tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.comments2005-08-08T00:11:06.146+09:00Riding SunUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1999125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123427466148436852005-08-08T00:11:00.000+09:002005-08-08T00:11:00.000+09:00Great post... although I would advise against snap...Great post... although I would advise against snapping photo's of half naked boys at the beach. No good can come from that. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>BojackAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123426578845267092005-08-07T23:56:00.000+09:002005-08-07T23:56:00.000+09:00Can I be the babe who leads them, Daniel? Heh. I...Can I be the babe who leads them, Daniel? Heh. I kid, I kid. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://www.ramblestrip.com/blog/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="KAL97 at aol dot com">Kim</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123412657645871382005-08-07T20:04:00.000+09:002005-08-07T20:04:00.000+09:00Man, I hate when that happens. *smile* Posted...Man, I hate when that happens. *smile* <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://mindismapping.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="creationary at hotmail dot com">Jadon</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123404619998963672005-08-07T17:50:00.000+09:002005-08-07T17:50:00.000+09:00MANUAL TRACKBACK:'Round the 'Sphere: August 6, 200...MANUAL TRACKBACK:<BR/><A HREF="http://intherightplace.blogspot.com/2005/08/round-sphere-august-6-2005.html" REL="nofollow">'Round the 'Sphere: August 6, 2005</A> <BR/><BR/>Looking for something good to read? Let me help you out... <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://intherightplace.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="dumpthedonks at yahoo dot com">Mr. Right</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123348990514351212005-08-07T02:23:00.000+09:002005-08-07T02:23:00.000+09:00"But as the excerpt above demonstrates, Japan's na..."But as the excerpt above demonstrates, Japan's nationalists don't seem to want to teach schoolchildren how to think. They want to tell them what to think. "<BR/><BR/>This is typical of any public education -- whatever is fashionable (ancestor-respect, diversity-respect, etc) is what the children told to think.<BR/><BR/>Public education especailly very rarely.teaches children how to think. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://tdaxp.blogspirit.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="danhabbott at gmail dot com">Dan tdaxp</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123346026733790522005-08-07T01:33:00.000+09:002005-08-07T01:33:00.000+09:00Good post GB.Makes you wonder though. Like what if...Good post GB.<BR/>Makes you wonder though. Like what if, by any slim chance, Bin Laden died and they just don't want that getting out? Or perhaps there was a conflict of some kind between Bin Laden and some of the others that would love to have his position.<BR/><BR/>The part about the "forbidding, mountainous terrain along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border."....<BR/>I don't understand why that area on the border is not our target for war. Don't we have the ability to do <I>something</I> ? If that's where he (Bin Laden) is, and the people there are hiding him willingly, then do we not have justification to go in, with our military and find him?<BR/><BR/>Just a thought. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>Chris K.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123338101366004462005-08-06T23:21:00.000+09:002005-08-06T23:21:00.000+09:00Nicely done, GB."but I'm not angry with anybody — ...Nicely done, GB.<BR/><BR/>"but I'm not angry with anybody — except, of course, the Americans and the Jews"<BR/><BR/>Heh heh heh. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://apostropher.com/blog/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="">apostropher</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123335256759710042005-08-06T22:34:00.000+09:002005-08-06T22:34:00.000+09:00He he, good fun, great post! Posted by RitzyHe he, good fun, great post! <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://missmabrouk.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="ritzy2ritzy at yahoo dot com">Ritzy</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123326641523082542005-08-06T20:10:00.000+09:002005-08-06T20:10:00.000+09:00I'm holding out for the Special Edition digitally-...I'm holding out for the Special Edition digitally-remastered DVD box set. It comes with a pewter Taliban foot soldier and production notes detailing the inspiration behind the shakey camera work and barely-audible sound tracks. Excellent! <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>DaveAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123307179222447412005-08-06T14:46:00.000+09:002005-08-06T14:46:00.000+09:00Steven,Japanese nationalists would respond to you ...Steven,<BR/><BR/>Japanese nationalists would respond to you by saying that Japan minded its own business for hundreds of years until America forced it to start trading in 1853 by having Commodore Perry's "Black Ships" steam into Edo Bay.<BR/><BR/>Then, when Japan saw how the western nations were moving into Asia and setting up colonies, it felt it had to start grabbing some colonies of its own, (1) as a defensive buffer zone against the West, and (2) to be taken seriously by the West as a Great Power (a status to which, after it defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, Japan felt entitled.)<BR/><BR/>Hence, Manchuria. Apparently some Japanese of that era forsaw a future in which Japan would be one of a small group of "world powers" extending its influence through its colonies — colonies that would serve as signs of its might and status in the same way that rich businessmen might boast of their real estate holdings.<BR/><BR/>One of Japan's mistakes, however, was to start grabbing colonies just as the practice was going out of fashion, as it were. A common complaint heard among Japanese apologists for their nation's military adventurism is "Just as we (Japan) learned how to play the game, you (the West) changed the rules."