Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Dispute

Ms. C.W in Beijing and I made research exchange for many years. Even after both of us retired, friendship has been continuing. Past July, I heard on TV that the heaviest rainstorm in Beijing in six decades has killed at least 37 people and flooded streets. So, I sent her an email message of sympathy. She sent me a reply message on September 1, together with the following postscript in Chinese, "钓鱼岛是中国领土，不容任何人侵占！" These words mean: Diaoyu Islands are China's territory. No one is allowed to invade!

I wrote her as follows:

Thanks for your reply of September 1. I'm glad to hear that you are fine and that students have started the new semester well in Beijing.

I feel sorry that Japanese Government has an opinion different from China about 钓鱼岛 and wish that the problem be solved peacefully by mutual analysis of historical facts.

In reply to this, Ms. C wrote me on September 12 by including the following descriptions of historical facts and a comment, as well as an attachment of a PDF file (in Chinese) of a newspaper article on the history of islands:

Records show that the islands were first found, named and used by the Chinese, and have been included in Chinas’ maritime defense sphere since the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).

Japan seized the islands through illegal means at the end of the Sino-Japanese War (1894–95), but two key declarations during World War II, Cairo and Potsdam, legally returned the islands to China (1943–).

Japan's stance on the islands is a blatant denial of victory of a global antifascist war and a serious challenge to the post-war international order.

My answer to this was as follows:

Thank you so much for your explanation about China's view about Diaoyu Islands and the attachment of a copy of a Chinese newspaper article.

Surely, Chinas's inclusion of islands in maritime defense sphere in the Ming Dynasty is quite old. The crucial point is which of historical facts, insisted by China and Japan, is truly effective from the viewpoint of the international rule of territory acquisition. This is the problem to be calmly discussed by lawyers and politicians between our countries. So, I do not want to go into discussion with you but give the link to an article about Japanese side view published in "Shimbun Akahata" (daily newspaper published by Japan Communist Party) just for your information: http://www.jcp.or.jp/akahata/aik12/2012-09-11/2012091105_01_1.html

Heartily wishing the peace between our countries,
…

After sending the above message, I made a little study of Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute on the Internet (Refs. 1–3) and have learned that even two Japanese historians, at least, state that the islands are China's territory (Refs. 2, 4, 5). The following quote from Ref. 2 should also be noted.

Japan's false claim of its purported "discovery in 1884" of the Diaoyu Islands as uninhibited isles contradicts with the navigation map in its own 1783 historical document, Sankoku Tsuran Zusetsu, published by a prominent scholar Hayashi Shihei clearly stating the area a part of China.

Professor Murata said, "We tend to take the opinion of the government, political parties and media as being the correct views and accept them readily; however, those opinions do not necessarily represent the truth. To us scholars, what is important is what is real, what is true, not the national interest; over this point, political parties and media have the same problem."

From what I have learned, I strongly urge the Japanese Government first to negotiate open-mindedly with China or at the International Court of Justice about this dispute in order to verify if their claim is justified before thinking about defending the islands by force.

References

1. Jane Perlez, "China Accuses Japan of Stealing After Purchase of Group of Disputed Islands." New York Times (September 11, 2012) and readers' comments on this article.
2. Kiyoshi Inoue, "Japanese Militarism & Diaoyutai (Senkaku) Island – A Japanese Historian's View." Web Site Asian Holocaust.
3. Gavan McCormack, "Small Islands – Big Problem: Senkaku/Diaoyu and the Weight of History and Geography in China-Japan Relations." The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol. 9, Issue 1, No. 1 (January 3, 2011); Japanese version is available here.
4. 井上清, 「尖閣」列島―釣魚諸島の史的解明 (第三書館, 東京, 1996).
5. 村田忠禧, 尖閣列島・釣魚島問題をどう見るか―試される21世紀に生きるわれわれの英知 (日本僑報社, 東京, 2004). 和文概要がこちらにある.

Further Reading Added Later

• Nicholas Kristof, Look Out for the Diaoyu Islands, New York Times (September 10, 2010).
• Han-Yi Shaw, The Inconvenient Truth Behind the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, New York Times (September 19, 2012).
• Nicholas Kristof, More on the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, New York Times (September 20, 2010).

(Minor changes in wording of the main text were made on September 16, 2012.)

Lists of Films on Atomic Bombs

The other day, I revived one of lost blog posts written in 2005. It was entitled "New books on atomic bombs." An overseas friend of mine wrote a comment on it and asked me if I knew a similar list of movies or documentaries. I did not know such a list. So, I made a search on the Internet, and results gotten are summarized here.

Lists of films on atomic bombs available on the Web

1. Films about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (19 entires)
2. Documentary films about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (subcategory of the above category) (9 entries)
3. List of Japanese films on atomic bombs on the page "原爆映画特集" (Feature: Atomic Bomb Movies) (19 entries)

The third list above is difficult for the overseas friend to understand. Thus, I made a modified list as given below by including a few entries from the first two lists, adding English titles and providing links to English Wikipedia pages when available.

