HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: f67700241@violet.ccit.arizona.edu (Greg Franklin)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Rising Sun
Date: 28 Aug 92 21:07:52 GMT
Distribution: world,local
Organization: University of Arizona
Nntp-Posting-User: f67700241

In article <17hljhINNl8b@network.ucsd.edu>, hirota@sluggo.sdsc.edu (Bryan Hirota) writes:
> Anyways,  I remember an article in the LA times about the book,
> actually I had it taped to my closet door.  Well, I got off my ass, 
> took it down, and now, I'm going to share it with you.

> [article deleted]

Thanks for the article.  (Although I didn't ask for it. :-)

I did read an op-ed piece in my local paper about 3 months ago by Crichton
himself.  He sounded positively rational when discussing U.S.-Japan 
relations, saying stuff like, well Japan is at fault for not opening its
markets, but we're at fault for not responding to the quality of Japanese
products, etc.  The piece (I presume it was syndicated) didn't have any
evil-empire paranoia in it at all.

Will the real Michael Crichton please stand up!?
-- 
Greg "Mockingbird" Franklin      Interviewer: "Sir, how do you spell relief?"
f67700241@ccit.arizona.edu               Dan: "R-O-L-A-I-D-S-E."

Incidentally, our Vice President is well-known throughout Europe for his
mistakes.  What's the situation in Japan?  Or are Japanese too respectful
of men in authority?  1/2 :-)
Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:7382 soc.culture.china:24061 soc.culture.hongkong:10204 soc.culture.taiwan:12467
From: yunson@lpf.umd.edu (Yunson Du)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: An open letter to the Emperor Akihito of Japa
Date: 26 Aug 92 04:35:25 GMT
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park

Dave McLane said:

>Yesterday, I summarized what has been said recently here for the
>benefit of the 15 members of discussion group I lead in Osaka. They
>pointed out that ITHO (In Their Humble Opinion) the Emperor is going
>to China at the request of the current Chinese governent. Further,
>they said that the original entry of the JIA into China was at the
>request of the then rebel, now current communistic government in
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>order to defeat the nationalists. 

>They continued by saying that, as is well known, the JIA got out of
>hand and committed many atrocities upon Chinese civilians. Exactly
>how many and where is open to question, but they felt that it was a
>fact that it happened. 

Really? Could you give us some supporting evidences? I think many
people from Mainland China will be very interested in that. 

Yunson Du
University of Maryland
College Park
 

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: fester@island.COM (Mike Fester)
Subject: Re: An open letter to the Emperor Akihito of Japa
Organization: /usr/local/rn/organization
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 16:00:59 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.172922.4176@midway.uchicago.edu> shi6@chaos.uchicago.edu (Sheldon Shi) writes:
>In article <1992Sep1.154906.2273@island.COM> fester@island.COM (Mike Fester) writes:

>>>You forgot the most important factor:logistics. What is the distance between
>>>the US and China and Japan and China. I am sure the U.S. was even
>>>stronger after WWII and what happened to the U.S. in Korea and Vietnam.

>>What did distance have to do with it? We did fairly well in Japan and Europe,
>>we got what we set out for in Korea, and recently did rather well in the 
>>middle east. The difference between those and Vietnam was that we never had
>>any set goal in that country. Kind of hard to fight, if your top people can't
>>decide what you're fighting, what you're fighting for, and why.

>1. US didn't have the best army and navy by the end of the Civil War.
>US didn't become a superpower until the turn of the century.

Actually, Russia didn't have "the best army and navy" either. Neither did
the French (who nevertheless managed to keep most of Indochina). And the German
navy was not all that strong in the Pacific.

>2. It was too late for US to get a piece of China after the Civil War.
>The NE belonged to Russia and Japan. The South and SW belonged to
>Britain and France, the East part belonged to Britain and German.
>These colonists wouldn't be happy if they found US got a piece of pie
>too.

Actually, the Japanese kicked the Russians out of part of China in 1905. They
took part of China in 1895, and were forced to give it up. The Germans then
took that part in 1897. Really, it looks like there was plenty of time and
territory to grab. BTW, the Japanese went on to take considerably MORE as
time went on.

