Japan

[Nonc Hilaire]

Everyone now knows masks are transparent to virus, but topic is Japan and Japan is always worth looking at when discussing etiquette.

There are good non-covid reasons for some people to mask, but some people look down their noses at maskers.

Maskers, of course, cannot look down their noses at all .

[Heracleum Persicum]

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Content of radioactive element in fish at Fukushima's Nuclear Power Plant 180 times of safe limit


https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-06-06/R ... index.html

[Nonc Hilaire]

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Content of radioactive element in fish at Fukushima's Nuclear Power Plant 180 times of safe limit


https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-06-06/R ... index.html

Typhoon is our resident authority on nuclear fishin’.

[Heracleum Persicum]

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Foreign Policy
The Bomb Didn’t Beat Japan
Stalin Did.

Have 70 years of nuclear policy been based on a lie ?

Simple answer is , YES

Nuclear was and is no "deterrence"

Did Ukraine give up when Putin clearly said would use tactical battlefield nuke ?

NO

Would NATO go nuclear if Putin "Bangs" Poland ?

NO

[Typhoon]

The article is mostly correct, your extrapolations are not even wrong.

The firebombing of Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and other J-cities killed far more civilians than the two nuclear weapons combined.

So the Imperial Japanese govt did not surrender due to the nuclear bombings despite their concentrated and horrific destructive power.

Rather, the threat of a Russian invasion and occupation lead to the choice of the "lesser of two evils" - surrender to the Americans and an American occupation.

Considering the experiences of the Baltics, Eastern Europe, and the Ukraine under the barbaric Soviet-Russian occupation, this was an exceptionally prescient and fateful decision. The Karafuto | 樺太 [Sakhalin] islands remain under Russian occupation to this day.

By relative comparison, the American postwar behaviour towards Japan [and Germany] was magnanimous.

However, MAD [Mutual Assured [Nuclear] Destruction] is the reason the US, Europe, Soviet-Russia, and Maoist-China were not in state of permanent conventional war. One which would have also involved Japan. Our [here referring to the forum members] quality of life, if we had survived, would be immeasurably worse.

MAD acted as a deterrence during the "Bay of Pigs" crisis.
Unlike the keyboard wannabe warriors of today, both leaders, Khrushchev and Kennedy, had experienced the reality of war and neither wanted to be remembered, and to be cursed in perpetuity, as the madman who destroyed human civilization.

MAD prevented a conventional war between Soviet-Russia and Maoist-China after the falling out and following border war in the 1960's.

Nuclear weapons were considered, but rejected by more rational minds, during both the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Soviet-Russia could have presumably used nuclear weapons during the Afghan War but did not do so.

In 1945, there existed three nuclear weapons in the entire world.
In 2023, there exists sufficient nuclear weapon stockpiles to destroy the earth several times over'

So, what is mad, rather than MAD,
is the naive and flippant suggestion of the first use of nuclear weapons in response to a 21st century conventional war.
Frankly, it's insane.

[Heracleum Persicum]

The article is mostly correct, your extrapolations are not even wrong.

The firebombing of Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and other J-cities killed far more civilians than the two nuclear weapons combined.

So the Imperial Japanese govt did not surrender due to the nuclear bombings despite their concentrated and horrific destructive power.

Rather, the threat of a Russian invasion and occupation lead to the choice of the "lesser of two evils" - surrender to the Americans and an American occupation.

Considering the experiences of the Baltics, Eastern Europe, and the Ukraine under the barbaric Soviet-Russian occupation, this was an exceptionally prescient and fateful decision. The Karafuto | 樺太 [Sakhalin] islands remain under Russian occupation to this day.

By relative comparison, the American postwar behaviour towards Japan [and Germany] was magnanimous.

However, MAD [Mutual Assured [Nuclear] Destruction] is the reason the US, Europe, Soviet-Russia, and Maoist-China were not in state of permanent conventional war. One which would have also involved Japan. Our [here referring to the forum members] quality of life, if we had survived, would be immeasurably worse.

MAD acted as a deterrence during the "Bay of Pigs" crisis.
Unlike the keyboard wannabe warriors of today, both leaders, Khrushchev and Kennedy, had experienced the reality of war and neither wanted to be remembered, and to be cursed in perpetuity, as the madman who destroyed human civilization.

MAD prevented a conventional war between Soviet-Russia and Maoist-China after the falling out and following border war in the 1960's.

