[WSJ] Palestinian Draft Resolution Defeated in U.N. Security Council

Palestinian Draft Resolution Defeated in U.N. Security Council
Document Called to Set a Deadline to End Conflict With Israel
By JOE LAURIA
Updated Dec. 30, 2014 7:56 p.m. ET

http://www.wsj.com/articles/palestinian-draft-resolution-defeated-in-u-n-security-council-1419984118

UNITED NATIONS—A U.N. Security Council resolution drafted by the Palestinians that would have set a deadline to end the conflict with Israel was defeated on Tuesday.

The draft called for a comprehensive solution to the conflict leading to a Palestinian state within one year and a withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Palestinian territory within three years.

Nine votes are needed to pass a resolution in the 15-member Security Council, but the draft got eight. Even if it had garnered the needed support, the U.S. had promised to use its veto to kill the bid.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power called the draft “deeply imbalanced” and said it contained “many elements that are not conducive to negotiations between the two parties.” The U.S. had said for weeks it was opposed to any resolution that, in its view, would unilaterally try to impose a solution.

The draft resolution called for “a just, lasting and comprehensive peaceful solution that brings an end to the Israeli occupation since 1967.” It called for the establishment within 12 months of two independent, democratic states living peacefully within mutually and internationally recognized borders.

Israeli security forces would need to completely withdraw from the West Bank by the end of 2017, according to the draft. Negotiations were to be based on the June 1967 borders with “limited, agreed land swaps.”

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the U.N., said the Security Council was “out of step with the overwhelming global consensus” to end the “Israeli occupation.” He said the Council wasn't willing to “shoulder its responsibilities” toward a comprehensive resolution of the conflict.

The U.S. and Australia voted against the resolution. Russia, France, China and Jordan, which submitted the draft on behalf the of Palestinians, were among the eight votes in favor and there were five abstentions.

Israel Nitzan, Israel’s Middle East adviser at the U.N., told the council: “I have news for the Palestinians: You cannot agitate and provocate your way to a state. I urge the council to stop indulging the Palestinians and put an end to their march of folly.”

Write to Joe Lauria at newseditor@wsj.com
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[jamawns' comment]
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Israel invaded Palestine. That's the bottom line of recognition. Both must keep promise of road map on 2003. In order to settle the Palestine issue completely and finally, UK league rather than US must be involved.
Ancient Israel WAS the very Israel. Today's one is the state of Zionism. People who decided to chose the place have absolute responsibility to make the Palestine peace state.
UN must be reorganized correctly and fairly.
It is obvious that U.N. doesn't work.
U.N. was corrupted and occupied by selfish NGO and NPO and stupid representative Kim.
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@Barbara Shamah Sure off course I know the place is the land of ancient Israel. However, Jewish shouldn't justify today's occupation with that 'religion' story. The fact is that "Today's Israel was established by invasion based on agreement of U.K. League." You said 'rebuild' but that is quite different feature from promised land. I know Jewish has no security to protect their race unless they do not have nation which can enable holding military even though Jewish had protected their race by financial and media ways.
Which Israel do you like, continuing occupying land with breaking promises or promised land agreed with whole nations in the world?
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As the world admitted Jewish go back to Israel, Israel must admit Palestine refugees come back to Palestine. In addition, Israel must stop apart-hate policy against non-Jewish as SWC has appealed such for Jewish.

[Bloomberg] Japan Should Embrace Angelina Jolie's 'Unbroken'

Japan Should Embrace Angelina Jolie's 'Unbroken'
DEC 30, 2014 6:00 PM EST
By James Gibney
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-12-30/japan-should-embrace-angelina-jolies-unbroken

In the just-released film "Unbroken," as in real life, U.S. Army Air Corps Lieutenant Louis Zamperini was beaten, starved and forced to work as a slave laborer by his Japanese captors.

Things could have been worse. Like some other war prisoners held by the Japanese, Zamperini could have been used in biological warfare experiments. Or vivisected. Or beheaded, with parts of his body then eaten by his captors. As the historian Daqing Yang notes, 9 out of 10 U.S. POWs who died in captivity in World War II did so at the hands of the Japanese.

In Japan, where "Unbroken" does not yet -- and may never -- have a release date, right-wing nationalists have protested the film as racist and inaccurate. "It's pure fabrication," asserted a representative of one such pressure group, the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact. Online petitions have described director Angelina Jolie as a "demon" and called for her to be banned from Japan.

Unfortunately, the attacks on Jolie's film, which is really much less about Japanese brutality than the resilience of the human spirit, are part of a revisionist recrudescence under the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Several of his cabinet members and appointees have pushed to whitewash or deny the Japanese military's forced wartime recruitment of women as prostitutes, the 1937 Nanjing Massacre of Chinese civilians by Japanese troops and other wartime atrocities, targeting journalists and scholars who dare to disagree.

Such behavior has roiled Japan's relations with China and South Korea and undermined its alliance with the U.S. And it has cast an ugly shadow over the impending 70th anniversary of World War II's end. Yet that occasion also offers an opportunity for both Japan and the U.S. to relearn lessons about the uses and abuses of history, beginning with the folly of trying to cover it up.

In the two weeks following the end of hostilities on Aug. 15, 1945, and the arrival of the first U.S. troops on Aug. 28, Japan's military engaged in a wholesale destruction of its files. Some Japanese historians estimate, for instance, that as much as 70 percent of the army's wartime records were lost. Although the Americans, British, Chinese, Dutch, Filipinos and Russians each held separate war-crimes trials of Japanese defendants, their documentation has never been gathered in one place, making it harder to access. Meanwhile, Japanese rightists have sought to discredit the remembered accounts of Korean "comfort women" as anecdotal or concocted memory. They have also exploited inaccuracies in sensationalist bestsellers such as Iris Chang's "The Rape of Nanking" to try to discredit larger truths.

Yet not only have many Japanese contributed unflinching histories of Japan's wartime behavior -- many available in English -- but voluminous, and damning, official records exist that have yet to be fully exploited. In 2006, the U.S. government's National Archives and Records Administration published "Researching Japanese War Crimes," a guide to U.S. intelligence reports, captured Japanese documents and contemporary news accounts contained in various U.S. public archives.

It's not the kind of stuff you want to read on a full stomach: In the National Archives, for instance, you can find the transcript of the trial of Japanese officers who ordered the execution, and then the cooking, of four U.S. Navy airmen downed in raids on Chichi-Jima -- a fate that Lieutenant George H.W. Bush, who was also shot down on the raid, barely avoided.

To their credit, many Japanese scholars have drawn on such materials in their own work: U.S. documents on Japan's biological warfare experiments on Chinese prisoners, for instance, helped to blunt the 1980s attempt by Japan's Ministry of Education to censor references to such crimes in history textbooks.

Any forthright exploration of Japan's wartime cruelties, of course, must be matched by an acknowledgment of the battlefield savagery of U.S. troops in the Pacific, where some members of the Greatest Generation pried gold teeth out of the mouths of still-living Japanese soldiers, strafed airmen in their parachutes, shot surrendering soldiers and sent Japanese skulls home to their sweethearts as table ornaments. Compared with the European theater, it was not exactly the Good War: "Subhuman, inhuman, lesser human, superhuman -- all that was lacking in the perception of the Japanese enemy was a human like oneself," observed the historian John Dower.

Moreover, U.S. archives lay bare another troubling aspect of U.S. wartime history: the willingness to collaborate with Japanese war criminals in the name of larger strategic interests. As Michael Petersen documents, General Charles Willoughby, a die-hard anticommunist who was Douglas MacArthur's intelligence chief, oversaw a (remarkably feckless) post-war spy network that included Masanobu Tsuji, the Imperial Army officer who helped organize the Bataan Death March that killed so many of the U.S. soldiers that MacArthur abandoned in the Philippines.

Still missing are documents showing what happened to data from the human experiments by Unit 731, the notorious Japanese chemical and biological warfare outfit headed by General Shiro Ishii, who was never prosecuted by the Allies. The records also shine a light on the expedient clemency policies toward suspected war criminals such as Nobusuke Kishi, a post-war prime minister who also happens to be Abe's grandfather.

That raises a final historical irony worth pondering over the coming anniversary year: the U.S. responsibility for shielding the progenitors of Japan's latter-day revisionists from accountability and prosecution. Even as late as the 1990s, the U.S. State Department was arguing against releasing information on early Cold War payments by the Central Intelligence Agency to right-wing politicians from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Such behavior helps explain why "Unbroken" describes not just Louis Zamperini's spirit, but the resilience of Japan's rightists.

To contact the author on this story:
James Gibney at jgibney5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor on this story:
Kirsten Salyer at ksalyer@bloomberg.net
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[jamawns' comment]
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Why has she said 'true story' despite fiction?
While Zamperini attained great, the author fabricated lots of points based on racism.
Unbroken is finally broken.
http://conservative.jugem.jp/?eid=494
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For the U.S., it is a difficult art of saying It’s Sorry. As long as I know, I have never heard any of official remorse from the U.S. Let me confirm that killing innocent civilians is war crime whatever attempts of reasons to justify. Someone has tried to make people blind on the most horrendous catastrophes in its history by finger-pointing straw-man. To this day, the recognition enables possible nuke hazard remain in human moral and thinking process.
On 12 January 2015, POPE FRANCIS addressed below.
"On 6 August 1945, humanity witnessed one of the most horrendous catastrophes in its history. For the first time, in a new and unprecedented way, the world experienced the full potential of man’s destructive power."
http://goo.gl/LC9Nu7

Reasons why Japan won't just move the war criminals in Yasukuni Shrine to a different location.

