Last year, I was given a chance for the first time to give a lecture in our university about the history of Japan-Korea relationship. Our lesson put emphasis on the history of Chosun and Korea starting from the end of Chosun-era to the colonial period, in other words, the modern history of Japan-Korea from the middle of 19thcentury to the middle of 20th century. This period was a turning point for both Japan and Korea in the sense that both countries had to open to the world under the influence of great powers in Europe.  At the same time, this period was the start of the “modern period” in East Asia. The modern period in Japan and Korea was formed through the period of imperialism based on “empires / colonies” and it was a primary factor that gave rise to the spirit of nationalism of both countries in the fields of diplomacy and education. When I was given a chance to give a lesson in our university in Japan, I had a question, which came across in my mind first, what and how university students in Japan know and understand such past history.   When I start my class, I always asked the students first why they receive my lesson. Most students replied that they like to know more about Korea by the reason of such a boom of Korea wave or they have just visited Korea. There were some exchange students who recently visited Korean universities and I wanted to hear impressions of the student life in Korea.   There was one student who received my class lesson from a different viewpoint  He said “I joined this class because I am interested in a phenomenon of ‘hate-speech’ in Japan against foreigners.” According to him, he cannot understand the logic of people who make a ‘hate-speech’ and he likes to study Korea’s modern history by himself.   There was a Korean exchange student, whom. I asked to give me his written impression or question about my lesson. He gave me his written impression saying that he recalled every time the class of “national history” in his high-school time or he was not fully satisfied with my explanation. He seemed to have attended a class for other foreign exchange students about the modern history of East Asia. One day, he appealed to me that the explanation about modern history of Korea at that class was insufficient and he was afraid of giving other exchange students a false impression. I do not say that I cannot understand him but I was a little worried about what makes him so concerned. I tried to relieve him from his doubts by raising the issue of “image of history” which I have emphasized at my first lesson.   A concept of “image of history” is quoted from a book written by Ryuichi Narita, a Japanese historian. Mr. Narita wrote “When we think of history, we select a certain occurrence basing on a certain understanding, and explain and write it having a certain meaning on it. We call it ‘ image of history’ in this book.” (“Modern and Current Japanese History and Historical Science – a rewritten past” Ryuichi Narita) (Chu-ou Shinsho, 21012) page ii) Such explanation about “image of history” is quite normal for the people who study history. (I did not major in history but I majored in literature and thought adjoining history) Ordinary people think that studying history is to study or to remember historical facts. But a concept of “image of history” gives such people different viewpoints. Especially, I think it is useful for university students in terms of flexible thinking. When people face history, it is necessary for them to realize that selecting a certain occurrence should be based on their own viewpoint. And it is necessary also to have certain appropriateness which can persuade others. Those are presuppositions of a concept of “ image of history”.   Such a way of thinking contains a tolerance of different viewpoints. In other words, there exist, to begin with, various viewpoints and understandings for any occurrence in the world. It makes possible by an image for differences. And such an image for any differences does not come from simple and empty situation. It makes possible first by having definite knowledge about a certain occurrence. By such a knowledge, people can image their own viewpoint and their viewpoints become persuasive. I would like my students to understand, even just a little bit, imaginative power which comes from “image of history” and to suspect their attitude which they try to understand their own history and society, which they are taking part in, having their own viewpoint. This is an ultimate objective of my lesson and task hereafter.   It seemed the Korean student, mentioned above, did not satisfy my principle. He might be satisfied if I could explain concretely referring to persuasive historical documents. It might be possible if I could explain using ample volume of knowledge and refined discourse. However, by only my explanation by concrete knowledge, we might not be accepted each other at ultimate level.  I think there exists only “an attitude and a trial which like to understand each other” amid friction of misunderstanding and different opinions.  An attitude which seemed to come from gloomy feeling of this Korean exchange student may be on the stage of such understanding and trial.   There are certain differences in the writings of impression of the first and the second term.  At first, they raised questions about historical facts or they just summarized my lessons. And lastly, they gave their opinions referring to some materials. For example, a student wrote about cruelty under colonial rule. Another student wrote about economic progress in colonial time of Korea referring to statistical materials. It was my pleasure to have seen such change of attitudes that they have tried to write their own viewpoints basing on some materials apart from its historical meaning.   