Kim Bum Soo - 보고싶다

Miss You!

Crying Nuts - 써커스 매직 유랑단 Circus Magic

Perspectives

BAD DOG

"Why d¡d you bite the hand that feeds you?" Yells President Roh Mo-hyun at North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. (English Chosun, 19 July 2006)

Con·ser·va·tive
(adj.) Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change;
Traditional or restrained in style; a conservative dark suit.

(n.) One favoring traditional views and values.

What's wrong with this guy?

Kim Jong-il is out on a limb, so to speak, as he tries to avoid rising floodwaters. Bush and Koizumi are hacking away at the flood barrier when Bush turns to ask Roh Moo-hyun, "Hey, what are you doing just standing there?" (Hankyoreh Geurimpan, 20 July 2006)

Pro·gres·sive
(adj.) Moving forward; advancing; Proceeding in steps; continuing steadily by increments; progressive change.

(n.) A person who actively favors or strives for progress toward better conditions, as in society or government.

In Lebanon, Massive Evacuation Plan

Goes into effect as more than 20,000 Canadians gather near the port of Beirut to board ships. Eight Canadian Killed by a Bomb Blast last Sunday, July 16th in Israeli airstrike, as Israel continued its attacks on Hezbollah bases in Lebannon, following the killing of eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapping of two soldiers.

Middle East Conflicts seems far from the solution. Conflicts have been going on for decades. It seems endless. This bloody game is still going on.

Terrorists attack Israel.













Israel Retaliates.













Only innocent people get hurts from both side.














Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinians have a long history of conflict. Here are some of the major flare ups:

1969: Lebanon allows Palestinians in Lebanon to "join in armed struggle." Agreement stays in place until 1987.
1970-1971: PLO moves its base from Jordan to Lebanon.
April 1973: Israeli commandos kill three PLO leaders in Beirut.
1975: Civil war breaks out in Lebanon, lasts nearly 15 years.
1978: Israel establishes a 12-mile-wide "security zone" with Lebanon.
September 1978: Israel and Egypt agree to a peace treaty.
July 17, 1981: A U.S.-brokered ceasefire is signed by Israel, the PLO and Syria.
1982: Ceasefire ends. Hezbollah, a fundamentalist Shiite Muslim terrorist group, emerges.
Oct. 23, 1983: Hezbollah suicide bomber blows up the headquarters of U.S. Marine and French forces in Beirut, killing 298.
June 1985: Israel withdraws from Lebanon but keeps control of security zone.
July 1993: Israel attacks southern Lebanon.
April 1996: Israel and Hezbollah engage in a 16-day battle, in which at least 137 people are killed.
May 2000: Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon.
July 2006: Hezbollah fighters enter Israel, kill three Israeli soldiers and kidnap two others in a bid to negotiate a prisoner exchange, a demand rebuffed by Israel.

There will never be peace there, as long as there's people who think that they are better than the others. The conflicts going to go on forever. There is NO Right or Wrong side. There are only right and wrong actions which exist on both sides.

Pictures also ripped from here and here.

Where is the Love?

By Black Eyed Peas & clips from "CRASH"

Quote of The Day

from crisscross.jp

" One of the girls in my class wears her skirts provocatively
short. I spoke to her mother, hinting she might want to do something about this. The mother said, 'Don't you teachers like to look at
girls in short skirts?' "

A senior high-school teacher in Aichi Prefecture, answering a Shukan Bunshun poll of 1,000 teachers across the country, asking them to describe the worst parents they have dealt with.

And comments on this quote started with...

bad cultural influence
rjd 0 Goals 0 Favorites (Jul 18 2006 - 04:21) Rate Post

These house wives are spending way too much time watching t.v. and browsing the een-tahh-neh-to. Some of these families need to open their eyes and realize the negative influence of the immoral western culture is having on Japanese culture, LOL.

Other side goes this way...
rjd
katsuramen 1 Goals 0 Favorites (Jul 18 2006 - 08:13) Rate Post

Get it out of your head. It's not western culture that causes this. I am so sick of seeing this statement made. As if Japan is lilly white innocent. Girls in Japan have been wearing short skirts since babyhood. Japan has it's own culture of clothes worn to fancy men. Has nothing to do with western culture. Stop blaming the west for everything.

And A Japanese view goes like...
Nuts Kashii

kimigano 0 Goals 8 Favorites (Jul 18 2006 - 09:51) Rate Post
As a Japanese person, I can tell you it's Western influence that causes these problems. It bashes Japan (and is essentially racist) to claim that Japan caused these things herself.

And An American has a view like...

kimigano
smichael888 0 Goals 0 Favorites (Jul 18 2006 - 11:00)Rate Post
Sorry but that simply isn't true.As Nuts Kashii says read up on Japanese pornography. You'll get a surprise.Study the behavior of the Samurai compare the pattern of modern advertising magazines and manga. They are very much a part of Japanese culture and do not compare directly with Westernculture at all. The constant emphasis is on youth innocence and kawaii.Other cultures admire youth-example US cheer leaders- but not in quite the same way as Japan.Add to this the fact that many Japanese look much younger than they really are and it is easy to present a fully mature adult in a very youthful way.This done all the time to satisfy Japanese cutural norms schoolgirls follow this culture and to some extent help to form it.The development of this form of presentation to refined levels and in the mainstream of Japanese culture is unique and a product of Japanese history and thinking.A lot of questions would be asked in the West if the 711s carried pictures that look like pubescent teens in provocative styled school clothing on the front of a magazine. The fact these woman are older than they look does not detract from the fantasy being sold and points to what many Japanese men enjoy viewing and think about.

Want to read the rest comments on this quote.

Image ripped from here

No Brain - 바다 사나이 Marine boy

A Poll Preemptive Strike On NK

This was interesting poll conducted by Cisscross Japan. The site conducted a poll from viewers on "NK missile crisis".

