Far East Cynic

According to Japan Probe, the Yomiuri Shinbun is reporting some new details in the case of the Japanese taxi driver found stabbed to death after driving a U.S. sailor from Tokyo to Yokosuka:

According to the police, the sailor, a U.S. citizen of Nigerian origin, told U.S. Navy investigators that he called a Nigerian friend and told him that he did it, apparently referring to the killing. He also told navy investigators that he told the acquaintance that he stabbed someone.

The credit card of the 22-year-old seaman apprentice stationed at the Yokosuka Naval Base was discovered inside the taxi of Masaaki Takahashi, 61, from Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, who was found fatally stabbed in his taxi in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on March 19.

My advice stands-stock up on liquor for the upcoming lock down.

When you can’t be in Hong Kong where you should be, what do you do?

Get dragged by the S.O. to an antique market of course. Which except for the lack of drunken female company is not really so bad.

This market is actually a street sale in Tennocho which is a “suburb” of Yokohama. A lot of people live there in apartments and such and the area is full of shops and parks-which means at this time of year there are a lot of Sakura to go see.

Hanami is a Japanese word that comes from the Kanji of “flower” and “look”. And it means literally looking at flowers, although in the popular nomenclature it means looking at Sakura. Which are glorious this time of year. So too is just walking around experiencing the wonder that is Japan:

That is the Landmark Tower out in the distance.

Let’s go for a long walk, shall we?

Continue Reading »

There is a good one to be found here.

If you don’t laugh at least once-you have been to too many diversity training seminars.

That Uncle Jimbo and the other rah, rah, war without end-amen, cheerleaders need to hear. Except they would not listen to it. Or worse yet,  simply accuse the writer of disloyalty to the nation. Because some people seem to love Arabs-more than they care about Americans:

America’s responsibility for the current stability and future prospects of Iraq — a poor, tyrannized nation that our policies have plunged into bloody chaos — can’t be waved away by pointing out that we could be spending those billions on ourselves instead. If Obama wants to claim the moral as well as the political high ground, he can’t just make the case that Americans will be better off if the United States withdraws from Iraq; he needs to mount a persuasive argument that Iraqis will be better off as well.

As Andrew Sullivan points out-”But will they be any better behaved if we stay?” 1300 years of Arab history, and five years of “liberated” Iraqi history suggest other wise:

Ross has drunk too deeply from the well of imperialism. His argument is simply a rehash of the oldest defense of imperial occupation known to mankind: protecting the wild, savage, occupied people from themselves. It was the excuse of Britain in India, of the Boers in South Africa, of the French in Algeria. That he has dressed it up in Colin Powell’s “you break it you own it” formulation does not change a thing.

That’s not to say I don’t understand his point. I do, and it has some feel-good, noble appeal. But let’s get to the point.

The “Iraqi people” have been at each other’s throats at least since Britain cobbled together the territory nearly 100 years ago. To think that we can outlast these ancient hatreds with our military presence is folly. And it is criminally unfair to American servicemen and women who are forced to endure tour after tour after tour so that people like Ross don’t feel bad about Iraqi self-destruction. It is unfair to their parents, their spouses, and their children. Throw continuing fiscal crisis, lack of military readiness for other threats, and endlessly eroding American soft power on the scale, and the balance tips sharply towards GTFO – harm to Iraqis notwithstanding, cold as that may seem.

If Iraqis are intent on killing one another, there is little America can – or necessarily should – do about it. The first step toward getting beyond this mess is to get out of it.

In my mind I sort of remember freshman chemistry. A catalyst only works at the begining to crearte a reaction. Once the chemical composition of the mixture is changed, the catalyst no longer has effect-no matter how much of it you continue to add to the compound.

Count me in the America lovers crowd. Because until Arabia renounces Islam-it is not going anywhere good. And foreign policy has to be about narrow self interest. Harsh? Yep-but it is the way of the world.

And before anyone throws the, “A peaceful democratic Iraq-allied with the US- will serve the US interest in the region by providing stability in the middle east”. I have two responses: 1) I don’t disagree with you per se-but where we part company is on the idea that current government in Iraq can accomplish that; and 2) No Arab nation will make an effort until they have a functional economy that is not warped by the cheap labor oil money buys. Oh and 3) Iraq is not the focal  point of the region-it is Palestine and Iran. It’s been that way for two millenium.