Reasons why Japan won't just move the war criminals in Yasukuni Shrine to a different location.
(1) Rule of religion is supposed to decided by religion honors rather than politician. Peace of Westphalia addressed respecting each religion.
According to Shinto, if a spirit is combined, the spirit can not be separated any more. Such is the same as if a grass of water is poured in the river, the water can not be returned to the grass any more.
(2) Japan do not have war criminal any more. They are viewed as 'death of duty'.
The war criminals had been pardoned during 1952-1955 by unanimous resolution for regaining their honors at JPN diet by following the San Francisco peace treaty article 11 which regulated not applicable on amnesty provision without United Ally's agreement. That means that JPN had persuaded United Ally for it.
Basically, war criminal should essentially had not existed based on Treaty of Versailles when JPN accepted 'Peace Treaty'.
(3) It had been promised and agreed that "Dedication of war dead soldiers is worthwhile to be commemorated in Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese nation forever.
Japanese nation feel morally indebted toward them and like to keep promise. It has been also freedom of thought and beliefs that commemorating Koreans who dedicated to Korea as well as Taiwanese for Taiwan in Yasukuni Shrine.

[WSJ] East Asia’s Struggle With the Past

East Asia’s Struggle With the Past
China, Japan and South Korea remain trapped by history and appear to be descending into permanent hatred. Can the region survive 2015 without war?

http://www.wsj.com/articles/michael-auslin-east-asias-struggle-with-the-past-1419960217?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj

By MICHAEL AUSLIN
Dec. 30, 2014 12:23 p.m. ET
8 COMMENTS
The coming year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. In most of the world, that will be an opportunity to look back at a conflict that is fading from memory. But in Asia, war history is very much alive. That could make 2015 a year of trouble.

Consider that the anniversary comes at a time when relations among the region’s largest powers—China, Japan and South Korea—are at their lowest ebb in years. Without some rare statesmanship in Asia, the potential exists for public disturbances and unintended conflict.

If such unfortunate events do take place, they will be the fruit of years of bad feelings, distrust and hatred sown on all sides. Given the unresolved territorial disputes among these three, nationalist passion is a recipe for potential disaster. The Japanese, in particular, have reason to be worried, since they are at odds with both China and South Korea.

Start with the history issue and compare Asia with Europe. Former combatants come together in Europe to commemorate major war anniversaries, but Asians still live in a world of war recrimination. What might be a moment of forgiveness and reconciliation is more likely turn into one of heated criticism and anti-Japanese outbursts.

Chinese President Xi Jinping set the tone for 2015 by attending China’s first state commemoration of the Nanjing Massacre in December, one of three new public holidays to mark the Sino-Japanese War. Instead of moving past the conflict, Chinese officials are making it a centerpiece of nationalist pride, thereby casting today’s Japan as a de facto enemy in the public mind.

China’s nationalistic leadership is helped by provocative remarks from Japanese voices, including a controversial 2013 comment by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that “what constitutes aggression has yet to be established.” Other Japanese nationalists who deny that the Nanjing Massacre and other such atrocities ever took place add fuel to the fire, as do ambiguous statements by Japanese officials that past Japanese apologies for war crimes might be revised.

This in particular has frozen Japanese-South Korean relations, where the issue of the wartime “comfort women” remains the primary stumbling block to any type of official cooperation beyond the most basic level.

Seventy years on, East Asia is a region trapped by history and descending into what appears to be permanent hatred, a conclusion supported by public-opinion polls in China and South Korea that rank democratic Japan as their country’s greatest threat.

Bad relations would be worrisome enough, but such nationalist fervor may spill over into the region’s seas. In the East China Sea, China is actively challenging Japan’s control over the Senkaku Islands. In the Sea of Japan, Tokyo and Seoul continue to disagree over ownership of the Pinnacle Islands. Even a minor accident, such as a collision of ships from both sides, could easily spiral out of control.

What is needed this coming anniversary year is the type of statesmanship that has been lacking in East Asia. Each leader could play an important role in calming emotions and looking toward the future.

Mr. Abe, whose government has been sounding out people in Washington, should consider offering the most expansive Japanese apology yet for the war. He could turn the page by admitting Japanese war guilt in an unambiguous manner, listing specifics known to all parties, and then immediately pivot to a bold plan for strengthening cooperation and civil society in Asia.

For his part, Mr. Xi could pull a “Nixon in China,” putting aside Beijing’s suspicion of the outside world and admitting that liberal, democratic Japan is no threat to peace in Asia. He could then promise a new era of cooperation, which would be immediately reciprocated in Tokyo.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Park Geun-hye should embrace Japan as her country’s closest partner in Asia, the one that most shares its liberal values, and commit to substantive cooperation on issues ranging from North Korea to trilateral alliance activities with Washington and Tokyo.

None of this is likely, of course, though all of it is necessary. Without the needed leadership, no one should be surprised if anti-Japanese riots break out or an accident at sea causes a regional crisis. Feelings of hatred can be sown only for so long before they bear bitter fruit.

On the other hand, if East Asia’s leading states do manage to navigate this coming year successfully, perhaps it will be a signal that a more cooperative and stable future can emerge.

Mr. Auslin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and a columnist for WSJ.com.
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[jamawns' comment]
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Reasons why Japan won't just move the war criminals in Yasukuni Shrine to a different location.
(1) Rule of religion is supposed to decided by religion honors rather than politician. Peace of Westphalia addressed respecting each religion.
According to Shinto, if a spirit is combined, the spirit can not be separated any more. Such is the same as if a grass of water is poured in the river, the water can not be returned to the grass any more.
(2) Japan do not have war criminal any more. They are viewed as 'death of duty'.
The war criminals had been pardoned during 1952-1955 by unanimous resolution for regaining their honors at JPN diet by following the San Francisco peace treaty article 11 which regulated not applicable on amnesty provision without United Ally's agreement. That means that JPN had persuaded United Ally for it.
Basically, war criminal should essentially had not existed based on Treaty of Versailles when JPN accepted 'Peace Treaty'.
(3) It had been promised and agreed that "Dedication of war dead soldiers is worthwhile to be commemorated in Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese nation forever.
Japanese nation feel morally indebted toward them and like to keep promise. It has been also freedom of thought and beliefs that commemorating Koreans who dedicated to Korea as well as Taiwanese for Taiwan in Yasukuni Shrine.
--------------------------
Japan has focused on fact, not denying but accepting.
Below are basic questions.
[Nanjing incident]
Imperial Japan had occupied Nanjing on Dec.13, 1937.
[Q1]Why did the population increase within a month between the incident
from 200,000 (Nov.28 1937, Dec.18 1937, Dec.21 1937)
to 250,000 (Jan.14 1938)?
[Q2]Where were the killed 300,000 innocent Chinese dead bodies?
[Q3]Why did many Chinese citizens come back to Nanjing after Imperial Japan occupied the city?
[Q4] Were the 572 crime cases really committed by Japanese?
Security Committee reported 572 crime cases(murder 94, rape 243, plunder 201, arson 34) of Japanese soldiers,
but only one Chinese crime case(sneak thief) for a month from Nanjing-fall to the time
when Nanjing Police Agency was organized. But, for a month from then Police Agency arrested about 500 Chinese crime cases.
[Q5] Why did KMT NOT condemn Japanese army about it at all?
KMT held about 300 press conferences in Hangkow for a year from Nanjing fall.
But why didn't correspondents ask any questions about the massacre at all?
[Q6]Why did China paid money to Harold John Timperley, an Australian, for writing the Japan’s atrocity story to a book,according to Tseng Hsu-pai’s autobiography?
[Q7]Why could China NOT prove the murder of 340,000 when the Tokyo Trial was opened?
[Q8]Why did Mao NOT mention any of them at the international media conferences from 1937 to 1938?
[Q9]Why did CCP NOT write anything about the massacre on textbooks till 1981 at all?
[Q10]Why did China fabricate 143 pictures in the Nanjing Museum?
Even with numerous forged photos and evidences of UFO,
you can still say you believe UFO, and may hardly deny the existence of U.F.O.
(FYI)
"Three ALLs policy" or "Burned All, killed ALL, Looted ALL" were implemented by Chinese military rather than by Japanese military, as New York Times reported.

[WSJ] No Smiles as Intelligence-Sharing Pact Begins

No Smiles as Intelligence-Sharing Pact Begins
10:21 pm KST
Dec 29, 2014
By KWANWOO JUN
http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/12/29/no-smiles-as-intelligence-sharing-pact-begins/

There were no smiling photo ops or handshakes when the U.S., Japan and South Korea kicked off their trilateral intelligence-sharing pact aimed at improving defenses against North Korean missile threats.

The defense ministry in Seoul confirmed at a regular press briefing on Monday—not at a joint signing ceremony—that the three-way pact had taken effect, keeping a low profile on the deal.

“The deal allows Seoul and Tokyo to share information only indirectly via the U.S.—an arrangement that reflects the strained Korean-Japanese relations,” said Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul.

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Mr. Kim said the deal—designed to counter North Korea’s nuclear-bomb and missile threats—also reflects a strong desire from the U.S. to improve South Korean-Japanese relations. He said the time wasn’t right to bring the South Korean and Japanese vice defense chiefs together to sign the deal.

“Such a face-to-face event, if any, would have backfired in Korea,” he said.

Despite the low profile, the launch of the trilateral pact required behind-the-scenes efforts on the U.S. side, according to officials in Seoul.

To validate the pact, a U.S. official last week had to travel to Tokyo and then Seoul from Washington to collect the signatures of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert O. Work on Dec. 23 and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts, Masanori Nishi and Baek Seung-joo, on Dec. 26. None of this was disclosed publicly.

In 2012, South Korea and Japan pushed for a bilateral pact on the sharing of military secrets, but that failed due to rising tensions.

Tokyo’s repeated claims to a Seoul-controlled disputed islet and the visits of Japanese leaders to a controversial shrine honoring Japan’s war dead have outraged South Koreans, who still harbor bitter thoughts about Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the peninsula.

On the other hand, Japanese officials are angry about Seoul reopening what Tokyo believes are already-settled historical issues like Korean women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese troops during World War II.

