Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said Wednesday she welcomed a greater global role by Japan as she discussed a stalled free trade agreement with Tokyo.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seeking to revise the post-World War II pacifist constitution to let the nation become more active in international peacekeeping and other military roles.
"We were very happy when you announced your foreign policy to open Japan and indeed look forward to Japan playing a bigger role, not only for economic integration but also peace, security and stability," Arroyo told reporters as she entered a meeting with Abe.
Link to Article
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Doesn't surprise me, but I find it interesting. 'We'll protect you.' 'Let's trade.'
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Japanese Girl At Our School
Our school is Korean, but there's open enrollment. There is a Japanese High School girl whose family is in Lipa for some reason, so she's joining us here at the English Institute for awhile. She might feel strange for a few reasons.
1. Here, the languages she will hear are English, Korean and some Tagalog.
2. She is much younger than anyone else here.
3. She is Japanese
About number three...
I don't expect a problem, but there's an akwardness. I've had Korean students with various mindsets. My first batch informed me, 'We have issues with the Japanese government, not the people.' My repsponse to this, facial expression and all was 'of course...well, naturally.' Their response to that was 'no, not of course...many Korean people hate Japanese people.'
Oh.
Another batch of students rolled in. I heard, 'I hate Japan, Japanese people, culture, everything. I do not want to speak Japanese, I hate everything Japanese.'
STUDENT: "I hate Japanese."
ME: "Government?"
STUDENT: "NO! I hate all of them!"
another,
STUDENT:'Korean people very, very hate Japanese'
ME:, "No, 'really really'."
Then there's a lot of this too.
ME (to male students): Describe the ideal woman.
MEN: "Japanese school girl"
If there are women in the class, this likely leads to the guy getting punched or slapped in the arm.
WOMEN:"They love Japan girl because Japan girl not talking...quiet. Korean woman not quiet."
GUYS:"That's right, Korean woman not quiet."
more slaps...
MAN (to woman student):"I am afraid to you!"
ME: "I'm afraid OF you."
MAN: "Yeah!"
(Side note edited in after I posted this. Korean guys often say they like talkative women, but they also like submissive. Just in case you're keeping track, I have another post where the guys say they enjoy talkative women.)
I ask the class the question, when there is a disagreement between your parents, who usually wins? More than 2/3 of the students:"My mother."
So there's a glimpse in to that.
Currently we have a student, Peter who speaks some Japanese. He spent a year studying law in Japan. His major is law, he hates it. Anyway, he's able to speak to her and make her feel comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. Why? Because he's a much older Korean male, it's a bit akward. It would be even more so if she knew that he used to go to Korean chat rooms pretending to be Japanese and starting fights with the Koreans. 'We should attack Korea and kill all Koreans.', stuff like that. He was also telling me that he can read Japanese so he reads some of their blogs and they are hateful to Koreans as well. He said that he saw a blog about Cho Seung Hui and it said that it's just in the Korean nature to do something like that. (Yeah, sure.That makes no sense.)
So this guy talks to her once in awhile.
We have another student here whose major was Japanese. He tried to hold a conversation with her unsuccessfully. I've met a few students that have a degree in a language that they can't functionally speak. From time to time we have English majors that enroll here and refuse to take my class or speak to me. Hilarious.
I spoke with the girl a bit and did my best to make her feel comfortable. I hope she loves it here.
1. Here, the languages she will hear are English, Korean and some Tagalog.
2. She is much younger than anyone else here.
3. She is Japanese
About number three...
I don't expect a problem, but there's an akwardness. I've had Korean students with various mindsets. My first batch informed me, 'We have issues with the Japanese government, not the people.' My repsponse to this, facial expression and all was 'of course...well, naturally.' Their response to that was 'no, not of course...many Korean people hate Japanese people.'
Oh.
Another batch of students rolled in. I heard, 'I hate Japan, Japanese people, culture, everything. I do not want to speak Japanese, I hate everything Japanese.'
STUDENT: "I hate Japanese."
ME: "Government?"
STUDENT: "NO! I hate all of them!"
another,
STUDENT:'Korean people very, very hate Japanese'
ME:, "No, 'really really'."
Then there's a lot of this too.
ME (to male students): Describe the ideal woman.
MEN: "Japanese school girl"
If there are women in the class, this likely leads to the guy getting punched or slapped in the arm.
WOMEN:"They love Japan girl because Japan girl not talking...quiet. Korean woman not quiet."
GUYS:"That's right, Korean woman not quiet."
more slaps...
MAN (to woman student):"I am afraid to you!"
ME: "I'm afraid OF you."
MAN: "Yeah!"
(Side note edited in after I posted this. Korean guys often say they like talkative women, but they also like submissive. Just in case you're keeping track, I have another post where the guys say they enjoy talkative women.)
I ask the class the question, when there is a disagreement between your parents, who usually wins? More than 2/3 of the students:"My mother."
So there's a glimpse in to that.