This year is the 70th anniversary for Japan from the Post-war period.  At the same time, it is the 50th anniversary for both Japan and Korea for their normalization of friendship. It is sure scholars of both countries have deepened their understanding through their interchange during this half century. On the other hand, there still exists strong atmosphere of nationalism at the level of ordinary people. When students of both countries have different and various attitudes and imagination having their own “image of history”, social atmosphere may change after 50 or 70 years later. There may be a different atmosphere which accepts different viewpoint with breadth of mind rather than the present nationalistic viewpoint which tries to unify present thought about not only Japan-Korea relation but issues of East Asia.   (Project Researcher, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo)   Translated by Kazuo Kawamura English checked by Mac Maquito   SGRA Kawaraban 459 in Japanese (original)  

All Japanese friends of mine, who are living overseas and travel to Japan for temporary visit, say that it is very cold in winter and hard to live in Japan. Though they are living in countries or areas colder than Japan, they say that Japanese houses (mainly their parents’ houses) are cold. I had assumed that everybody enjoy “Kotatsu de Mikan“ (taking a tangerine at Japanese foot warmer with a quilt over it). But this was not true. The countries where my friends are living are colder than Japan in winter, but they say whole houses there are kept warm. It is different from Japan where once they go out of a heated room, they have to walk through a cold passage and go to a cold lavatory. I remember it is colder in Beijing, where I have been living, in winter than in Japan, but it is too warm inside the room. In Japan, home appliances are developing day by day and new technologies are being applied one after another. Why are Japanese houses kept cold ?   According to my friend who returned from New York for a temporary visit, the owner of an apartment house has to keep his house over 20℃ as ordained by the state law of New York when outside temperature falls below 10℃ in winter (from October to May). And heating cost is included in the house rent. He praised highly that whole houses are already heated by central heating system when he comes home. I was surprised that such systems are ordained by law. I checked other cold areas neighboring New York and found that there are similar regulations for minimum temperature of houses not only in the states of the east coast of America but in Canada and England also. Such laws are passed considering the health of the population. There is no such regulation in Japan.   I thought I have found a pitfall of Japan where infrastructures are well-regulated and everything are completed. We can see television programs on health every-day and people are actually keenly interested in health issues. But it is still cold in houses in Japan.We hear the news very often that an aged person has died of heart attack in the bathroom or in the changing room. The cause of the heart attack is called “heat-shock” which is a physical condition resulting from a sudden change in temperature which happens when, after soaking in a heated bathtub, the bather goes out to the cold changing room. According to a report of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, it is estimated that more than 19,000 people have died yearly while taking a bath.   To avoid such accident, Japanese homes in winter should be changed. A thermalization (insulation) of Japanese houses should be required by regulations as in western countries. As costs of light and fuel are high in Japan, devices for controlling home temperature will be necessary. I guess the aged in Japan are hardy and can survive being cold a little. It is meaningless if they do not use heating appliances despite being provided. Above all, differences in temperature among rooms in houses are dangerous. It is important to keep temperature in each room at certain level. They say ”heat-shock” are scarce in Hokkaido where rooms are kept warm.   I think they should bring in easier style of living in winter and improve their styles. By doing so, the aged in Japan can be protected and decrease of population shall be moderated. There are a lot of health freaks in Japan which is said to be an advanced country. It is regrettable to lose a lot of lives too quick in every winter by such accident which can be prevented.   (A full-time lecturer, Kyoai Gakuen University)   Translated by Kazuo Kawamura English checked by Mac Maquito     SGRA Kawaraban 449 in Japanese (original)

I learned a word “Madei” for the first time. This word expresses behavior and consciousness of good-natured farmers who have supported traditional societies, diligently since the Edo period (1603-1868), or earlier. It seems to me a good expression. I, as a scholar of environmental problems, am appealing strongly every day to the general public, as the most important issue, that our objective is a sustainable society.   This objective can be achieved if the whole society would change to “Madei” and, at the same time, if we could outgrow from the use of fossil fuel and nuclear power.　In that sense, a trial of Iitate resurrection is an entrance for sustainable society and the Iitate villagers are bearing their role, without being noticed; their example may lead Japan to this direction.   