Nuclear weapons were considered, but rejected by more rational minds, during both the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Soviet-Russia could have presumably used nuclear weapons during the Afghan War but did not do so.

In 1945, there existed three nuclear weapons in the entire world.
In 2023, there exists sufficient nuclear weapon stockpiles to destroy the earth several times over'

So, what is mad, rather than MAD,
is the naive and flippant suggestion of the first use of nuclear weapons in response to a 21st century conventional war.
Frankly, it's insane.

All true and very well said

But, the danger now is not big nuke but baby nuke, "Tactical battlefield nuclear weapons" that US started developing many yrs ago and Russians and Chinese followed.

There Zero doubt that "Tactical battlefield nuclear weapons" will be used in coming wars.

But big kiloton ones pretty much useless

That is why mad mullahs did not built one .. Iran is a "short notice nuclear ready" nation.

[Heracleum Persicum]

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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/23/busi ... ticleShare


Interesting

[Heracleum Persicum]

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China Cancels Japan's $154 Billion Machine Tool Order


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RerxbAZ0Sc0


https://pdf.defence.pk/threads/panic-er ... er.774084/


Nikkei Asia
Japan's machine tool orders fall sharply as China demand wanes

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[Typhoon]

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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/23/busi ... ticleShare


Interesting

“The world would not be in such a snarl,
had Marx been Groucho instead of Karl.”

― Irving Berlin

It's remarkable how even the dumbest ideas, with overwhelming historical evidence that they are disastrous in practice, continue to find a new generation of adherents.

Like Marx, he's identified some superficial issues, but his predictions and prescriptions, as were Marx's, are wishful thinking that ignores human nature.

As for organic farming, It can't feed the the planet's population.
Sri Lanka tried to do it on a national scale, encouraged by Western [neocolonialist] NGOs, and it lead to a complete collapse of their economy.

[Typhoon]

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China Cancels Japan's $154 Billion Machine Tool Order


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RerxbAZ0Sc0


https://pdf.defence.pk/threads/panic-er ... er.774084/


Nikkei Asia
Japan's machine tool orders fall sharply as China demand wanes

.

This is more about PR China than Japan. PR China is experiencing an economic - financial crisis.

[Heracleum Persicum]

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China Cancels Japan's $154 Billion Machine Tool Order


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RerxbAZ0Sc0


https://pdf.defence.pk/threads/panic-er ... er.774084/


Nikkei Asia
Japan's machine tool orders fall sharply as China demand wanes

.

This is more about PR China than Japan. PR China is experiencing an economic - financial crisis.

From above NikkeiAsia posted article :

It was the 16th month in a row for Chinese orders to tumble year-on-year.

Machine tool orders from China's automobile sector fell 76.4% in June to 3.2 billion yen.

..

Machine tool exports to China had also been supported by brisk demand for smartphones, but this began to wane in the late 2018.

..

"Everything is on a downward trend," Iimura said. "It is difficult to forecast unless the uncertainty over international affairs is cleared up."

Meaning this not a new development, happening since @least 2 yrs.

China car production did not fall much, but "Machine tool orders from China's automobile sector fell 76.4% in June to 3.2 billion yen."


https://tradingeconomics.com/china/car-production


The uTube clips posted explain in detail that China making big advance in making high end machine tools themselves and would need less and less Japanese , German, American machine tools .. basically now China becoming a competitor in MT

[Heracleum Persicum]

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https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QaAL7cGDYY4

Hmmmm

Didnt know
.

[noddy]

p5pzp31qd19c1b.png (571.13 KiB) Viewed 3554 times

greater japan seems like hard work.

[Typhoon]

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https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QaAL7cGDYY4

Hmmmm

Didnt know
.

It was nothing more than a propaganda campaign by Imperial Japan targeting Muslim nations.

The reality is that it was less probable than Iran converting to Judaism.

What is amusing is that, a century or so later, there are Muslims who still believe it.

[Heracleum Persicum]

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https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QaAL7cGDYY4

Hmmmm

Didnt know
.

It was nothing more than a propaganda campaign by Imperial Japan targeting Muslim nations.

The reality is that it was less probable than Iran converting to Judaism.

What is amusing is that, a century or so later, there are Muslims who still believe it.

