Kurashi - News From Japan

I am deeply impressed by the high level of consciousness and acute awareness of people in Okinawa right now, who are committed to peaceful protests against American military bases in their prefecture. Remember that over 90,000 people showed up on April 25, 2010 - they have hit the page 1 news around the world with this solemn and dignified tactic, and they are winning the hearts and minds of millions anyway. Do watch this video from the Live Earth concert in 2007. It starts with the news report from Okinawa, that a pair of dugong have been filmed in June 2007, a rare event. "They came back," Cocco says, with joy. These good people deserve better! Shisaku , a blogger I like, has the latest on how Prime Minister Hatoyama is now struggling to get his cabinet to agree on a statement on Friday - and how he has failed. Mainichi/Kyodo reports today Thursday May 27, that the Social Democratic Party... ...will not sign a Cabinet resolution as long as Hatoyama presupposes that the...

From Kai Keane: (Thanks Jean at Ten Thousand Things )

If you live in Japan, and have family here, or other deep connections, you must have heard the Heart Sutra. It is chanted at all Buddhist temples from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south. The chanting is done in a flat voice, very rythmical, often with a drum or a bell marking the beat. There are a lot of good versions on Youtube . Some also add karaoke-style videos ! Pop-versions from Singapore, by Imee Ooi 黃慧音, who is a Malaysian singer and music producer, according to Wikipedia : Prajna-paramita Hrdaya Sutram (The Heart Sutra) 般若心経 Here is a good Alphabet version too . Try to read it along with the video. I don't mind, but the real chanting is not about adding things, it is about keeping it real simple. Here is a version that stays very true to the way you will hear it at some local temple, anywhere in Japan. 般若心経 （はんにゃしんぎょう) Hannya Shingyou is a profound prayer not well known in the Western world, why is that? 般若心経　The Heart Sutra In fact, this is a spiritual pra...

Ban the bomb, references to Nagasaki, Japan - I just love this movie. Robert Redford and Barbara Streisand, so in love. Taking a stand against war, against Franco, and then, the push against nuclear weapons. Why don't they make films like this anymore?

How will this slaughter of 49 stud bulls in Miyazaki Prefecture due to the spread of foot-and-mouth disease affect the local beef industry? Local authorities want to keep the animals alive. The decision was confirmed during a meeting between Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano and senior vice farm minister Masahiko Yamada at the prime minister's office. The slaughter of the 49 will leave only five seed bulls in the prefecture, which have been separated from other cattle. In the International Year of Biodiversity , no less. "It is a celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives. The world is invited to take action in 2010 to safeguard the variety of life on earth: biodiversity ." For the sake of biological diversity, please save the 49 bulls.

I just have to add this to Kurashi, I think their strong concerns need to be better understood. By the way, there are demonstrations all over Japan: peaceful groups of people who will not accept the usotsuki うそつき (lying) of the elected politicians. Time for honesty and frank dialogue. How refreshing. Non-violent protests, from sincere people with no wish whatsoever to continue host American military bases. Other Japanese bloggers are of course truly angry . Joint Statement by Ginowan and Nago City Mayors to Oppose the Construction of Futenma Replacement Facility within Okinawa (Issued on the day of the Futenma Human Chain Campaign, May 16, 2010) More over at Peace Philosophy Centre Over fourteen years have passed since the Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO) agreement was concluded by the United States and Japanese Governments. In this agreement, both governments promised to return the entire land of the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station, located in the middle of heavily popul...

Thousands of people, protesting peacefully in Okinawa. Who are they? These are not violent men and women, yet they are extremely powerful in Japan. Yukio Hatoyama seems to be trying to reach out to them. Welcome to the prefecture of Okinawa. The good people here are so fed up with the military bases. Be they American or whatever, 65 years after the end of WW2, this amazing popular movement today reminds me of what happened in Poland and Hungary and then in Berlin, that amazing fall, November 1989. More than 20 years later, the Cold War may be about to end in the Pacific. Global Post: On Location Battleground Okinawa Seems to me that the women are taking the lead this time. Do watch the video on Global Post by Sonia Narang . 7 minutes, well, what can I say. Turn off your TV and meet some amazing people, thanks to the Internet. Ten Thousand Things has more . Update: PBS broadcast "Battleground Okinawa" on "News Hour," its daily news program, and posted the video with ...