I wish that these films that convey the colossal tragedy the atomic bombs brought are appreciated by a lot more of people world over and that total elimination of nuclear weapons is realized as soon as possible.

List of Japanese films on atomic bombs (a modification of the list at "原爆映画特集")

Note: English titles are official ones except for those given in parentheses, which are used to indicate to be the literal translation by T.T. Some of Wikipedia pages explain not only about the film but also dramas, books, etc. of the same title; and some others contain an extremely brief description only.

	Year of release	Japanese title	English title
1	1950	長崎の鐘	The Bells of Nagasaki
2	1952	原爆の子	Children of Hiroshima
3	1953	ひろしま	(Hiroshima)
4	1955	生きものの記録	I Live In Fear
5	1959	第五福竜丸	(Lucky Dragon 5)
6	1963	母	(Mother)
7	1970	地の群れ	Apart from Life
8	1976	はだしのゲン	Barefoot Gen
9	1977	はだしのゲン: 涙の爆発	Barefoot Gen: Explosion of Tears
10	1980	ヒロシマのたたかい: はだしのゲンPART3	Barefoot Gen: PART3 Battle of Hiroshima
11	1983	この子を残して	Children of Nagasaki
12	1983	せんせい	(Sensei)
13	1988	さくら隊散る	(Team Sakura Wiped Out)
14	1988	TOMORROW 明日	Tomorrow
15	1989	黒い雨	Black Rain
16	1991	八月の狂詩曲	Rhapsody in August
17	2001	H Story	H Story
18	2002	鏡の女たち	Women in the Mirror
19	2004	父と暮せば	The Face of Jizo
20	2005	二重被爆	(Double exposure)
21	2007	夕凪の街 桜の国	Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms
22	2007	馬頭琴夜想曲	Matouqin Nocturne
23	2009	妻の貌	(Wife's Face)

National Policy and the Principles of Autonomy, Democracy and Openness

On Monday, June 20, the TV channel of NHK BS premium aired the program "Superb feast of beauty: Kaii Higashiyama's journey. Part 2: Challenging Kyoto." In this program, Higashiyama's painting works made in Kyoto were introduced, and a few commentators analyzed them. After seeing the program, I wanted to see those paintings again in the book "Kyoraku Shiki: Kaii Higashiyama Shogashu (Four Seasons in Kyoto: Kaii Higashiyama's Small Picturebook" (Shinchosha, 1984) and went to the drawing-room to bring the book from the bookshelf there. Then, I found the book entitled "Nuclear Power Generation" (edited by Mitsuo Taketani; Iwanami, 1976). I browsed some of its pages and found the following passages:

[. . .] So long as she neglects the autonomous effort of developing her own reactors by keeping the lines of importing mass produced power reactors of light water type, Japan should be unable to be freed from the global strategy of the US to sell enriched uranium. (Page 197.)

The factor that is mainly giving damage to Japan's current nuclear policy is the fact that, regardless of the presence of the three nuclear principles incorporated in the Atomic Energy Basic Law, the principle of "openness" has been ignored and the principle of maximum confidentiality has been kept. This has irretrievably impaired the integrity of the Atomic Energy Commission and electric power companies.

Further, the principle of "democracy" has clearly been violated. Scientists and engineers convenient to the Government and industries have been employed as members of Commission, etc., and their views have always been found faulty. On the other hand, those who had decent views and criticized the national policy have not been employed as such members. (Pages 201–202.)

Essentially, there is no other way than faithfully to keep the three principles of "openness", "democracy" and "autonomy" in order to amend Japan's nuclear future and to convince the people of the country. (Page 204, the last sentence of the main text.)

Those words were written about 20 years after the introduction of nuclear reactors into Japan. For the additional period of about 35 years from that time, the nuclear policy was run without correcting its ignorance of the three nuclear principles. This is considered to have led to the severe accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The three principles, though incorporated into the Atomic Energy Basic Law but always violated, should be quite sad, if it had a mind. The importance of the same three principles is not limited to nuclear power policy. Autonomy, democracy, and openness must be respected in all areas of Government's actions. The national policy that ignores these principles would collapse sooner or later.

Hideki Yukawa's Words about Nuclear Power Development -3-

Among the three essays of Yukawa on nuclear energy, the last one, "Nuclear power in Japan: Haste makes waste," was written in the year of Yukawa's resignation from the (Japan) Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC). That essay begins with the following sentence:

Last year (1956) "the Atomic Energy Basic Law" was enacted, and the Atomic Energy Commission was established. Then, a number of significant changes happened to the domestic as well as international situations about nuclear energy.

The significant changes meant in the above quote can be seen in Ref. 1 as follows (partial omissions are made in the quote):

Being triggered by the first Atoms for Peace Conference held in August previous year, nuclear boom arrived. On January 1, "the Atomic Energy Basic Law" was established, and the JAEC started [as described by Yukawa]. Matsutaro Shoriki was appointed the first chairman of the JAEC. Atomic Energy Bureau was also inaugurated under Prime Minister's Office. Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI; presently, Japan Atomic Energy Agency) and Nuclear Fuel Corporation were launched in May and August. On the other hand, an industry group established Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (presently, Japan Atomic Industrial Association) in March. The followings happened overseas: The No. 1 reactor of the Calder Hall nuclear power station in Britain started the sending of power in May, and the General Assembly of United Nations adopted the Charter of the International Atomic Energy Agency on October 23.