The leaders of South Korea and Japan haven’t had a summit in years. Senior government officials from both sides have recently been in talks to address the historical issues, but little progress has been reported.

The U.S. signed separate intelligence-sharing pacts with Seoul in 1987 and Tokyo in 2007.

The defense ministry in Seoul described the trilateral intelligence-sharing pact as “an arrangement” among defense authorities, not a treaty that would require approval from parliament—which is often hard and sometimes takes long to achieve.

“In the face of the growing North Korean threats, the allies must have needed something quick and effective,” Mr. Kim said.
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[jamawns' comment]
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Japanese comfort women are not sex slaves. Such a controlling organizational behavior will be the bottom line of administrative managerial issue for the intelligence-sharing pact. U.S. must face the historical fact honestly and fairly, and tell the truth to Korea clearly and precisely. U.S. congress must withdraw condemning resolution and U.N do Coomaraswamy report.
World mass media has ever called Japanese comfort women 'sex slaves', and never called Korean and U.S. comfort women 'sex slaves' because of communism lobbying.

'Nazi War Crimes & Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group Final Report to the United States Congress April 2007' (U.S. archives)
'Researching Japanese War Crimes Records Introductory Essays'(U.S. archives)
U.S. Gov managed to fail to find evidence of JPN's coerced prostitution by investing $30 million
U.S. Gov researched confidential 8.5 million page official documents for Comfort Women issue during Pres. Bush and Pres. Clinton era for 8 years by IWG (Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Records Interagency Working Group). The research revealed that NO U.S. Gov nor military documents existed which proved organized sex slavery system by JPN government or Military. 6 members of IWG issued additional report, too.
This time, Journalist Micheal Yon and Sankei Shimbun Newspaper reviewed and reconfirmed the whole part of the Comfort Women issue on the research, while the research had been barely reviewed in the U.S.
Mr. Yon said that such a vast research showing no evidence proved that coerced 200,000 sex slaves story was lie so Japan should require U.S. congress withdraw condemning resolution and U.N do Coomaraswamy report.
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[OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION Psychological Warfare Team Attached to U.S. Army Forces
India-Burma Theater APO 689, Japanese Prisoner of War Interrogation Report No. 49.]
A "comfort girl" is nothing more than a prostitute or "professional camp follower"
"They lived in near-luxury in Burma in comparison to other places. This was especially true of their second year in Burma. They lived well because their food and material was not heavily rationed and they had plenty of money with which to purchase desired articles. They were able to buy cloth, shoes, cigarettes, and cosmetics to supplement the many gifts given to them by soldiers who had received "comfort bags" from home. While in Burma they amused themselves by participating in sports events with both officers and men, and attended picnics, entertainments, and social dinners. They had a phonograph and in the towns they were allowed to go shopping."
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To Kyle
South Korea and China have never show any evidences of such. You should never fabricate stories.
Such typical propaganda attitude in your culture has ever provoked distrust on innocent Korean and Chinese.
Kono statement has already been called Kono DANGO.
Cabinet of PM Abe has implemented re-examining a landmark apology to comfort women across Asia offered in 1993 known as 'Kono statement'.
The re-examining revealed that
(1)Kono statement was secretly made by Kono's arbitrary decision based on political compromise with South Korea not on historical fact, so-called DANGO style.
(2)There have been no evidences that Japanese government/military organization had ordered/command illegal coercing/kidnapping/violent comfort women recruitment or comfort station management.
(3)Korea has not kept confidential promise to settle the issues to go forward holding better future.
-----------------------------------
>5:39 am January 2, 2015
(1) Rule of religion is supposed to decided by religion honors rather than politician.
Peace of Westphalia addressed respecting each religion.
According to Shinto, if a spirit is combined, the spirit can not be separated any more.
Such is the same as if a grass of water is poured in the river, the water can not be returned to the grass any more.
(2) Japan do not have war criminal any more. They are viewed as 'death of duty'.
The war criminals had been pardoned during 1952-1955 by unanimous resolution for regaining their honors at JPN diet by following the San Francisco peace treaty article 11 which regulated not applicable on amnesty provision without United Ally's agreement. That means that JPN had persuaded United Ally for it.
Basically, war criminal should essentially had not existed based on Treaty of Versailles when JPN accepted 'Peace Treaty'.
(3) It had been promised and agreed that "Dedication of war dead soldiers is worthwhile to be commemorated in Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese nation forever. Japanese nation feel morally indebted toward them and like to keep promise. It has been also freedom of thought and beliefs that commemorating Koreans who dedicated to Korea as well as Taiwanese for Taiwan in Yasukuni Shrine.

[INDEPENDENT] Jack O'Connell is excellent but Angelina Jolie's effort lacks nuance

Unbroken, film review: Jack O'Connell is excellent but Angelina Jolie's effort lacks nuance
Angelina Jolie, 135 mins, starring: Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund, Finn Wittrock, John Magaro, Alex Russell, Miyavi
GEOFFREY MACNAB Friday 26 December 2014
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/unbroken-film-review-jack-oconnell-is-excellent-but-angelina-jolies-effort-lacks-nuance-9945340.html?origin=internalSearch

It is Angelina Jolie’s misfortune that Unbroken (her second fictional feature as director) is released at a time when she is caught in the crossfire of the Sony hacking scandal. Inevitably, attention has been deflected from her very well-crafted film, which deserves more serious attention than is currently being paid to it.

Jolie has some heavyweight collaborators. The Coen brothers, Richard La Gravenese and William Nicholson all contributed to the screenplay and Unbroken was shot by the brilliant cinematographer Roger Deakins.

It turns out to be a rousing, full blooded war movie but one which also sometimes feels derivative and a little heavy handed. As she showed in her previous feature, the grim Balkan war drama/romance In the Land Of Blood And Honey, Jolie isn’t afraid of showing violence and brutality on screen. She is also clearly fascinated by machismo and by the extremes of male behaviour during wartime.

The film features another outstanding performance from young British actor Jack O’Connell. After his roles as the British soldier lost in the streets of Belfast in ’71 and as the aggressive, endlessly defiant young prisoner in Starred Up, he is again made to suffer here. He plays Louis Zamperini, an Italian-American from a poor background who competed as a middle-distance runner at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and spent over two years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during the Second World War.

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Zamperini is shown in flashbacks as a young delinquent. (“Why don’t you go back to Italy, you and your greasy woo family,” he is taunted by the local kids.) He spends his time fighting, getting into scrapes and peeping at girls. The running gives him a sense of purpose and self-respect. “If you can take it, you can make it” is his motto. Just for a moment, it seems as if Jolie is offering a US version of Chariots Of Fire but then comes the war.

After their plane is hit, Zamperini and his fellow Air Corp colleagues crash land in the sea. This is shot in juddering and dramatic fashion. The film then becomes becalmed and loses its momentum as the survivors spend over 40 days waiting to be rescued. We see them eating seagull and then retching.

Their ordeal at sea is as nothing to what Zamperini endures when they are “rescued” by the Japanese navy and put in POW camps. “You are enemies of Japan and you will be treated accordingly,” they are told by the disconcertingly cheerful but extremely sadistic camp commandant Watanabe (played by rock musician Miyavi.)

A still from Angelina Jolie's 2014 war drama Unbroken A still from Angelina Jolie's 2014 war drama Unbroken
Much of the rest of the story is about the long suffering Zamperini being bloodied and beaten by his captors…but never (as the title has already told us) “broken.” The disappointing aspect to a film made with such an obvious heartfelt commitment is that Jolie is never able to pull back and give us a bigger perspective. We get little sense, for example, just why Watanabe behaves with such cruelty.

The film is far less insightful about the homo-erotic dimension to the relationship between captor and captive than Nagisa Oshima was in his 1983 film, Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence. Jolie’s main preoccupation is with portraying Zamperini as a martyr. There is some crucifixion symbolism - Zamperini holding a log on his shoulders and above his head. In one strange scene, the commandant invites half the camp to smash him in the face. As in Starred Up, O’Connell’s character takes his beatings with a fatalistic endurance - and he never becomes bitter of self-pitying.

For all the excellence of O’Connell’s performance, the film becomes increasingly one dimensional. It’s all about the suffering of a single man. Jolie’s direction gives the film an oppressive intensity but what Unbroken lacks is any sense of nuance or humour that would enable us to see Zamperini’s plight from more than one point of view.

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[jamawns' comment]
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The movie 'Unbroken' is not only fiction but also full of fabrication for anti-Japan racism, while advertising 'fact'.
1. Galil automatic rifle was released after WWII.
http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/darkm/imgs/4/a/4a4b8faa.jpg
2. You can google '双脚羊' then Translate -> English. You will find truth rather than what you like to know. This movie is not released in China, too. The culture is unique in China rather than in Japan. On the other hand, Harakiri is unique in Japan rather than in China.
3. Miyavi became Japanese singer-songwriter by naturalization. He was Korean and has had relation with Korean Residents Union in Japan which has supported this movie for Japan discount campaign. He held a concert with little audiences in Nippon Budokan, martial arts stadium or largest concert hall in Japan.
http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/hoshusokho/imgs/5/a/5a172a6b-s.jpg
(P.S.)
Has she ever learned the U.S. 'Agent Blue' and 'Depleted uranium ammunition'?
--------------------------------
Even though, the author Laura Hillenbrand says "nonfiction", she had never meet the main character of the story, Louis Zamperini, before publishing.
4.The leading character belonged to the Air-force and the U.S. Air-force was established on September 18, 1947 meaning after the WWII.
5.The leading character said 'harsh environment' while participating in sports festival in Oofune POW camp.
6.The leading character went to Tokyo air-raid over the Pacific while Saipan had been already occupied by the U.S.
7.In Omori POW camp Hideki Toji himself made surprise inspection of appropriate management for POWs but the book never mentioned such.
Here, 23 pictues of Omori POW camp will gives inspiration to you.
http://goo.gl/4lgk34
(P.S.)
'Clutch Of Circumstance' by Lewis William Bush is the true record.
Not available to be sold in Amazon and to be e-reviewed in Libraries.
(The reference of the Eng edition.)
http://conservative.jugem.jp/
(The e-review of the JPN edition)
http://ja.nsf.jp/novel_top.php

[WSJ] Japan Conservatives Protest Angelina Jolie Film

Japan Conservatives Protest Angelina Jolie Film
4:59 pm JST
Dec 26, 2014
By TOKO SEKIGUCHI
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/12/26/japan-conservatives-protest-angelina-jolie-film/


(Japan Real Time)
http://realtime.wsj.com/japan/2014/12/29/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B8%E3%83%BC%E7%9B%A3%E7%9D%A3%E6%98%A0%E7%94%BB%E3%81%AB%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AE%E4%BF%9D%E5%AE%88%E6%B4%BE%E3%81%8C%E7%8C%9B%E6%8A%97%E8%AD%B0%E3%80%81%E3%80%8C%E5%8F%8D/?mod=WSJJP_Blog


Conservative netizens in Japan are campaigning to keep Angelina Jolie’s new biographical movie about a former American POW from opening in theaters here.

