Japan has slso big problems with revolving doors, "Iron Triangle" and other economo-political complexes. See also certain factors in Japanese nuclear regulation in the run-up to the Fukushima crisis.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
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![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Of course, some of thatnote led to Japan's rapid- post-war growth.
HGW XX/7
Tiananmen Square anniversary: while thousands gather in HK, Beijing locks down.
Police flooded the heart of the Chinese capital, with hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes officers carrying out identity checks at the site of the 1989 pro-reform protests. Some foreign media were ordered to leave or were prevented from entering the square.
Censors deleted online posts, blocked searches for sensitive terms and blacked out television screens when foreign broadcasters covered the anniversary. Users of Linked In, one of the few foreign social media services not blocked in China, complained that it had censored posts about the anniversary or related detentions.
Between 90-180 thousand people took part in a candlelight vigil in HK to mark the date. Meanwhile on the mainland, pre-emptive strikes against activists and armed military police flooding the central square prevented any hint of protest. Their internet censorship for which China is so infamous was ramped up. I worry about Hong Kong as 2047 draws near.
I suppose we should all take a moment to remember the brave activists who were murdered by the Chinese security forces. They sang the Internationale on the square, not because they necessarily were Communist true believers, but because it was the only song many of them knew that fit the occasion. The lyrics from Billy Bragg's adaptation seem oddly appropriate:
In the streets and in the fields.
We stand unbowed before their armour,
We defy their guns and shields!
edited 4th Jun '14 4:35:42 PM by Achaemenid
Schild und Schwert der Partei
No matter what the CCP does to us we shall not forget.
Dalai Lama called for a peaceful change to China in press releases made from India. Chinese Foreign Ministry insists that his speech has a hidden motive to it.
edited 5th Jun '14 8:19:07 AM by Ominae
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
Everything that comes from outside the CCP has a hidden motive to it, if you ask them.
edited 5th Jun '14 7:28:18 AM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Pretending to be human
Yep. Like I've said before, the PRC's official state media is quite possibly the most xenophobic and insecure type that there is.
わからない
It's quite obvious the Dalai Lama has a hidden motive. Proclaim "peace" and what-not, even offer "negotiations", but suddenly he'll be massing forces against the Communists.
Not just xenophobic, it clamps down on anything that makes the government looks bad whether it comes from external or internal sources. Which is also why a lot people even in China don't trust it...
edited 5th Jun '14 8:06:18 AM by nightwyrm_zero
China Steps Up Attacks on US Tech Firms.
Chinese Grads Shunning Government Careers?
Korea Must Switch Strategies in Exports to China.
edited 5th Jun '14 8:53:33 AM by Quag15
I'm paraphrasing here but I think someone once said, "If the party doesn't eliminate corruption, we'll lose the trust of the people; if we do, we lose party members."
Don't know who said the original quote, sadly.
To Defeat America, China Must Respect Human Rights.
China’s Air Force Modernization: ‘Unprecedented in History’.
Tiananmen Square in the Age of Twitter.
Japanese Opposition Continues to Fracture.
Conversation: East Asia Flies Under the Radar.
edited 5th Jun '14 8:28:33 PM by Quag15
@ Greenmantle
Can I please send that PM now?
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Go for it...
Keep Rolling On
Sorry to double-post, fell you won't get it if I edited . Got my PM yet?
Zzzzzzzzzz
Topic, please, Hawk....
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
I have balls.
Mr. Abe, I am disappoint. (I don't know if this belongs in maritime disputes?)
You'd think that with the U.S.'s military presence in Japan, we'd have a bit more say over this sort of thing. Bleeaargh.
They never travel alone.
V
The US military isn't that popular in Japan, I think.
Yeah, you know, religious services are all nice and dandy, but perhaps everyone would be better served if they channelled that respect into not hunting as many whales. Religion isn't going to save those animals from extinction.
Also, "Japanese culture", my ass. Whaling on industrial scale is very much a western invention, exported to Japan with pretty much everything else during the Meiji period.
You know, I try to be understanding. I get that whaling is big business in Japan, and no politician wants to be the one to tell all those people they are out of a job. Though I do think that giving it the "elephant in the room" treatment is cowardice, at least I can understand where that attitude would be coming from.
But a big-time politician actively throwing his support behind the operation just makes me angry.
edited 9th Jun '14 2:45:00 AM by Kayeka
HGW XX/7
I believe whaling actually became entrenched because whales fed Japan in the occupation period post-WWII.
Schild und Schwert der Partei
Part of that bad rep is due to its personnel committing crimes like rape or killing civilians by accident. Never mind that the leftists groups (including ultra ones) don't like this for being "imperialist".
A noble end, though I'm a little worried about the kind of means they will likely employ to reach it.
While I do wish to see Japan keep up this economic growth, I'm not sure relying on the consistently dead-in-the-water Trans Pacific Partnership as the savior of your economy is a great idea.
Besides, isn't one of the bigger issue that the Japanese government needs to be to allow firms to die, which it isn't, due to protectionist laws?