Magnificent Japan

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Magnificent Japan

Post: # 21271Unread post Gary Oak »

Taek a look at this. Japan is a unique place. There really is no place on earth like it

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blo ... nnel-japan


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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 21274Unread post Blue Frost »

WOW that's a lot of work, and lights. Love Fuji done in lights :) so cool.
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Magnificent Japan

Post: # 74921Unread post Gary Oak »

Take a look at this japanese creation. It is really beautiful.

http://www.space.com/24662-astronaut-sp ... hotos.html
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 74931Unread post Blue Frost »

That's pretty awesome Gary, and very nice colors.
I wonder what can be made from it utilitarian.
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Magnificent Japan Is having A Rough Time These Days

Post: # 81887Unread post Gary Oak »

Weekend Edition May 30-Jun 01, 2014
Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on googleMore Sharing Services28Retail Sales Apocalypse leaves Abenomics in Tatters
Ihope Japan pulls out of this economic tough time. I wonder how much Fukushima has affected Japans economy. These Japanese I believe have a proactive constructive way that will keep them from ever becoming a third world nation.


Japan Hits the Skids
by MIKE WHITNEY
Plunging retail sales and rising inflation have rocked Japan
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 81888Unread post Blue Frost »

Japan with it's aging population will have to do something soon, or it will go in the toilet .
For a resilient people they need to make babies or they are open to a bad immigration policy like others have, the flood that will doom what we know as japan forever.
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 95922Unread post Gary Oak »

Here are some more reaons to like Japan and the Japanese people

Japan - some interesting facts.

* In just ten years??? Hiroshima returned to what it was economically vibrant before the fall of the atomic bomb.

* Japan prevents the use of mobile phones in trains, restaurants and indoors.

* For first to sixth primary year Japanese students must learn ethics in dealing with people.

* Even though one of the richest people in the world, the Japanese do
not have servants.The parents are responsible for the house and children.

* There is no examination from the first to the third primary level because the goal of education is to instill concepts and character building.

* If you go to a buffet restaurant in Japan you will notice people only eat as much as they need without any waste because food must not be wasted.

* The rate of delayed trains in Japan is about 7 seconds per year!!
The Japanese appreciate the value of time and are very punctual to minutes and seconds.

* Children in schools brush their teeth (sterile) and clean their teeth after a meal at school, teaching them to maintain their health from an early age.

* Japanese students take half an hour to finish their meals to ensure proper digestion because these students are the future of Japan.

The Japanese focus on maintaining their culture. Therefore,

* No political leader or a prime minister from an Islamic nation has visited Japan not the Ayatollah of Iran, the King of Saudi Arabia or even a Saudi Prince!

* Japan is a country keeping Islam at bay by putting strict restrictions on Islam and ALL Muslims.

1) Japan is the only nation that does not give citizenship to Muslims.
2) In Japan permanent residency is not given to Muslims.
3) There is a strong ban on the propagation of Islam in Japan
4) In the University of Japan, Arabic or any Islamic language is not taught.
5) One cannot import a 'Koran' published in the Arabic language.
6) According to data published by the Japanese government, it has given temporary residency to only 2 lakhs, Muslims, who must follow the Japanese Law of the Land. These Muslims should speak Japanese and carry their religious rituals in their homes.
7) Japan is the only country in the world that has a negligible number of embassies in Islamic countries.
8) Muslims residing in Japan are the employees of foreign companies.
9) Even today, visas are not granted to Muslim doctors, engineers or managers sent by foreign companies.
10) In the majority of companies it is stated in their regulations that no Muslims should apply for a job.
11) The Japanese government is of the opinion that Muslims are fundamentalist, and even in the era of globalization they are not willing to change their Muslim laws.
12) Muslims cannot even rent a house in Japan.
13) If anyone comes to know that his neighbor is a Muslim then the whole neighborhood stays alert.
14) No one can start an Islamic cell or Arabic 'Madrasa' in Japan .
15) There is no Sharia law in Japan .
16) If a Japanese woman marries a Muslim, she is considered an outcast forever.
17) According to Mr. Kumiko Yagi, Professor of Arab/Islamic Studies at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, " There is a mind frame in Japan that Islam is a very narrow minded religion and one should stay away from it."