These are truly high-flying moves. Furthermore, we find the followings in the nuclear chronology of that year in Japan [Ref. 1]: On January 13, the JAEC Chairman M. Shoriki released the inaugural statement, including the plan of the earliest importing of research reactors from the US to strengthen the system for the development of nuclear energy. On the same day, the Cabinet decided the importing of water-boiler and CP-5 types research reactors from the US. On February 10, JAERI was permitted to import, from the US, four tons each of natural uranium and heavy water for research. On March 23, the JAEC determined the basic outline of the development and utilization of nuclear power and suggested the development of breeder reactors. On March 27, JAERI made the covenant of importing a water-boiler type nuclear reactor from North American Airlines in the US. — These led to Yukawa's expression of intention to resignate from the JAEC on April 24 (the date of actual resignation is March 29, 1957).

In the third essay on nuclear energy, Yukawa first claims the following about the use of isotopes, i.e., the use of nuclear energy in a broad sense:

[. . .] the problems of preventing danger and controlling conditions for health will become important. We have to make every effort to solve these problems.

Then, Yukawa enters into the issue of nuclear power generation and points out as follows:

The next stage should be the one in which researchers and technicians in our country have to show more creativity and autonomy. For this purpose, it is necessary at least to go through the steps of domestic designing and manufacturing of reactors, production of fuel, establishing the method of spent fuel disposal, etc.

The national movement in history was quite contrary to the steps Yukawa thought to be necessary.

Yukawa further writes,

It is clear that we are no longer allowed to leave the issue of nuclear power indefinitely on the desk.

While the above view is the one pressed by the situation, he sharply criticizes Japan's nuclear policy as follows:

Because such a sudden change of the situation is also expected to occur in the future, hastening should be avoided concerning power reactors. It would be quite uncomfortable that, while some people are making preparations for raising seedlings, the other people suddenly appear with cut flowers from a shop.

In the last paragraph of the essay, Yukawa gives the following warning:

In the Western world, there is a saying, "Make haste slowly." In Japan we also have the proverb, "Haste makes waste."* With respect to nuclear power, these words fit quite well to the point. [. . .] At the same time, we have to think about nuclear weapons, which is the largest obstacle to the peaceful use of nuclear energy. We Japanese should make every effort more intensely than before to eliminate them from all over the world as soon as possible, on this occasion of our country's having joined the United Nations.

The following was reported recently [Ref. 2]:

An official's testimony has made this clear: Forty years ago, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company prepared emergency power generators in the basement by adopting "the American design," which had been developed against hurricanes and tornadoes, and this made accidents extremely large. The underground of the power plant was entirely soaked in water by the tsunami more than 10 meters high and lost all electric power sources at once.

Japan's policy immediately to import nuclear reactors without considering Yukawa's warnings has led to the disastrous accidents of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, producing a lot of radioactive waste just as was told by the proverb. Reflecting their own responsibility fully, all the Japanese should pave the way for the complete abolition of nuclear power plants in our country and the comprehensive elimination of nuclear weapons from the world over. (End)

* Note by the present author: The Japanese proverb is literally translated as "When in haste, take the roundabout way." However, this is too long to be used as the translation of the subtitle of Yukawa's essay, so that it has been replaced by another saying in English of the same meaning.

1. Nuclear Chronology: 1956, Web site of Research Organization for Information Science & Technology, in Japanese.
2. Wrong adoption of "American design" for nuclear reactors: Generators in the basement against hurricanes, Asahi Shimbun, Evening edition (June 11, 2011) in Japanese.

Hideki Yukawa's Words about Nuclear Power Development -2-

Hideki Yukawa's Auto-Collected Writings Vol. 3 [Ref. 1] includes the following three essays about nuclear power:

(1) Atomic energy and humanity's turning point -1954 -, p. 261.
(2) The nuclear issue and the true nature of science -1954 -, p. 265.
(3) Nuclear power in Japan: Haste makes waste -1957 -, p. 269.

In essay (1), Yukawa writes that we have entered such a period in which each of us has to think about the tight relationship among the fates of people in different countries and has to pay far greater efforts than ever in order to save mankind from the threat of nuclear weapons. He also describes his own belief that he has to think about it more seriously as a scientist and that he stands at closer to this problem as one of the Japanese, than other persons. In spite of the presence of the words "atomic energy" in the title, this essay does not yet refer to the problems of nuclear reactors.

In essay (2), Yukawa writes first, "Since the beginning of March this year, nuclear issues have become more familiar than before to grow up to the subject of intense interest of the general public." Then, he explains the differences between the basic studies of atomic physics (nuclear and particle physics in the present terminology) and studies of nuclear science application.