Currently we have a student, Peter who speaks some Japanese. He spent a year studying law in Japan. His major is law, he hates it. Anyway, he's able to speak to her and make her feel comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. Why? Because he's a much older Korean male, it's a bit akward. It would be even more so if she knew that he used to go to Korean chat rooms pretending to be Japanese and starting fights with the Koreans. 'We should attack Korea and kill all Koreans.', stuff like that. He was also telling me that he can read Japanese so he reads some of their blogs and they are hateful to Koreans as well. He said that he saw a blog about Cho Seung Hui and it said that it's just in the Korean nature to do something like that. (Yeah, sure.That makes no sense.)
So this guy talks to her once in awhile.
We have another student here whose major was Japanese. He tried to hold a conversation with her unsuccessfully. I've met a few students that have a degree in a language that they can't functionally speak. From time to time we have English majors that enroll here and refuse to take my class or speak to me. Hilarious.
I spoke with the girl a bit and did my best to make her feel comfortable. I hope she loves it here.
Japan PM
On the world front I've noticed some curious developments.
I have my own take on things, I amuse myself. One story that came out a few weeks ago is that Kim Jong Il, leader of South Korea, and the leader of Myanmar have decided to make nice. I guess they were enemies. Those two countries being enemies makes no sense, and one can certainly see why they would want to patch things up. They have a common enemy: everyone. So there was a meeting.
A very short time later, Abe, the PM of Japan visited the US. So to amuse myself, I picture Bush telling Abe, "They have a meeting. We have a meeting." Watch out.
THEN Abe goes over to China, "Hey, let's improve relations." (Not an exact quote)
I've been on this side of the world for a while. I was in school for a month in China. I know about the relations with China and Japan, and I can say honestly, that this 'let's patch things up' attitude seems right out of the blue.
It wasn't that long ago that Japan was playing the same old role of completely disregarding all opinions outside of their borders, engaging in controversial behaviors, like visiting shrines for war criminals, and maintaining their superior attitude on any issue raised by outsiders. There were bold statements made that there's not enough evidence to prove that Korean women were held captive and raped by soldiers. This is just one of many issues. China and Korea have beefs with them continually. Back and forth.It seems for the last year, there's always been something in the news. Someone made a speech, someone visited somewhere, there was a court ruling...all of it just Japan being superior, 'we don't care' Japan.
And them boom.
Hey let's make friends with China.
Here's what I think. I think they've got their eye on North Korea. When Kim Jong Il started in last year with this 'Go ahead, make my day.' stuff, Japan was jumping around like the kid in the crowd that wanted a rumble.
The latest news is that Abe wants to change the constitution to more accurately reflect their power in the world. Their constitution mandates peace for the country. As I understand it, they do not have attack rights. Abe wants to change this. On the news there was a story showing thousands of protesters in Japan that want to maintain their peaceful stand. One woman said in to the camera directly and succintly, "They want to change this so that they can kill people." Maybe there was a translation issue, Japanese aren't typically so direct. But I heard her Japanese sentence and it was very short. Her voice was strong and direct.
So, I think that all this is not passing news, and somehow these recent events are to shape world events to come.
I have my own take on things, I amuse myself. One story that came out a few weeks ago is that Kim Jong Il, leader of South Korea, and the leader of Myanmar have decided to make nice. I guess they were enemies. Those two countries being enemies makes no sense, and one can certainly see why they would want to patch things up. They have a common enemy: everyone. So there was a meeting.
A very short time later, Abe, the PM of Japan visited the US. So to amuse myself, I picture Bush telling Abe, "They have a meeting. We have a meeting." Watch out.
THEN Abe goes over to China, "Hey, let's improve relations." (Not an exact quote)
I've been on this side of the world for a while. I was in school for a month in China. I know about the relations with China and Japan, and I can say honestly, that this 'let's patch things up' attitude seems right out of the blue.
It wasn't that long ago that Japan was playing the same old role of completely disregarding all opinions outside of their borders, engaging in controversial behaviors, like visiting shrines for war criminals, and maintaining their superior attitude on any issue raised by outsiders. There were bold statements made that there's not enough evidence to prove that Korean women were held captive and raped by soldiers. This is just one of many issues. China and Korea have beefs with them continually. Back and forth.It seems for the last year, there's always been something in the news. Someone made a speech, someone visited somewhere, there was a court ruling...all of it just Japan being superior, 'we don't care' Japan.
And them boom.
Hey let's make friends with China.
Here's what I think. I think they've got their eye on North Korea. When Kim Jong Il started in last year with this 'Go ahead, make my day.' stuff, Japan was jumping around like the kid in the crowd that wanted a rumble.
The latest news is that Abe wants to change the constitution to more accurately reflect their power in the world. Their constitution mandates peace for the country. As I understand it, they do not have attack rights. Abe wants to change this. On the news there was a story showing thousands of protesters in Japan that want to maintain their peaceful stand. One woman said in to the camera directly and succintly, "They want to change this so that they can kill people." Maybe there was a translation issue, Japanese aren't typically so direct. But I heard her Japanese sentence and it was very short. Her voice was strong and direct.
So, I think that all this is not passing news, and somehow these recent events are to shape world events to come.
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