territorial economic waters. I guess some resplendence would not see this as having anything to do with Japan..Hope you are right, however telling this may be. Some also say that military security is too costly, however I have not seen any viable alternatives being offered by those who have stated all those figures on cost. How do they intend to protect themselves from aggression? Perhaps on that issue of those who bring it up, might prefer to live in (if they are in Japan) move to Switzerland, who also has a self defense force I might add.

Diplomacy is never met with the use of a magic wand!, Suffice it to say that the US has positioned itself alongside Japan. Would the US actually come to their aid in defense of let us say a military action by Mainland China. You can bet your tail end on that! to Too look the other way is to give the PRC what it has dreamed of for almost 7 decades! Domination over Asia! Other democracies would also face additional intimidation had the US not made the statement it made. China is reeling over the possibility as they put it "being caged".

Please read an article posted on msn.com's web page under the heading: Obama Asia Tour Starts With Scathing Attack by China State Media. It is a very telling response to the US, and leaves nothing to the imagination China's state media issued a scathing attack on the United States just hours before Barack Obama touched down for a week-long tour of Asia on Wednesday. The Xinhua news agency published a commentary slamming the U.S. as a "myopic" superpower that was trying to "cage" its Asian counterpart. Obama landed in Tokyo around 6 a.m. ET and will visit Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines over the next five days. The trip is part of a wider attempt to "rebalance" and "pivot" toward Asia.

The USA is a “Melting Pot” if all the citizens of the USA decided to have memorials erected to show injustice, and the evil that man does towards man, in all of the countries in the world, their parents or ancestors lived in, it would be almost impossible to walk the streets! Ever hear of some two million Armenians killed in genocide by the Ottoman Turks? Or the indigenous people of Taipei or even the American Indians? A platform of this kind should be one that perhaps the USA should push for Korea to erect a memorial for US soldiers who laid down their lives for the South Koreans!

I am a New Yorker! I have always been one no matter where I have lived. You can use a credit card to purchase Metro Cards, and you probably would have to be buying them all day to make any money trying to resell them. Since you have to run them over a machine to see the balance on the card, and that seems unwise! Credit card purchases during the holiday season by store clerks who cannot or do not read the name on the card is doable. Cash at an ATM impossible! No PIN, no money never! If she was foolish enough to have it with her card, then her close circle of friends in New York must have told her she dissevered it! No one does that, and if they do well the answer is clear. One respondent wrote his wife was pick pocketed on the Subway, and when she turned around as the car doors closed only to see the pickpocket smile and show her wallet and wave! I saw that exact same thing in a movie! I cannot count the times I have walked past Tiffany's and saw Japanese tourists, carrying all manner of high end shopping bags and paying not the slightest attention to their surroundings! Paris, Rome, Madrid and most large tourist cities have always had that problem, and will always have that problem

Frederick ShapiroNov. 15, 2013 - 08:59PM JST

In my view, there is nothing wrong with ceremony, nothing wrong in making it a special day for Japan, and for Ms. Kennedy. She is a brilliant, forceful, and dynamic individual, with the Kennedy DNA. She should be celebrated, not diminished, by sideline nonsense. I think some are a little to quick to judge! Been in Japan a day and already put down!

Well said give Ms. Kennedy some credit, instead of tearing her apart!

pochanOct. 19, 2013 - 09:52AM JST

China's military and territorial expansion agenda today, not 70 years ago, is.

China hasn't started any major wars yet. The US on the other hand has started many. Don't throw stones in your glasshouse

What does the US have to do with this article .....Unless it says to say that in your LITTLE RED BOOK, wait until their is another article about the US to chirp in! You silly human!

There is no solution from any side or any angle! For decades terrorists in that region, as well as other regions of this world of ours, have placed themselves in areas where there are at times heavy civilian populations. The reason you might have guessed is for protection! This is plain and simple! When these same terrorists set off car bombs aimed specifically at civilians, do these same watch dog groups raise their moral indignation? I have not read that, perhaps they are afraid of the indiscriminant retaliation these terrorist groups are known for! Terrorism is by virtue of its name exists to paralyze populations into submission Some readers advocate the US withdraw, I agree, do you think the US military want to be in these hell holes! However if you have cockroaches, and you do not use traps and sprays and alike to kill their nests, in a few weeks you will be infested, and overrun. Now many comments have been brought fourth all about withdrawal, and bringing the US to justice however does anyone have any bright ideas as to how to stop terrorism? Except for taking the moral high ground and squawk! I have no idea if you lived in that part of the world, I did and without me beating my chest served in that area of the world as an Captain in Military Intelligence Brigade Strategic Counterintelligence Directorate AFG in Afghanistan among other really great vacation spots in that part of paradise! It is easy to talk when you never served, never protected anything, never put on a uniform and took up arms to fight back! You would wet your pants if you could not get good TV reception! This is and will never be easy, accusations are just that, some of the weaker minds believe everything they read, that is a real pity! Drones save lives, they are laser accurate, and far less lethal than an artillery strike, and like my comment on cockroaches you have to kill the nest to rid yourself of infestation!