The Japanese might have lost the war, but they are in charge of their own country.
There are no bombs going off in crowded business centers, "Honor Killings", nor killing of innocent children or anyone else.

Something to think about.
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 95926Unread post Blue Frost »

A lot of good characteristics everyone should try to emulate.
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Orgyesque Japan

Post: # 103075Unread post Gary Oak »

Not all is magnificent with Japan apparently.

Famous Japanese hot spring closed after string of orgies revealed
Hot spring Fudo no Yu, near Tokyo, was being used by exhibitionists, according to authorities who have now closed it down
A Hot spring in japan
The spa had attracted complaints about lewd acts for about a year. Photograph: UniversalImagesGroup/UIG via Getty Images
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Wednesday 3 June 2015 09.20 BST Last modified on Wednesday 3 June 2015 09.22 BST
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One of Japan
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 103077Unread post Blue Frost »

:yuk: How nasty people can be, and ruining a public place to act like some lower primates.
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Miss Universe Japan Ariana Miyamoto

Post: # 103323Unread post Gary Oak »

Ariana Miyamoto success in Japanmay show that Japan is more advanced than Japan's neighbours. I don't think that she could have the success in Korea , Mongolia or China for example.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2 ... XWUhWdrYdV
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 103597Unread post Gary Oak »

China teaches hatred of Japan and Japanese in it's schools, China is trying to steal islands from Japan which could very well begin a war between these two nations. With this in mind maybe China doesn't deserve Japans business and Japan is probably better of building it's factories in more friendly countries.

Japanese watchmaker's mass layoff stirs China backlash fears
YU NAKAMURA and TORU SUGAWARA, Nikkei staff writers

Former employees gather outside Citizen's factory to protest the closure on Feb. 10.

GUANGZHOU/SHANGHAI -- When Japanese wristwatch maker Citizen abruptly shuttered its watch-parts factory in the southeastern Chinese city of Guangzhou in early February, nearly 1,000 workers there lost their jobs.

The blunt nature of the closure, unusual for a Japanese company, sparked a backlash not only from Chinese people, but also from other Japanese businesses operating in China who fear the move may direct anger in their direction, too.

On Feb. 10, a dozen women upset about their sudden dismissal from Citizen gathered outside the factory. Although most of them had already agreed to cancel their employment contracts with Citizen Precision Guangzhou, a group company of Citizen Holdings, they were still mad about their treatment.

"Total shock"

The trouble started when the company issued a notice at 2 p.m. on Feb. 5 that read in part: "The factory will close tomorrow and all 1,000 employees will be dismissed the same day." The notice said if they did not sign a letter canceling their employment contracts, they would not be entitled to unemployment benefits.

The factory had been operating for 20 years, and its closure came as a surprise to many of those working there. One 35-year-old woman described it as a "total shock." Before the announcement, the atmosphere at the plant had been almost festive, with a large number of employees looking forward to returning to their hometowns for the coming Lunar New Year holidays. But their high spirits evaporated in an instant.

As the deadline neared, many workers still refused to sign the letter. On Feb. 8, however, two young men announced that they were signing it, making the others feel that perhaps they should, too. But then a worker shouted, "They don't work here!" The two men beat a hasty retreat. Some employees tried to catch them, but security officers helped the two fake employees flee and punched the chasing workers instead.

The incident made the workers even less willing to sign the letter. That evening, many of them received a threatening phone call pressuring them to sign. Even so, 70 people refused. Li Xiaohong, a 40-year-old migrant worker from Sichuan Province, said, "This kind of dismissal can never be forgiven."

Li's anger is understandable. In China, companies are required to give a month's notice if they plan to fire more than 20 employees due to restructuring or other streamlining measures. This gives the workers time to find new jobs. But companies are not held to this rule if they are closing a factory. Even so, while Citizen's sudden dismissal notice was not illegal, it was considered highly inconsiderate.

Citizen said the short notice was intended for the employees' safety, as it did not want angry workers lingering at the plant and being exposed to hazardous chemicals there.

Abandoned worker uniforms and ID cards litter Citizen Precision Guangzhou's plant in this Feb. 10 photo, taken just days after the shutdown.