As for March 1954, we have to remember the following things: On the sixteenth, it was revealed by Yomiuri Shimbun that the Japanese tuna fishing boat, Daigo Fukuryū Maru, had been exposed to fallout from the United States' thermonuclear device (H-bomb) test on Bikini Atoll (it happened on March 1); and on the twenty-second, the Operations Coordinating Board (OCB), established under the US National Security Council (NSC), proposed to provide experimental nuclear reactor to Japan, which became the beginning of the US plans to suppress anti-nuclear movements in Japan caused by the anger against A- and H-bomb sufferings [Ref. 2]. Earlier than this, three conservative parties of Japan submitted a proposal to the Diet on March 2. It was a 250 million yen budget for nuclear reactors and was passed without discussion on April 3.

On the other hand, on March 18, 1954, the Special Committee of Nuclear Science under the Science Council of Japan decided to keep the three principles of independence, democracy and openness in nuclear science research. On April 23, the Science Council of Japan condemned the Government's approach to nuclear reactors and issued a statement about the refusal of nuclear weapons research and complying with the three principles aforementioned [Ref. 3].

The words of "nuclear reactors" does not yet appear in Yukawa's essay (2), but the following passage is included at its end:

[…] as the research develops to extend its applications, a significant and unintended impact on human life happens to appear at the outside of the original purpose. As a scientist and as one of human beings, I repeat many times to reflect this: Which would the application of science produce, the result to which humans are grateful or the opposite result that threatens humanity? Which would the branching point of the main road of science lead to, the road to hell or the road to heaven?

The two kinds of results and the two roads described in the above passage might have come to Yukawa's attention from the thought about A- and H-bombs. However, he pointed out the truth that a dreadful result always has a possibility to occur ahead of "the branching point." Looking back on those words of his, we find that Yukawa even predicted the disasters at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (To be continued.)

References

1. H. Yukawa, Auto-Collected Writings, Vol. 3 (Asahi Shimbun, 1971).
2. US–Japan relations and the headwaters of nuclear power plants (4), Shimbun Akahata (June 10, 2011) in Japanese.
3. Nuclear Chronology: 1954, Web site of Research Organization for Information Science & Technology.

Hideki Yukawa's Words about Nuclear Power Development -1-

The decisions of any kind regarding agreements about or implementation of power reactors will surely have an important impact on the future of long-term nuclear power development in Japan. Accordingly, we should be much cautious about it. — Hideki Yukawa, Atomic Energy Commission Monthly Report, January issue (1957) in Japanese.

In January 1956, Matsutaro Shoriki, the first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, released The plan for the construction of nuclear power plants in five years and conclusion of the atomic-power agreement with United States. At the end of that year, the Japan–United States Atomic Agreement, which had guaranteed the independent nuclear research in Japan, began to be reviewed for revision. Hideki Yukawa resigned the Atomic Energy Commission in protest against this. Thereafter, the Atomic Energy Commission was dominated by the Government of Liberal Democratic Party, and was transformed to the agency of promoting nuclear-reactor construction. Yukawa's words quoted above represent the accusation against such a situation just before his resignation. [The above description is based on: US–Japan relations and the headwaters of nuclear power plants (4), Shimbun Akahata (June 10, 2011) in Japanese].

It is deeply regrettable that the absence, in the Atomic Energy Commission, of scientists who took over Yukawa's spirit of protest was one of the factors leading to the nuclear accidents in Fukushima.

The Great Writer's Essay in His Childhood

The Nobel-Prize winning writer Kenzaburo Oe writes a series of a single-page essay in the magazine Tosho under the column name of "Intimate Letters." His essay of this month is entitled "Nambo-nandemo."

When he was in elementary school, Oe wrote an essay of the following story about his grandmother: Being hurt by the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a friend of hers was in hospital, so that the grandmother visited the friend. On returning home, she uttered the word "nambo-nandemo" (a dialect word to mean "too dreadful to say anything") to refer to her feeling of having seen the landscape of Hiroshima without any building at all.

His teacher told him that it might be possible to make his essay appear in a local newspaper by sending it to her acquaintance at the newspaper company but that he should rewrite dialect words into common ones. However, Oe did not want to change the grandmother's word of lament "nambo-nandemo" and told so to his teacher. Then, the teacher rejected to send it to the newspaper. A long time after that, the word "nambo-nandemo!" came to his mind on looking at the disasters of the Tohoku earthquake and Fukushima nuclear power plant. He adds to say that he cannot but shout this word especially against the government and the nuclear power plant.

Recently, German and Swiss governments decided to abolish all nuclear power plants of their countries by the year 2022 and 2034, respectively. It is in Japan, whose nuclear accident at Fukushima affected those decisions, that such a policy is deadly needed be made as soon as possible.