Zoroastrianism was a "cast system" religion .. Nobles, priest , commoner .. that is why Pomegranates were not happy with Zoroastrianism (Pomegranates were Zoroastrians for many 1000s of yrs , and, tired of it - all agricultural land were owned by Zoroastrian temples)

So

Pomegranates were converting primarily to Christianity (Christian Armenia and Georgia were part of Persian empire) or accept Judaism .. there was a time, pre Islam that more than half Persian population were Jews, and there was a real chance pre-Islam Persia would be either Christian or Judaism. Next came Arab invasion.


Re Japan, I would have never imagined that Japan would be interesting in Islam, as Shinto Buddhism is another word and life philosophy (there no such thing as SIN in shinto Buddhism .. instead it is SHAME, meaning pickling Chinese alive is not a SIN before God, but a Shame ), Japanese culture is totally different world .. I can see that it could have been a (dumb) political manoeuvre to scare British colonials.

As atheist, am not familiar with Buddhism or Shinto Buddhism or Hinduism etc .. but I think only Abrahamite religions (Christian, Jewish, Muslim) believe there is a "Hell and Paradise" (Zoroastrian invention), sinners go to hell, good people go to Paradise). I am pretty much sure Buddhist and Hindu do not have such things let alone Hindu (reincarnation)

[Typhoon]

Your rant has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

Lots of people like to live in the past. Postwar Japan changed, once again, and moved on.

Today, if one has a Japanese passport, then one can travel to more countries than with any other passport.

[Heracleum Persicum]

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Imagine it is year 1990, and you an American or European looking to finance projects

You borrow Japanese Yen with ZERO interest rate and convert the funds into U$ or Euro ..

Yen drops and drops and drops against U$ and Euro for the next 30 yrs

This is called "Carry Trade" .. that is how Western big shots financed their empire

Who paid the cost ?

Japan

How Japan is willingly ceding the future to China

A decade’s reliance on aggressive monetary easing took the onus off CEOs to innovate, restructure & take risks

TOKYO — The next blow to the collective Japanese psyche will be falling behind Germany to become the fourth-biggest economy.

And

Why Shinzo Abe was killed ? ? there are a few hints
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[Heracleum Persicum]

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On 1 January 2024, at 16:10 JST, a MJMA 7.6 or Mw 7.5 earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.

The earthquake also generated a tsunami measuring up to 1.2 m along the Sea of Japan.

The Japan Meteorological Agency officially named this earthquake the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake.

7.6 Richter is very strong

30,000 homes without electricity

Some nuclear power plant are damaged, slightly


Japan should close all nuclear power pants and change to LNG gas turbine power station.

Plenty of LNG just from next door Russian Sakhalin (Sakhalin-II)
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[Typhoon]

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On 1 January 2024, at 16:10 JST, a MJMA 7.6 or Mw 7.5 earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.

The earthquake also generated a tsunami measuring up to 1.2 m along the Sea of Japan.

The Japan Meteorological Agency officially named this earthquake the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake.

7.6 Richter is very strong

30,000 homes without electricity

Some nuclear power plant are damaged, slightly


Japan should close all nuclear power pants and change to LNG gas turbine power station.

Plenty of LNG just from next door Russian Sakhalin (Sakhalin-II)
.

Well, phone PM Kishida and inform him know that you've figured it all out.

[Heracleum Persicum]

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Japan has more than 8 million abandoned homes,
with no restrictions on foreign buyers.


Interesting to see who would buy and move there ? No good for vacation home

In Italy now homes sell for Euro 1
.

[Heracleum Persicum]

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68078061

"There have been racial barriers, and it has been challenging to be accepted as Japanese."

That's what a tearful Carolina Shiino said in impeccable Japanese after she was crowned Miss Japan on Monday.

The 26-year-old model, who was born in Ukraine, moved to Japan at the age of five and was raised in Nagoya.

She is the first naturalized Japanese citizen to win the pageant, but her victory has re-ignited a debate on what it means to be Japanese.

While some recognised her victory as a "sign of the times", others have said she does not look like a "Miss Japan" should.

Am sure there ample Japanese beauties, why chose an Ukrainian ? .. there probably some statements in that choice
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[Heracleum Persicum]

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https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 024-01-29/

TOKYO, Jan 29 - Three foreign-born residents of Japan filed a lawsuit on Monday against the national and local governments over alleged illegal questioning by police based on racial profiling.

It is the first such lawsuit in Japan, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers, and comes amid a sharp rise in the number of foreign workers coming to the country to help stem labour shortages as its population ages and declines.

