#Asahi Shimbun

[sigurism]

alain delon, tokyo, japan, 1963

[dailydefunctmangamagazine]

Nemuki (ネムキ) / Asahi Sonorama (朝日ソノラマ) / Mar 1994 issue

[dropintomanga]

The Wave of Depression Can Pass

Source: VOX POPULI: Longtime manga artist remains candid about life with depression

I came across this quote in a news article about a mangaka dealing with depression and what it means for them.

While you can definitely recover, depression does come back without warning. While I do think that depression is awful when it's major, I also think depression is a sign that may be telling you that the world isn't right. You're not mentally ill for feeling the way you do.

Sometimes, people still feel hopeless about life and I think the cure for them is for others to actually acknowledge the sad reality of it all. Far too many people are a bit too optimistic and not realistic about how unequal life can be. The advice they give doesn't always take into account the depressed person's actual feelings.

And I also think it's important to tell them that they won't always feel the way they do. It's a lot better than saying things like "Cheer up!" The tide does come in without us thinking about it.

It's okay to go slow as long as you don't stop. If you're going through stuff right now, I'm rooting for you to take your time moving forward.

[fuckyeahmeikokaji]

Meiko Kaji (梶芽衣子)

Taken from this recent, short Asahi Shimbun article regarding the re-issue of Meiko's LPs by WeWantSounds:

[uncleweed]

1939 film stars army dogs, the loyal, abandoned war combatants：The Asahi Shimbun

OTARU, Hokkaido–Hinomaru flags are waved and celebratory banners are displayed in a short wartime film starring relatively unknown combatants departing Japan for battlefields in China.

The one-minute movie for children was filmed 81 years ago and shows well-wishers seeing off a parade of dogs here in southern Hokkaido.

“Military dogs are performing distinguished service alongside troops,” the narrator in the film, titled “Gunyoken no Shussei” (Deployment of military working dogs), says. “This is a story about brave dogs that took off to battlegrounds from a city in Hokkaido.”

The Asahi Home Graph news film was one of 32 recordings that were returned to Japan. They were seized by U.S. occupation forces and taken to the United States after the end of World War II.

original link (borked): http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ202001200006.html

[falseandrealultravival]

Lai Dai Han (Lai Đại Hàn): The Truth that's Inconvenient for Korea (Essay)

Statue of Lai Dai Han

The 320,000 Korean troops sent to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War committed a war crime that will never be forgotten. Under the pretext of wiping out the Viet Cong in South Vietnam, they indiscriminately massacred local people and gang-raped women, causing countless children (5,000-30,000). These children are called "Lai Dai Han" (children of mixed race with Korean soldiers). They are not accepted in either Vietnam or Korea and live in discrimination.

In the extreme conditions of the battlefield, the true nature of human beings is revealed, but what about the wildness of these Korean soldiers? They are no less cruel than American or Russian soldiers. In Korea, the topic of Lai Dai Han is taboo, and although there were media outlets that tried to cover it, the Veterans' Association headed by former President Chun Doo-hwan (全斗煥) suppressed it. Chun Doo-hwan was the commander of the Vietnam Expeditionary Forces. Vietnam, which wants economic assistance from Korea, does not want to touch on the Lai Dai Han.

South Korea, which has committed such evil deeds, is persistently erecting statues of comfort women around the world to criticize Japan for the "comfort women issue," which is said that the Japanese military Kidnapped Korean women and made them "sex slaves", but this is ridiculous. In the first place, the "comfort women issue" is a fabrication by the Asahi Shimbun (newspaper) of Japan, and South Korea is just taking advantage of the situation of it. In the face of the Vicious Lai Dai Han issue, South Korea has no right to criticize anything including Japan. (The Japanese military consensually employed Korean women as prostitutes. Not sex slaves.) The UK has erected in Vietnam a statue of Lai Dai Han in front of the South Korean embassy to commemorate the evil deeds. Japan should also erect a statue of Lai Dai Han next to the statue of comfort women all over the world.