highball7Oct. 08, 2013 - 06:31PM JST WOW! Read your comments. I will never take the position that you do not have the right to speak your mind. However, as such I have the right to disagree with some of you comments that are just slightly a skewed. Some people, who turn on Japan, and omit Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy! Pity those respondents are so lop sided. “You must know that Japan must keep the hatred for China and China must keep the hatred for Japan”. - Where did that come from?

The Chinese incursions are real and provocative. They are overt, and have challenged the sovereignty of several nations, and the region! A Comment “How about instead of focusing on this petty island dispute” Well sovereignty is not petty, unless wherever you reside, you don't give a dam about it! Strikes me that a comment like that only makes people who feel that way pee their pants when it happens to them! The US-Japan-Australian governments again ratified their commitment of unification as allies that message that has set China back 5 steps. Which caused them to react as predicted that they feel threatened, now they have a taste of how that feels too countries with less than 1.5 billion souls! The President of the United States of America does in fact have issues at home that require that he must be present for. The Chief Executive Officer of the USA, must govern his nation first! I agree that there are issues, but to rip Presidents, and leaders when you have no idea of their burdens, as arm chair quaterbacks, simoly is an in justice. Walk a mile in their shoes mates!

It is so abundantly clear who the Chinese readers are. Happily on this issue they have only shown the typical party line, that China is a loving and a benevolent country and as well as a world partner. No one buys that nonsense! The PRC, and its rabid child the DPRK who has just slammed Seoul's pact with US, are the ones who now perhaps understand that the world is not their playground, That freedom loving nations who enjoy liberties the Chinese do not and as such now shows China the world will not sit by and perhaps in a little stronger set of terms advise them that if they continue they will meet with objections which has apparently given them some pause. I am in no way saying that a war will erupt, I am saying that of late both the PRC, and the DPRK, have been running around causing so many overt acts, they needed to be given a dose of reality. Let them object all they wish, and one comment about “Did China force Japan to do things against Japanese will? Don't force China to do what Chinese don't want to. Democracy means to respect will of 1.6 billion people”. shows the true ideology of the Chinese, still have that little red book under your pillows?

One might look at the comments that show a negative response and perhaps view them as the old adage: "If you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all". The diplomatic service is not a cake walk, but how would you know that! Just shooting off your mouths!

BertieWoosterSep. 28, 2013 - 07:26PM JST

What is this campaign to make China the enemy? I see much more danger in American imperialism and covert/dirty fighting. There is no danger in the Pacific that couldn't be solved with good, open communication. Something Abe is totally incapable of.

As long as China gets its way, good open communications with China has never met with anything positive unless it works out for China! When has it been anything other than that? China, and North Korea, are a cancer in Asia!

Mr. Shapiro, while I have lived in Manhattan for several years while getting my PhD, from Columbia University, you do make a point. However, I see and feel how horrified you are by the events of this unspeakable crime! I do not think you need to single out New York City, who lost thousands on 9/11! I also take note about a reader who dwells on a specific geographic area, and perhaps as you pointed out, this crime is unimaginable no matter where it occurred. I recall a reader in an earlier article about this horrific crime who was a Turkish Tour guide in Cappadocia and at that exact place did not recall it as being the “Bad Lands of the Old Wild West” in the USA. Let us all agree that this is a horrific crime, and a crime against all things that are good in this world. I pray her parents, and the parents of her severely injured companion, can find some kind of solace in all of this, if that is possible!

The boy remains in a stable condition, police said. But the emotional scars will remain for a lifetime! What can a two year old child do to deserve that? Not even animals do that!

I have been to Fukushima Prefecture, as well as Aizu-Wakamatsu, it's a friendly open Prefecture with truly warm and open people for visitors. The Sake Brewers were especially friendly, and happy to invite you in for tours.