Of course everyone knows about the big Tsunami in Japan. Here in the Philippines it was anti-climatic. They issued warnings over it but amazingly our warning was issued 17 hours after the waves arrived. Luckily the highest wave was a mere 70 centimeters, not even decent for Wakeboarding. One shouldn't be so flippant when Japan saw real death and destruction but...Fuck Japan.
When we were still brokering shiploads of lumber our business was concentrated in Japan, and to a lesser extent South Korea. Those 2 nations are the top markets for Philippine hardwoods. Every 6 weeks or so I would have to spend 2 or 3 days in Nagoya, a provincial Japanese city if ever there was one. Once or twice I would go to Tokyo, obstensibly for business but in reality it was merely an excuse to poke around.
It goes without saying that the Japanese have a very unique culture. One aspect that most Westerners remain unknowledgable about is its inherent racism. I love how people love to talk about how we Jews are supremacists for daring to use the label,"The Chosen People." Never mind that it does not mean G-D chose us, it just is hypocritical for people to always latch onto it when every religion BUT Judaism sees itself as favoured. Shintoism is a prime example. For those who aren't familiar with the term, Shintoism is the Japanese State Religion and to one degree or another it is practiced by almost all Japanese, albeit synchrestically as an addition to Zen Buddhism, or even the increasingly popular Christianity.
Shinto sees the Emperor as a deity and the Japanese People as the supreme form of humanity. Non-Japanese are inferior in all ways. Though this isn't discussed much one can see the manifestations of this creed in signs warning that only Japanese customers will receive service. Can you imagine what would happen were Israel to have signs in windows saying "Only Jewish Customers will be Served"?
The strangest part of this supremacist outlook, and certainly the saddest part is how overseas Japanese are perceived. Most Americans and Europeans are unaware that Brasil and Peru have huge minorities of ethnic Japanese who have been there for up to 5 generations. Though almost always intermarrying so that physically they are fully Japanese, they are almost always with an almost total loss of Japanese Culture. Speaking Portugese and Spanish, observing the cultures of their birth countries, they are a hybrid of East and West. Japan, like many nations, will award you citizenship if you have a single grandparent with Japanese citizenship. The economies of Brasil and Peru being what they are have led to an exodus of Japanese emigrants who by and large seek to return to Japan. Japan tends to house them in segregated neighbourhoods which have evolved into the equivalent of American ghettos. The worse of the lot are those Japanese whose ancestors have intermarried with non-Japanese Brasilians and Peruvians. Not only are they ignorant of Japanese Language and Culture, they also don't appear entirely Japanese.
Outside of Japan this inherent racism was manifested in Japanese Imperialism, and the madness it wrought in WWII. Here on Mindanao there are still Japanese Deserters from that war who are terrified of being discovered. In 2007 two were found living deep in the jungle, in caves, like wildmen. The West likes to tell stories about how men like these 2 were still fighting for Japan, unaware that Japan had been defeated. Bullshit. Who are they fighting? Monkeys? In 2007 Japan sent a delegation to try and talk those 2 old men out of the hills but the men refused to even meet with the emissaries. Understanding well that although there are no longer legal ramifications associated with their Desertion, Shintoism considers them as worse than sub-human. Who in their right mind would choose to live along those lines?
Last year they found a 3rd man but he was living as a Filipino in a mountain village, married with grown children. At least the bloke could make a life for himself. Living in jungle caves. For 68 years? No thanks.
Onto "Senseless Violence." The Maoists ambushed some more police. Last time it was in back of our largest rice paddy, killing 3, wounding 2 and abducting the least wounded. Now they tried taking out a police jeep on the road in front of our compound, but 2km away in the municipality of Bonobo across the provincial line in Surigao del Sur. The actual provincial border is 1.5km away and they never cross it. Our municipality, San Francisco aka "San Franz" is devoid of insurgency thanks to the paramilitary I am involved with, BULIF (Bungkatol Liberation Front). That latest ambush didn't employ landmines or IEDs, only a cross fire which barely managed to wound the driver when his windshield imploded. Of course they sped away and made it to the Lianga Garrison.
I had meant to discuss "Millions of Rats" in my entry about the documentary, "Daughter from Danang." The municpality of Kabacan in North Cotabato Province is still reeling from a large clash between the MNLF and MILF, the 2 largest Islamic Insurgencies who turned on each other in that sector. To make things worse, Kidnap for Ransom is reaching epidemic proportions there as well. As if all that isn't bad enough, now the rice crop is lost because of an explosion in the rat population. The rat explosion, if that is an apt term, began there and has now spread to Maguindanao Province as well. We are seperated from North Cotabato by Bukidnon Province, and thus far no problem has arisen there. Still, it has people on edge. I would imagine though that peasants are happy as clams. Rats are eaten here so I guess every cloud has a silver lining.
