Monday, October 04, 2010

So Much for the Fourth International…

The Japanese Communist Party has come out with its official response to the Senkaku Islands incident, and you only need to know the title of the document to understand where the JCP’s sentiments lie:
The Senkaku Islands Issue: Japan Territorial Possession Is Justified Both Historically and Under International Law[so there!]
So I guess my question is: Will Sapio print the document word for word?*

Oh well, so much for the Fourth International.

Yes, I’m aware that the fraternal animosity goes back some ways. That said, note also that the subtitle of the latest JCP outburst contains the word 大義, or “Noble Cause,” a word with historic resonance, a word that reminds me of the less democratic times of the period after the Meiji Restoration and the unconditional surrender in WW II. The appeal to nationalism draws an interesting parallel to China’s more elaborate and effective efforts.
* According to Sankei, in what must be a first for the conservative news group to approvingly reference the JCP, the JCP is going to translate its statement and pass out copies to the foreign embassies in Tokyo.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do wonder, do they have any views on the other territorial issues that Japn is faced with after that unconditional surrender...

And what do they think of the Sea of Japan name issue?

In Sweden we call the ocean to the right, Östersjön, "the sea of the east" while in English it is called of course the Baltic Sea.

What do the Chinese call it?

Anonymous said...

the chinese call the sea to its east the 'the east sea' and the sea to its south 'the south sea'. only westerners inserted the word 'chinese' in between the 2 characters. you know china literally in chinese means "central country" (middle kingdom is mistranslated by westerner as well) so it is redundant to call it, eg, "south of the central country sea".

china and chinese people have no position on the japan sea/east sea issue. since the russian got outer manchuria china lost access to that sea and before russian grab the area it was largely uninhabited.

though i guess it certainly would cause confusion as china already got an "east sea" for its own.

Jun Okumura said...

Any I: I don’t think they really care, though Hu Jintao did team up with Vladimir Putin the other day to shore up their respective claims on territory disputed with Japan. (It helps they settled their own territorial dispute along the Yalu River some years ago.)

Any II: Thanks for your answer to the other question.

So I guess my question is: What do the Russians call the Sea of Japan?

Sun Bin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sun Bin said...

(i am anon II)

http://xinwen.1696.jp/images/10/09/19/8wurd5hr21/12b2918be2a.jpg

i just came across this Qing (qianlong era) map calling the "sea of Japan" "the Sea of Great Qing", the map most likely is commissioned by the emperor and drawn by european missionaries.
the east sea+yellow sea were call the "Emperor Sea" (emperor and yellow are of the same/similar pronunciation in some chinese dialects).

-- again, i doubt if anyone knows or cares much about this now.

Jun Okumura said...

I'm trying to make out the Senkakus...

Anonymous said...

http://baike.baidu.com/image/fab3ac1111387e54ca80c4f3

this one show Sea of Japan. an illustration of how maps made by individuals differed in the old China.

Jun Okumura said...

Thanks for the map, Sun Bin. I’m sure that it will please the Sapio crowd no end. That said, my take is that these and other old maps from most of human history, when dynasties generally held sway over shifting webs of allegiances with varying degrees of influence over peoples and land, are not very informative when it comes to assigning territorial claims to nation states, which attempt to lay enduring claim to geography and population regardless of regime change.

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Anonymous said...

With Sweden Diablo 3 Gold kaufenmany of us call the sea on the right, ?stersj?n, "the seashore with the east" when it is in The english languageDiablo 3 items stage system obviously your Baltic Sea.