Versus where I am probably going to.

For the 8th year in a row-I am not at the Hong Kong Sevens. And others are. There is no justice in the world.

However if you wonder what it is I see in Hong Kong-and why I am desperate to take up residence there, E @ L provided my emotions a voice:

It’s just buzzing.It’s chaotic, it’s traffic jammed, it’s packed, it’s busy, it’s bustling, it’s noisy, it’s just happening. The town that doesn’t even blink, let alone sleep. The guy with his t-shirt off, a filthy towel around his shoulders, pushing that ricketty hand-cart with boxes of goods, he’s pushing it across town for HKD$20, fuck your FedEx UPS, this guy’ll take 25 minutes anywhere in Wanchai. The trucks are beeping at 10am, delivering and picking up from a factory or a shop that is next to a shuttered restaurant that’s on the ground floor of a residential apartment building that hosts a massage parlor and a night-club as well. It’s all happening, it’s all here. It’s now… It’s immediate. It’s annoying, it’s a pain in the arse, it’s brilliant, it’s jumping…

Hong Kong is a town you can love because it is continually reminding you that are alive and WHY you are alive. You are not afraid of anything and nothing that can stop you doing what you want.

There is not a single city in the US-that’s right NOT ONE-that meets that description. When Atlanta gets its own version of Wanchai, I will rethink that sentiment.

Kinyoubi wa koko ni kitte itadaite-arigatou gozaimasu! Thank God its Kinuyoubi (Friday).

And you know what that means. S.O. is out. I’m stuck here sorting through boxes. Listening to some golden oldies with the volume turned up as loud as I can get away with:

I saw these guys in concert!

And looking forward to getting my run done-so that I can drink these:

Ice cold!

Preferably sitting outside at the Smuggler’s Inn on a Sunday afternoon in Stanley Bay.

While all the while dreaming of that place and others in Hong Kong-wishing I was talking with one of these:

Nice………….everything!

Wistfully, with the resigned sadness that comes from confronting a decision that comes down to what you have to do weighed against what you want to do-I have been going through all my stuff in preparation for the upcoming move. ( Destination TBA-but probably back to the land of my birth, for at least a little while).

I came across these pictures on a CD. It was in a box of my back up files I had made at work several years ago. On one of those CD’s were the pictures that follow. These are from an incident that occurred in Guam, when a VAW-112 E-2C had to land at Anderson AFB with its right main landing gear stuck in the “up” position. Generally not considered a good thing on the good/ bad scale. I was involved in a very tertiary manner in the follow up operation; mostly ensuring parts and people got to Guam, and convincing people who should have known better that it was in the Navy’s best interest to get the airplane out of Guam as quickly as possible.

I forgot I had these. They do show you just what a tough airplane Grumman builds though (perhaps in contrast to its composite based counterparts). See for yourself:

More pix below the fold!

Continue Reading »

After he got married. He went into a slump for a while. Rumor had it that the Swedish model was sapping all of his strength. So if the Yankees tank this year you will know why:

SURPRISE, Arizona – New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui will marry a 25-year-old former company worker, it has been learned.

Matsui plans to announce the details of his marriage at a news conference later Thursday in Tampa, Florida, where the Yankees are having their spring training camp.

“My apologies for the sudden announcements, but I, Hideki Matsui, am planning to marry. I have decided on the woman I want to continue my trip through life with together. I’d like to give the minor details in my own words myself later,” Matsui said in a statement released through his ball club.

Matsui was a three-time MVP during his time in Nippon Pro Baseball, when he played for the Yomiuri Giants in the Central League. He moved to the Yankees in 2003.

That loud wail you heard are legions of Japanese office ladies crying on their way out of the subway this morning when they learned of the news. Another gravy train gone………….

Is pretty boring as it turns out:

YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa — A credit card in the name of a U.S. sailor is the only material link to his possible involvement in the slaying of a taxi driver here last week, police said.

Apart from the credit card belonging to the sailor, who is now in the custody of U.S. military law enforcers, and the knife used to kill 61-year-old Masaaki Takahashi, there is little material evidence available, making the investigation tough for police.

The 22-year-old sailor who is the prime suspect in the killing denies allegations of involvement and his fingerprints have not been detected on the murder weapon.