When we were still brokering shiploads of lumber our business was concentrated in Japan, and to a lesser extent South Korea. Those 2 nations are the top markets for Philippine hardwoods. Every 6 weeks or so I would have to spend 2 or 3 days in Nagoya, a provincial Japanese city if ever there was one. Once or twice I would go to Tokyo, obstensibly for business but in reality it was merely an excuse to poke around.
It goes without saying that the Japanese have a very unique culture. One aspect that most Westerners remain unknowledgable about is its inherent racism. I love how people love to talk about how we Jews are supremacists for daring to use the label,"The Chosen People." Never mind that it does not mean G-D chose us, it just is hypocritical for people to always latch onto it when every religion BUT Judaism sees itself as favoured. Shintoism is a prime example. For those who aren't familiar with the term, Shintoism is the Japanese State Religion and to one degree or another it is practiced by almost all Japanese, albeit synchrestically as an addition to Zen Buddhism, or even the increasingly popular Christianity.
Shinto sees the Emperor as a deity and the Japanese People as the supreme form of humanity. Non-Japanese are inferior in all ways. Though this isn't discussed much one can see the manifestations of this creed in signs warning that only Japanese customers will receive service. Can you imagine what would happen were Israel to have signs in windows saying "Only Jewish Customers will be Served"?
The strangest part of this supremacist outlook, and certainly the saddest part is how overseas Japanese are perceived. Most Americans and Europeans are unaware that Brasil and Peru have huge minorities of ethnic Japanese who have been there for up to 5 generations. Though almost always intermarrying so that physically they are fully Japanese, they are almost always with an almost total loss of Japanese Culture. Speaking Portugese and Spanish, observing the cultures of their birth countries, they are a hybrid of East and West. Japan, like many nations, will award you citizenship if you have a single grandparent with Japanese citizenship. The economies of Brasil and Peru being what they are have led to an exodus of Japanese emigrants who by and large seek to return to Japan. Japan tends to house them in segregated neighbourhoods which have evolved into the equivalent of American ghettos. The worse of the lot are those Japanese whose ancestors have intermarried with non-Japanese Brasilians and Peruvians. Not only are they ignorant of Japanese Language and Culture, they also don't appear entirely Japanese.
Outside of Japan this inherent racism was manifested in Japanese Imperialism, and the madness it wrought in WWII. Here on Mindanao there are still Japanese Deserters from that war who are terrified of being discovered. In 2007 two were found living deep in the jungle, in caves, like wildmen. The West likes to tell stories about how men like these 2 were still fighting for Japan, unaware that Japan had been defeated. Bullshit. Who are they fighting? Monkeys? In 2007 Japan sent a delegation to try and talk those 2 old men out of the hills but the men refused to even meet with the emissaries. Understanding well that although there are no longer legal ramifications associated with their Desertion, Shintoism considers them as worse than sub-human. Who in their right mind would choose to live along those lines?
Last year they found a 3rd man but he was living as a Filipino in a mountain village, married with grown children. At least the bloke could make a life for himself. Living in jungle caves. For 68 years? No thanks.
Onto "Senseless Violence." The Maoists ambushed some more police. Last time it was in back of our largest rice paddy, killing 3, wounding 2 and abducting the least wounded. Now they tried taking out a police jeep on the road in front of our compound, but 2km away in the municipality of Bonobo across the provincial line in Surigao del Sur. The actual provincial border is 1.5km away and they never cross it. Our municipality, San Francisco aka "San Franz" is devoid of insurgency thanks to the paramilitary I am involved with, BULIF (Bungkatol Liberation Front). That latest ambush didn't employ landmines or IEDs, only a cross fire which barely managed to wound the driver when his windshield imploded. Of course they sped away and made it to the Lianga Garrison.
I had meant to discuss "Millions of Rats" in my entry about the documentary, "Daughter from Danang." The municpality of Kabacan in North Cotabato Province is still reeling from a large clash between the MNLF and MILF, the 2 largest Islamic Insurgencies who turned on each other in that sector. To make things worse, Kidnap for Ransom is reaching epidemic proportions there as well. As if all that isn't bad enough, now the rice crop is lost because of an explosion in the rat population. The rat explosion, if that is an apt term, began there and has now spread to Maguindanao Province as well. We are seperated from North Cotabato by Bukidnon Province, and thus far no problem has arisen there. Still, it has people on edge. I would imagine though that peasants are happy as clams. Rats are eaten here so I guess every cloud has a silver lining.