About a week ago, Trent Reznor of the Nine Inch Nails came up with this wonderful idea whereby he would make materials used in his band's latest single 'The Hand That Feeds' available to users of apple's Garageband software for non-commercial re-mix purposes, just to see what people would to with it.
Here's my effort at re-working the song. not that there was anything wrong with the original. It was really cool. However, I AM the man who recorded 'The Abortion of Cool', so, the results are probably predictable.
Anyway, thank you very much for the opportunity to fool around with some 'professional' files, Mr. Reznor. That in itself was pretty awesome.
Prime Minster Koizumi Apologises
In the mean time, I bring this to those who feel I've been pretty hard-lined the last few days.
"In the past Japan through its colonial rule and aggression caused tremendous damage and suffering for the people of many countries, particularly those of Asian nations," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said at the opening ceremony of the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta.
"Japan squarely faces these facts of history in a spirit of humility." Koizumi's apology did not go beyond what Japanese leaders previously have said, but its delivery at the conference clearly was aimed at easing an escalating row with China over Tokyo's handling of its wartime atrocities and its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Koizumi said he was hoping for a one-on-one meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Jakarta on Saturday, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported. But China says it's still considering the proposal.
Massive anti-Japanese protests erupted in major Chinese cities this month after Tokyo approved a new history textbook that critics say plays down Japan's wartime atrocities, including mass sex slavery and germ warfare.
The protesters also have targeted Tokyo's Security Council bid. Also fuelling tensions are disputes over gas-drilling in disputed waters and Koizumi's repeated visits to a wartime shrine in Tokyo that honours executed World War II war criminals along with 2.5 million Japanese war dead.
"With feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology always engraved in mind, Japan has resolutely maintained, consistently since the end of World War II, never turning into a military power but an economic power, its principle of resolving all matters by peaceful means, without recourse through the use of force," Koizumi said.
Former Prime Minister Murayama issued a similar statement in the early 1990s. Either his words, or these words by Koizumi constitute an apology, or they don't. If not, then those words are wasted on the deaf. If it's an apology, then an acknowledgment of the apology is in order. It never came in the 1990s, it probably won't come now. So what's the point in asking for an apology when you don't really want an apology?
I mean let's face it. 60 years is a long time to not go to war for some nations. The PM of that peaceul country says 'We regret what we did before'.
What more exactly are these people seeking? Makes one wonder.
- Art Neuro
2 comments:
The Chinese don't want an apology, they are trying to gain political advantage.
The Chinese have been able to gain political advantage on the pretext of an apology. Had the Japanese apologised before, it would have been another issue. Chinese Bureuacracy don't care about issues.
Regardless of the reason for China taking on the issue (or not, if you believe the Chinese Gov't), they have a point, which is why this issue is not going away easily.
Personally, I think the Japanese Gov't are handling the issue well.
The reason why Japan has not apologised is not to do with the workings of the conservative gov't, but of the failure of the piss weak Japanese left, who for generations have not been able to mount a case on issues dear to them. Elsewhere in the world, the left have prosecuted their position on issues at better than 50%. In Japan, the left is a population of handwringing shrunken genitaled wankers.
I don't know if I;'m glad or dumb-founded you think the Japanese government is handling this issue well.
However, I do think you're wrong about the apology being a non-issue; esepcailly after the people who've been calling for it. Former Japanese PM Murayama issued a similarly worded apology when he was PM and was widely hailed by the International community for that move. He was even considered ballsy for doing it in the face of massive opposition from the Conservatives of the LDP.
Murayama, being the first Socialist PM in 40-odd years, so you'll probably hate him on principle. All the same, the apology was made, it was big news.
Now, if an apology was made before, and once again this time by Koizumi, the logical question that begs to be aksed is, when is enough going to be enough?
Clearly the reason why the Chinese keep dredging this up is because they want issues of compensations for vicitms addressed; except in all fairness to due process, the issue was addressed when the 1951 San Francisco treaty was signed. I've covered this legal/juridical angle when I replied to your previous comment, so I won't go into this again.
Now Communist China may not have been a signatory to the SanFran treaty (The USSR certainly wasn't, which is why Japan and Russia are still technically at WWII). That has occured to me; but Nationalist Taiwan was, which means, while Taiwan was recognised as the legitimate 'China', its signature counts as having accepted the terms of the end of WWII and with it the compensation claims. So for Communist China to mount this stuff now is a bit disingenuous on their part. They can't be the legitimate China without taking on the treaty responsibilities encumbered upon it by the Nationailists.
Or maybe it's just a case of, you didn't pay *us* - I don't know.
Or as you note, it's just their favourite diplomatic lever to contain Japan. After all, under Koizumi, we have seen Japan send troops overseas for the first time in nearly 60 years. Maybe it does genuinely scare the Chinese, though it's hard to imagine. Japan isn't militarising. Nor is it swinging to the hard right/Nationalism as commentators keep saying. The Peace Constitution is still in play and they won't be making nukes. It's just doing what it gets asked to do as a member of the International community. You know, contribute to the war against Terror and all that.
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As for the Left in Japan having shrunken genitalia, I wouldn't know as I have never seen a scientific study that says being of the Left factions in politics shrinks one's genitalia; nor have I personally examined their collective genitalia. In fact I have no idea whatsoever why you had to bring up their genitalia in this topic.
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