On the Day I Shouted His Name ... (2)

Inoue wrote more than 60 dramas as well as many novels and essays. I have read none of them but have the book of collected photos, "Hisashi Inoue's Dalian*" [1], edited by Inoue and his theatrical troupe Komatsuza. Opening the book, I found Inoue's essay entitled "Dalian, the Dream Town." Reading this essay for the first time, I learned the relationship between Inoue and Dalian from it. I guessed that the photos in the book should have been part of collected data for a drama. However, the relationship had started much earlier. It was when one of his best friends moved to a primary school in Dalian and sent Inoue a picture card of Dalian in the winter of 1943. (I also moved to a primary school in Dalian in September 1944; namely, the friend of Inoue's and I had a similar experience. I bought this book to look at images of old Dalian dear to me.)

On the basis of his thought about Dalian, Inoue made a drama entitled "Enshō and Shinshō." Komatsuza made the first performance of this drama in 2005. It is about this story: Raconteurs Kokontei Shinshō and San'yutei Enshō went for performances in Manchuria** during the war time and were induced to stay in Dalian because of Japan's defeat. They had to do different and difficult jobs to live there for 600 days before coming back to Japan.

The last passage of Inoue's essay is as follows: 'The word "Dalian, the Dream Town" that entered deep in me as a child would not disappear until my death while its meaning is changing." One of the changes was due to his concern about Chinese people who had to live on the outskirts of Dalian when the city was part of Japan's borrowed land. Here we find Inoue's pacifism that made him one of initial members of the Article 9 Association.

Praying for his peaceful sleep in heaven, I wish to follow his footsteps in the efforts to keep Article 9*** of the Constitution of Japan and extend the renunciation of war all over the world.

Notes

* Dalian is a beautiful port city in the Northeast China. It was in the region of the land borrowed by Japan until August 1945, the time of Japan's defeated in the second World War.

** The historical name of the present Northeast China.

*** 1) Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

Reference

1. H. Inoue and Komatsuza, ed., Hisashi Inoue's Dalian (Shōgakukan, 2002).

On the Day I Shouted His Name ... (1)

The ninth (sometimes the eighth or tenth) day of the month is the day for the petition campaign of our "Fukuizumi-Ōtori Article 9 Association (FOA9)." The FOA9 is one of about 7500 local and office groups that support the Article 9 Association. In the morning of April 9, 2010, I went for the campaign together with colleagues of FOA9 and shouted through a microphone, "Hisashi Inoue, Kenzaburō Ōe, the late Shuichi Kato and others established the Article 9 Association. Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution declares the renunciation of war as a means of settling international disputes. The purpose of the Association is to keep Article 9, shine its light upon this turbulent world and join hands with the peace-seeking citizens of the world," and so on.

That evening Hisashi Inoue, a leading Japanese playwright and writer of comic fiction, died of lung cancer. He was active not only in art and literature but also in anti-nuclear and peace movements. The number of inaugural members of the Article 9 Association was nine. Members other than Inoue were as follows; Takeshi Umehara (philosopher), Kenzaburo Ōe (Nobel-Prize winning novelist), Yasuhiro Okudaira (Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo and researcher of constitutions), Makoto Oda (novelist and peace activist), Shuichi Kato (critic and author), Hisae Sawachi (non-fiction writer), Shunsuke Tsurumi (philosopher) and Mutusko Miki (wife of the late Takeo Miki, former Prime Minister). We had already lost two of them, Oda and Kato, and Inoue was the third. However, I believe that the movement to shine the light of Article 9 upon the world would become stronger and stronger than ever. (To be continued.)

Nobel Peace Prize for Words?

President Barack Obama has been chosen to be the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples" [1]. The press release of the Norwegian Nobel Committee says, "The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons."

In the preface of my book just printed (see the previous article at this blog site), I wrote, "For the realization of this [eternal peace all over the world], we should attach importance to the following words, the sources of which you might guess easily." Then I quoted Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan and Obama's Prague speech on nuclear weapons delivered on April 5, 2009.

On hearing the news of the Peace Prize yesterday evening, however, I wondered if the awarding to Obama was too early because there has been no fruit of his words yet. The New York Times reported the news of the Prize under the title "Surprise Nobel for Obama stirs praise and doubts" [2].

Questions about the earliness of awarding Obama was also raised during the Prize announcement. In answer to them, Norwegian Nobel Committee President Thorbjørn Jagland replied that the Committee wanted to demonstrate its support for the approaches Obama is taking towards global problems [3].

Today I got an e-mail message from the not-for-profit global campaigning organization Avaaz.org, which requested signing the petition for pressing Obama to turn hope into action [4]. They write, "Only by following through with courageous, transformative action for peace can Obama fulfill his promise – and only then will history judge that this Nobel Peace Prize is truly deserved." I completely agree with them and signed the petition.

1. The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009, Nobelprize.org (October 9, 2009).
2. Surprise Nobel for Obama stirs praise and doubts, New York Times (October 10, 2009).
3. Time for Hope, Speed Read page for Nobel Peace Prize 2009 (October 9, 2009).
4. Obama for peace: Turn hope into action

Joseph Rotblat, 1908–2005

On August 31, 2005, the physicist Joseph Rotblat, one of the founders of the Pugwash peace movement in 1957, passed away. Rotblat and Pugwash shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 "for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms" [1]. I received four e-mail messages about the passing of Rotblat.