Close Abandoned worker uniforms and ID cards litter Citizen Precision Guangzhou's plant in this Feb. 10 photo, taken just days after the shutdown.
The news riled up the Chinese public. Citizen was the subject of scathing online attacks from people calling the firings "intolerable" and "irresponsible," and saying the company should leave China. A TV station aired a program nationwide criticizing Citizen.

Soaring labor costs

The company almost certainly knew that the closure would tarnish its image in the country, so why did it take the risk? It comes down to money. Citizen called the move "part of global business restructuring efforts," though a more precise explanation would be soaring Chinese labor costs. Minimum wages in the country have roughly doubled over the past five years. Pay levels are especially high in Guangzhou, where monthly minimum wages are set to rise 22% to 1,895 yuan ($302) in May. For labor-intensive work, such as the manufacture of watch parts, China is fast losing its competitive edge.

In recent years, labor-management disputes over factory closures have become common in China. Afraid that labor riots could develop into criticism of the government, the authorities have increasingly offered assistance to foreign companies trying to "bow out quietly." This appears to have been the case with Citizen's factory closure.

Under Chinese law, severance packages are calculated based on the employee's average monthly salary multiplied by the number of years they worked. If a person is employed for five years, for instance, the company has to pay an amount equal to at least five months' salary. The question is how much a company will add to this base amount. Generally, large companies add another two to three months of pay.

However, Citizen initially offered only an extra month's pay. Also, because the factory operated for fewer days than most, the extra amount was smaller than a typical one-month payout. Ultimately, the company increased the size of the additional payout and reached an agreement with all employees by Feb. 12.

Other Japanese companies have criticized Citizen's tactics. "I don't think it is good to close a factory in such a way," said an executive of a Japanese manufacturer in Guangdong Province. "We will continue doing business here."

An executive at a major Japanese trading house wondered if Citizen really understands how hard it is to do business in China in the wake of the anti-Japan demonstrations that swept across the country two and a half years ago.

Since then, many Japanese companies there have tried hard to improve communication with their Chinese employees and foster a sense of unity with them. Many of them are concerned that Citizen's abrupt closure may tarnish the image of Japan Inc. and spoil all their hard work.

The Japanese business community in China is also worried about what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will say this summer in his speech on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. If Abe makes remarks that run counter to the 1995 Murayama Statement, in which Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama apologized for the damage and suffering caused by Japan to its Asian neighbors, those companies may be in for a rough time.
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 103599Unread post Blue Frost »

China is just asking for businesses to move out, everyone should start talks of it so China would learn it looses when being a bully.
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 109602Unread post Gary Oak »

I believe that I have read that the Yakuza's have a related history to the samarai making this mafias history very unique. I should read a book on the Yakuza to better understand them.

The Coming Yakuza War

The biggest Yakuza group is celebrating its 100th year in operation, but it’s splitting into factions that may soon go after each other with bloody consequences.

TOKYO — This year should have been a good one for Japan’s largest organized crime organization, the Yamaguchi-gumi, the one yakuza group that just about ruled them all. But as it marks its 100th year in business, internal squabbles may split the organization apart; it could also result in the kind of large-scale gang warfare that hasn’t been seen in decades.

The Japanese police are on full alert. Thursday (Japan time), the sprawling Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters in Kobe was besieged by a fleet of black Mercedes-Benzes and high-end Toyota Lexuses, transporting the top dogs of the Yamaguchi-gumi, dressed in their finest black suits, for emergency meetings.

The Yamaguchi-gumi is expected to splinter into factions with some gangs supporting current top boss Kenichi Shinoda aka Shinobu Tsukasa, 73, and others supporting a rival group, primarily based in western Japan, that opposes him and his parent faction, the Kodo-kai.

Japan’s organized crime groups, known collectively as the “yakuza,” i.e., “Losers,” or “Gokudo” (the ultimate path), are different from the mafias we know about in the West. They are treated as if they were some sort of controlled substance, dangerous but accepted within certain parameters.

They are Goldman Sachs with guns—not to mention knives, bazooka launchers, sniper rifles, and assassins.

So, in Japan, there are 21 designated organized crime groups that are regulated and policed by the Japanese government, and the yakuza themselves are not outlawed. Many yakuza pay taxes and declare their income. There are yakuza fan magazines; the upper echelon carry business cards. If you go to the webpage of the National Police Agency, you can find a listing of all the major yakuza groups, their headquarters, and their emblems (PDF).