I think it is quite natural for the Iitate villagers to have a strong determination to abandon nuclear power generation. We cannot find such determination in other villages. The Iitate villagers have both objectives of establishing a sustainable society and abandoning nuclear power generation. We, who are living in Tokyo where we have not suffered from the nuclear accident, forget completely what the Iitate villagers who live a “Madei”-like life think their suffering is natural. If you listen to Mr. Kanno, it will be a good chance to understand what city-dwellers lost. The villagers’ “Madei-spirit and positive “trial-and-error attitude”, even in a situation where they fall into the bottomless pit or in deadly contamination by invisible radioactivity, will become steady and motivated for resurrection. I am sure that a village where such people are living can recover someday even if its population would decrease. It became clear, from the administrative confusion this time, that many people in governmental offices (Kasumigaseki) or in major companies in a city or in Tokyo lack in the qualifications to deal with such an emergency. We cannot find such reliable person or persons like Mr. Kanno. 　Actually it was a serious situation but, at the same time, it was also invisible and dangerous that many people did not consider it seriously. Strangely enough, invisible contamination by radioactivity coincides with invisible irresponsibility in a city. I am afraid such coincidence will compounded the danger.   There is a similar situation in universities. I cannot criticize it, as I cannot do anything anyway in my own organization. As is often the case, we cannot do anything or are not allowed to do anything of a dampening effect, being bound by old set of rules or we cannot make flexible use of them. Teachers and administrative officers escape from such situations by saying that both of them are not the leading parties and do not like to be responsible for results. It was the same in the UK. I do not know how the situation in China is now, though it seemed opposite that of a few years ago.   I have painted in watercolors landscapes in the agricultural countryside since my high-school days. There was a sympathy in my mind with Japanese original life in which people live together with nature being unified and blessed which is symbolized by “satoyama” (rural natural areas). I have been attracted to farmers and their villages and houses as “Madei-like” life places. I, as a specialist in environmental issues, am returning to a world of pictures which I have painted in my youth. I think my sense of values has made a change in my life which seems to have been half- scheduled. It is clear, as my reserve in my mind, that there exists what I can do and what I cannot do as a mission which is given by God.   Owing to Atsumi International Foundation, Sekiguchi Global Research Association, I could visit Iitate at last and have gotten a chance to experience being in the disaster-stricken area at first after three and a half years. I was able, unexpectedly, to meet there Mr. Tao, who is an old acquaintance of mine. I could not help but think that our meeting was due to something beyond coincidence, which was concealed. We studied together at the Ojima laboratory at the Department of Science and Technology, Waseda University around the year 2008.　 I understand that such past acquaintance gave us the chance of meeting this time unconsciously. I came to know for the first time that Mr. Tao is playing a very active part there as an NPO activist for the resurrection of Fukushima.　 Prof. Ken-ichi Kimura, as my mentor for my doctoral thesis at Waseda University, also participated in this tour. This was another reason why I decided to participate, though I was busy. I also happened to meet Mr.Inoue at the house of Mr. Kin-ichi Okubo in Komiya District,　which is said to be an area with a high degree of radioactive contamination. He is taking care of a ninety-year-old lady and working at the Shonan Central Hospital (in Tsujido, Kanagawa Pref.).　 According to him, he knows my father Toyohiko Tonooka coincidentally. 　I cannot help but feel again there exists something destined behind such coincidence.   I talked with Mr. Kanno of Kahoku Shinpo (Japanese newspaper in Tohoku Area) at his house. He said that the young people who evacuated during the disaster do not intend to return to their own village since the last three years. He also said that their village cannot maintain their administration because only the old folks have remained and their population is diminishing. 　Such severe situation is coming. I have to seriously consider again about the special circumstances which have occurred from the nuclear accident and the resulting difficulties. Conversely, however, I might say that people who like to manage agriculture will be able to get a chance to practice their skill even though they are not generation of farmers. And we can see even a possibility of changing this mind-set into a big hope.   If a village cannot be organized without outsiders or the young, they should receive newcomers who transcend conservative habits of the village. It will be a good chance to establish new agricultural villages by outsiders which have fresh disposition and have modern knowledge. We may be able to establish another new Japanese society remote from a bad influence of world economy which is in a dead end. 　As implied in a sharp decline of the New York Stock Market for these few days, a Great Economy Crash may happen in the near future. It may lead to a World Crisis whose scale may be bigger than the Fukushima Nuclear Accident. Trials at Iitate may be preliminary and precedent correspondence to avoid such world crisis. Coping with immediate crisis in “Madei-like” and its accumulation would receive unsought divine protection. I think (or rather “I hope”) “Madei-like” Iitate shall be a gleam of hope for Japan and the world.   (Professor of Faculty of Economics, Saitama University)   Translated by Kazuo Kawamura English checked by Mac Maquito   SGRA Kawaraban 438  in Japanese (original)  