Not blaming Japan .. japan has a very (I think sophisticated) distinct "Japanese culture", very distinct, and I very much doubt that any foreigner, let alone Africans or Muslim Arab or Pakistani ever would grasp that Japanese culture

But there a problem as Japan population dropping dramatically, workforce aging, there need for immigrants

Maybe, comet push to shove, Japan must look @ Korean immigrants, maybe even Chinese.
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[Typhoon]

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https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 024-01-29/

TOKYO, Jan 29 - Three foreign-born residents of Japan filed a lawsuit on Monday against the national and local governments over alleged illegal questioning by police based on racial profiling.

It is the first such lawsuit in Japan, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers, and comes amid a sharp rise in the number of foreign workers coming to the country to help stem labour shortages as its population ages and declines.

Not blaming Japan .. japan has a very (I think sophisticated) distinct "Japanese culture", very distinct, and I very much doubt that any foreigner, let alone Africans or Muslim Arab or Pakistani ever would grasp that Japanese culture

But there a problem as Japan population dropping dramatically, workforce aging, there need for immigrants

Maybe, comet push to shove, Japan must look @ Korean immigrants, maybe even Chinese.
.

Statista | Distribution of foreign workers in Japan in 2022, by country or region of origin

[Heracleum Persicum]

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https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 024-01-29/

TOKYO, Jan 29 - Three foreign-born residents of Japan filed a lawsuit on Monday against the national and local governments over alleged illegal questioning by police based on racial profiling.

It is the first such lawsuit in Japan, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers, and comes amid a sharp rise in the number of foreign workers coming to the country to help stem labour shortages as its population ages and declines.

Not blaming Japan .. japan has a very (I think sophisticated) distinct "Japanese culture", very distinct, and I very much doubt that any foreigner, let alone Africans or Muslim Arab or Pakistani ever would grasp that Japanese culture

But there a problem as Japan population dropping dramatically, workforce aging, there need for immigrants

Maybe, comet push to shove, Japan must look @ Korean immigrants, maybe even Chinese.
.

Statista | Distribution of foreign workers in Japan in 2022, by country or region of origin

.

need to log in, subscription

But

My point was that Japan must only take in foreign workers, immigrants etc, who are "culturally" closer to Japan .. otherwise, down the road, there will be problems
.

[Typhoon]

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https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 024-01-29/

TOKYO, Jan 29 - Three foreign-born residents of Japan filed a lawsuit on Monday against the national and local governments over alleged illegal questioning by police based on racial profiling.

It is the first such lawsuit in Japan, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers, and comes amid a sharp rise in the number of foreign workers coming to the country to help stem labour shortages as its population ages and declines.

Not blaming Japan .. japan has a very (I think sophisticated) distinct "Japanese culture", very distinct, and I very much doubt that any foreigner, let alone Africans or Muslim Arab or Pakistani ever would grasp that Japanese culture

But there a problem as Japan population dropping dramatically, workforce aging, there need for immigrants

Maybe, comet push to shove, Japan must look @ Korean immigrants, maybe even Chinese.
.

Statista | Distribution of foreign workers in Japan in 2022, by country or region of origin

.

need to log in, subscription

Japan_foreign_workers.jpg (95.62 KiB) Viewed 1919 times

But

My point was that Japan must only take in foreign workers, immigrants etc, who are "culturally" closer to Japan .. otherwise, down the road, there will be problems
.

Well, I know Asians "all look the same", but there are vast cultural differences between Japan, Vietnam [including internal differences], and PR China [including vast internal cultural differences between provinces].

Perhaps the nation most similar to Japan is Taiwan.

The country with the largest population of Japanese descent outside of Japan is Brazil - the Nikkei Brazilians.

During the boom years of the 1980's, the thinking was that the Nikkei Brazilians are "of the same blood" as us so they are like us, so we should favour them as foreign workers.

Well, it turns out the Nikkei Brazilians may be of Japanese descent genetically, but culturally very much Brazilian.
Two rather different cultures. This lead to a lot of misunderstandings and friction.
So much for "blood", i.e., genetics.

To this date, some? many? Nikkei Brazilians live mostly separate lives from the Japanese mainstream although the situation has improved considerably over the years. Anyways, in Nagoya, one of the foreign languages for the metro [subway] line signs is Portuguese.