The Inagawa-kai, Japan’s second-largest yakuza group, has its offices across from the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo. The Sumiyoshi-kai is located in opulent Ginza.

The groups are all structured as pseudo-families with lower members pledging allegiance to their surrogate father—the oyabun—and their “brothers.”

Of the yakuza groups, the Yamaguchi-gumi is the largest and most powerful. It had over 23,000 members and associates at the end of 2014, accounting for over 40 percent of those affiliated with gangs in Japan. However, even the Inagawa-kai, due to blood-brother relations between its leader and a senior member of the Yamaguchi-gumi, is essentially under the Yamaguchi-gumi umbrella, giving it a majority stake in the underworld.

The Yamaguchi-gumi isn’t only Japan’s largest organized crime group; it’s also a well-known Japanese corporation, founded in 1915 by former fisherman Harukichi Yamaguchi. It engages in a wide array of business activities, some of them legit and some not, and may treat competitors with, as the saying goes, extreme prejudice. Robert Feldman, an analyst at Morgan Stanley Japan Securities, once called it Japan’s second-largest private equity group and he was not incorrect. They are Goldman Sachs with guns—not to mention knives, bazooka launchers, sniper rifles, and assassins.

The group is divided into over 30 factions, some with over a thousand members, and some with fewer than a hundred.

It owns auditing firms, several hundred front operations, and network management and database companies. It controls Japan’s entertainment industry even now, and over the years its people have sneaked quietly into the backbone of several high-profile IT operations—only getting caught once in 2007, when a member of the Kodo-kai faction was revealed to have taken over the equivalent of Japan’s “classmates.com”—gaining access to the personal data of 3.2 million people. The group owns a chain of private detective agencies and keeps tabs on its enemies and their friends better than any intelligence agency in Japan.

The Yamaguchi-gumi has also had a hand in Japanese politics. The Minister of Education and Science has received donations and political support from Yamaguchi-gumi associates and front companies. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was photographed with a consigliore of the group.

If there were a pamphlet to recruit young college graduates for the yakuza, it would read like this:

The Yamaguchi-gumi Corporation, with large comfortable headquarters in the international city of Kobe and lovely branch offices, complete with swimming pools and gyms in Nagoya and other major cities in Japan, has a proud history of over 100 years of serving the Japanese people. Our construction, real estate, IT, banking, and entertainment businesses are still thriving in a poor economy, and thanks to one of the best R & D sections in any Japanese company, we have a treasure trove of personal data on the elite in Japan’s business and political world that can be judiciously used for blackmailing such individuals and maintaining maximum leverage in the money markets. We not only offer lifetime employment* but we also offer a generous pension plan.

The asterisk would serve for the following disclaimer, which is important:

*A lifetime in the Yamaguchi-gumi does not preclude the possibility of early death. A “lifetime” may also include time served in prison not necessarily for a crime that you actually committed but as a designated fall-guy. However, all members serving time in prison can be assured that we will maintain your family’s living standards until you return. Family may include wives, children, mistresses, and sometimes all of the above.

If you do survive until retirement, the pension plan is generous. In 2013, the final bonus and severance check was 50 million yen, according to a retired boss. That’s almost half a million dollars. The retirement policy was begun decades ago when the Yamaguchi-gumi split into two factions. The Yamaguchi-gumi HQ offered the pension plan as a means of wooing people back. It worked well.

They may have to offer a better pension plan now to quell the current rebellion.

The current leader of the organization, Shinobu Tsukasa, heralds from the Kodo-kai faction, which numbers between 2,000 and 4,000 members. He assumed power in 2005, taking over from Yoshinori Watanabe, who hailed from the Yamaken-gumi, which was once the most numerous and powerful faction.

Watanabe was affectionately known as “Goro-chan,” i.e. Mr. Gorilla, for his simian appearance. While many yakuza in Japan are naturalized Koreans or children of Japan’s former outcaste class, burakumin, and thus were subject to discrimination, the Yamaken-gumi tends to have more outcaste class members while the Kodo-kai has a larger Korean-Japanese makeup. That has helped create tension between the factions.

Why is the group splitting apart?