The first e-mail message I received was from Tatsujiro Suzuki, the organizer of Peace Pledge Japan (PPJ) [2], to all the signers of the pledge advocated by PPJ. He wrote about these facts: Rotblat joined the Manhattan Project, but learning the impossibility of Germany's making an atomic bomb, he resigned from the Project. Rotblat gave warm encouragement to PPJ. Suzuki's message also included copies of articles published in the Yomiuri and the Mainichi both reporting the death of Rotblat.

The second was a message addressed to David Bradley from an American friend of mine John Hubble. The latter kindly forwarded it to some of his friends including me. John was a former president of the International Radiation Physics Society (IRPS), and asks Bradley to write an obituary in the next issue of the IRPS Bulletin, describing Rotblat's contribution to IRPS Meetings in 1982 and 1985.

The third was an e-mail notification of the PhysicsWeb news published by the Institute of Physics. From the piece of news on the death of Rotblat [2], I learned that in 1950 he had established a new career for himself as a medical physicist, that he had been professor of physics at Bartholomew's Hospital in London from 1950 until his retirement in 1976 and that he had also served as editor of the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology. I was also a little interested in medical physics. However, it was after the middle of the 1980th, and I did not know such a career of Rotblat.

The fourth was a reply message sent to John and all the addressees in the "Cc" line of his message, from Prof. Mohamed Ahmed Gomaa in Cairo, Egypt. This message tells us the followings: Gomaa attended the postgraduate course at London University from 1964 to 1965. Rotblat was an External examiner for his Ph D in 1967. He studied Evans's textbook, The Atomic Nucleus [4], for years together with other students under Rotblat's guidance. — It was nice to hear about Evans's book; I also studied part of it. I have a copy of a reprint edition of this book made in India in 1967. I remember this: When I got that copy, there were some dead bodies of tiny insects among its pages. This seems to represent the condition of printing offices in India those days. —

I heartily wish that Rotblat's final aim of eliminating nuclear arms from the world be realized as soon as possible.

References

1. The Nobel Peace Prize 1995, Nobelprize.org (1995).
2. Peace Pledge (Note added later: Link aborted).
3. Joseph Rotblat dies, PhysicsWeb News (September 2, 2005).
4. R. D. Evans, The Atomic Nucleus, Reprint edition (Krieger Publishing, 1982; originally published by McGrow-Hill in 1955).

References added later

• J. P. Holdren, Joseph Rotblat (1908–2005), Science Vol. 310, p. 633 (2005).
• F. Calogero and R. Hinde, Joseph Rotblat, Physics Today. Vol. 59, No. 4, p. 85 (2006).
• M. Underwood, Joseph Rotblat: A Man of Conscience in the Nuclear Age (Sussex Academic Press, 2009).
• A. Brown, Keeper of the Nuclear Conscience: The Life and Work of Joseph Rotblat (Oxford University Press, to be published April 1, 2012).

"He Wants to Dazzle Voters"

Recently the British newspaper The Financial Times published an editorial comment [1] on the election to be held in Japan on September 11. It keenly criticizes the leader of a party for wanting to dazzle voters, by describing the following facts:

He has kept voters' attention relentlessly focused on himself and his attempts to reform the party and Japan Post. Foreign policy is glaringly absent from the campaign, although Japan faces several pressing international challenges. They include rising oil prices, the unnervingly bad relationship with China, and the negotiations over US military bases with Washington.

This is a correct view. We, Japanese voters, should not be deceived by such a style of campaign.

Reference

1. "Japan's small world," Financial Times (August 29, 2005).

Former Army Nurse's Story

In the afternoon of August 21, a meeting was held to prepare for the establishment of the Association of Sakai to Keep and Make the Best Use of Article 9 (a tentative name) at Sun-Square Sakai. I attended the meeting together with more than a dozen of people. We exchanged our thought about Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan and opinions for our activity.

Among the participants, there was Ms. M, who had been an army nurse and worked in Nanjing and China during the final years of the World War II. She talked about her work of cultivating bacteria at Nanjing Hospital as well as other unpleasant experiences. She did that work believing it to be for some basic research, but she was requested to grow more and more bacteria. She thought it necessary for improving her skill, and worked hard on it. However, she was ordered to do the job more and more. Afterward, she came to believe that those bacteria had been for germ weapons, and reflects what a lousy job she was made to work on.

On a holiday, Ms. M and her friend nurses saw a long line of soldiers. Thinking it to be for getting some supply, they joined the line. A soldier said to them, "Go away, or you would be laughed at." They said, "Isn't this a queue for supply?" The soldier said, "It's supply of a pea." Actually the line was for "military prostitutes."