Police said the only other objects in the car were Takahashi’s personal belongings and there is little material evidence leading to the perpetrator. Police added that the presence alone of the credit card in the sailor’s name is not necessarily proof that he actually rode in the vehicle.

Kanagawa Prefectural Police will continue to examine footage from expressway toll gates to try and find a lead to who killed Takahashi.

On Sunday, the Kanagawa force sent investigators to Yokosuka U.S. Navy Base to see whether the sailor would voluntarily agree to undergo questioning. Should he do so, police want to determine with caution when to carry out the interrogation.

There is still the little matter of the fact that the guy was UA (AWOL) for over a month and by several accounts actually came and left the base without being detained. My own thought would be to start tracking down whoever was giving him shelter up in Gotanda, which is where he was picked up. Somebody had to be providing this guy with a place to stay and some cash.  Maybe one of them stole the guy’s credit card.

H/T to GI Korea.

I went out for a run this morning.  Today was a beautiful spring day-still not really warm-but not cold either. Exactly as predicted by the Japanese Agencies the Sakura started blooming on 23 March. How they can figure that out is beyond me, but they are 99% right.  The blooming will continue north and westward through Japan on the following schedule:

I think there is something to be said for the Japanese tradition of celebrating spring by sitting under the Sakura-eating and drinking. The Japanese school year ends in March. So too does the Japanese fiscal year. So the coming of the beautiful leaves signifies a re-birth and is probably a more fitting way to observe the new year -than perhaps the calendar celebrations in January. That’s just me.

I sure do miss the days when I could look out the window from my desk and watch this:

Sigh.  All that’s needed now is a cold Asahi and a bento box. 

Should not post this. Must resist the urge to do so.

“No Bluto’s right! This calls for a really stupid and infantile act-and we are just the guys to do it!” 

Good Evening Americans. I am Al Gore and as you know I invented the internet. Now it has come to my attention that some folks are confused as to what is acceptable usage of the internet, while others have clearly misguided views on the subject ( Like those Commie bastards in China.).

I can remain silent no longer. Lest there be any doubt the following tutorial on internet usage is provided:

H/T to Ewok!

Only my Canadian counterpart can explain this in a logical way-and make a connection to the Rev Wright scandal while he is at it………..(Warning: NSFW-Because the language is, you know, not safe for work).

This has all the makings of a good AFN commercial.

MONTCALM

But so many suns have set since Le Renard
struck the war post. Is he not tired? 

MAGUA
 Where is that sun?! It has gone behind the hill.
It is dark and cold. It has set on his people,
they are fooled and kill all the animals and sell
all of their lands to enrich the European masters
who are always greedy for more than they need………..

Magua was taken as a slave by the Mohawks
who fought for the Grey Hair. Magua’s wife
believed he was dead and became the wife of
another. The Grey Hair was the father of all
this.

I’ve been  struggling with whether to do a post about the 5 year anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq. By John McCain’s counter we are only 5% into this adventure. We still have 95 years to go.

Now its important to note up front-that I believed then and I still believe now that invading Iraq was a mistake, not in the long term interests of the United States, and would do nothing to further the safety and or long term influence of the United States within the Middle East. If anything, the United States adventure in Iraq has convinced me of the wisdom of my belief that when it comes to the Middle East, less would be more as far as military presence is concerned. I also come down in agreement with Fox Fallon that any military action against Iran would be the stupidest thing that this president, or any other president for that matter could do. I will not allow myself to be sucked into the ranks of the easily deluded who choose simply to focus on the tactical successes of the US military and ignore the longer term implications that the involvement in Iraq poses for the United States and for the rest of the world.

Even if you decide that my position is wrong, let me ask you this one question. When does the United States get to hold the Iraqis responsible for the success of their own country?

Continue Reading »

Today has dawned on the Kanto Plain as Easter day should have dawned in any country-clear, bright, not a cloud in the sky. All in all a glorious day!

Despite what my posts may convey or fail to convey, I do believe in God, his Son Jesus and the miracle of the resurrection. More probably because no one has given me a palpable reason NOT to believe it. Unlike Mr Hitchens, I cannot go into that dark place that says there is no God. To believe that way is to make life itself so totally futile-and pointless. I just cannot accept that.  If the universe is so ordered that it allows death and suffering-then there has to be something beyond this mortal existence.

