What is this blog about?

It’s about history, politics, current affairs, life … the resurgence of militarism and reemergence of xenophobia in Japan.

But mostly it is about everyday life in Japanifk!

The history of men is reflected in the history of sewers, Victor Hugo wrote in Les Miserables. The sewer is the conscience of the city … A sewer is a cynic. It tells everything. More than 90 percent of ‘honeytrucked’ Japanifik lacks a conscience.

Japanifik (n.)
The surreal place in Japan where “Gacuette” (blog author) and his family live, and where most people and things do not conform to the norms of civility, reality or logic.

Japanifik (adj.)
Narcissistic, thoughtless and selfish behavior (bordering on lawlessness) of [some of] the indigenous population in Japanifik area.

A Measure of Intelligence
It can be said that the intelligence of a people is inversely proportional to their smoking habits (nicotine and tar intake). Japanifik is the capital of lung cancer in the nicotine-n-tar-addicted Japan.

Another Measure of Intelligence
Traffic laws and speed limits are meant to protect the drivers and pedestrians. People who break those laws are unintelligent criminals. A large proportion of Japanifik drivers does NOT understand traffic signs, road markings and speed restrictions, or they deliberately disobey the laws “to cheat the master” [see blog content about enslaved races in Japan,] while the Japanifik police look the other way [“to avoid being branded a police state like England!”

Suckers Paradox

Suckers Paradox (aka Suckers Bonus, Suckers Solace, Idiots Pay Off…) is essentially a “bluff” game not unlike the Russian roulette, but played by the speeding cars at our town’s intersections.

• The Suckers Paradox: Green light means it is safe to cross the road/drive through the intersection.
• If you cross the road/ drive through the intersection when the light turns green you would risk getting crushed to death!

The ‘players’ receive a ‘bonus’ if they dare drive on, or walk on the pedestrian crossings up to an average of about 15 seconds (a peak of 27 seconds was once recorded) after the light turns green!

Mathematically speaking, the brain size of the average driver in our town is inversely proportional to the engine capacity of her car.

The traffic laws are important and must be respected, every driver here would agree, but surely they apply only to the OTHER drivers! Right?

L: Minivan jumps the yellow light. R:  About 6 seconds later, the white car following minivan starts Suckers Paradox!

What is 20 million + 3.1 million?

The numbers who lost their lives in the 15-year war of aggression by Japanese militarism: 20 million people from Asian countries; 3.1 million people from Japan.

In the event of another war an estimated 80 million Japanese people could die of starvation and disease.

Say “NO” to Ultra Nationalism! Stop the Revision of Japanese Constitution!

Japan is doing just fine without a military and does not have to participate in United Nations military adventures. The anti-war clause in Japan’s constitution was put there for good reasons.

Japanese wars of aggression from the Manchurian Incident to the Pacific War proved the complete inability of the Japanese government to control its military and the emotional ease with which the Japanese people could be led into all manner of hysterical militaristic excess once the military did gain control.

Nothing has happened since 1945 to change those reasons. The Japanese are still a highly emotional people…

A 46 cm shell displayed at the Yasukuni Shrine

Stop the Road to War!

The formulation of a new constitution is a coup d’état!

Of all the paths and options available, the road to war would be the costliest mistake, a deadly choice Japan can ill afford to make.

Yamato Exploding
[Source of photos: the Wikimedia Commons]

Chili

Meet ‘Chili,’ the dog next door.


Chili: Life Means Life!

Poor Chili lives in a very small world—a 5-foot circle to be precise. She is a yard dog and is never allowed in, come rain, hale or fire. Chili is permanently chained to a post in the neighbor’s yard (at least since January 2007, when we moved in next door); she has never been taken for a walk—not even once!

In the ‘golden week’ holidays, last month, she was left without food for three days, nibbling on her feces (an ample supply is always available since the yard is cleaned biweekly, at best). She grew weaker and weaker each day; on the third day she could hardly walk. We were about to call the authorities, when her ‘mom’ returned.

Chili’s World: the whole stinking lot of it!

Sanitization of News in Japan’s English Media

While searching the for items related to the sanitization of news in Japan’s English media, Gacuette found this post:

Onlooker scratching his… Says:
March 27th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
Here gave up reading Japan Times after a couple of unsuccessful attempts. At best, it is a glorified job sheet, which in most countries you get for free; at worst it is the official organ of Ministry of Truth, or Minitrue, in Newspeak (George Orwell’s 1984). Has anyone ever tried to submit an article, write the editor or make a comment, successfully? As for any real content or NEWS, it seems the editorial [sic] board comprises of the three wise monkeys: They see no news, hear no news, and therefore print no news. [In Japanese 三猿, sanzaru, or 三匹の猿, sanbiki no saru. The three monkeys are Mizaru [見猿], who covers his eyes and therefore sees no evil; Kikazaru [聞か猿], who covers his ears and therefore hears no evil; and Iwazaru [言わ猿], who covers his mouth [or computer keyboard] and therefore speaks no evil.

The Three Wise Monkeys, carving on the
stable of Tosho-gu Shrine, Nikko, Japan

Photo source: Wikimedia Commons

Compulsory Teaching of Patriotism at Japanese Schools

Indoctrinating Children with Patriotism at Japanese Schools

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition voted for a new law requiring schools to teach children to be patriotic. The upper house will debate the new legislation this month (June 2007).

Protesting against the bill, opposition members of parliament warned that it could spread nationalism.

US President George W. Bush, President Roh Moo-Hyun of South Korea with US Pres. GW Bush and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe photographed at the Sheraton Hanoi hotel Nov. 18, 2006. (This image is in public domain.)

The Japanese psyche seems possessed once again by the Meiji ideology, thinly disguised as “the attitude of loving our country.” Still haunted by the specter of its wars of aggression in the last century, Japan is once again heading towards nationalism imperturbably.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, however, since Japan is living beyond its means, importing more than 60 percent of its food and 96 percent of its energy demands. As the world’s natural resources continue to shrink, the elite (the ruling minority, which comprise about 8-10% of Japanese population) is taking steps to protect its own interests through spread of nationalism that will eventually lead to militarization and war.

“Since the feudal times when the people went part and parcel with the land under the daimyos [feudal lords, heads of companies], it [has been] the nobles’ policy to keep people ignorant and dependant, in order to control them.” Writes Toshihiko Abe in Japan’s Hidden Face, aided by “a servile mentality [that] has been ingrained in the Japanese people throughout a thousand years of slavery, ever since domination by the T’ang Chinese in the 7^th century, a fact that has been hidden from the people.”

No wonder then Mr. Ando’s school like so many other schools in Japan breeds its quota of “patriotic” thugs to fight in the forthcoming wars that are being staged by the ruling elite.

Heads Down, Butts Up!

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Meet my former neighbor, Mr. ‘F,’ a senior employee of Shinsei Bank. Why is he bending forward grabbing his ankles? That’s how he greeted foreigners outside his uchi (house).

Today everything looks upside down!

It gives a new meaning to Customer Focus at Shinsei bank (see Shinsei Vision and Values). “We provide unparalleled solutions with speed and ability based on our customer’s evolving needs.”

Way to go Shin!

Having learned his new boss was a foreigner, a Korean pig farmer, no less, he completely flipped, rumor has it, and went into his natural ‘Heads down, butts up!’ posture. Apparently, he was unable to straighten up for a long time afterwards, so his wife had to go to work instead!

Rumor has it (again) that he and his famous Korean boss finally reached an understanding plotting to stage a coup (with the help of Rupert Merdoch?) to do away with tradition and revolutionize the way ALL Japanese look at the world!
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