“Unbroken,” which was released on Christmas Day in the U.S., depicts the early life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic distance runner who was captured by Japanese troops during World War II while serving as an Air Force pilot.

The film is based on a book about Mr. Zamperini’s life by author Laura Hillenbrand titled “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.” It is directed by Ms. Jolie and portrays in detail the violence Mr. Zamperini and other POWs endured at the hands of their Japanese captors. Mr. Zamperini died in the summer of 2014 at the age of 97.

Takamasa Ishihara, a Japanese rock musician who performs under the name Miyavi, makes his Hollywood debut in the film playing the role of a sadistic guard. He has said in press tours that the violent scenes made him literally sick, forcing him to take vomit breaks during shooting.

Although the book isn’t available in Japanese, word that it and the film depict the imperial army’s brutality has stirred some conservatives in Japan and set off online campaigns for a boycott. Calling the film “anti-Japanese,” many have signed petitions on social-networking sites like Change.org, with some even calling for Ms. Jolie to be declared persona non grata.

More than 1,000 Facebook users signed up to become members of the Facebook page “Let’s stop Angelina Jolie’s anti-Japan film!” including lawmakers from the governing Liberal Democratic Party and scholars at prominent universities.

Japanese conservatives in recent years have become increasingly vocal in challenging the validity of widely accepted historical views—most recently questioning the imperial army’s involvement in forcing colonial subjects to work in military brothels.

Jeff Shell, the chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying, “Obviously, the content of the book is a difficult one in the Japanese market.” A Universal representative confirmed the accuracy of the quotation and said no release date for the movie has been set for Japan. The studio plans to release “Unbroken” in some countries outside the U.S. in late January.

The objections to “Unbroken” recall an earlier controversy over “The Cove”—an Oscar-winning documentary about dolphin hunting in a Japanese fishing village. It touched a nerve among Japan’s pro-whaling groups, and protesters accused the film of being anti-Japanese and disrespectful to Japan’s fishing culture. They kept the film out of most Japanese movie theaters.
------------------
[jamawns' comment]
------------------
The movie 'Unbroken' is not only fiction but also full of fabrication for anti-Japan racism, while advertising nonfiction'.
1. Galil automatic rifle was released after WWII.
2. You can google '双脚羊' then Translate -> English. You will find truth rather than what you like to know. This movie is not released in China, too. The culture is unique in China rather than in Japan. On the other hand, Harakiri is unique in Japan rather than in China.
3. Miyavi became Japanese singer-songwriter by naturalization. He was Korean and has had relation with Korean Residents Union in Japan which has supported this movie for Japan discount campaign. He held a concert with little audiences in Nippon Budokan, martial arts stadium or largest concert hall in Japan.
(P.S.)
Has she ever learned the U.S. 'Agent Blue' and 'Depleted uranium ammunition'?
-----------------
Even though, the author Laura Hillenbrand says "nonfiction", she had never meet the main character of the story, Louis Zamperini, before publishing.
4.The leading character belonged to the Air-force and the U.S. Air-force was established on September 18, 1947 meaning after the WWII.
5.The leading character said 'harsh environment' while participating in sports festival in Oofune POW camp.
6.The leading character went to Tokyo air-raid over the Pacific while Saipan had been already occupied by the U.S.
7.In Omori POW camp Hideki Tojo himself made surprise inspection of appropriate management for POWs but the book never mentioned such.
Here, 23 pictues of Omori POW camp will gives inspiration to you.
(P.S.)
'Clutch Of Circumstance' by Lewis William Bush is the true record.
Not available to be sold in Amazon and to be e-reviewed in Libraries.
-----------------
Above guys are the typical easy examples of racism promoters.
Which do you guys believe that 'Unbroken' and the original book are 'fiction' or 'nonfiction', though such creators had addressed 'nonfiction'? For your information, 'The Interview' has clearly addressed 'comedy'.
You guys here said emotion, assumption, fabrication, and never 'relevant facts', while I coherently said 'relevant facts'.
Japan has no intention to justify her crimes by fabrication.
Japan has focused on fact, not denying but accepting.
Do you accept the facts I showed above, otherwise you continue revising historical facts?
-----------------
(Response to Unit 731)
'Select Documents on Japanese War Crimes and Japanese Biological
Warfare, 1934-2006' This official record of evidence, the United States government has denied the existence of germ warfare and human experimentation. 54 pages, is a survey about the human experimentation in Manchuria.

Q:
Does the United States Government have evidence that biological experiments were conducted on prisoners by Unit 731 in Manchuria during World War II.
A: (The United States Government)
We have not been able to locate conclusive evidence that POW's were the subject of biological warfare experiments.
------------------
(Response to Bataan March)
During march, not only JPN soldier loaded a 60kg bag but also U.S. Pow loaded a canteen respectively, resulting 2,300 Pow death.
88km/5days/8hour=2.2km/h means the level of cow's excursion.
The reason of POWs' death was malaria and fatigue just after the battle.
In addition, fear to unknown destination made Pows fatigue unlimitedly, though the march to the nearest rail station.
Even JPN had stayed hanger already before the battle, it was impossible to give enough meal to 83,000 Pows and 26,000 refugees.
According to Daniel H. Dizon, at San Fernando, Filipino donated meals to Pows, and JPN soldiers only saw with smiling.
JPN should have taken enough rests more.
[Trial of Tears]
During winter, U.S. forced 15,000 Chelokees to walk 2,000km from Georgia to Oklahoma, resulting over 8,000 death.
-----------------
(Response to the Ainu and the Okinawans and all others)
[Joint Declaration of Greater East Asia made at the Greater East Asian Conference on Nov. 8, 1943.]
1.The countries of Greater East Asia through mutual co­operation will ensure the stability of their region and construct an order of common prosperity and well-being based upon justice.

2.The countries of Greater East Asia will ensure the fraternity of nations in their region, by respecting one another's sovereignty and independence and practicing mutual assistance and amity.

3.The countries of Greater East Asia by respecting one another's traditions and developing the creative faculties of each race, will enhance the culture and civilization of Greater East Asia.

4.The countries of Greater East Asia will endeavor to accelerate their economic development through close cooperation upon a basis of reciprocity and to promote thereby the general prosperity of their region.

5.The countries of Greater East Asia will cultivate friendly relations with all the countries of the world, and work for the abolition of racial discrimination, the promotion of cultural intercourse and the opening of resources throughout the world, and contribute thereby to the progress of mankind.
--------------------
(Response to excuse to invade northern China)
Japan supported ROC known as Sino to be independent from Qing's occupation.
Afterwards, ROC started invasion to Manchuria known as original Qing.
When the last emperor escaped into JPN consulate was the beginning of the JPN continent policy for Manchukuo independence.
Ming known as Sino before Qing's occupation was different from Manchuria, Tibet, Uighur, and Mongolia.

JPN had once invested 43% GDP into Manchukuo for development.
Manchukuo producing only kitchen ware had became industrialized to produce car and airplane. Manchu railway produced the 130 km/h fastest level 'ASIA GO' in the world.
Manchukuo was safe state so over a million Chinese immigrants who were afraid of bandits like ISIS rushed into Manchuria every year. The Chinese bandits killed Chinese by 'Three ALLs policy' or 'Burned All, killed ALL, and looted ALL'

If Manchuria was evil Chinese says, why were Chinese eager to immigrate into Manchuria?
----------------------
(Response to military brothels)
'Nazi War Crimes & Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group Final Report to the United States Congress April 2007' (U.S. archives)
'Researching Japanese War Crimes Records Introductory Essays'(U.S. archives)
U.S. Gov managed to fail to find evidence of JPN's coerced prostitution by investing $30 million
U.S. Gov researched confidential 8.5 million page official documents for Comfort Women issue during Pres. Bush and Pres. Clinton era for 8 years by IWG (Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Records Interagency Working Group). The research revealed that NO U.S. Gov nor military documents existed which proved organized sex slavery system by JPN government or Military. 6 members of IWG issued additional report, too.
This time, Journalist Micheal Yon and Sankei Shimbun Newspaper reviewed and reconfirmed the whole part of the Comfort Women issue on the research, while the research had been barely reviewed in the U.S.
Mr. Yon said that such a vast research showing no evidence proved that coerced 200,000 sex slaves story was lie so Japan should require U.S. congress withdraw condemning resolution and U.N do Coomaraswamy report.
-----------------------
(Response to torture)
Every culture has its own way of torture as some tradition is very unique origin of some country.
For example, Harakiri is the very unique tradition of Japan and never happen in other nations.
In the war museums of Korea and China, Korean and Chinese unique way of tortures were mistakenly displayed as Japanese way of tortures for anti-Japan ideology propaganda purpose.
Such the same kind of phenomenon happened to the U.S.
1. Putting a man fallen on the flat board and make him drink salty water.
This is U.S. style against Aguinaldo soldiers when occupation.
JPN did not do such.
2.Hanging a man of thumbs by bamboo thread.
This is in the movie 'Souls at Sea' starring Gary Cooper.
JPN do not know such.
3.Putting bamboo stick between fingers and firing the stick.
'The Lives of a Bengal Lancer' or 'Beau Geste' staring Gary Cooper.
JPN do not know such.

