The Japan Times: Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009
(C) All rights reserved
By KAZUAKI NAGATA
Staff writer
Skynet Asia Airways Co. kicked off a campaign Tuesday offering ¥10,000 one-way domestic flight tickets for foreigners with temporary visa status.
The discount of as much as one-third off regular fares applies to all eight routes of Miyazaki-based Skynet Asia, including those from Tokyo's Haneda airport. Eligible customers are foreigners aged 3 and above who have entered Japan under a 90-day temporary visitor visa.
"We wanted to set a price for foreign visitors to convince them to fly," said Yo Hasegawa, Skynet Asia's spokesman, adding the carrier hopes to cash in on the government's Visit Japan campaign, which aims to increase the number of foreign visitors to 10 million next year and to 20 million by 2016.
The eight routes are Haneda-Miyazaki, Haneda-Kumamoto, Miyazaki-Okinawa, Kumamoto-Okinawa, Nagasaki-Haneda, Kagoshima-Haneda, Okinawa-Nagasaki, and Okinawa-Kagoshima.
The company said it had yet to determine how many takers the discount attracted on the kickoff day.
Skynet is not accepting reservations, and the ¥10,000 tickets are valid for 90 days. Passengers can fly on any day during the 90-day period if seats are available.
The tickets can be purchased at Skynet Asia's ticket counters or at travel agents that deal with the service.
On average, Skynet Asia's one-way Haneda-Kagoshima ticket costs ¥31,500 for adults.
The company, which carries about 1 million passengers annually, aims to boost the number of its foreign customers to around 5,000 a year with the help of the Visit Japan campaign, Hasegawa said.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Man marries video game girlfriend
Groom wore white suit. Bride dressed in red plastic case.
By Chris Gaylord | 12.02.09
Man marries video game girlfriend: Nene Anegasaki, the virtual bride, is a character from the Japanese video game Love Plus.
Oh, Japan. Land of techno toilets, seven-patty burgers, and where a man can marry his video game girlfriend. Mazel tov to the groom and virtual bride!
Last week, a Japanese man, who goes by the name SAL9000, tied the knot with Nene Anegasaki, a character from the digital dating simulator Love Plus. The two had flirted for some time through SAL’s Nintendo DS. Clearly crazy for each other, the pair got hitched in a public ceremony in Tokyo on Sunday and streamed the whole thing over the Internet on the YouTube-like video website Nico Nico Douga. Check out a clip below.
BoingBoing reports that the event included a DJ, MC, priest, and speeches from the best man and from a friend of Ms. Anegaskai’s (i.e. another character from the video game). The article quotes a letter from SAL saying that “there were over 3,000 connections and 7,000 comments made online, and the people who showed up in person at the ceremony also offered their congratulations. It was great.”
The happy couple then honeymooned in Guam. They only needed one plane ticket, since SAL simply brought the Nintendo hand-held system with him. We’re guessing he also carried her over the threshold – good thing she weighs only 0.6 pounds.
While everything looked very serious, there was an ironic wink throughout the wedding – a puckish acknowledgment missing from other tales of virtual love taken to extremes. The same Boing Boing reporter recently wrote a piece for The New York Times documenting a man’s attachment to a different video game character:
Now, after three years together, they are virtually inseparable. “I’ve experienced so many amazing things because of her,” Nisan told me, rubbing Nemutan’s leg warmly. “She has really changed my life.”
Nemutan doesn’t really have a leg. She’s a stuffed pillowcase — a 2-D depiction of a character, Nemu, from an X-rated version of a PC video game called Da Capo, printed on synthetic fabric.
2010 Shanghai World Expo Tickets Sales Start in US
2009-12-3
TICKETS for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo went on sale in the United States yesterday, with some travel packages offering trips to other Chinese destinations as well as attendance at the fair itself.