Police sources and individuals associated with the Yamaguchi-gumi say that the Yamaken-gumi faction first split from the group and convinced other factions to follow. The response of the ruling council of the Yamaguchi-gumi has been to sever ties with the Yamaken-gumi and their backers, including the Takumi-gumi, which may be a severe blow. The head of the Takumi-gumi, Tadashi Irie, is well respected in the underworld for his financial savvy and loyalty to his men.

There have long been other elements within the Yamaguchi-gumi unhappy with the reign of Shinobu Tsukasa. Yamaken-gumi members feel the sharing of power has been unfair and that the aggressive actions of the Kodo-kai towards the police resulted in provoking major crackdowns. Indeed in September 2009, the head of the National Police Agency declared war on the Yamaguchi-gumi Kodo-kai faction—not the Yamaguchi-gumi itself, just the Kodo-kai faction—vowing that “we will remove them from public society.”

In October 2011, ordinances which criminalized paying off the yakuza or working with them for mutual profit went into effect with a devastating impact on gang revenue and lifestyles. Some elements in the Yamaguchi-gumi expressed frustration with the puritanical rules of Shinobu Tsukasa, who returned the gang to its roots and forbade dealing in drugs and other moneymaking activities that seem attractive to those gang members who put quick profits before honor.

One middle-ranking member jokes, “You can’t make a dishonest living if you’re following the old rules.”

Other sources of gang discontent are increasingly odious restrictions on the use of gang business cards and the emblem. The Yamaguchi-gumi is a franchise; lower-ranking groups pay to belong and use the symbol under what amounts to a license. If the lower-ranking gangs can no longer use the symbol to strike fear into the hearts of ordinary citizens and extract cash from their wallets, they are reluctant to pay money up the food chain.

A rebellion within the Yamaguchi-gumi is not unprecedented—and the precedents are ugly.

The Yamaguchi-gumi has a history of splits and divisions. The most well known was the Ichiwa-kai rebellion in 1984, when almost half the organization seceded. The resulting conflict dragged on five years with gang warfare erupting all over Japan, and nearly 30 deaths. Bombs were thrown, trucks were driven into houses, and guns were fired in the streets.

(Guns being fired in the streets may seem trivial in to people in the U.S. but Japan has incredibly strict gun control laws. Last year in this nation of over 120 million people there were fewer than 10 gun-related homicides.)

In October 2008, once-powerful crime boss Tadamasa Goto was expelled from the Yamaguchi-gumi for insubordination, failure to attend meetings, and for making a deal with the FBI in which he traded organization secrets in exchange for a visa into the United States so that he could obtain a liver transplant at UCLA. Three of his yakuza associates were also able to obtain liver transplants at the hospital.

Goto responded to his expulsion by gathering supporters and made an attempted rebellion that resulted in several top bosses being dismissed. The conflict ended with no shots being fired and ironically sealed the Kodo-kai faction’s lock on power.

Authorities and underworld figures speculate that with the Yamaguchi-gumi split, Goto, who has exiled himself to Cambodia, may also seek a return to power. No one is sure that this time the conflict will be peaceably resolved.

As a police source in Hyogo Prefecture put it, “The last major split in the Yamaguchi-gumi resulted in five years of violent disruptive gang warfare. We are on full alert in case history repeats itself. It would seem likely that it will.”
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 109605Unread post Blue Frost »

They actually was community good guys in a since, but so can be said of the mafia in the protection racket.
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 131357Unread post Gary Oak »

This is a brilliant move by Japan to help thwart China's efforts to steal these islands and area from Japan


Tokyo Sets Up Military Base South of Islands Claimed by Japan, China

As territorial tensions in the Pacific spread to the East China Sea, Japan opened a new radar station on Monday that will provide intelligence over islands claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing.


Earlier this month, Japan announced plans to extend its surveillance operations in the East China Sea, citing both China and North Korea as threats. At stake are the Senkaku Islands, uninhabited but energy-rich landmasses.


Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer Kurama (L), which is carrying Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, leads the JMSDF fleet during its fleet review at Sagami Bay, off Yokosuka, south of Tokyo

© REUTERS/ Toru Hanai

Tokyo Rising: Japan Seeks Expanded Role in 'Global Defense and Security'


"Considering North Korean activities, and the frequent invasion of our territory by China around these islands, we think we need to beef up our intelligence capability so that Japan can react better," said Col. Masashi Yamamoto, a military attaché with the Japanese Embassy in Washington, according to Defense News.