[WSJ] Sumo Champion Hakuho Looks to Break Record in 2015

Sumo Champion Hakuho Looks to Break Record in 2015
5:13 pm JST
Dec 25, 2014
By JUN HONGO
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/12/25/sumo-champion-hakuho-looks-to-break-record-in-2015/

The sumo equivalent of Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s career home run record is set to take place in 2015.

Hakuho, a yokozuna or grand champion, will have six opportunities in the year to win his 33rd tournament, which would put him one ahead of the late Taiho for most tournament wins.

The first tournament of the year begins on Jan. 11. Here are five questions and answers about Hakuho’s historic challenge.

How likely is it that Hakuho will set a new record in 2015?

There are no guarantees, but it would be a surprise if Hakuho fails to grab his 33rd championship trophy within the year. The 29-year-old has won five of the six sumo tournaments held in 2014 and nine of the past twelve. “I’d like to get it done quickly,” the yokozuna told reporters Wednesday.

Has Hakuho always been invincible?

Hakuho was named yokozuna, the highest rank for a sumo wrestler, in 2007. He is 192 centimeters (6 feet, 3 inches) tall and weighs 157 kilograms (346 pounds). His father won the silver medal in wrestling at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. But when he arrived in Japan from his native Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in 2000, he weighed nearly 100 kilograms less than he does today.“Who would’ve thought that a boy weighing 62 kilograms would become this huge yokozuna,” he wrote in one of his blog posts.


Hakuho at his wedding with his wife, Sayoko, in 2010. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
How many bouts has he won?

Since his first professional bout in March 2001, Hakuho has won 880 matches and lost 186. He won 63 consecutive bouts in 2010, which was six shy of the record set by Futabayama in 1939. One of Hakuho’s strengths is his speed; according to a documentary that aired on NHK in 2010, Hakuho has a response speed that is as quick as the world’s fastest sprinter, Usain Bolt.

Who was Taiho?


Taiho performs a ceremony upon entering the ring in 1966. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Taiho was born to an Ukrainian father and a Japanese mother on the Russian island of Sakhalin, then controlled by Japan, in May 1940. He made his debut as a sumo wrestler in 1956 and became a yokozuna in 1961. The 187-centimeter-tall wrestler dominated the sport during the 1960s and won at least one tournament every year after reaching the top tier of the sumo division in 1960. Overall he won 872 bouts and lost 182 before retiring in 1971. Taiho died on Jan. 19, 2013, at age 72, and the government posthumously awarded him the highest national honor. Hakuho was present at the award ceremony held at the prime minister’s residence.

Was Hakuho close with Taiho?

During an interview after winning the March 2013 tournament, Hakuho urged people in the hall to get on their feet and honor Taiho with a moment of silence. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wrote on his Facebook account following the act that he was moved by the scene.

Hakuho has said Taiho gave advice to him on many occasions. Taiho once told him that records “are meant to be broken,” according to the yokozuna’s blog.
--------------------
[jamawns' comment]
--------------------
When he got the most winning of 32nd on November 23 2014, Sumo Champion Hakuho over-flowed with tears and addressed 'I think nobody imagined that only 62 kg Mongolian boy 15 years ago has achieved so. I think the result has happened because Spirit of Japan and Divine of Sumo admitted me. I would be honored to gratitude Emperor of Japan.'
Then, majority of Japanese has become to like him much more than before.

[LAT] Japan is honest on history and 'comfort women'

Japan is honest on history and 'comfort women'
Dec 24 2014
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-le-1225-thursday-japan-20141225-story.html

To the editor: The notion that the Japanese government denies or downplays history is misleading. Following the stance of the past administrations, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed his sincere commitment to face history with humility on numerous occasions. ("Japanese nationalists attempt to revise history on 'comfort women,'" Editorial, Dec. 11)

lRelated Japanese nationalists attempt to revise history on 'comfort women'
EDITORIAL
Japanese nationalists attempt to revise history on 'comfort women'

On the issue of "comfort women," the Abe administration made clear on June 20 that it will uphold the Kono Statement of 1993 and expressed that we are deeply pained to think of all those who suffered immeasurable pain. This government position remains unchanged.

On the other hand, I strongly oppose the installation of "comfort women statues" in California, where very diverse populations from many backgrounds coexist peacefully. Such installations will bring about unnecessary resentment and friction into local communities, break up sister city relations and marginalize very important parts of the community.

Japan's recent effort to reevaluate its national security policy has nothing to do with the history issue. It is a direct response to the recent fundamental changes in the Asia Pacific security environment. By strengthening Japan's deterrence capability, our ultimate goal is to better protect the lives of Japanese citizens and enhance world peace.

Japan's commitment as a peace-loving nation remains unchanged.

Harry H. Horinouchi, Los Angeles

The writer is consul general of Japan in Los Angeles.


Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion
-------------------------
[jamawns' comment]
-------------------------
[Comfort Women Issues related with Japan.]
June 25 2014, U.S. Chairperson still mentioned his biased wrong recognition.
Please bare in mind that "Past must be recognized honestly and fairly and be accounted clearly."

Based on the fact, searching for the truth.

[0] Introduction
Comfort women are not sex slaves as the same as soldiers are not bloodthirsty killers.
The word ‘sex slaves’ humiliates comfort women’s pride as the same as the word ‘bloodthirsty killers’ does solders’ honor. Such wording obviously mislead real features.

Comfort women dedicated to raise soldiers’ morale and spirits, and to prevent rape crimes in countries. Comfort woman earned monthly income as much as soldier’s annual income. Dedication of comfort woman was priceless as same as dedication of soldier was precious. Duty of comfort women was horrible such as extraordinary repeating prostitution, while duty of soldier was cruel such as murder.

I tell comfort women are not sex slave case.
Comfort women earned as much as soldiers’ lifetime income only for 3.5 years.
If a large poor family had a member who became comfort woman, her family could live on without worrying money any more.
On the other hand, there are 100,000 Korean prostitutes world wide today. They usually have bad loans whose interest rate is 40-300%. It is obvious that such super-high interest rate loan can’t be repay forever.

I tell another case.
White people hunted black African people as non-human animals and took them to the new world as slaves.
Black women were often treated as sex slaves for masters.
On the other hand, Imperial Japan did not systematically implement forced recruitment and management. Imperial Japan outsourced the leisure house called comfort house and Korean merchants recruited women by advertisement in newspaper.

[1] Kono statement has already been called Kono DANGO.
Cabinet of PM Abe has implemented re-examining a landmark apology to comfort women across Asia offered in 1993 known as 'Kono statement'. http://goo.gl/0DYZrd
The re-examining revealed that
(1)Kono statement was secretly made by Kono's arbitrary decision based on political compromise with South Korea not on historical fact, so-called DANGO style.
(2)There have been no evidences that Japanese government/military organization had ordered/command illegal coercing/kidnapping/violent comfort women recruitment or comfort station management.
(3)Korea has not kept confidential promise to settle the issues to go forward holding better future.

[2]Basic 13 questions about comfort women issue related with Japan.
(1)What Korean men were doing if their wives or daughters were abducted for sex slaves? Why did NOT those men defend women and protest against criminals?
(2)Mayors of ALL villages in Korea were ALL Korean, NO EXCEPTION.
What were mayors doing if so many women in their towns were abducted, raped and to be forced sex slaves?
(3)The military police in Korea who clamp down military soldier’s misconduct were ALL Korean, NO EXCEPTION because Korean language was necessary for duty.
What Korean military police were doing if Japanese military in Korea came to a village and took women?
(4)About 40% of governors of prefectures (equivalent to state in the U.S.) were Korean.
What were Korean governors doing if so many women in their prefectures were abducted, raped and to be forced sex slaves?
(5)There was a Korean lawmaker of the House of Representatives in Tokyo.
What was he doing and why didn’t he complain if so many women in Korea were abducted, raped and to be forced sex slaves?
(6)There were many Korean members of the House of Loads. Their power was so strong and cannot be compared to current member of the House of Council (Similar to the U.S. Senators).
Why didn’t they say anything if so many women in Korea were abducted, raped and to be forced sex slaves?
(7)There were so many Korean dukes and counts as Nobleman.
What were they doing if so many women in Korea were abducted, raped and to be forced sex slaves?
(8)Furthermore, there were so many Korean in the Japan’s imperial family. They were Yi imperial family whose rank was higher than Japan’s crown prince. The rank was (1) Japanese emperor, (2) Yi imperial family, (3)Japan’s crown prince.
Why didn’t they complain if so many women in Korea were abducted, raped and to be forced sex slaves?
(9)Just after the Asia-Pacific war, Syngman Ree came back from the U.S. He started anti-Japan campaign in the fierce manner. He started to demand money for Korean People who fought for Japan. Notwithstanding, Syngman Ree did not mention comfort women at all, even a word. Why?
(10)Toward the Japan-Korea Basic Relation Treaty in 1965, both Japan and Korea had negotiated for 14 years. During 14 years, Korean government did not mention comfort women at all, even a word. Why?
(Here, a disclosed confidential document mentioned that South Korea had explained Comfort Women issues to Japan and settled it on the treaty.)
pic1(whole) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvyRk6lCYAAy_lO.jpg
pic2(large) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BqvugVMCMAAUIXG.jpg
(11)From 1965 to 1991 for 26 years, Korean government and Korean mass media did not mention comfort women at all, even a word. Why?
(12)The person started abduction story was Japanese. The abduction story was fabricated by a Japanese, Seiji Yoshida. Later he admitted his fabrication. Also, Cheju Newspaper in Korea, August 14, 1989 had revealed“Coerced comfort women by Japan is fiction” U.N. Coomaraswamy report E/CN.4/1996/53 in 1996 and United States House of Representatives proposed House Resolution 121 in 2007 were based on such Seiji Yoshida’s perjury. Revised U.S. resolution 121 report removed Yoshida’s perjury on April 3 2007 but its public hearing on Feb 25 2007 was based on the Yoshida’s perjury.
Why does Korea still want to stick the Yoshida’s perjury?
(13)Korea accepted the apology of Kono DANGO but still require further apology. Therefore, Japan tried to review Kono DANGO due to insufficient. However Korea criticized Japan in order not to review the Kono DANGO.
Why does Korea criticize making the past to be recognized honestly and fairly and to be accounted clearly?

Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese and people in Sakhalin were considered as people evenly protected/embraced by Japanese Emperor. If Korean women and children were taken forcibly to be sex slaves, Emperor Showa would never have allowed that.

[3] Who did illegal recruitment?
According to Park Yu-ha, professor of Sejong University in Seoul, Most of such crimes had been mainly implemented by Korean merchants, and Koreans seem to have attempted to blind such crimes by transferring into anti-Japan racism.
For example,
Four headed by Korean are arrested due to kidnapping 18 girls from whole Korea, Osaka Asahi Newspaper, March 1 1938.
http://goo.gl/eM9E5X
General investigation against kidnapping are implemented in Seoul, Osaka Asahi Newspaper, March 30 1938
http://goo.gl/VcD6kH
Korean fake police kidnapped wealthy housewife, Osaka Asahi Newspaper, May 21 1940.
http://goo.gl/ugkmuQ
77 Korean dishonest business agencies kidnapping girls are arrested, Osaka Asahi Newspaper, November 21 1939.
http://goo.gl/1OqQSH
11 Korean dishonest business agencies kidnapping 14 girls under the hardships of life are arrested, Osaka Asahi Newspaper, June 28 1940.
http://goo.gl/PmLvoq
Korean dishonest business agency kidnap girls searching for job in spring season (graduate season), The Dong-a Ilbo (Korean newspaper), March 15 1936
http://goo.gl/kvxmyu
Police agency comes to grips with improvement of labor conditions for Korean comfort women, Osaka Asahi Newspaper, June 25 1940.
http://goo.gl/KJCGil
Korean dishonest business agency human-trafficking under 16 girls is arrested, The Dong-a Ilbo (Korean newspaper), May 5 1933.
http://goo.gl/SxMhPi

[4] Dedication of Comfort women and disguise possibly without perception
Comfort women dedicated to raise soldiers’ morale and spirits, and to prevent rape crimes in countries. Comfort woman earned monthly income as much as soldier's annual income. Dedication of comfort woman was priceless as same as dedication of soldier was precious. Duty of comfort women was horrible such as extraordinary repeating prostitution, while duty of soldier was cruel such as murder.

Kim Bok-dong said raped by Japanese soldiers during Korean War, Huh?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZ2AfVtCcAArvHa.jpg:large
Comfort woman Kim Sun-ok was sold 2 times by her father, not abducted by Japan.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZ14QfyCAAAeOC1.jpg:large
Comfort Woman Hwan KumJu was raped on Christmas Holiday that Japan never held.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZuxobfCUAAQVpB.png:large
Lee Yong-Soo was delighted when deceived by sex Broker.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZ1_slbCEAACvTq.jpg:large
Yang Soon-im was busted by South Korean police for fraud.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZ18Cy6CQAAsmhe.jpg:large
Jung Soh-Un worked in Holland's colony for Japanese soldiers, Huh?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZ17lslCEAARYYm.jpg:large
Kil Won-Ok is pretending Comfort Women of WW2 to get money from Japan.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BirVDrCCYAACh0b.jpg:large
Kil Won-Ok said when freed from Japanese slavery, her county was divided into 2, Huh?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZ144MPCcAAyupP.jpg:large
Comfort Women photo of Korean war was used to accuse Japan by ROK, shading off the English signs.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BeFe4tNCQAAq7wJ.jpg:large
Mun Ok-ju made bank deposit of JPY26,145 (4 times army general’s annual income, 145 times private’s annual income, 48 times police officer’s annual income or 29 times starting annual income for a college graduate) for 2.5 years equivalent to today’s USD600,000.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Be1d_IfCYAA23kC.jpg:large
Comfort women admitted that they sold themselves Later said abducted
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZ16tMaCYAEQ0cU.jpg:large
Comfort women were recruited by private sex brokers NOT coerced by Japanese government.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BaFe9bdCMAAim-y.jpg:large

Bless you, Bless U.S.A, Bless Korea, Bless people we concern, Bless Japan.

[WSJ] Jack O’Connell Describes the Tough Days Shooting ‘Unbroken’

Jack O’Connell Describes the Tough Days Shooting ‘Unbroken’
2:52 pm ET
Dec 24, 2014
By MIKE AYERS
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/12/24/jack-o-connell-unbroken-interview/

In Angelina Jolie‘s new movie “Unbroken,” rising British actor Jack O’Connell plays Louis Zamperini, a World War II soldier whose plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean. He survived a month and a half at sea, floating on a raft in shark-infested waters, before being picked up as a prisoner of war by the Japanese. From there, he was sent to various torture camps, and made to do unthinkable things on a daily basis. Many scenes are terrifying, as well as heartbreaking; there’s one point where his punishment is being punched in the face by every other POW.

The film is an adaptation of the best-selling book of the same name and as you watch the story unfold, it’s hard to stomach that this really happened. O’Connell’s performance is riveting, and it’s his second film of 2014 that’s received acclaim; earlier this year, he was featured in an Irish-prison drama called “Starred Up,” which earned him praise for his role as Erik, a rough-and-tough inmate who has to learn the ropes of prison life rather quickly.

In 2015, O’Connell will begin shooting Jodie Foster‘s new movie “Money Monster,” which stars Julia Roberts and George Clooney. Speakeasy talked with him this week from London, where he detailed his work on “Unbroken.”

During the filming of “Unbroken,” did you figure out what was crucial to Louis’s survival?

I did the best I could. That was a key factor. One thing that he did, that we have in common, is that he had good family around him. There was always that. His endurance training and his physical training, as well as mental – he said he “always had to finish the race.”

Your body went through an intense transformation. How grueling was that?

It was arduous. Very, very arduous. Thankfully, I had professional people around. It certainly wasn’t a solo effort.

Is being very hungry while doing your job a burden?

Absolutely. The level of exertion that comes as a requirement, especially when you’re playing someone like Louis. He’s got a lot of energy, that fella. A lot of get up and go and you don’t have the calories in you to facilitate that.


Universal Pictures
When you were done wrapping the film, did you have an insane meal to celebrate?

No. I’d hoped to, but then you get advice against it because my stomach could shrink. So it wouldn’t be wise to make up for lost time. Such a shame.

I was thinking you had a pile of cheeseburgers and went to town.

It’s a cruel, cruel world we live in, mate.

Some of the most brutal scenes come when you’re being tortured. What is that experience like for an actor?

Anything like that, you have to be open to. Anything that would let you feel an affinity to the roles you’re playing is very useful. The relevance was there as soon as we woke up in the morning, feeling drained. But nothing in comparison to the reality. But still, at the end of the day, you get an insight. And you don’t feel sorry for yourself. I’m grateful to remember that going forward.


Is there a unique way that Angelina Jolie directed those torture scenes?

A lot of compassion. You never get any sort of feeling that she’s enjoying watching. She’s a very compassionate lady I felt, all around. I think her motivation with all of those scenes was to get it right for the people that did suffer.

Which would be worse for you: a plane crash, the threat of sharks eating you, or torture?

Hmm. That’s three very bleak outlooks. I’d rather have a shark try and eat me. If I don’t beat it in a fight, I can go out with a storm. I can go out swinging. A plane crash, I’m at something else’s mercy. I don’t fancy that. And if I’m tortured, I’m pretty strapped up. So, I’ll go for shark. I’d rather die on my feet.

“Unbroken” is in theaters on December 25.
-----------------------------------------------
[jamawns' comment]
-----------------------------------------------
The movie 'Unbroken' is not only fiction but also full of fabrication for anti-Japan racism, while advertising 'fact'.
1. Galil automatic rifle was released after WWII.
http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/darkm/imgs/4/a/4a4b8faa.jpg
2. You can google '双脚羊' then Translate -> English. You will find truth rather than what you like to know. This movie is not released in China, too. The culture is unique in China rather than in Japan. On the other hand, Harakiri is unique in Japan rather than in China.
3. Miyavi became Japanese singer-songwriter by naturalization. He was Korean and has had relation with Korean Residents Union in Japan which has supported this movie for Japan discount campaign. He held a concert with little audiences in Nippon Budokan, martial arts stadium or largest concert hall in Japan.
http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/hoshusokho/imgs/5/a/5a172a6b-s.jpg
(P.S.)
Have you ever learn the U.S. 'Agent Blue' and 'Depleted uranium ammunition'?
----------------------------------------------
Even though, the author Laura Hillenbrand says "nonfiction", she had never meet the main character of the story, Louis Zamperini, before publishing.
4.The leading character belonged to the Air-force and the U.S. Air-force was established on September 18, 1947 meaning after the WWII.
5.The leading character said 'harsh environment' while participating in sports festival in Oofune POW camp.
6.The leading character went to Tokyo air-raid over the Pacific while Saipan had been already occupied by the U.S.
7.In Omori POW camp Hideki Toji himself made surprise inspection of appropriate management for POWs but the book never mentioned such.
Here, 23 pictues of Omori POW camp will gives inspiration to you.
http://goo.gl/4lgk34
(P.S.)
'Clutch Of Circumstance' by Lewis William Bush is the true record.
Not available to be sold in Amazon and to be e-reviewed in Libraries.
(The reference of the Eng edition.)
http://conservative.jugem.jp/
(The e-review of the JPN edition)
http://ja.nsf.jp/novel_top.php

[WSJ] ‘Unbroken’ Review: Authentic Heroics Over the Course of Decades

‘Unbroken’ Review: Authentic Heroics Over the Course of Decades
Angelina Jolie directs an elaborate—and extended—screen version of the best-selling book.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/unbroken-review-authentic-heroics-over-the-course-of-decades-1419445010?KEYWORDS=Angelina+Jolie

By JOE MORGENSTERN
Biography
Joe.Morgenstern@wsj.com
Dec. 24, 2014 1:16 p.m. ET

A tale of endurance, “Unbroken” takes endurance to sit through. That may have been inevitable, to some degree, given the tale’s harrowing nature and its inherent lack of suspense; the title isn’t “Broken,” so there’s not much doubt of the outcome. But it’s certainly regrettable, because this long and increasingly sluggish film version of the Laura Hillenbrand book celebrates an American life of singular heroism.