In the US, people can buy the tickets at more than 1,600 outlets of the Peregrine Travel Group, one of 14 designated ticket agencies, the Expo organizer said as a promotion campaign was launched in San Francisco.
They can also buy tickets at www.worldexpochina.net, and pay online by credit card.
TICKETS for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo went on sale in the United States yesterday, with some travel packages offering trips to other Chinese destinations as well as attendance at the fair itself.
In the US, people can buy the tickets at more than 1,600 outlets of the Peregrine Travel Group, one of 14 designated ticket agencies, the Expo organizer said as a promotion campaign was launched in San Francisco.
They can also buy tickets at www.worldexpochina.net, and pay online by credit card.
Platter of the day: Flash Sushi
The Japan Times: Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009
(C) All rights reserved
Eating food served on the naked body of a beautiful woman takes off in London
By VICTORIA JAMES
Special to The Japan Times
LONDON — Nyotaimori — aka "female body arrangement" aka "naked sushi," in which the food is eaten from the nude body of a beautiful woman — is as much legend as fact in Japan (see accompanying article). But that hasn't stopped the Western imagination from seizing upon it as supposed shorthand for everything Japanese: an exquisite erotic aesthetic, a minimalist cuisine with a side-order of kinky.
© FLASH SUSHI
On-screen, you can't escape nyotaimori. You may remember a prominent scene in the 1993 film "Rising Sun," starring Sean Connery. More recently, it has featured in the film of "Sex and the City" and the mockumentary "Bruno" when celebrity Paula Abdul fled from an interview rather than eat sushi off a naked Mexican man. On the small screen, it's starred in a episode of "CSI: New York" and, memorably, in Britain's popular "Come Dine With Me" reality series, when one dinner-party host grossed out his guests by asking them to eat sushi off a hairy young man of dubious hygiene. One diner was filmed gagging shortly after.
Off-screen, too, nyotaimori has become fashionable, with celebrity enthusiasts including George Clooney and Brad Pitt. And yet still no one knows exactly what body sushi is — or should be. In America, options for partaking of nyotaimori range from $2,000 custom private dining, to events in strip clubs and other sex-trade venues, to cheap and cheerful specials at sushi shops featuring models wrapped in cling-film.
"Cling film," groans Nigel Carlos, cofounder of Britain's first foray into the world of nyotaimori, Flash Sushi. "One newspaper illustrated a piece about us using a picture of a woman wrapped in cling-film. I think that's quite demeaning. It's certainly not what Flash Sushi is about."
Carlos, who works in events and PR, came up with Flash Sushi when he and a friend spotted a gap in the market. "It started as an idea between friends, and became one of those 'Things to do before you turn 30,' " he explains.
He didn't quite make it in time — Flash Sushi's first event was held mid-November, not long after Carlos' birthday. The concept, he explains, is a blend of fine dining and artistic display. Rather than any Japanese source, the visual inspiration for Flash Sushi's presentation is the iconic image from the film "American Beauty": a beautiful girl lying among rose petals.
"The two of us lie down each end of the table," says Rachel, a dancer who has served as the "platter" at one Flash Sushi event. (She "chickened out of" the very first evening, but is now looking forward to modeling for several more). "The dressers put petals over us, and wrap leaves round our knickers. It's very tasteful and I don't feel any more exposed than I do in some of the outfits I wear when being a dancer on tours." The sushi is then laid onto Rachel's body on three large leaf-platters; these are replenished through the evening, which lasts several hours and features unlimited drinks, thereby borrowing at least one authentic Japanese custom, the nomi ho-dai.
Has Rachel ever felt the need to sneeze, cough, or move a muscle during those hours? "We're dancers, so we're used to being able to hold still and keep control over our bodies," she explains. "In fact, it's actually quite relaxing. We're allowed to close our eyes, and I think one girl even dozed off. I use the time to think about the week ahead and plan what I've got to do."
RELATED STORIES
Nyotaimori: a Japanese tradition?
