Thursday February 16, 2012

Hikozaemon's past comments

  • 0

    Hikozaemon

    I find the debate on this movie interesting.

    Japanese media seems to be focussing on the issues that: 1. The documentary is "anti-Japanese" 2. The documentary received about $75G in funding from the Japanese government 3. The director who received the money to make the documentary from the government is Chinese

    Frankly, I couldn't give two craps about Wan. The least relevant part of the whole equation. I'm very interested to know much more about the Director and the main subject of the documentary Naoji Kariya.

    On the director (maybe someone knows), what other movies/documentaries has he/she made? Also, they moved to Japan in 1989 - anything to do with Tienenmen? Are they a permanent resident? Zainichi? Married to a Japanese? What was the interest of the director in pursuing the project? I'd also be interested to know the background where they obtained the government funding - I assume that the movie content was outlined in some sort of application, that was approved (I guess a documentary about a Yasukuni Swordmaker does not sound too controversial on its own).

    And of course the swordmaking subject matter - I guess this is why I want to see it myself - what issues about Yasukuni specifically bother him? The politicization of the shrine? The domination of the shrine by rightists? The enshrinement of war criminals there? A general opposition to war and WWII?

    The reflexive retort that the movie is "anti-Japanese" or "Chinese propaganda" is disappointing. It shows the critic as thinking little differently about freedom of speech and public discussion to the authorities in China that they are so against. Given that Japan is Asia's first democracy, nationalists should be more willing to embrace the democratic aspect of Japan's modern history and allow debate, than instinctively look to stifle anything distasteful without any consideration of the background and merits. Nationalists in Japan are the same as the nationalists and governments elsewhere in Asia that they criticize.

    I'm interested in the documentary though.

    Silenced, what "truth of Yasukuni" do you think the swordmaker is going to say that everyone in Japan hasn't heard already?

    Peace

    Posted in: From China Doll to Yasukuni Shrine

  • 0

    Hikozaemon

    Maybe they need to integrate more popular news topics - get Britney to sing a new Iraq News theme song.

    I would suggest "Oops I Bombed it Again"

    Peace

    Posted in: Iraq war disappearing in U.S. media

  • 0

    Hikozaemon

    Sorry, one last nit. I am using Internet Explorer 6.09 (yes, I know I should have a newer version but this isn't my PC), and I see that all text on pages disappears when windows are resized... Just so you know

    Peace

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  • 0

    Hikozaemon

    Nessie - perhaps they can attract readers by using some sort of original scale - like "deviation of cat thrown from a balcony" scale or something?

    Yongfook - one more thing. I see that articles are indexed for searching but posts and comments are not. Search used to be very good on JT, and then turned into utter crap for the last three or four years or so. It would be nice to get a working search function back on the site so I can confirm all instances of Nessie agreeing with me when I suffer a deficit of self esteem.

    Peace

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  • 0

    Hikozaemon

    Windspeed in Japan is usually reported in metres per second, although I'll be buggered if I can get any idea of what that means...

    I certainly object to miles per hour though - it is like a neutral "nobody understands it except a handful of Americans" scale.

    Yongfook - I see now you are the developer and being very good about responding. Nice job. I also see the views above that the removal of a "latest posts" board is a user hostile feature intended to force users to look at more of the site... I doubt that this is the case, but if it is, I think you will find that most of us don't have more time and appreciate features like this that let us browse and add to the site more efficiently. I'm all for the facelift, but it would be nice to keep some of the convenient features of the old site - that one in particular.

    Peace

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  • 0

    Hikozaemon

    Hmm, I'm late to the party here. Nessie said everything I wanted to say - but the main thing missing is a "MOST RECENT POSTS" link like this: http://archive.japantoday.com/jp/bbs/last

    The reason I come here is not for the literary genius of Kyodo news copywriting, but to see what stories interest people and what their take is.

    I also agree that the interface is a bit cluttered - I think I might get used to it, but if you are going to incorporate web 2.0 features, then why not allow linking of youtube content like that (much of the web's most interesting and entertaining content is now no longer provided in text format). In fact, go one better - are we going to see a place to watch video clips of Japanese news and be able to comment underneath?

    Anyway, as someone here from the very beginning (back in the first few weeks back in 2000 when there was not even registration of usernames), it is good to see the site make an effort to keep current, but I think there is plenty of room for more refinements.

    Main thing is, PLEASE PUT BACK A LINK FOR VIEWING RECENT ARTICLES. Also, I'd be interested to see JT put up a set of responses to questions and comments left here

    Peace

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