>3. US didn't have a base to fight at China. Britain had India, France
>had SE Asia, Japan had itself, etc. When did US have Hawaii?

As of about 1897, we had the Phillipines.

>4. US did have a goal in vietnam: to get rid of Communism. You may not know it
>or want to admit it.

Not really. Original CIA reports (under Eisenhauer) stated that the way to 
defeat Ho Chi Minh would be to fight a guerilla war (similar to Nicauragua). 
Our military involvement escalated as a result of political manueverings that
had little to do ultimate military goals.

In any event, THAT doesn't address the issue of whether we could have taken a 
part of China. As you point out, the French had a piece, and they were thrown
out of Indochina much later.

Mike
>


-- 
Disclaimer - I'm only doing what the little voices tell me to do. 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: luke@platypus.ee.byu.edu (David Luke)
Subject: Re: registering marriages
Organization: Brigham Young University, Provo UT USA
Date:  2 Sep 92 13:44:20

In article <HARKCOM.92Sep2083240@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp> harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom) writes:
>The following answers come from a book on international marriages.
>
>In article <BtpwB2.Izt@cs.psu.edu> corbet@sargon.psu.edu (Robin Corbet) writes:

> =} For example, I believe that
> =}couples in Japan are not allowed to have different last names. My wife
> =}is thinking about keeping her last name, so if we have to register under
> =}one name this may cause problems.

>   Under Japanese law, the Japanese national must start a new family
>register under their Japanese name.  However, the Japanese national can
>change their name within 6 months.  It doesn't say whether that is six
>months from the marriage or six months from the registration though.
>So by default, you would have seperate names when registering.

After the six-month period, it is still possible to change the name, but
only by the complicated, tedious process that is necessary for any other
regular legal name change, e.g. filing papers, going to the court house to
declare your intent to change, etc..  If she wants to have your last name,
you're better off to do it ASAP.

>   For short term visits a spouse visa might be more of a hassle than a
>tourist visa.  It may be possible to get a tourist visa even though you
>are a spouse though.  The only way to find out is to contact the consul
>near you as it seems to vary greatly between consuls...

I believe you can just go to Japan like anyone else.  The only problem would
be if you had an unused spouse visa (they are single-entry) already stamped
in the passport, or a valid re-entry permit from a previous visit.  I don't
know whether you could talk them into ingoring it and letting you enter as
a tourist.  My guess is that they wouldn't go for it.  Re-entry permits
require a simple one-page application and Y4,000.  It is simply that --
permission to re-enter on the same visa.  It doesn't grant any time extension
of the visa.

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  David Luke                      "There's nothing worse than a brilliant     |
|  luke@wombat.ee.byu.edu           image of a fuzzy concept."                 |
|                                                               -- Ansel Adams |
From: qgmj@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Japanese clip art - FTP sites?
Date: 4 Sep 92 15:03:30 EDT
Distribution: soc
Organization: Cornell University

I was wondering if anybody out there knows of any FTP sites for
Japanese clip art (i.e. Mt. Fuji, samurai, misc.). Thanks. John
From: mitch@dc49.dc (Mitch Sako)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Toto Washolet
Date: 3 Sep 92 21:31:03 GMT
Reply-To: mitch@dc49.dc
Organization: LSI Logic Corporation

In article 37587@sdcc12.ucsd.edu, djohnson@cs.ucsd.edu (Darin Johnson) writes:
>My interest is now piqued.  What the heck is a washolet toilet seat,
>and why is it so special that one would consider going through the
>hassle of bringing back as a gift?

A Toto Washolet toilet seat is a hightech contraption that has a telescoping
arm that extends out and provides water and hot air to your private parts
in the interest of hygene.  Similar and dissimilar from a bidet, a washolet
is really quite popular in Japan but it has not caught on here in the US.

Similarities to a bidet are in the water shooting upwards.  Dissimilarities
are that it has no "sink" function, it shoots hot air, and the water jets
are slightly different.