On Monday, Japan’s Self Defense Force opened a base on the island of Yonaguni with that goal in mind. Located at the western extreme of Japan’s recognized territorial limits, the new radar station is only 90 miles south of the disputed Senkaku chain.

"Until yesterday, there was no coastal observation unit west of the main Okinawa island. It was a vacuum we needed to fill," said Daigo Shiomitsu, a Ground Self Defense Force lieutenant colonel who leads the new base.

"It means we can keep watch on territory surrounding Japan and respond to all situations."


Soldiers from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's Western Army Infantry Regiment

© AFP 2016/ Frederic J. Brown

Farewell to Pacifism: Japan Passes Bill Allowing Troops to Fight Abroad


In addition to intelligence gathering, the radar station could also be used as a military base, and Tokyo has indicated that it such installations could be used to launch amphibious units to the Senkaku Islands in the event of a Chinese invasion.

Beijing has dubbed the installation "provocative."

“The Diayou Islands are China’s inherent territory,” Beijing’s defense ministry said in a statement, using China’s name for the Senkakus.

"We are resolutely opposed to any provocative behavior by Japan aimed at Chinese territory. The activities of Chinese ships and aircraft in the relevant waters and airspace are completely appropriate and legal."


Police officers detain a protester taking part in a rally against Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's security bill and his administration in front of the parliament in Tokyo, Japan

© REUTERS/ Yuya Shino

Police Arrest Anti-Defense Bill Protesters in Japan as Lawmakers Scuffle


As China’s influence in the Pacific grows, Japan has taken a more active military role, largely at the behest of the United States. As the US Navy conducts freedom of navigation operations near Beijing’s land reclamation projects in the South China Sea, it has urged Japan to stem China’s growth in the east.

Thousands of Japanese citizens have protested against the Japanese government’s military expansion, a clear breach of Tokyo’s pacifist constitution.

"The way the government brushes aside public worries…it’s as though Japan is slipping back into its pre-World War II state," one demonstrator, Hiromi Miyasaka, said during a rally against a controversial bill that authorized Japanese troops to operate abroad for the first time since the end of the Second World War.

The new radar station is the first of many. Japan plans to increase its presence in the East China Sea to nearly 10,000 personnel over the next five years.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160328/10 ... z44FwIuzgN
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 131362Unread post Blue Frost »

I wish they would do that more often, and put batteries on them. Japan has pushed themselves away from violence since the war, but they need to show some strength so they can stay peaceful.
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 138414Unread post Gary Oak »

This will also deter China's dream of conquering Japan and genociding them. As a minder in China once told me It is the secret dream of all Chinese that China could conquer Japan and do to them what Japan did to China. With China's sabre rattling in around the Japanese islands in the East China Sea this may make China think twice about starting a war with Japan. Japan still has it's samarai tradition and they have proven willing to be kamakaze's.

Tame N. Korea or Japan may go nuclear ‘virtually overnight’, Biden warns Xi

Japan may obtain nuclear weapons “virtually overnight” if the North Korean threat persists, US Vice-President Joe Biden warned China’s Xi Jinping. He urged to exert influence on Pyongyang, reassuring that US military buildup in Asia is not targeting China.

For years, the United States and world powers have tried to negotiate an end to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile development programs. While pursuing a variety of responses to the proliferation challenges posed by Pyongyang, mainly focused on military cooperation with allies in the region, Washington failed to achieve any tangible results in curbing the ‘North Korean threat’.

On Wednesday, North Korea test-launched two medium-range ballistic missiles, the latest in a series of launches in violation of UN Security Council resolution. Each missile launch, be it successful or not, is traditionally accompanied by belligerent rhetoric by North Korea towards the US and its regional allies that fall under the American security umbrella.

READ MORE: Pentagon urges missile defense expansion after N. Korea touts ability to attack US interests

From the start of the year, the US has contemplated on a number of options to tackle the increased threat. Since March, the US has been negotiating with South Korea to place Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on the peninsula.