Unfortunately, none of Flash Sushi's guests want to talk to The Japan Times about their experience. Carlos speculates that they'd rather not own up to attending such an "opulent" event while Britain is still mired in recession — a seat at the Flash Sushi table will set you back £250 (¥37,000). But he doesn't doubt they talk about it in the office. "It's the ultimate water-cooler moment," he says. "A 'you'll never guess what I did last night' thing."
Certainly word seems to be spreading — Carlos has noticed multiple bookings from within certain financial firms — but the clientele are surprisingly diverse. It was a birthday celebration for one diner, a husband and wife came to experience nyotaimori together — and yes, there have been Japanese clients.
Rachel, on the other hand, hasn't told anyone about her new side-line of work — especially not her parents. "My mum just wouldn't get it," she says, with a laugh. "It takes a certain type of person to appreciate it."
Rachel's mum isn't the only person not to get it. Julie Bindel, feminist columnist for Britain's popular daily The Guardian, used the launch of Flash Sushi to devote an entire column to criticizing nyotaimori. "Imagine how desperate a woman would have to be to agree to be a dish," Bindel urges, as she speculates on "the humiliation the women would inevitably feel in being used as an object, spread out and vulnerable in front of leering men."
"We anticipated a feminist backlash," says Carlos. "But I believe we empower the women. They are well paid, there is excellent security, and ground rules: no talking, no touching, gentlemanly behavior at all times."
Rachel, preparing for her next night as a human platter-cum-artwork, has a different concern to worry over. "I have a phobia of fish," she confesses. "I have to completely block it out of my mind."
(C) All rights reserved
Eating food served on the naked body of a beautiful woman takes off in London
By VICTORIA JAMES
Special to The Japan Times
LONDON — Nyotaimori — aka "female body arrangement" aka "naked sushi," in which the food is eaten from the nude body of a beautiful woman — is as much legend as fact in Japan (see accompanying article). But that hasn't stopped the Western imagination from seizing upon it as supposed shorthand for everything Japanese: an exquisite erotic aesthetic, a minimalist cuisine with a side-order of kinky.
© FLASH SUSHI
On-screen, you can't escape nyotaimori. You may remember a prominent scene in the 1993 film "Rising Sun," starring Sean Connery. More recently, it has featured in the film of "Sex and the City" and the mockumentary "Bruno" when celebrity Paula Abdul fled from an interview rather than eat sushi off a naked Mexican man. On the small screen, it's starred in a episode of "CSI: New York" and, memorably, in Britain's popular "Come Dine With Me" reality series, when one dinner-party host grossed out his guests by asking them to eat sushi off a hairy young man of dubious hygiene. One diner was filmed gagging shortly after.
Off-screen, too, nyotaimori has become fashionable, with celebrity enthusiasts including George Clooney and Brad Pitt. And yet still no one knows exactly what body sushi is — or should be. In America, options for partaking of nyotaimori range from $2,000 custom private dining, to events in strip clubs and other sex-trade venues, to cheap and cheerful specials at sushi shops featuring models wrapped in cling-film.
"Cling film," groans Nigel Carlos, cofounder of Britain's first foray into the world of nyotaimori, Flash Sushi. "One newspaper illustrated a piece about us using a picture of a woman wrapped in cling-film. I think that's quite demeaning. It's certainly not what Flash Sushi is about."
Carlos, who works in events and PR, came up with Flash Sushi when he and a friend spotted a gap in the market. "It started as an idea between friends, and became one of those 'Things to do before you turn 30,' " he explains.
He didn't quite make it in time — Flash Sushi's first event was held mid-November, not long after Carlos' birthday. The concept, he explains, is a blend of fine dining and artistic display. Rather than any Japanese source, the visual inspiration for Flash Sushi's presentation is the iconic image from the film "American Beauty": a beautiful girl lying among rose petals.