The only reason it's special is that it is unique in the States.  Many people
have them in Japan and they are nothing special.  The Japanese quest for
hygene and lack of inhibition regarding disgarding human waste is probably
why they are so popular there and yet virtually unheard of here in the US.

I was interested in getting one for my parents as "the mother of all
Christmas presents."

---
====================================================================
Mitch Sako	LSI Logic Corporation	OFFICE	408-433-4187
local:		mitch@dcs4
internet:	msako@lsil.com		FAX	408-433-8796
uucp:		lsil!msako
RIME:		->REDBARON, conference=POLITICS
Disclaimer:	Opinions expressed are mine and only mine
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu ()
Subject: Re: Rent Japanese films by mail
Organization: clearer than blir
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 05:12:38 GMT

In article <186labINN3f4@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> cb522@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Cathy Atwood) writes:
>
>In case this has not been posted before:
>Home Film Festival (HFF) is a company that rents all types of
>films to those of us who are out in the boonies of filmdom.  They
>have a *lot* of Japanese films, almost all of them subtitled in
>English.  They have been sending me three videos a month for a
>couple of years, and there are titles still on my waiting list.
>There is a membership fee, but I signed on once when there was
>a "sale".  The rental fee is reasonable, IMO.

There is a place in Seattle that also does this I can get anyone
interested the name and address. BTW, these places rent illegally
taped Japanese tv shows that make their way into the US through yakuza
gang connections. (The were also mass taped by the Yakuza). The
Japanese police have claimed they will crack down on the practice,
but I bet that was just so much hot air.

>Home Film Festival
>P.O. Box 2032
>Scranton, PA 18501
>U.S.A.
>(800) 258-3456
>
>Cathy Atwood

-- Tad Perry   Internet:    tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu
               CompuServe:  70402,3020
               NIFTY-Serve: GBG01266
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: p_mahnken@tamar.compserv.utas.edu.au
Subject: Re: Television Survey
Organization: University of Tasmania at Launceston
Date: 4 Sep 92 13:51:07 +1000

In response to the following questions, posed a few days ago, I have come up
with the following:
> Q1. What is the average amount of TV a japanese child watches per day? A
    Japanese adult?
    ANSWER:Child: About 6/day, ADULT WOMAN: 5, ADULT MAN:3.
> Q2. Are American movies popular in Japan? Are they dubbed? If so what are
    the most popular American movies of recent times?
      YES Very Popular, No, they have subtitles.  Most popular movies are
Top Shots, Cape Fear(Nov-Feb 1991).
> Q3. What are the most popular Japanese movies of recent times?
      No Idea.
> Q4. In what ways do Japanese films differ from American films?
      American films have a happy ending (usually), Japanese films are
usually tear-jerkers with sad endings.
> Q5. What are the most common network programs?
Naruhodo Za World.

Hope this is of help to you.

Regards,
Lisa W.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.china,soc.history
From: thornley@tera.cs.umn.edu (David H. Thornley)
Subject: Re: US colonializing (Was: An open letter to the Emperor Akihito of Japan)
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept.
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 19:45:53 GMT

In article <jwb.715403544@capek.rdt.monash.edu.au> jwb@capek.rdt.monash.edu.au (Jim Breen) writes:
>thornley@nano.cs.umn.edu (David H. Thornley) writes:
>
>>In article <ROTEN.92Aug31133031@CUBA.gsfc.nasa.gov> roten@CUBA.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Roten) writes:
>>>In article <jwb.715225686@capek.rdt.monash.edu.au> 
>>>jwb@capek.rdt.monash.edu.au (Jim Breen) writes:
>>>>In technology, it lagged behind both Britain and Germany in the 
>>>>"Dreadnaught" revolution in naval architecture of the early 1900s.  
>>>
>>Actually, the first dreadnaught battleships laid down were American.
>>They were in some respects ahead of their time, having all guns on the
>>centerline in superfiring turrets.  I'd say it was about this time that
>>the U.S. started taking the lead in warship design.
>
>I can't deny this, but I'll just comment that it is the first I've heard of it. 
>The "Dreadnaught" revolution was named after HMS Dreadnaught which is credited
>in (most) naval history circles as being the first ship in the faster/more armour/
>bigger guns brigade. There had been ships with centreline turrets for a decade
>or so at that stage. [The Russians still claim that Popov invented the radio,
>not Marconi.]
>
The American ships (South Carolina and what?) were laid down first, but
the British hurried Dreadnaught's construction and had a completed ship
first.  In any case, Dreadnaught is a much more evocative name than
any American state name, and probably would have been the type name
even if finished a little later.