A Poll asked "Do you support a preemptive U.S. military strike against North Korea?". The result was as follow but my question still arose, why it asked "U.S military strike" instead of "Japan Military strike"...

-----------------------
Do you support a preemptive U.S. military strike against North Korea?
This poll began on July 8, 2006
"No" - > 619 votes (60.9%)
"Yes" -> 397 votes (39.1%)
Total: 1016 votes
Crisscross Discussion
----------------------

I would like give my credits to this viewer saying;

Funny

soundwave00 0 Goals 0
Favorites (Jul 11 2006 - 19:18) Rate Post
It seems Japan is the one who wants to do Preemptive strike, not the US. The US seems content with cutting off N Korea`s allowance(sanctions,etc) while Japan is trying to figure out how to attack NK without violating the anti military action law from WW2. Who better to do that
then coercing a foreign military who already have a gripe with the offending country. So now, they turn to the people they protest and complain about every chance they get.
Shrewd businessmen as always.

Crying Nuts - 말 달리자

Let's ride!!

What?

North Korea demanded more and more, as usual, during this inter-Korean ministerial meeting in Busan. According to Chosun ilbo,

North Korea’s Senior Cabinet Counselor Kwon Ho-ung in his keynote speech hailed the impoverished country’s “Songun” or military-first ideology, which he claimed was helping the South protect its security and benefited “a vast majority” of South Koreans....

...To depend his position..., Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok gave short shrift to Kwon¡¯s claims for the Songun policy. "Has anyone in the South asked the North to protect our safety?" he demanded. "North Korea can help us protect our security when it stops launching missiles and dismantles its nuclear program".

And North Korean just left the table, as usual.

My first reaction was just WTF, instantly, when I read this article....Where is our own strength over North Korea? I really want claim back my vote that I made over Uri. Dang and Roh, hoping for a wind of change in Korea. The wind blew back to Korea as a dust wind worst than "yellow dust" from China. Damn..

Cartoon ripped from here and each box translate as follow

1) Busan South-North Film Festival
2) Lee Jong-suk the friendly.
3) The South is safe thanks to “Good Military Politics” (says the North)
4) So, take care of your own business! (the North)

Lee Ssang - Lee Ssang Blues

To be, or Not to be

A bit heated debate is running over Crisscross News Japan, in which this picture of billboard, Sony has pulled this Dutch billboard ad for the new white version of its PlayStation Portable game console, is racist or not.

To me, this ad is a bit offensive billboard ad with contrast between black and white. The ad copy "Portable white is coming" makes the picture more offensive. And I'm sure this ad campaign created more than one picture and targeted only for European market, or for Japan and other Asian market, otherwise it would be very controversial ad in North American (Canada & U.S.) market.

But same questions has risen as others did on the board. What if it was a white model grabbing another white model exactly the same pose? What if it was a white model caressing by a black model? What if it was white male model with black male model, or female...What if? What if?

And it wouldn't give any attention to the public audiences if the actual "White" & "Black" portable playstaion (PSP) shown on the board, definitely.

Sushi

I love Sushi, in fact who wouldn't fall in love with the taste of Sushi? I was told by a Japanese friend that it may take several years to enjoy the true taste of sushi and appreciation of taste is also taken very seriously in Japan. And also it would be a life time adventures to quests all different kinds of sushi in different regions of Japan. I was lucky to learn the basic mechanics of eating sushi in easy way while I stayed in Japan.

So do not intimidate. These are the basic of basics.

First of all, Sushi is categorized by how it is prepared. And basically there is two type of Sushi.

Maki sushi: rolls of raw fish or vegetable and rice wrapped in seaweed and cut into bite-sized rounds.

Nigiri sushi: sliced raw fish (or cooked shrimp, crab, or egg) that is pressed over a pad of rice.

The sushi will be served garnished with slices of pickled ginger and wasabi, a spicy, green condiment and pickled ginger. The ginger is intended to refresh the palate to better appreciate the delicate flavors of the fresh, raw fish.
1. Pour a small amount of soy sauce in the small dish that should be provided.
2. Mix in a small amount of wasabi in the soy sauce, if you wish. Some Japanese would consider this bad form as some sushi already has wasabi in it between the fish and the rice. Outside of Japan, however, this is a common practice, I think.
3. Hold sushi with either chopsticks or your fingers.
4. Dip sushi into the soy sauce.
5. Nigiri sushi should be dipped into the soy sauce fish side down.
6. Maki sushi should be dipped seaweed side down. This keeps the rice from getting too wet and falling apart. Depending on the size of the piece it can be eaten one to three bites.

That's all about Sushi that I know from my little knowledge.

Japundit also has posted very good and detailed pieces for starters on Noriko Takiguchi's How to eat Sushi properly and Sushi do, sushi don’t . As always Wikipedia has detailed infor. of A to Z about Sushi.

Sushi Anyone?

Forest Saved

The citizens of Coquitlam practiced the power of voice in right way to save the forest, Walton Woods. The tri-city news reports that the voices won over Coquitlam city council this week to save a strip of forest from being razed for new homes. This forest, Walton Woods, is also home to the “Coquitlam Giant,” a 200-foot Douglas Fir tree.

North Korean Missile Launches...Again..

Nothing has changed...The Leaders and Military of NK are really good at this game of intimidation, bluff and misdirection. North Korea will gain what they want and yet they will continue to obscure their activities and do what they like.

Cartoons from here and here

Something About Asiaphiles

" OK, I'm all for racially mixed couples but there's something about asiaphiles that gets to me. There is definitely a group of white guys out there who have an unnatural love for Asian women. Check out this guy for instance"...continue to read


*this post and cartoon stolen from Secret Asian Man