<BR/><BR/>I don't think that view of history absolves Japan of responsibility for its actions of that era. Unfortunately, it's the only view that students using the new history textbook will encounter. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="gaijin_biker at yahoo dot com">Gaijin Biker</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123288582045142762005-08-06T09:36:00.000+09:002005-08-06T09:36:00.000+09:00Japan was forced to seek "harmony with Western civ...Japan was forced to seek "harmony with Western civilization" at the point of an American gun. It wasn't until Japan was totally defeated in war and the Japanese home islands were occupied that Japan began to prize harmony with Western civilization.<BR/><BR/>Certainly Japan had little interest in "harmony" in the years between the Meiji restoration and the beginning of Imperial Japan's last war (1931, when Japan invaded Manchuria, which some historians consider the real beginning of WWII). <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://denbeste.nu/Chizumatic/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="sdenbes1 at san dot rr dot com">Steven Den Beste</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123272563445917162005-08-06T05:09:00.000+09:002005-08-06T05:09:00.000+09:00I haven't seen that one on the news. I guess becau...I haven't seen that one on the news. I guess because it was not anti radical Islam it gets no coverage. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>Chris K.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123202897366676342005-08-05T09:48:00.000+09:002005-08-05T09:48:00.000+09:00Nationalistic history textbooks are a problem arou...Nationalistic history textbooks are a problem around the world. What's unique in Japan is the level of scrutiny they attract in the Western press and the degree to which they provoke neighbors' objections.<BR/><BR/>The intense scrutiny is salutary and every attempt should be made to extend that to history teaching elsewhere and to the nature, origins and results of right-wing nationalism in general.<BR/><BR/>It's also worth considering what students actually take away from their history lessons. Students absorb what they hear in class within the context of what they see around them, hear in the news media and what their parents and peers say.<BR/><BR/>This is why things like the "Pledge of Allegiance" and school-based flag-worship in the U.S. are counterproductive. For critical-thinking students, i.e. the people who are most likely to become opinion leaders, the takeaway there is that the educational system functions partly as a propaganda organ of the state.<BR/><BR/>In my case, I spent most of my college years rebelling against the idea that the U.S. was worthy of worship. Given my lack of discernment at the time, my response was to take the left-wing reactionary view that the U.S. was worthy only of condemnation, since what was being taught and chanted in schools was obviously false propaganda.<BR/><BR/>I suspect that Japanese may be less inclined to take this sort of lesson away from their rightist textbooks and other attempts at indoctrination. Yet there will be many who do respond by rejecting the state's fundamental goodness as the basis of their views.<BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com/2005/08/indoctrination-not-education.html#comments" REL="nofollow" TITLE="realandpositive at yahoo dot com">bunkerbuster</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123195369704693282005-08-05T07:42:00.000+09:002005-08-05T07:42:00.000+09:00This textbook also doesn't seem to mention that th...This textbook also doesn't seem to mention that this generation of Japanese adults are not having enough children. In the long run the only way Japan will be able substain its economy is by allowing in people whose ancestors haven't lived in Japan "from time immemorial," people from Korea and the Phillipines for instance.<BR/><BR/>And Japan has to make them welcome. Students who study these textbooks are likely to end up xenophobes instead. These textbooks aren't simply wrong, they're part of a stupid policy.<BR/><BR/>--Mike Perry, Seattle, <I>Untangling Tolkien</I> <BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://www.InklingBooks.com/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="editor at inklingbooks dot com">Mike Perry</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123087247400409222005-08-04T01:40:00.000+09:002005-08-04T01:40:00.000+09:00Dave's absolutely right. I probably never would h...Dave's absolutely right. I probably never would have posted on any Japanese issues before I started reading Riding Sun. But now I'm more aware of such things, and so I'm more likely to mention them when I see them.<BR/><BR/>As I've told you via email, though, I'll always defer to you on such things. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://rftr.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="thecookie83 at yahoo dot com">RFTR</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123085712175780902005-08-04T01:15:00.000+09:002005-08-04T01:15:00.000+09:00Actually, I think you MADE blogging about Japan co...Actually, I think you MADE blogging about Japan cool!<BR/><BR/>:) <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://davejustus.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="davidjustus at gmail dot com">Dave Justus</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123082487702462252005-08-04T00:21:00.000+09:002005-08-04T00:21:00.000+09:00Thanks for the links.From the both of us! :-DWe ha...Thanks for the links.<BR/><BR/>From the both of us! :-D<BR/><BR/>We have been honored to be participants in this Carnival for many, many, editions, and think it, and its many off-spring, are some of the best ways for people to learn of blogs they may never knew existed. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://www.cyclingdude.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="sneakeasyusa at hotmail dot com">Kiril Kundurazieff</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123064746989473842005-08-03T19:25:00.000+09:002005-08-03T19:25:00.000+09:00Hi Gaijin!Thanks for allowing me to participate in...Hi Gaijin!