Centerline guns in turrets had indeed been around for a long time, the
standard pre-dreadnaught main armament being four 12" guns in two centerline
turrets, one forward and one aft.  The significance of the U.S. gun
placement was that all eight 12" guns were on the centerline, and all
could fire either forward or aft, meaning that the guns towards the middle
of the ship had to fire over the other guns, hence "superfiring". 

One innovation Dreadnaught had that the U.S. ships didn't was of course
turbine propulsion, which allowed more power with less vibration than
the reciprocating engines used up until that point.  Therefore, Dreadnaught
was the faster and potentially more reliable ship.  The U.S. didn't have
good turbines until about WWI.  (One author argued that the turbines were
in fact the most important innovation in Dreadnaught, since the full`
potential of the all-big-gun ship wasn't realized until the British
developed a fire-control system ten years later that took advantage
of the large number of large guns.)

BTW, the Dreadnought revolution is usually considered simply the provision
of large numbers (> 4) of large guns of one type on one ship.  Developments
in armor, gun effectiveness, and propulsion continued before and after
Dreadnought.

DHT
From: davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Followup: Chinese communists & Japanese Imperial Army
Date: 3 Sep 92 02:04:38 GMT
Organization: Aegis Society, Kyoto Japan

Last week I made mention of how some people in the discussion groups
I lead said that the original entry of the JIA into China was at the
request of the then rebel, now current communistic government in
order to defeat the nationalists. Followup's asked for sources of
their idea so I asked them for details this week.

First off, the two people with the most definite informaiton said I
was mistaken in using 'invited'; 'tricked would be a better word.
Sorry about that. 

As I think I may have mentioned before, one woman was born in Manchu
and came to Japan when she was 14. She said that IHE people tend to
forget that China was a very poor place before the war and she felt
that Japan was helping the economics situation by taking over
Manchu. This is not to say that the militaristics JIA didn't get out
of hand and so terrible things, but only that it wasn't always
Japan's intention. But she had to hard information to present, just
her personal rememberances of living as child of an administrator
in Manchu.

The other person is now about 55 and was thus 10 at the time: he
remembers begging chewing gum from American G.I.'s in the streets of
Osaka. He said that a few years ago NHK had a special TV documentary
on the infamous Marco Polo brigde incident in which it was claimed
that after some shots were fired, the local commander looked around
and found 2 or 3 of his men missing. While actually they had gone to
take a piss (always a good idea under stress :-), he reported them
missing to his commander and the commander ordered him to open fire.
The Chinese nationalists claimed that no shots had been fired, but
later, according to a secret document, it was shown that the Chinese
communists had fired the shots to bring the JIA into their war
against the nationalists. He says further evidence can be found in
//Sekimatsu Kara Mita Daitoa Senso// (loosely translated as "The
Great East Asia War: Views from the End of the Century") and
contains a collection of articles by various professors at Japanese
universities. 

Both these people feel the current Japanese government doesn't owe
the current Chinese government an apology. They feel that an apology
is owed to the Chinese people but they don't see any way of this
happening as the current Japanese government is controlled by
(paid) politicians and there is no way for them to express themselves.

[In another group there is a woman who is now 71 and remembers well
the sound of the planes firebombing Osaka/Kobe but this is too
painful for her to talk about and the other members of that group
respect her aversion to discussing the matter in any detail.]

Again, please note: This is not my opinion. I am only reporting
what people told me. My part is to ask them questions. 