At the same time, I do think that Mr Hitchens book captured well, that anger that any believer has to get past in order to be comfortable in his faith-namely that if the Deity is all powerful and loves us all why then does He allow such unfair and indiscriminate suffering to go on and on and on? I call that the Job paradox, and I am in agreement with those who say that it is the one area that all religions, the monotheistic religions in particular, do a poor job of explaining. Because there is a corollary: If God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to save us from our sins-then it means he also so ordered the laws of the universe to unfairly require the sacrifice of a sinless being to atone for those sins. Which when viewed from a certain  viewpoint can be seen as just more than a little mean-and quite unfair-to us and to His Son. That’s the point Christopher Hitchens makes. Where he and I part company is that just being angry at the Deity for being mean and unfair,  does not necessarily mean that He does not exist.  It just means that you do not like his ordering of the universe, is all.  Problem is, He is still God……and we are not.

Now that said,  I would also submit that we would all be a lot better off if He were more of an interventionist Being and would intervene to put a stop to some or most of mankind’s silliness and the disease and destruction that continues to go on today over 2000 years after His Son’s  birth. Free will and infinite patience so as to allow all to come to Him and all that-ok it makes sense as far as it goes-but it does not solve the fundamental problem. Mankind needs a better physical and mortal existence if you please. That again is an area where all three of the monotheistic religions do a poor job of conveying God’s reasons and intentions. Islam does the worst, ” Because I said so! Now get on or I’ll punish you some more!”, Then Christianity, ” Because men need time to accept the free gift of salvation, and I’m going to bend over backwards to give it to them“. In my mind Judaism probably does the best, “ Stop worrying about the timing of the redemption and just accept that God offers hope and redemption-someday.” I’ve always thought that Jews had the best approach to spirituality-even if I do not quite follow them on their slavish insistence on the law. Most Jews I have observed echo my sentiments and that is why most Israelis, for example,  are not observant. But they still take pride in what they are. They treat the Torah and the Talmud in more of an allegorical way. Which is useful because when viewed in that sense, the Bible makes a lot of sense and provides useful instruction to mankind how to move forward in a loving and positive way. I cannot follow the fundamentalists into the road of the Bible as literally inerrant.  Sorry Reverend Hagee and Mr Lindsay-the EU is not the beast with 10 horns and China is not the great Magog. Now as for 2012 and end of the Aztec calendar? Well I’ll just let smarter men than me fight it out.

I’ve struggled for a while to set down in writing my thoughts on Hitchen’s book and I’ve struggled to condense my thoughts in writing this post. I should be at mass this morning. Both the S.O. and I overslept, and for her the Mass is nothing but a quaint ritual that she does not understand. By the way,  if you want to have your eyes opened-try having to explain Easter to someone who does not know what it is about-the S.O. asked me this week if Americans knew that Easter was about more than bunnies and eggs-I did not have a good answer. I like to think that most Americans do. At least I hope they do.

The S.O. has a Celtic Woman CD on the player. “You raise me up” is playing as I type this. Appropriate perhaps. Beautiful song to be sure.

For me, at home or in the pew, Easter will remain about hope. Hope for a better future here in the physical world and down stream in the world that is to come. (For me, heaven would be an immortal existence in this world, young in body with the wiser knowledge of the older man-but that’s for another post). Despite all of the theological inconsistencies laid out above (and you can call off the evangelical dogs-these are my thoughts to bear), I do know this: “Say the word Lord, and I shall be healed.”

Happy Easter!

If you are in the US or Japanese Navy, yesterday was just not a good day.

On the US side:

Lions and tigers and metal detectors oh my! That’s right, make sure you have a clean pair of boxers on if you are going through the gate of Yokosuka Naval base. I think I saw a box of latex medicinal gloves in the guard shack. Cars are being stopped, trunks are being searched,  and arms are being outstretched as the metal detectors are waved up and down, left and right. Here is why:

Authorities are searching for a US sailor in Japan after his credit card was reportedly found in the car of a taxi driver who was stabbed to death.

The case comes with relations between Japan and the US military tense, following a series of high-profile crimes linked to servicemen, including the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl by a US Marine.