After Japan's defeat, Japanese soldiers turned into a beast, and nurses feared them. Some nurses committed suicide thinking it better than to be a captive. In January 1946, Ms. M was carried from Nanjing to Shanghai by a freight train together with other nurses and soldiers to come back to Japan. All of them were standing in tightly filled freight cars. A soldier next to her leaned to her. She pushed him back saying, "Don't push me. I feel heavy." However, carefully looking at him, she found that the soldier was dead. She soon got a high fever. It was due to malaria. However, she could endure the fever by touching the cold corpse. — The dead body saved her. —

These are only a few examples among a lot of unhappy situations experienced by many persons in the war. Do you think it appropriate that we allow Japan again to go to war under the pretext of cooperative, self defense?

An International Newspaper's Warning to Japan

In an article published in the August-15 issue of The International Herald Tribune, Martin Fackler points out that in recent years public opinion in Japan seems to be creeping toward the right, and warns that the diverging views of the World War II in Japan and the rest of Asia threaten to isolate Japan from its neighbors [1].

Fackler writes that in Japan there is a growing movement to find reasons to be proud of the World War II. He sees this movement in the following facts: Many movies, novels and comics have appeared praising the bravery of Japanese soldiers and sailors; some junior high schools now use textbooks that brush over Japanese atrocities; the newly opened Yamato Museum in Kure gives exhibits to describe how Japan built a modern navy to fend off greedy Western powers. Thus he insists that such positive views of the war are worsening an already yawning perception gap with the rest of eastern Asia, where wartime Japan is still commonly seen as a cruel invader.

As for Japan's failure to reach a national consensus on its responsibility for the war, Fackler writes that the Allied-run 1946-48 Tokyo war crimes trials is viewed here skeptically as a case of victors' vengeance. He also criticizes Japanese leaders for having failed to take a leading role in creating a national sense of remorse, as German leaders did to help guide their country's public opinion.

Fackler conclusively cites the following view of experts: Japan's real failure is not an inability to apologize to China and other Asian countries but that it is its refusal to include outside voices, particularly those of its former victims, as it discusses its own role in the war. Taking the victims' perspectives seriously is the only way Japan can convince the rest of Asia to trust it again.

Not only Japanese politicians but also all the Japanese should listen to these objective words given in the international newspaper.

Reference

1. M. Fackler, 60 years after its defeat, Japan still struggles with responsibility. International Herald Tribune (August 15, 2005); this article can now be read on a Web page of New York Times.

New Books on Atomic Bombs

I am a subscriber to "The Good Book Guide (GBG)" [1] published in England. This month we have the 60th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So, the August issue of the GBG lists some books on atomic bombs published or republished recently.

In the "History" section of the GBG, the book "Shock Wave: The Countdown to Hiroshima" [2] written by Stephen Walker is introduced with these words: "The author is an award-winning film maker, and that pictorial essence is evident throughout the narrative. A stunning chronicle of one of the 20th-century's defining moments."

In the same column John Hersey's "Hiroshima" is also mentioned. This book was first published in 1985, and now a paperback edition is available [3]. Hersey interviewed six Hiroshima survivors in 1946, and forty years later he returned to discover how the same six people have coped with the catastrophe and with crippling disease.

In the "Discovery" section of the GBG, the book "Before the Fall-out: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima" [4] written by Diana Preston is an editor's choice. This book is introduced to be the illuminating one that describes how fascinating personalities from Marie Curie to Robert Oppenheimer thought and how they interacted with the world around them.

The column for Preston's book includes another book, "The Bomb: A Life" [5] written by Gerard DeGroot. In this book, the author traces the history of atomic warfare back to June 1917 when Germany bombed a London school, killing 18 children, and reveals the personalities of those caught up in a horrific arms race. After the first half of the previous sentence, the introduction in the GBG writes, "Just over 28 years later the US dropped the world's first atomic bomb on a Nagasaki hospital, destroying the city and killing more than 150,000 people." This is wrong; the first atomic bomb was dropped, not on Nagasaki, but on Hiroshima.

I wish that these books make more and more people the world over think seriously about the comprehensive ban of nuclear weapons.

References

1. The Good Book Guide.
2. Stephen Walker, Shock Wave: The Countdown to Hiroshima (John Murray, 2005).
3. John Hersey, Hiroshima (Ishi Press, 2009; Penguin, 2002; first published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1985).
4. Diana Preston, Before the Fall-out: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima (Doubleday, 2005; paperback edition published by Corgi, 2006).
5. Gerard DeGroot, The Bomb: A Life (Pimlico, 2005; paperback edition published by Harvard University Press, 2006).

Difficulty of Persuasion

Last month I read an article in the New York Times written by a columnist, Matt Miller [1]. He writes, "Is persuasion dead? ... The significance of this query goes beyond the feelings of futility I'll suffer if it turns out I've wasted my life on work that is useless."

I think of the same question when I write essays about political problems at my blog site. I seldom get a comment like this: "You have opened my eye." (I got one such from a woman. Later, I heard that she had committed suicide. Amen.) If the probability of arguing other persons into my own belief were quite low, writing my opinions in my blogs would be the waste of my time and labor.