MORE REVIEWS

‘Selma’
‘Big Eyes’
‘American Sniper’
The subject is Louis “Louie” Zamperini ( Jack O’Connell ), whose 93 years—he died in July—encompassed grand adventures and terrible trials. An Olympic distance runner in the 1930s and an Army Air Force bombardier in World War II, he survived a crash at sea and 47 days on a raft in the Pacific Ocean, followed by unspeakable torture at the hands of his captors in a Japanese prison camp. And that’s only the section of his life covered by the movie, which was directed by Angelina Jolie from a script by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson. They are prominent writers, all four of them, yet the screenplay views its hero from an emotional distance, with constant emphasis on his inner strength but few intimations of his deeper feelings.

“Unbroken” is pleasurably earnest for a while—Ms. Jolie is a skillful director—but then terribly repetitive within the two main settings of the story: the raft, where Louie and two crewmates struggle for survival in predictable ways during a significant part of the film’s 137-minute running time; and the prison camp, where the drama pits a weakened and emaciated Louie against a sadistic guard, Watanabe (aka “The Bird”), who is played by the Japanese singer-songwriter Miyavi.

This ostensibly unequal contest is central to the film, and profits from the malign panache of Miyavi’s performance. By focusing almost entirely on the psychopathic evil of a single individual, however, the script ignores casual outrages perpetrated by other soldiers and their superiors as a matter of course, if not explicit policy. And the director strikes a false note—then sustains it beyond endurance—when Louie, half-dead from starvation and fatigue in a Japanese labor camp, defies The Bird and saves his own life in the process by hoisting an immensely heavy timber over his head while the music swells. The scene has become the film’s iconic image, but great stories such as this one don’t need to be heightened by glib triumphalism.
--------------------
[jamawns' comment]
--------------------
The movie 'Unbroken' is not only fiction but also full of fabrication for anti-Japan racism, while advertising 'fact'.
1. Galil automatic rifle was released after WWII.
http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/darkm/imgs/4/a/4a4b8faa.jpg
2. You can google '双脚羊' then Translate -> English. You will find truth rather than what you like to know. This movie is not released in China, too. The culture is unique in China rather than in Japan. On the other hand, Harakiri is unique in Japan rather than in China.
3. Miyavi became Japanese singer-songwriter by naturalization. He was Korean and has had relation with Korean Residents Union in Japan which has supported this movie for Japan discount campaign. He held a concert with little audiences in Nippon Budokan, martial arts stadium or largest concert hall in Japan.
http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/hoshusokho/imgs/5/a/5a172a6b-s.jpg
(P.S.)
Have you ever learn the U.S. 'Agent Blue' and 'Depleted uranium ammunition'?
------------------
Even though, the author Laura Hillenbrand says "nonfiction", she had never meet the main character of the story, Louis Zamperini, before publishing.
4.The leading character belonged to the Air-force and the U.S. Air-force was established on September 18, 1947 meaning after the WWII.
5.The leading character said 'harsh environment' while participating in sports festival in Oofune POW camp.
6.The leading character went to Tokyo air-raid over the Pacific while Saipan had been already occupied by the U.S.
7.In Omori POW camp Hideki Toji himself made surprise inspection of appropriate management for POWs but the book never mentioned such.
Here, 23 pictues of Omori POW camp will gives inspiration to you.
http://goo.gl/4lgk34
(P.S.)
'Clutch Of Circumstance' by Lewis William Bush is the true record.
Not available to be sold in Amazon and to be e-reviewed in Libraries.
(The reference of the Eng edition.)
http://conservative.jugem.jp/
(The e-review of the JPN edition)
http://ja.nsf.jp/novel_top.php

[WSJ] Happy Birthday, Emperor

Happy Birthday, Emperor
EMPEROR AKIHITO
7:13 am JST
Dec 23, 2014
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/12/23/happy-birthday-emperor-3/

Japan Real Time is off celebrating a national holiday to mark the 81st birthday of Emperor Akihito, pictured here after a welcoming ceremony of U.S. President Barack Obama at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in April. JRT will resume regular blogging service Dec. 24.

------------------
[jamawns' comment]
------------------
According to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency as well as Guinness world record, Japan 660 B.C. (traditional founding by Emperor JIMMU) is the oldest among World Kingdoms, Nations and Empires. EMPEROR AKIHITO is the 125th Emperor of Japan.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2088.html
Protocol tells us 皇帝（emperor）≧法王（Pope）>王様（king）> 大統領（president）>首相（premier）.
May Peace Prevail On Earth.

[WSJ] Nicaragua Starts Canal as Critics Lambaste It

Nicaragua Starts Canal as Critics Lambaste It
A Chinese-led Consortium Began Work on a Controversial Canal across Nicaragua that Critics Dismiss as Economically and Environmentally Unsound

http://goo.gl/yy5AQb

By JOSÉ DE CÓRDOBA
Updated Dec. 22, 2014 8:41 p.m. ET

A Chinese-led consortium began construction work on a controversial canal across Nicaragua that backers say will rival the Panama Canal but which critics say is economically unfeasible—with its $50 billion price tag—and environmentally disastrous.

The ceremony was more show than substance—held to officially begin work on an access road aimed at paving the way for heavy machinery to begin digging out the proposed 172-mile waterway. A top aide to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega recently said the start of the canal work would be a “Christmas present” to the Nicaraguan people.

“This moment will surely be inscribed in history,” said Wang Jing, a little-known Chinese telecommunications executive who would oversee the project and round up the financing.

Nicaraguans waved blue and white flags and shouted out “Daniel, Daniel,” after Mr. Ortega.

Nicaraguan government officials have said the canal will be the engine that lifts the country out of poverty. Mr. Ortega has said the canal will make Nicaragua the richest country in Central America.

The canal is supposed to run from Brito, a hamlet on a beach on the country’s Pacific coast, cross Lake Nicaragua, the largest freshwater reservoir in Central America, and then cross mountains and rain forest before finishing at the mount of the Punta Gorda River in the Atlantic Ocean.

The project also envisions building two deep-water ports, a free-trade zone, as well as an airport and luxury tourism developments complete with golf courses along the canal’s route.

But from its inception, the canal, which will be designed to giant transport ships that can handle up to 25,000 containers, has been controversial.

Many Nicaraguans have protested the terms of the contract, which grant Mr. Jing a 50-year renewable concession. Thousands of Nicaraguans on the canal’s route, fearful they will be forced out of their lands, have marched in protests across the country.

“They never had a referendum, they consulted nobody. They did it because they could,” said Octavio Ortega, one of the leaders of the anticanal movement. “We are being colonized by the Chinese!”

Many economic analysts believe the canal is unfeasible and will never be built, or worse, could end up half built as funding runs out.

“It’s a gigantic white elephant,” said Jean-Paul Rodrigue, a transportation expert at Hofstra University. Neither the Nicaraguan government nor Mr. Jing’s Hong-Kong based HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co., known as the HKND Group, has said where it expects to get the financing.

Canal spokesman Telémaco Talavera said the financial information will be known in due time. “The information will be made public,” said Mr. Talavera, declining to give any other details. “We have met with potential investors from all over the world.”

Building a canal through Nicaragua has been a national dream since before the first government contract was awarded for a canal in 1825. But all attempts to do so have come to naught.

In 1902, Panama beat rival Nicaragua when a proponent of the Panama project sent U.S. senators a stamp showing Nicaragua’s Momotombo volcano spouting smoke. The spooked senators voted for Panama.

Mr. Rodrigue, the infrastructure expert, says he didn’t believe the canal would be able to compete with an expanded Panama Canal, whose new set of locks is expected to be operational by 2016 and will be able to handle ships carrying up to 12,000 containers. Neither does he expect Mr. Jing will be able to raise the financing.

Indeed Mr. Rodrigue believes the canal project is really a cover to build extensive real-estate developments along its route.

“You sell the country a big dream, you get an open door and you score big with real-estate development,” he said. “The great majority of the project that has been shown by Chinese developers are real-estate projects. They seem to be using the canal as an excuse to sell real-estate projects, golf courses, and hotels.”

While Mr. Rodrigue doesn’t believe the canal will be built, he is more optimistic that new ports, especially on Nicaragua’s Pacific coast, as well as an airport may be constructed as a result of the canal project.

Environmental experts fear the canal will be an environmental disaster which could destroy the Lake Nicaragua, the largest source of fresh water in the region.

Mr. Talavera said studies made by HKND show the construction of the canal won’t harm the lake. But the consortium hasn't yet released any environmental impact study.

Critics of the canal say both the company and the Nicaraguan government have been secretive about the project. Pedro Álvarez, chair of the civil and environmental engineering department at Rice University, said no company representatives went to a meeting held recently by leading scientists to discuss potential issues with Lake Nicaragua.

Mr. Álvarez said that a canal through the lake would require constant dredging which could turn the canal into a “dead zone” killing off many fish species. Spills are another concern, as is the ability of maintaining water levels as global warning worsens, he said.

