[lbo-talk] For Japanese Hostages, Release Only Adds to Stress

Bill Bartlett billbartlett at dodo.com.au
Fri Apr 23 17:25:29 PDT 2004


At 8:00 AM -0400 23/4/04, snitilicious at tampabay.rr.com wrote:


>http://query.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?tntget=2004/04/22/international/asia/22CND-JAPAN.html&tntemail0


>"You got what you deserve!" one Japanese held up a hand-written sign at the
>airport where they landed. "You are Japan's shame," another wrote on the Web
>site of one of the hostages. They had "caused trouble" for everybody. The
>government, not to be outdone, announced it would bill them $6,000 for
>airfare.

And people say, in defense of the Japanese, that they are at least "polite". So much for that myth.


>Treated like criminals, the three have gone into hiding, effectively
>becoming prisoners inside their own homes. The kidnapped woman was last seen
>arriving at her parents' house, looking defeated and dazed from taking
>tranquilizers, flanked by relatives who helped her walk and bow deeply
>before the media, as a final apology to the nation.

In a totalitarian society, I suppose one tries to be as invisible as possible. Not quite the same thing as "polite".


>Beneath the surface of Japan's ultra-sophisticated cities lie the
>hierarchical ties that have governed this island nation for centuries and
>that, at moments of crises, invariably reassert themselves. The ex-hostages'
>transgression was to ignore a government advisory against traveling to Iraq.
>But their sin, in a vertical society that likes to think of itself as
>classless, was to defy what people call here "okami," or, literally, "what
>is higher."

Are there any redeeming features whatsoever of Japanese culture? Nothing comes to mind.


>To the angry Japanese, the first three hostages - Nahoko Takato, 34, who
>started her own non-profit organization to help Iraqi street children;
>Soichiro Koriyama, 32, a freelance photographer; and Noriaki Imai, 18, a
>freelance writer also interested in the issue of depleted uranium
>munitions - had acted selfishly. Two others kidnapped and released in a
>separate incident - Junpei Yasuda, 30, a freelance journalist, and Nobutaka
>Watanabe, 36, a member of a pro-peace non-governmental organization - were
>equally guilty.
>
>Pursuing individual goals by defying the government and causing trouble for
>Japan was simply unforgivable. So the single government official to praise
>them was, not surprisingly, an American one.

Well, I suppose at least Japanese society makes American society look free.

Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas



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