Masaaki Takahashi, a 61-year-old taxi driver, was found dead with a knife in his neck in his parked taxi late Wednesday on a road in Yokosuka, a military hub at the mouth of Tokyo Bay, police said.

“The US forces contacted me and informed me that a US soldier may have been involved in the murder case in Yokosuka,” Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters. He declined to elaborate.

The US military pledged cooperation.

“We condemn this horrific crime in the strongest possible terms,” the US Navy command in Japan said in a statement.

“The US Navy is standing by to help with the Japanese police and in whatever manner is needed,” it said.

Local media said a credit card and other items were found in the car that were believed to belong to a 22-year-old sailor.

The sailor, part of the US 7th Fleet based in Yokosuka, had been missing for weeks before the incident and remains unaccounted for, television networks said.

Reports said Mr Takahashi may have argued with his customer over the fare.

As a footnote, the S.O. and I went out walking and shopping this morning. (At her behest golf went out the window-for someone who supposedly is mean to women- I sure am accommodating to their wishes. ). She has a couple of recycle stores and antique shops she likes to go to and one of them is just up from the Yokouska police station. As we were walking back, the police station was ringed with TV trucks. Outside the front gate of Yokosuka base, there were also cameramen camped out. When I asked them in Japanese what they were waiting for-one of the guys just gave me a look and then kept his silence. I did not take that as a good sign………….

Meanwhile, up in the hallowed halls of the SDF Headquarters in Ichigaya-the hammer came down yesterday:

TOKYO — Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba shook up the leadership of the Maritime Self-Defense Force on Friday, effectively sacking MSDF chief Adm. Eiji Yoshikawa and punishing 88 people for a series of MSDF-related fiasco’s since last year as part of his efforts to restore public confidence.

The Defense Ministry also released a set of fact-finding reports on the incidents, which include last month’s collision between an Aegis destroyer and a tuna fishing boat, the leakage of confidential data related to the Aegis radar system within the MSDF which was revealed in early 2007 and a major fire on the destroyer Shirane in December.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told reporters he hopes the measures will encourage “the Defense Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces to renew themselves.” But ministry officials admit the actions were insufficient and indicated fundamental reforms still appear to be unlikely.

“The watch was not conducted appropriately,” Ishiba told a press conference, releasing the closely watched report on the collision between the 7,700-ton Aegis destroyer Atago and the 7.3-ton tuna trawler Seitoku Maru, which left two fishermen missing and presumed dead.

Ishiba revealed that all the lookouts were on the main bridge because of rain and nobody was watching one of the two radar displays in the key operations room called the Combat Information Center shortly before the accident.

“We have yet to receive any information suggesting the night crew recognized the Seitoku Maru by radar,” Ishiba said.

“The Atago failed to undertake appropriate maneuvering” even though it was highly possible that the ship was obliged to avoid the collision, the minister said.

But the collision report did not contain key information directly revealing its cause as the fact-finding team refrained from directly questioning some of the Atago crew so as not to affect ongoing investigations by the Japan Coast Guard.

Earlier Friday, the Cabinet endorsed the change of chief of staff of the Maritime Staff Office and other appointments, which will take effect Monday.

Ishiba said he punished Vice Defense Minister Kohei Masuda and Yoshikawa, cutting their salaries 10 percent for two and three months, respectively, as well as MSDF officers and members for their tepid reactions to the collision including slow notification of it to Ishiba as well as the prime minister.

Ishiba dismissed Yoshikawa from his current post immediately after imposing the punishment and named MSDF Sasebo District Headquarters commandant Adm. Keiji Akahoshi as his successor.

The minister also said he will return part of his salary for March and April, nearly 320,000 yen in total, to the state coffers, while Senior Vice Defense Minister Akinori Eto as well as the two parliamentary defense secretaries will do likewise.

I find myself of mixed mind about all this. On the one hand, nothing I have seen indicates a systemic failure of the JMSDF training system-just a failure by the crew of the Atago to follow already established procedures. Then again, it is kind of refreshing that the Japanese Navy has not adopted the custom of the American Navy-namely throw sacrificial O-5′s and O-6′s under the bus so as to keep the flag officers from being involved or sullied in the ritual weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth that ensues when something like this happens.

There is definitely more news to come on both these stories. Here at Far East Cynic HQ-we’ll stay on top of it.