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Japan

The Freedom of Religion and Kirishitan (Christian) Faith in Japan

by Makio

The Persecution of the Kirishitan (Christian) Faith in Japan  In Japan, for 250 years, there were people who hid their Christian faith for more than seven, eight, or nine generations, without being noticed even by their neighbors or the local government.Those who used to be called as Kakure (Hidden) Kirishitan (Christian in old Japanese), are now called Senpuku Kirishitan (潜伏キリシタン), Underground Christian.  I first heard the name during a junior high history class about 30 years ago. At that time, I did not have any impression on them and only acknowledged their past existence. However, as the time passed, I found that the story of these underground Christian is not about the past but rather a dynamic drama that continues to live even now.      There is a statement that shakes the thought lurking under unconsciousness:  “Priests from Portuguese and Spain continue to preach against the government order, speaking ill of Shinto, blaming Buddhism, and lacking righteousness and goodness. Kirishitans…
Score: 1.72

Wall between Church and Individual, and the Freedom of Religion

by Makio

Strict controls of religion in England and Japan, and the Freedom of religion the US constitution guarantees   The histories of both England and Japan tell us that their national securities and independence had conflicted with the religious freedom of their people.  The history of US tells us that deciding and acting political issues independently from organized Church or religious institutions is essential to protect the religious freedom.   Declaration of Independence (1819), by John Trumbull from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia     Gain Political Independence from Religious Authority in England  As a Japanese living in the US, I view that the development of congressional politics in England as the political elites gradually limited the royal and religious authorities and gained own economic and political freedom while sacrificing the religious freedom and many lives of Catholics in their kingdom.  Let me explain in details.  In medieval Europe, Pope claimed the Papal supremacy and exercised…
Score: 1.31

Incident of Korean Navy Radar Lock-On, Japan's Future, Implication to the USA

 
    At the end of 2018, the South Korean Navy destroyer Gwanggaeto the Great  (KDX-I) irradiated the Japanese maritime SDF patrol aircraft (P-1) with a fire control radar (FC radar) within the Japanese EEZ of the Sea of Japan.  South Korean government has denied the radar irradiation, and never proposed any preventive measure even though the Japanese government has asked for from the beginning of this incident.  Why there is no productive cooperation between Japan and South Korean governments?    I think there are two reasons.   Strong anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea prevents the South Korean government from admitting the wrongdoing and apologizing to Japan South Korea signals China that it is strengthening the confrontational attitude against Japan.   Most Americans seem to think that it is only "Japan-Korea issue." However, a functional alliance between Japan and South Korea is also very important for the US.  A similar incident happened before. Chinese People's Liberation Army’s frigate ship…
Score: 1.25

VTubers (Virtual YouTubers): Is This The Future Of Entertainment?

       Pardon my round-eyed white idiot weeaboo indulgence, but your Present Author has been sent on a mission by the Editors That Be to explore vTubers(Virtual YouTubers, Japanese: Vユーチューバー, バーチャルユーチューバー). This is 21st century living at its most stereotyped: whole subcultures emerge and gain millions of followers within a couple of years, without most of the world quite knowing they exist.  But I'm a techie and media geek first, so even I can appreciate that there's something happening here. We all expected that better AI and CGI technology would give us virtual celebrities sooner or later. That's all a vTuber is: a Virtual Youtuber, a real-life celebrity who never shows their face (almost), instead of having their movements motion-captured and animated through a virtual character, for whom they also provide the voice.        Westerners may smirk and say "Hey, that's Max Headroom." Well, no, not quite. It's actually more like Black Mirror. Namely, The Waldo Moment way back in season two:        Scary, isn't…
Score: 1.3

How does Junji Ito inspire you? Manga or Art? His Uniqueness and Influence

From Uzumaki (Japanese: うずまき）, Junji Ito (伊藤潤二)    Every now and then, an artist comes along who is so original, so defiant, that they break all conventions that came before and force us to invent a special new category just for them.  Comics existed before Rube Goldberg, but he alone invented the complicated machine gag. Thereafter every humorous complex contraption, be it in comics, cartoons, or even in film with Peewee Herman's "breakfast machine," is referred to as a Rube Goldberg machine.  Single-gag one-panel comic strips had appeared in every newspaper, but Gary Larson was the first to introduce high-brow nerdy humor in his ground-breaking strip The Far Side. Thereafter, every nerd humor comic which is aimed at an educated and mature audience, from Dilbert to XKCD, owes a debt to Gary Larson. (Oh yes, mine too. Perhaps somebody read it once.)  Horror manga existed before Junji Ito; we swear it really did! There was Kazuo Umezu, for one,  whose first work was published just one year before…
Score: 1.32

Nontraditional Student in Japan

 
  Introduction  Have you ever felt that the world is outside of your grasp?  Things happen to everyone else, why would they happen to you?  That dream job you’ve always wanted, but resigned yourself to never being good enough for it?  This was what I felt even as I started at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. My life was surrounded my dead-end retail jobs and wasn’t going anywhere. After five years of this, however, I reevaluated my life.   Why did I believe that I couldn’t do more? It was time for a change. It was time for me to be more.    There was a huge gap in my life.   I spent all my life working one job after another, trying to make money, but never making anything. The jobs were boring, and I never wanted to be in any position long enough to move up and get experience at a different level.  After a divorce, I was lost. I was tired of my dead-end jobs, I wasn’t making enough money to live on my own, and leaning on other people was giving me more guilt than pleasure. How is a woman supposed to…
Score: 1.44

Can you believe I took these photos in mainland Japan?

by Jetfin200

       The Japanese archipelago is located on the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean and is composed of many islands. The names of the main islands are, from north to south, "Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu."  This photo was taken in Owase, in the southeastern part of the Kii Peninsula in the middle of Honshu.  If you visit the city of in mainland like Osaka or Kobe, Kyoto, If you like scuba diving,  I recommend the southern area of the Kii Peninsula as the traveling destination. It is a coral paradise where you can go by car.      The southern part of the Kii Peninsula is a coral paradise    Although Honshu is in the temperate zone, the under the sea of this area is instead the subtropical zone because the warm current, called "Kuroshio," flows along the southern coast of the Kii Peninsula.So, you can see colorful corals seascape that like Okinawa, Micronesia, or the Philippines even if you are in Honshu of Japan.      Hard coral and soft coral  There are two types of corals. One is hard that looks like rocks…
Score: 1.25