The year 2015 is to be remembered in the history of Singapore, not as 50th anniversary of Singapore but as the year we lost the Founding Father.   If I use a word “Great”, I shall be misunderstood to be a guy who worships a dictator of his country enthusiastically like people in some country. But if you know me, you understand easily that I will never be such people no matter what I do. And I dare to use a word “Great” to Mr. Lee Kuan Yew although this expression may be misunderstood.   There are a lot of publications, books, essays and articles of newspapers and magazines analyzing merits and demerits of his results. Please read such publications, if you are interested in his leadership, his oppressive political skills or his dictatorship. As a citizen who was born and raised under one-party dominant regime of PAP (People’s Action Party) , I like to express my faithful feelings here.   Whenever I visit developing countries in Asia, I feel “déjà vu”.　I open an album in my memory and remember such scenes like houses in bad repair, electric cables networks laying out on the ground like spider’s webs, a lot of unclean stalls and water channels which dark water flow, all of which I have looked in my childhood in Singapore. I cannot imagine such scenes in Singapore where per-capita GDP is about US$60,000 and it exceeds that of Japanese US$40,000 and we are always ranked in the tenth in the statistics like IMF and the World Bank. No Singaporean has an objection to the opinion that Mr. Lee Kuan Yew is the greatest person who has made Singapore possible to change surprisingly. I cannot deny this fact no matter what as a generation after the independence who have grown up together with the progress and prosperity of Singapore and have received its favors. However, there is no such thing as perfect in the world.   Perfect people or perfect nation would be an illusion. It is true that even Singapore which seems to be managed well has various issue like other countries. It is rather mysterious to me that, in Singapore where the land is limited and resources are scarce, we are coexisting happily with people whose culture, habit, language and religion are different in such complicated situation like multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-religion, A mosque is built near a church, there is a Mausoleum of Taoism 50m ahead and we can hear prayers from temples of Hinduism. It is very usual in Singapore now. If we recall our history of racial distrust and religious riot, it may be a miracle. Every people in Singapore knows that there was Lee Kuan Yew with no religious faith behind.   Of course, Lee Kuan Yew is not perfect. People who hate him is not a little. As a matter of fact, I also dislike him. He was ultra-rationalist and elitism and has often aroused criticism saying that: ―we should change such tendency that university graduated ladies bear less children     after marriage than ladies of lower-education, ―electoral system which give one vote to one person is not always best and we should     give two votes to one person who has family and children, ―it is quite natural that prime minister or ministers and high government officials who     are responsible to the government and its future, which has no natural resources,     should be paid the highest salary in the world, ―opposition parties will be unnecessary if they would oppose always and have no     abilities to propose better policies. Sometimes I feel pleasantly when he expressed his opinion straightforwardly without hesitation which ordinal leaders would never put into words even though they have in his mind. If we think it calmly, we can feel freshness and boldness as there is a point in his creative idea. I do not like him, but I respect him profoundly. He was, so to speak, a strict father.   This strict father was, at the same time, an affectionate grand-father. Lee Yee Peng, one of his grand-children and a son of Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister and the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, and his late wife, was “albino” and has visual disturbance and in “Asperger’s syndrome. Lee Kuan Yew has wrote in his memoirs that he loved Yee Pen most. When his coffin was brought to the House of Parliament to receive calls of condolence of the people, Yee Peng lead the row holding a photograph of his grand- father. The row was so long as it took eight hours which was longer-than-expected and the Government recommended the people to refrain from calling of condolence.   A few years before he has passed away, he replied to an interviewer “Are you asking me what I have got? It is a success of Singapore. Are you asking me what I lost? It is my life”, acknowledging there were some who opposed to or dissatisfied with his difficult political decision. A bronze statue of Lee Kuan Yew may be built somewhere in Singapore in several years later. A portrait of bills may be changed from Yusuf bin Ishaq to Lee Kuan Yew. Anyway, his name will be remained forever in the mind of Singaporean, even though there would not be a statue or bills.   (Associate Professor of Showa Women's University)   Translated by Kazuo Kawamura English checked by Mac Maquito   SGRA Kawaraban 454 in Japanese (original)          