Rei Morishita

2024.07.21

ライダイハン：韓国にとって都合の悪い真実（エッセイ）

ベトナム戦争の折、派遣された韓国軍３２万人は、決して消えない戦争犯罪を犯している。それは南ベトナムでベトコンを掃討する名目で、現地の人を無差別に虐殺、また女性を輪姦して夥しい数（５０００－３万）の子供たちを生ませたことだ。この子供たちを「ライダイハン」（韓国兵との混血児）と呼ぶ。彼らはベトナムでも韓国でも受け入れらえず、差別されて生きている。

戦場という極限状態において、人間の本性があらわになるが、この韓国兵たちの荒みぶりはどうだろう。アメリカ兵、ロシア兵にも劣らない酷さだ。韓国では、ライダイハンの話題はタブーであるし、取り上げようとするマスコミはあったが、韓国大統領も務めた全斗煥を首魁とする退役軍人会が握りつぶした。全斗煥はベトナム派遣韓国軍の指揮官だった。韓国の経済的援助が欲しいベトナムも、ライダイハンには触れたくない。

こんな悪行をする韓国が、日本軍が朝鮮人女性を誘拐し「性奴隷」にしたとされる「従軍慰安婦問題」で、非難のため��界に慰安婦像をしつこく立てまくっているが、ちゃんちゃらおかしい。そもそも「従軍慰安婦問題」は日本の朝日新聞の捏造であり、それに韓国は乗っているに過ぎない。ライダイハンを前にすると、韓国がなにか非難する筋合いはない。（実際、日本軍は、合意の上で韓国人女性を売春婦として雇っていた。）イギリスは、ベトナムで、韓国大使館の前に、ライダイハン像を立て、その悪行を顕彰している。日本も従軍慰安婦像の隣に、ライダイハン像を立てるとよい。

[softsoundingsea]

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

February 7, 2024 at 14:03 JST

Japan appears to be an exceptional case where the U.S. military has done almost nothing about cancer-causing organic fluorine compounds detected near U.S. military bases.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) repel water and oil and have been used in various products, such as firefighting foam.

The Okinawa prefectural government has detected levels of PFAS exceeding the temporary standards set by the Environment Ministry in tests conducted near U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, in the prefecture.

CONTAMINATED LAND

Masaru Miyagi, 59, who has farmed for many years in Okinawa, is angered by what he is seeing.

“The land and water on which I grew up has been polluted,” he said. “I have put up with the noise pollution from U.S. military bases as well as the crimes committed by personnel there, but I can no longer control my anger.”

Because Miyagi took pride in his organic farming produce, he is no longer growing anything now that the water has been found to be contaminated.

PFAS contamination first came to light in Okinawa in January 2016 when the Okinawa prefectural government announced the results of its study of rivers and water treatment plants around the U.S. Kadena Air Base.

One finding was that perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), one of the PFAS compounds, was detected in the Chatan water treatment plant that provides water to about 440,000 locals. A maximum 80 nanograms per liter of water were found.

A river near Kadena Air Base had PFOS levels as high as 1,300 nanograms per liter.

Since 2016, the Okinawa prefectural government has made six separate requests at various U.S. military facilities to be allowed to investigate the cause of the contamination.

But the U.S. military has only allowed two on-site inspections because it admitted that accidents had occurred there. One involved 140,000 liters of firefighting foam leaking from the Futenma base in 2020.

Over the past eight years, the Okinawa prefectural government has spent a total of 3.2 billion yen ($21.6 million) to analyze and treat water contaminated with PFAS, of which the Okinawa Defense Bureau subsidized 1 billion yen.

The prefectural government believes at least 8 billion yen will be needed to deal with PFAS contamination over the next decade.

That means water bills in Okinawa will gradually increase by a total of 30 percent from October.

While part of the increase is due to rising consumer prices and to deal with aging water equipment, some of the money will also go toward combatting the PFAS problem.

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki has asked central government officials to shoulder the burden of managing the PFAS since the central government provides the facilities to the U.S. military from which the contaminant comes.

Masafumi Teruya is secretary-general of a citizens’ group seeking clean water around the Futenma base.

“It is unreasonable to have Okinawa residents pay to handle the PFAS,” he said.

[jtrocks]

[roganhazard]

Rogan Hazard, Illustration for Asahi Shimbun, "Muslim Immigrant Riots in Paris, France" April 2006.

"This was done in response to the (then) continuing riots in France. Intitially they were peaceful student marches that were quickly seized upon by Mulsim agitators as an excuse for general violence and destruction. I likened them, in their characteristic hooded sweatshirts, to a primitive beast out of the primordial past rampaging through the city."

