It turns out that Shimane Prefecture has a legend called Tale of Kunibiki according to which gods created Japan by pulling lands from far over the sea. So Japan was created out of scraps stolen from other countries? This shameless legend is interesting from engineering point of view but also offers a glimpse of the mentality behind Shimane assemblymen who, no doubt, grew up with the lengend.
I better alert Homeland Security Department to watch out for ropes around Hawaiian islands.
An interesting Russian news article about Dokdo. Also, Korean fighter jets had to scramble to warn a Japanese military jet away from Dokdo on the day Japan's Shimane prefecture passed the Takeshima bill. Apparently, Japan's ultra-conservatives are keeping themselves busy fighting not only Korea but also China and Russia.
I forgot to mention that 2005 is the Japan-Korea Friendship Year. As the popular saying goes, who needs enemies when you have friends like this?
Dokdo is a small Korean islet which Japan continues to argue ownership over. This week Shimane Prefecture assembly passed a bill claiming Takeshima (Japanese name for Dokdo) as a part of Shimane Prefecture.
Shimane Prefecture officials and assemblymen made a grave mistake. If their intention was to bring more attention to fishing rights problem, they certainly got it in the worst way possible.
Japanese government also made the stupid mistake of underestimating how intensely Koreans feel about Dokdo. While most Japanese are ambivalent about Dokdo, 99% of Koreans feel very strongly about Dokdo.
If you find it difficult to understand why Koreans are so upset over a pointless bill passed by Japanese prefacture over a pile of rocks, just ask the person next to you to kick you between the legs and then ask yourself why you are rolling on the ground.
Apparently, catching copyright violators is becoming a profitable business in Korea. So called Net-parazzis (Net + Paparazzi) are prowling the Net in Korea to catch unsuspecting copyright violators anyway they can in return for a cut of the financial settlement between the copyright violator and the copyright holder.
One Net-parazzi business found 18,000 violators in the past 8 months. Settlement fees range $500~$1000 for adults, $300 for university sutdents, and $100 for minors. With split of 40% for Net-parazzi, 40% for the lawyers, and $20% for copyright holders, Net-parazzis are making decent profits. So far there are 10 such companies but the number is expected to grow rapidly because Korea is full of smart net-savvy yet jobless youngsters.
Sources (in Korean language):
North Korea announced that it has nuclear weapons. While this is hardly news, public announcement makes it important. As I mentioned in a Dave Winer's morning coffee podcast (can't find the link just now but, fyi, it was recorded during a NDA-covered event at Microsoft ;-p), I don't think North Korean regime has any intentions to give up it's nuclear weapons nor shutdown it's nuclear programs. I believe they see the six-nation talk only as a way to buy time and gain resources while the talk is going on.
Serious military and economic confrontations with China lie in the path to nuclear weapon free Korean peninsula. The biggest ball in those confrontations, economy, will also be the best card to play in a game of who has more to lose: China or US.
IMHO, the best strategy is for Bush to not only talk about possibility of direct military actions but also sharply escalate war talks, enough to make economic losses seem as real as the sunrise tommorrow. In simpler terms, Bush has to bluff seriously to force China to throw away the hand: North Korea. Then he has to blockade North Korea, with China's cooperation, until North Korea implodes. Lots of sacrifices will be needed, but I think this is the best although not the most wishful solution.
Korean soccer is definitely improving and the recent win against Germany's lossless team is extra sweet too.
A funny news from Korea. A Korean man was recently arrested for borrowing close to a million dollars from three people and then refusing to payback. The funny part is that the man authored many books explaining how to do exactly what he did with titles like 'How to Take Other People's Money' and 'Ways to Avoid Paying Back Borrowed Money'. The kicker is that one of his victims was the publisher of his books.
Did you know that there are 12,000 South Korean missionaries prowling around the world looking to save your soul? I didn't either, although some do show up at our doorstep at least couple times a year. Ohmygod! They know where I live! I guess efforts of American missionaries who dedicated their lives in Korea early on are finally paying off big.
Kim Sun Il, the first Korean to be beheaded in Iraq, was one of the 12,000.
"He is a martyr to God's glory," said Mr. Moon of the research institute. "Korean missionaries are eager to do God's work and glorify God. They want to die for God."
I think media publicity like the NY Times article is not inline with their low voice and with wisdom approach though and could get more of them killed.
Just before returning from my recent trip to Seattle, I picked up a copy of Ages of Empires at the Microsoft Store for my son Sean. It didn't take long for him to start playing the Korean. He was particularly impressed with the Turtle Ship (world's first ironclad ship designed by Admiral Yi Sun-sin).
Just yesterday, my wife told me that Sean asked if he could go to the Korean language school next summer. When my wife asked why, Sean said he wants to marry a Korean woman when he grew up so he thought he should start learning Korean properly. When my wife informed him that there are many English speaking Korean-Americans, my son said 'Yes, but there are many more in Korea to choose from'. When my wife asked him why he wanted to marry a Korean woman, he said 'Korean food, of course'.
It's scary how practical a 10 year old boy can be. What does that got to do with the Turtle Ship? I suspect that, until now, he resented being a Korean. The Turtle Ship made him proud enough to think that being a Korean is not bad after all.
Don Park's Weekly Habit 