Dave

--
Dave McLane 
JUNET: davidg@aegis.or.jp (ONLY within Japan: post otherwise)
Nagaokakyoshi, Kyoto Japan Tel: +81-75-951-1168 Fax: +81-75-957-1087
From: hhwu@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (eric.wu)
Subject: Re: Opening the rice market
Organization: AT&T
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 13:21:06 GMT

In article <Btx3DL.3Hn@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca> pjyamamo@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca writes:
>
>I believe that this not only applies to tuna but to most fish caught in
>the open seas and not being delivered immediately (ie not returning the
>same day).

Some time ago in the sports page of local paper, an article on tuna 
fishing instructed the fishmen to gut the fish and use brine to lower 
the fish's temperature from inside immediately.  Because the thickness 
of the fish, opening it up is necessary.  I forget about how cold to 
keep the fish afterward.

The article mentioned that the fish was for Japanese market and the 
processing procedure was given by the Japanese.

Eric
Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:7710 soc.history:8074
From: miklg@acuson.com (Michael Goldman )
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,soc.history
Subject: Re: US colonializing (Was: An open letter to the Emperor Akihito of Japan)
Date: 4 Sep 92 15:19:25 GMT
Organization: Acuson; Mountain View, California

jwb@capek.rdt.monash.edu.au (Jim Breen) writes:

>miklg@acuson.com (Michael Goldman ) writes:

>>	In the beginning of 1865, the US Navy had 530 vessels, with 2,000
>>	guns, 51,500 military personnel, 16,900 Navy personnel in Navy
>>	shipyards, and there were another 17,000 civilians in other shipyards
>>	working on Navy ships.  Your turn - what was the British Navy size at
>>	that time?  And the Union Army was over 1 Million men.

>Hmmm. [calculate,calculate] That makes each ship had an average of 97 crew 
>(assuming they were all at sea), and an average of 3.8 guns each.

>Some navy.

	I wrote that the US Navy was the largest, not the best.  Even _I_, 
	would never try to equate a large number of blockade ships and 
	river gunboats with the Imperial Navies of GB or France.  Since
	you were so _very_ sure that the Confederate and Union NAvies
	combined were smaller than even the French Navy I presume you
	have the figures at hand and will share them with us.

	My point remains, that the US had the capacity to mount
	a force sufficient to gain whatever part of China she might have
	wanted.  That she did not was due to many factors, but industrial
	incapacity (what I mean by "weakness") was not one of them.

	- Michael Goldman

-- 
"History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have
exhausted all other alternatives." - Abba Eban
	Disclaimer:  All views are solely my own & not the views of Acuson.
	<sun!sono!miklg>  or  [miklg@acuson.com]
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: yoichi@milton.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii)
Subject: Re: Tofu Sushi ?
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 00:17:06 GMT

blamb@rodan.hri.com (Bill Lambert) writes:

>I don't even want to talk about it, never mind eat it.

Didn't your mom tell you to try everything at least once?
"How would you know you don't like it if you never ... blah blah."
From: lemonies@ingrid.laas.fr (Camille Le Monies de Sagazan,28B,6242)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Rules of Japanese Mahjongg
Date: 3 Sep 92 12:00:14 GMT
Reply-To: lemonies@ingrid.laas.fr
Organization: LAAS-CNRS, Toulouse (France)

I am searching for the rules of Mahjongg as it is practiced in Japan,
with roles, fried chicken, and so on... Could someone send me a
description of them, or advise me a book where I could find them?

		--Camille le Monies de Sagazan--
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: fester@island.COM (Mike Fester)
Subject: Re: Is MAZDA a Japanese word?
Organization: /usr/local/rn/organization
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 15:27:21 GMT

In article <14767@mindlink.bc.ca> twt@mindlink.bc.ca (Tom W. Tomlinson) writes:
>Hi.  My friend Stan is the happy owner of a Mazda 626.  Is Mazda a
>Japanese word or name?  The sequence /zd/ does not normally occur
>in Romaji: is the name actually Matsuda?  What is the origin of the
>name of this brand of car, and how is it represented in Kanji (if
>it can be)?

It's an Americanization of "matsu" (the pine tree) and "da" (rice field).
Actually sounds fairly similar, if it's said quickly in either language.

Mike
-- 
Disclaimer - I'm only doing what the little voices tell me to do.