<BR/><BR/>Thanks for allowing me to participate in the Carnival of the Vanities. I happened upon your blog because I was looking for other sensible "gaijin" in Japan. <BR/><BR/>Good luck in the blog wars. <BR/> <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://shaggyla.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="shaterlas[at]lycos dot com">Shaggy's girl</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123049934137423902005-08-03T15:18:00.000+09:002005-08-03T15:18:00.000+09:00*GROAN* Posted by Beck*GROAN* <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://incite1.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="incite at gmail dot com">Beck</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123045720782270882005-08-03T14:08:00.000+09:002005-08-03T14:08:00.000+09:00The Luton police guidelines are good example of ho...The Luton police guidelines are good example of how law enforcement professionals understand that the terrorist threat comes from a tiny minority within the Muslim community and that it is crucial to avoid fomenting sympathy for the murderers' cause by displaying a disregard for Muslims in general.<BR/> Law enforcement professionals also apply that understanding in their opposition to racial and ethnic profiling.<BR/> Racial profiling doesn't work because it takes the focus away from monitoring and observing BEHAVIOR and, instead, puts resources and attention on monitoring physical appearance. Racial profiling may actually encourage terrorism because it sends the message to the 99.99 percent of peace-loving Muslims that they are terrorist suspects, a sure way to expand solidarity for actual terrorists.<BR/> One measure of the lack of intellectual integrity among supporters of racial profiling is their assertion that opposition to it is based on misguided notions of fairness, rather than on its demonstrated ineffectiveness. The data are in and the professionals who've analyzed it have spoken; racial profiling doesn't work.<BR/> It seems reasonable to question the motives of those who insist racial or ethnic profiling must be implemented.<BR/> <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com/2005/08/didnt-these-guys-see-die-hard.html#c112298763107045758" REL="nofollow" TITLE="realandpositive at yahoo dot com">bunkerbuster</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123044479079159052005-08-03T13:47:00.000+09:002005-08-03T13:47:00.000+09:00Who said anything about a global ideal? My point i...Who said anything about a global ideal? My point is that police in cultures that have a custom of removing footwear have no problem at all doing their jobs effectively (or at least no problem related to shoes--neither of the articles about Japanese police you cite mention that the cops were shoeless.) Showing people basic respect in their own homes is usually a good idea.<BR/><BR/>Again, I would be willing to bet that the rules refer only to raids where there is no likelihood of resistance, otherwise the rule is too stupid to imagine that even the most bleedingheart police chief would agree to it. I suspect we're not getting the whole story here. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://gaijinbikers.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="">Big Ben</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123042319051624512005-08-03T13:11:00.000+09:002005-08-03T13:11:00.000+09:00An article  in the Daily Mail  backs up ...<A HREF="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/newscomment.html?in_article_id=357905&in_page_id=1787" REL="nofollow">An article</A>  in the <I>Daily Mail</I>  backs up the <I>Sun's</I> report:<BR/><BR/><I>Leaked guidelines from the Bedfordshire force say that when officers raid Muslim homes they should remove their shoes, not use dogs and not mount pre-dawn raids because at that hour people might by 'spiritually busy'.</I><BR/><BR/>And I wouldn't rush to hold up Japanese police procedures (see <A HREF="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050606a2.htm" REL="nofollow">here</A> and <A HREF="http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&id=328597" REL="nofollow">here</A>) as the global ideal. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="gaijin_biker at yahoo dot com">Gaijin Biker</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123041484782142532005-08-03T12:58:00.000+09:002005-08-03T12:58:00.000+09:00I suspect that the Sun's reporting is either slopp...I suspect that the Sun's reporting is either sloppy or incomplete. They're not exactly known as a bastion of credibility. If this is truly the rule for all raids, it's unforgivably dumb, but I'd be very surprised if that's actually the case. <BR/><BR/>Remember, "raid" sometimes means politely knocking on the door, showing a warrant, and looking around for evidence, and in those cases not removing one's shoes would be needlessly rude. I'd be pretty pissed if police tromped around my house wearing shoes unless it were really urgent, and it is standard procedure for Japanese cops to remove their shoes unless they are in hot pursuit or expect violence.<BR/><BR/>I got a giggle out of the mental image of a SWAT team politlely removing their shoes before kicking a door in, though. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://gaijinbikers.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="">Big Ben</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123027113830125822005-08-03T08:58:00.000+09:002005-08-03T08:58:00.000+09:00Nice one. Posted by Gaijin BikerNice one. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="gaijin_biker at yahoo dot com">Gaijin Biker</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1123026722930561452005-08-03T08:52:00.000+09:002005-08-03T08:52:00.000+09:00Hi Gaijin! Thank you kindly for the link in this C...Hi Gaijin! Thank you kindly for the link in this Carnival. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://mistersnitch.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="mistersnitch at hotmail dot com">Mr. Snitch!</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com