Miller finds the death of persuasion by noting the followings: "Best-selling books reinforce what folks thought when they bought them. Talk radio and opinion journals preach to the converted." The situation seems to be the same in Japan. This trend might have not only a bad side but also a good one; people have strong belief in their own thought. However, it should be questioned if they established their thought after careful comparison of different opinions. I am afraid that the flooding of information in these days might be making such comparison rather difficult.

Miller's article is not completely pessimistic. He writes that reading Ken Pollack's book, "The Threatening Storm" [2], he was persuaded, and concludes by the words, "Like Sisyphus, those who seek a better public life have to keep rolling the rock uphill." Miller, however, does not persuade me in that Pollack's book is persuasive because I learned from the reviews of the book at Amazon Web site that Pollack favored invasion of Iraq by U.S.A. I do not think that war is good for any reason.

However low the probability of success in persuasion might be, we should continue to express our sincere opinion by expecting that the storm of good will should change the world in a better direction slowly but steadily.

References

1. M. Miller, "Is Persuasion Dead?" New York Times (June 4, 2005).
2. K. Pollack, The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq (Random House, 2002).

US Newspaper Articles on Yasukuni

Recently The New York Times and The USA Today took up the Yasukuni problem in Japan one after another. The article in the former [1] describes the following argument of Yasukuni's war museum: "America forced Japan into attacking Pearl Harbor as a way of shaking off the Depression, and the US economy made a complete recovery once the Americans entered the war." Then the author of the article critically writes, "Yasukuni's view of history is one that few Asians or Americans would accept."

Further, the author refers to USA's noticeable silence on Yasukuni and the verdict on the Class A war criminals (in 1978 Yasukuni secretly enshrined 14 Class A war criminals convicted by an international tribunal after World War II, as is pointed out by the article of The USA Today). He guesses the reason for this silence as follows: "China's rise alarms America just as much as did the rise of Communism in the 1940's. So better a strong, remilitarized Japan, no matter what the Japanese say about Yasukuni or war criminals."

The article in The USA Today [2] similarly introduces the following descriptions at the Yasukuni Web site: "The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the invasions of China and Southeast Asia were made to maintain the independence and peace of the nation and for the prosperity of all Asia. The 14 [A Class] war criminals are martyrs who were unjustly tried as war criminals by a sham-like tribunal of allied forces."

The author of the article in The USA Today puts a rhetorical question, "So why does Koizumi visit Yasukuni despite the furor [of China, South Korea and other Asian countries]?" The answer is given by the words of Michael Cucek of the consultancy Okamoto Associates: "Koizumi is currying favor with right-wing Japanese politicians whose support he needs to implement his policies, particularly the privatization of Japan's postal system."

I suspect rather that the right-wing thought is deeply rooted in the mind of Koizumi and many politicians of Liberal and Democratic Party. The Japanese should learn all the above facts conveyed in the articles in the newspapers of USA to make good choice in the next vote for the Diet members.

1. N. Onishi, "A war shrine, for a Japan seeking a not guilty verdict," New York Times (June 22, 2005).
2. P. Wiseman, "Tokyo shrine a focus of fury around Asia," USA Today (June 23, 2005).

Comments (reproduced from the blog site where this post originally appeared)

Michael Cucek 06/30/2005
Ted -
I would like to think that I understand the Prime Minister's thinking--but he remains a cipher, a black box. He acts not according to a fixed set of rules but more from a loose set of constantly reconfigured concepts. Ask his inner circle what his philosophy of governance is and you hear a range of contradictory opinions reflecting the prejudices of the speakers rather than the core beliefs of the man. When Paul Wiseman asked me what the PM's motives could be for continuing to go to Yasukuni, I gave an answer that ignores the PM's feelings. It was the only intellectually honest route.

Ted 06/30/2005
Hi Michael,
Thanks a lot for your kind comment. Sure, Koizumi-san is a black box. However, I cannot at least judge him to be the man who sincerely repents Japan's aggressive wars in the past.

The Man Who Loved Orchids and Peace

Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum,
Otokuni-gun, Kyoto Prefecture.
On June 16, 2005, I visited Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum (see the photo) with my wife to look at the exhibition of paintings mostly of Impressionism collected by this museum. The museum is located at the southern foot of Mt. Tenno between Kyoto and Osaka.

The building of the museum was originally built by the wealthy businessman Shotaro Kaga (1888–1954) from 1911 to 1929 as his own villa. Around 1990 Asahi Breweries, Ltd. bought the villa and repaired to make it a museum. The annex building to display mainly paintings was also built underground, and the museum was opened in 1996 [1, 2].

Kaga studied in Europe in his young days, and was attracted by the beauty of orchids. He eagerly tried to cultivate orchids at his villa to succeed in developing many new varieties. Near the end of the 2nd World War, soldiers came to ask him to put tanks in the garden of his villa. In spite of their use of violence, he did not accept the request, because he loved peace as well as orchids. He wished to make Japan known in the world not by her military force but by her culture [3].

1. Leaflet, Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art.
2. Web site, Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum.
3. The story told by a video in the museum.