“There are lots of technical and scientific issues one has to think of to avoid unintended consequences,” he said. “They have not completed or released an environmental study and that goes against best international practices.”

Mr. Talavera said the environmental scientists’ doubts are based on theories, while studies conducted for the company have “hundreds of thousands of facts” which are allowing it to take preventive measures to assure the environmental safety of the lake and the canal itself.

Write to José de Córdoba at jose.decordoba@wsj.com
-----------------------
[jamawns' comment]
-----------------------
Who had evaluated such the historically important National project?
Did the authority to decide choose personal interest rather than national interest?
'YAMAHA' made in JAPAN.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8346QHp6kz4
'???' made in PRC (People's Republic of China)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmnqgiffXQo
Made in China and Made in Germany
http://data.daryo.net/assets/daryo.com/1kWG_Lj4L.jpg
----------------------
[Chinese hamburger ]
1/3: http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/hatima/imgs/b/9/b9ab6204-s.jpg
2/3: http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/hatima/imgs/3/6/364a9455-s.jpg
3/3: http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/hatima/imgs/e/e/eecce813-s.jpg

[Chinese sandwich]
1/2: http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/hatima/imgs/1/a/1a02dbaa.jpg
2/2: http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/hatima/imgs/1/4/14d64068.jpg
----------------------
[Environmental crises and tragedies in China]
There are numerous. Please google.
http://asiareaction.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-200.html
http://ameblo.jp/margarita01/entry-10207915776.html

Nicaragua is about to follow Chinese examples.

[WP] ‘Unbroken’ movie review: Angelina Jolie spins Louis Zamperini’s World War II tale

‘Unbroken’ movie review: Angelina Jolie spins Louis Zamperini’s World War II tale
By Michael O'Sullivan December 22
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/unbroken-movie-review-angelina-jolie-spins-louis-zamperinis-world-war-ii-tale/2014/12/22/1eee49fe-86f7-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html

The most surprising thing about the sturdy, if slightly starchy, storytelling of “Unbroken” is that it comes courtesy of director Angelina Jolie, an artist never known for constraint in front of the camera. The actress’s sophomore effort as a feature filmmaker, after 2011’s “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” is impeccably acted, handsomely filmed and written, with a lean muscularity, by a quartet of heavyweights including Joel and Ethan Coen (“Inside Llewyn Davis”), Richard LaGravenese (“Behind the Candelabra”) and William Nicholson (“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”).

But it is also stiff-legged, if not exactly stodgy. It struggles to break out of the pack of prestigious, awards-season films in which it hunts.

Based on Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 bestseller about Olympic runner Louis Zamperini, who was held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II, the film is stirring when it needs to be, and often even thrilling. The scenes of aerial combat that open the film and, later, those set at sea, where Louis, a bombardier, spent more than six weeks on a raft after his B-24 crashed in the Pacific, are particularly gripping. The main body of the tale, which concerns Louis’s torture at the hands of a sadistic prison commander — played with creepy, almost psychotic intensity, by Japanese rock star Takamasa Ishihara, who performs under the name Miyavi — is even more harrowing.

At the same time, Jolie’s approach to the enterprise is unexpectedly by-the-book. The score by Alexandre Desplat (who also worked, this year alone, on “The Imitation Game,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel” “Godzilla,” and “The Monuments Men”) is effective, yet vaguely mushy. It sounds like the button-pushing aural backdrop to any number of other poignant period films. One scene near the end — in which Louis is forced to carry a heavy beam on his shoulders, making him look like Christ on the cross — makes such an obvious allusion to a crucifix shown early in the film that it’s borderline cloying.

As Louis, the English-Irish actor Jack O’Connell is pretty great, both at evoking the character’s suffering and at rendering Louis’s adamantine, even impossible, will to survive in the face of great misfortune and cruelty. Enduring 47 days on a raft — during which time he and two other downed crew members (Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock) managed, mostly, to live on fish, seagull and shark meat — would be substance enough for one film. Yet Louis’s ordeal is only beginning when he is found, half dead, by the Japanese.


Produced and directed by Angelina Jolie, "Unbroken" tells the dramatic story of Louis Zamperini (played by Jack O'Connell), an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II. (Universal)
Jolie is no slouch as a filmmaker. Aided by the Coen brothers’ go-to cinematographer Roger Deakins, whose credits stretch from beyond the gritty 1986 “Sid and Nancy” to last year’s eerie and underappreciated “Prisoners,” she has limned Zamperini’s real-life tale with a kind of begrimed beauty and painful power.

The truest testament to the film’s strength is the degree to which it all but achieves greatness.


One can’t help but wish that “Unbroken” was a bit less reverent about its subject. Sourness for the sake of sourness isn’t what’s needed here. “Unbroken” may not exactly be mired in sanctimony, but it’s standing, almost up to its ankles, in an unhealthy sense that its subject — about whose simple humanity the film otherwise goes to great lengths to illuminate — is a candidate for sainthood.

★ ★ ★

PG-13. At area theaters. Contains violence, some coarse language and brief nudity. 137 minutes.


Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Michael O’Sullivan has worked since 1993 at The Washington Post, where he covers art, film and other forms of popular — and unpopular — culture.

-------------------
[jamawns' commnet]
-------------------
The movie 'Unbroken' is not only fiction but also full of fabrication for anti-Japan racism, while advertising 'nonfiction'.
1. Galil automatic rifle was released after WWII.
http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/darkm/imgs/4/a/4a4b8f...
2. You can google '双脚羊' then Translate -> English. You will find truth rather than what you like to know. This movie is not released in China, too. The culture is unique in China rather than in Japan. On the other hand, Harakiri is unique in Japan rather than in China.
3. Miyavi became Japanese singer-songwriter by naturalization. He was Korean and has had relation with Korean Residents Union in Japan which has supported this movie for Japan discount campaign. He held a concert with little audiences in Nippon Budokan, martial arts stadium or largest concert hall in Japan.
http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/darkm/imgs/4/a/4a4b8faa.jpg
(P.S.)
Have you ever learned the U.S. 'Agent Blue' and 'Depleted uranium ammunition'?
----------------
Even though, the author Laura Hillenbrand says "nonfiction", she had never meet the main character of the story, Louis Zamperini, before publishing.
4.The leading character belonged to the Air-force and the U.S. Air-force was established on September 18, 1947 meaning after the WWII.
5.The leading character said 'harsh environment' while participating in sports festival in Oofune POW camp.
6.The leading character went to Tokyo air-raid over the Pacific while Saipan had been already occupied by the U.S.
7.In Omori POW camp Hideki Toji himself made surprise inspection of appropriate management for POWs but the book never mentioned such.
Here, 23 pictues of Omori POW camp will gives inspiration to you.
http://goo.gl/4lgk34
(P.S.)
'Clutch Of Circumstance' by Lewis William Bush is the true record.
Not available to be sold in Amazon and to be e-reviewed in Libraries.
(The reference of the Eng edition.)
http://conservative.jugem.jp/
(The e-review of the JPN edition)
http://ja.nsf.jp/novel_top.php

[Al Jazeera] US will not back Palestinian UN resolution

US will not back Palestinian UN resolution
State Department says Washington will not support motion that sets late 2017 deadline for Israel's occupation.
Last updated: 19 Dec 2014 01:03

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/12/us-palestinian-un-resolution-20141218234156118434.html

The United States will not support the current resolution put forward by the Palestinians setting the terms of a peace deal with Israel, a US official said.

Washington has seen the text of a draft resolution circulating in the UN Security Council and "it is not something that we would support," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday.

"We think others feel the same and we are calling for further consultations. The Palestinians understand that."

The resolution, submitted to the Security Council by Jordan on behalf of the Palestinians, would set a 12-month timeline for wrapping up peace negotiations and a late 2017 deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands.

"We wouldn't support any action that would prejudge the outcome of the negotiations or would set a specific deadline for withdrawal of security forces," Psaki said.


Jordan submitted the resolution after lengthy discussions at the UN headquarters
Meanwhile in Ramallah, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said that he supports further negotiations on the proposed resolution.

As a permanent council member, US has often vetoed measures targeting Israel.

Palestinians seek statehood in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and blockaded Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as their capital - lands captured by Israel in a 1967 war.

The draft resolution states that a negotiated solution should be based on several parameters including the 1967 borders, security agreements, and "Jerusalem as the shared capital of the two States which fulfills the legitimate aspirations of both parties and protects freedom of worship."

The text also "calls upon both parties to abstain from any unilateral and illegal actions, including settlement activities, that could undermine the viability of a two-state solution."

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he believed that the majority of the Security Council members "understand that this resolution is very, very counterproductive".

Source: Agencies
---------------------------
[jamawns' comment]
---------------------------
It is acceptable for US to exit, but UK must be involved.
In addition, UN dragged by Islamic nations must govern on area for rule of law by collective security in order to prohibit prevailing rule of fear and violence. Are Islamic nations enough capable to do so? Anyways, Islamic nations must show their will strongly and stably. It's time to address how Islam contributes to world peaces.
--------------------
UK League must be involved in to settle the issue completely and finally.
Israel invaded Palestine, that's the bottom line. Israel and Palestine must keep promise of the road map on 2003.
At the same time, ISIS must be destroyed.
This is not only that Muslims kill Muslims issue and also that terrorists kill citizens issue.
All the Islamic countries must show your attitude.
All the Islamic leaders must address their interpreting Islamic law toward such tragedies.
All the Islamic leader have full of responsibilities because terrorists or believers such as Taliban, ISIS, Hamas, Boko Haram only listen to the Islamic leaders and never to the rule of law.
--------------------
Anyways, Islamic nations and Islamic leaders should make a quick response to the U.S. action in order to settle the issue peacefully.
-------------------
I believe Hamas should disarm itself. Palestine had the way to be a country such as Luxembourg as not only Islamic nations would support Palestine.