I joined the “Iitate Study Tour” for three days and I became aware that it is irresponsible and simply whitewashing to say lightly, three and half years after the horrendous Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station 1 disaster, that “let’s go for resurrection as we are behind you” to former Iitate villagers who lived in government-declared “difficult-to-return zone” where they spend sleepless nights.   There was a good reason, though it was not entirely clear in my mind for joining this tour, all the way from Taiwan. I wanted the Taiwan people, particularly university students to know the extent of damages from radioactive contamination wrought by nuclear accident and to share the feeling of pain and suffering of the surviving victims – from which they have not yet recovered. The “scenery” which I saw with my own eyes just after I arrived in Iitate was entirely different and completely tragic, from the scene which I have seen in beautiful Tohoku where I visited very often when I was studying in Japan. There were lot of empty houses, alongside otherwise remarkable streets, weird shadows of loose black vinyl bags in what was erstwhile a beautiful rural “SATOYAMA” (undeveloped woodland near populated area). Even under such dire circumstances, I noted that autumnal color was starting to bloom. However, also noticeable were stumps of dead “Igune” (grove of trees surrounding a residence) which should have been rising now into the blue sky of early autumn; corpus of bugs on spider web in deserted cowsheds, and other evidences of death and destruction.   I came here to Itate, though I am foreign to this area, recalling the past when I visited Fukushima as a tourist, but I could not stop suffering from the dreary and tragic scene in front of me. And I was at a loss for words, imagining the pitiful and helpless heart-rending cries of the victims in the midst of the disaster. I also thought of how to give comfort to the inhabitants whose ancestors settled here since a few hundred years ago, and who had continued to keep their land and dearly oved dense forests I also pondered how these venerable ancestors would consider the total loss of their homeland which was their proud legacy to their descendants. I was utterly overwhelmed by such scenes. In my musing, I regretted and blamed myself for not being able to do anything and of my thoughtless arrogance for not clearly understanding the purpose of my visit here.   However, in the midst of such a whirlpool of self-hatred, I was able to meet the heroes who risked life and limb in the post-disaster rescue and resurrection effort and who provided a lot of dazzling lights of hope.   These heroes include members of the “Fukusima Saisei no Kai (Resurrection of Fukushima)” team, headed by Mr. Yoichi Tao, who are undertaking head-on the fight against radioactive contamination, with persistent challenging spirits using the latest available high-technology; Mr. Muneo Kanno who leads an activity of resurrection communities, with a cool and collected judgment and strong leverage, though he has been irritated at the situation whose ending nobody can predict; Mr. Hideya Terashima, journalist, who runs the media front in order to send messages to the world global network about the progress of the effort at radioactive contamination control/eradication in Fukushima. It is noteworthy that the contamination is fading away with the passage of time. Other noteworthy heroes are: Ms. Yuiko Oishi who embraces people around her with affection, keeping the faith of “Madei” which is originated in the Soma area and means “slow life”, by which men live together with nature, wholeheartedly; and Mr. Kenta Sato who has a youthful spirit and keeps up his thoughts and memories of home lands even as he despairs of his loss. Not to be forgotten are the volunteers who frequently visit the contaminated areas, at the risk of their lives, to render moral and physical labor support to the grief-stricken folks. This compassionate outpouring of support for the people of Fukushima will be long-remembered for the next fifty or hundred years.   As I watched the volunteers and the villagers doing their resurrection and rebuilding tasks calmly and vigorously, I began to think what I can do to help, instead of whining uselessly. Seeing such brave effort and determination by these people to confront difficulties even with possible tragic consequences, and overcoming personal fears, I was filled with the feeling to join and go with them and help in whatever way I can.   I might have joined this tour without fully understanding the situation at the Itate village and relied mainly on my emotion. But, when I saw the sincere and courageous effort of the villagers and volunteers, I got a chance to face my own weakness, especially the fear of radioactive contamination. I came back to Taiwan with a big issue, as a small gift to myself, that I cannot help anybody in their resurrection project in Iitate if I cannot get over my personal weakness. At that time it was still difficult for me to say what I could do specifically. But, after returning to Taiwan, I took every opportunity to speak to university students about what I saw and experienced in Iitate and I shared information with interested people about how the Iitate villagers were going about their resurrection activities.   There is a long way to go to continue sharing the pain of the people in the Soma area and the Iitate village. But we cannot and must not give up. It is important to dispatch to the world a cry of the soul of the Fukushima sufferers. I deeply realized in this tour that we have to shift our eyes to their down-to-earth activities and support their effort for resurrection. Taking advantage of a little change in the minds of each participant, including myself, I hope that our activities would lead to practical results.   (Assinstant Professor, Department of Japanese Language and Culture, Sooohouw University)   Translated by Kazuo Kawamura English checked by Mac Maquito   SGRA Kawaraban 435 in Japanese (original)