US President Barack Obama(not shown) and China's President Xi Jinping take part in a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on March 31, 2016 in Washington, DC. © Mandel NganXi warns Obama against threatening China’s sovereignty & national interests
China has strongly objected to such a move, arguing that missile defense complex will threaten its sovereignty. As the negotiations on the issue of THAAD deployment continues, Biden claimed that the threat from North Korea, if not contained, may force Japan to seek nuclear weapons.

Recalling a conversation Biden allegedly had with the Chinese president, the VP said that unless Beijing agrees with moving US missile defense systems to South Korea, Washington will be forced to respond to protect its security.

“When I tell President Xi, you have to understand we got a guy up there in North Korea who is talking about building weapons that can strike, nuclear weapons strike the United States and not only Hawaii and Alaska, but… the mainland of the United States,” Biden told PBS host Charlie Rose in an interview broadcast Monday. “And I say, so we’re going to move up our defense system, and he says no, no, no, wait a minute, my military thinks you’re going to try to circle us.

“What would you do? Do you think we should stand back?” Biden continued. “What happens if we don't work out something together on North Korea? What happens if Japan, who could tomorrow, could go nuclear tomorrow?”

As an alternative to reduce tensions, Biden urged China to use its resources to “single greatest ability to influence North Korea.”

Reuters / Kimimasa Mayama2,000 bombs a year? Japan’s plan to reopen nuclear reprocessing plant stirs concern
The Japanese program to develop nuclear weapons conducted laboratory stage testing during World War II. But after the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 and the subsequent Japanese surrender, the US became responsible for providing Tokyo with “security guarantees.”

Today, Japan’s nuclear energy infrastructure makes it eminently capable of constructing nuclear weapons at will, as the country possesses civilian nuclear technology. While the US nuclear umbrella has led to a strong policy of non-weaponization of nuclear technology, in the face of nuclear weapons testing by North Korea, the reversal of policy seems possible.

Despite possessing some 47 metric tons of separated plutonium, enough to make 6,000 nuclear bombs, following Biden’s statement, Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko promised Friday that Japan will “never possess nuclear weapons".
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Blue Frost
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Re: Magnificent Japan

Post: # 138416Unread post Blue Frost »

My guess is Japan already has some built, just keeping them secret. I don't blame them, look who is around them.
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Gary Oak
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Magnificent Japan

Post: # 139176Unread post Gary Oak »

Check out the video. This island is a stunning work of art. The Japanese are a different breed.


The Japanese Town Built Inside an Active Volcano

For the residents of Aogashima, an island about 200 miles due south of Tokyo, 1785 was an unforgettable year. Although they weren’t alive to witness the deadliest event in island history, they know what unfolded all too well—and what they know hasn’t changed their mind about living atop a real-life volcano.

They’ve heard the stories about how, on May 18, the ground began to shake. Giant plumes of gas and smoke billowed out from the mouth of the island’s volcano, shooting rocks, mud and other debris into the sky. By June 4, the island’s 327 residents had no choice but to evacuate, but only about half succeeded and the rest perished.

Those who live on the island that’s home to a volcano still registered as active by the Japanese Meteorological Agency, the governmental agency responsible for monitoring the nation’s 110 active volcanoes, know that there’s always the chance that history could repeat itself. But Aogashima’s inhabitants are willing to take that risk.

One such resident is Masanubu Yoshida, a government worker who has lived on the island for the past 15 years. He says that he tries not to spend too much time worrying about the possibility of another eruption. After all, it’s been more than 230 years since the last one—the odds (at least so far) are in his favor.

“No one can win over nature,” he tells Smithsonian.com. Rather than dwell on the possibilities, the 40-year-old focuses on the benefits of living in this lush paradise, which formed from the remnants of four overlapping calderas centuries ago. Much of the village is located inside the outer crater wall.

Fishing is a popular pastime for many residents, as the island is situated in the middle of the Philippine Sea. Hiking, camping and swimming (although the island’s steep, rocky cliffs can make accessing the water a challenge anywhere outside the harbor) are also popular pursuits.

“We’re also blessed with hot springs and geothermal energy because of the volcano,” he adds. According to one tourist, who wrote about a visit to one of the island’s natural saunas, you can bring food and cook it by placing it on top of one of the sauna’s steam vents. The sauna has a collection of pots and pans at the ready for boiling eggs and other snacks.

http://sorendreier.com/the-japanese-tow ... e-volcano/

[video][/video]
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