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

... The Unification Church has long sought a law that obliges families to take charge of home education. ...

During the online sessions from 2020, local assembly members in Wakayama and Toyama prefectures took part from local facilities of organizations tied to the Unification Church. ...

One person who took part as a member of the Fukui prefectural assembly subsequently led a local movement to pass an ordinance in support of family education. A Shizuoka prefectural assembly member who was a follower of the Unification Church until September 2022 and helped organize some of the sessions said: “Individuals from the church and affiliated organizations were involved in putting on the study sessions. “But many local assembly members also helped out because there would not have been a spread of the movement if only individuals with ties to the church were involved.” ...

[petnews2day]

Japan Issues Warning About Wandering Cat After Feline Falls into Toxic Chemicals and Escapes

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/m0Owg

Japan Issues Warning About Wandering Cat After Feline Falls into Toxic Chemicals and Escapes

“If you find a cat that seems abnormal, please do not touch it and contact the city or police,” authorities told the public HANDOUT/Nomura Plating/AFP via Getty Footprints believed to be from a cat that fell into a tank containing toxic hexavalent chromium at the plating factory in Fukuyama, Hiroshima A cat fell into and […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/m0Owg #CatsNews #AsahiShimbun, #Fukuyama, #HexavalentChromium, #Hiroshima, #NomuraPlating, #SurveillanceFootage

[sigurism]

alain delon, tokyo, japan, 1963

[dailydefunctmangamagazine]

Honto ni Atta Kowai Hanashi (ほんとにあった怖い話) / Asahi Sonorama (朝日ソノラマ) / Mar 2001 issue

[jovialbasementbouquetblr]

1994: Lee Teng-hui Interviewed by Japanese Novelist Ryotaro Shiba "The Grief of Being Born a Taiwanese"

From 2020 The Asahi Shimbun article: Lee Teng-hui built, cherished long friendships in Japan Reading lately about the Taiwanese-Japanese writer Chiu Yong-han (aka Qiu Yonghan 邱永汉）lately, I came across this Japanese novelist Ryōtarō Shiba interview with then Republic of China (on Taiwan) President Lee Teng-hui that Alaska Senator Frank Murkowski inserted into the Congressional Record. Shiba was…

[opensky-tom]

The criminal is still running away. The person who has committed the brutal act should come out if he or she has a conscience with a small courage. Violence is everywhere and it is even within us, but it's not everything. We live according to our morale and law for better in this society. We fight against violence for better and for us and others.

[ydmunpress]

China: You are Lucky

By Asahi Shimbun

To invade or not to Invade? That is the question plaguing the Japanese Imperial Army when they got wind that the League of Nations passed a motion to assemble a multi-national alliance to go to China to attempt to deter China and Japan from going further into war. This alliance consists of soldiers from 20 countries, and is now on their way to Tianjin. 

Initially, Prince Kan’in Kotohito was in favor of sending more troops and pushing further into China. He reasoned that this would allow Japan to gain access to resources for further expansion. He states that “We can set aside a number of troops to fight the league but at the same time conquer more Chinese territory” 

This will mean a war for Japan on two fronts right? This is precisely the reason the officials of the Japanese Imperial Army adamantly refuses to invade more of China. 

Shunroku Hata, a field Marshall in the Imperial Japanese Army, argues that Japan simply do not have the resources and manpower to battle the League and China simultaneously. He firmly states that “ Now is not a good time to wage war against China.” It stands true that at this point in time, China is not actively fighting Japan while the League is on its way take actions to prevent further Japanese Aggression. 

He is backed up by Prime Minister Konoe who quips that the top priority now is to protect our Japan, our homeland, from the League’s imminent attacks.

Count Hisaichi is also against pushing further into China and opines that continued advancements into China would only be seen as an act of aggression with will only further ignite the wrath of the League. In that case, who knows what extent the League will be willing to go to to suppress Japan’s aggressions. 

However, Count Hisaichi proposed engaging in psychological warfare against China instead of a physical one. No additional information was allowed to be given to the media at this point in time. 

After a lengthy discussion, a decision was made to halt further invasions into China for the time being. So you might be safe now, China. But for how long?