"The two of us lie down each end of the table," says Rachel, a dancer who has served as the "platter" at one Flash Sushi event. (She "chickened out of" the very first evening, but is now looking forward to modeling for several more). "The dressers put petals over us, and wrap leaves round our knickers. It's very tasteful and I don't feel any more exposed than I do in some of the outfits I wear when being a dancer on tours." The sushi is then laid onto Rachel's body on three large leaf-platters; these are replenished through the evening, which lasts several hours and features unlimited drinks, thereby borrowing at least one authentic Japanese custom, the nomi ho-dai.
Has Rachel ever felt the need to sneeze, cough, or move a muscle during those hours? "We're dancers, so we're used to being able to hold still and keep control over our bodies," she explains. "In fact, it's actually quite relaxing. We're allowed to close our eyes, and I think one girl even dozed off. I use the time to think about the week ahead and plan what I've got to do."
RELATED STORIES
Nyotaimori: a Japanese tradition?
Unfortunately, none of Flash Sushi's guests want to talk to The Japan Times about their experience. Carlos speculates that they'd rather not own up to attending such an "opulent" event while Britain is still mired in recession — a seat at the Flash Sushi table will set you back £250 (¥37,000). But he doesn't doubt they talk about it in the office. "It's the ultimate water-cooler moment," he says. "A 'you'll never guess what I did last night' thing."
Certainly word seems to be spreading — Carlos has noticed multiple bookings from within certain financial firms — but the clientele are surprisingly diverse. It was a birthday celebration for one diner, a husband and wife came to experience nyotaimori together — and yes, there have been Japanese clients.
Rachel, on the other hand, hasn't told anyone about her new side-line of work — especially not her parents. "My mum just wouldn't get it," she says, with a laugh. "It takes a certain type of person to appreciate it."
Rachel's mum isn't the only person not to get it. Julie Bindel, feminist columnist for Britain's popular daily The Guardian, used the launch of Flash Sushi to devote an entire column to criticizing nyotaimori. "Imagine how desperate a woman would have to be to agree to be a dish," Bindel urges, as she speculates on "the humiliation the women would inevitably feel in being used as an object, spread out and vulnerable in front of leering men."
"We anticipated a feminist backlash," says Carlos. "But I believe we empower the women. They are well paid, there is excellent security, and ground rules: no talking, no touching, gentlemanly behavior at all times."
Rachel, preparing for her next night as a human platter-cum-artwork, has a different concern to worry over. "I have a phobia of fish," she confesses. "I have to completely block it out of my mind."
Nyotaimori: a Japanese tradition?
The Japan Times: Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009
(C) All rights reserved
"Female body arrangement" may exist in Japan, but you'll have to look underground to find it
By BRETT BULL
Special to The Japan Times
For at least as long as nyotaimori — the practice of serving sushi on the body of a naked female's torso — has been making inroads overseas, the media has been raising the same question: Where does the practice fit within the context of Japanese culture?
For an answer, one can turn to the 168-cm-long body of Miho Wakabayashi. Until last year, the 30-year-old's bare stomach and limbs were adorned with fish and fresh fruit slices once a month at the Sleeping Beauty "happening bar" in Tokyo's Shibuya district. (Such a drinking establishment is one in which customers engage in uninhibited intimate activities with one another.)
"It was a show promoted as a special event," says Wakabayashi, who is also a part-time stripper, sometimes performing at the legendary Rokku-za theater in Asakusa, and an actress in adult films. "It was used as a kind of ice-breaker intended to draw laughs."
Yet it is generally nonexistent today, she believes, "and because it is so rare, when the organizers of the bar announce they are going to do it, it is a good way to get more people to attend."
Perceptions of nyotaimori overseas, however, are quite different. News stories covering the openings of nyotaimori enterprises from Florida to London over the past decade refer to it as a form of Japanese food culture and not as an underground activity — a misunderstanding that has resulted in substantial resentment.
The Spanish film "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo," which was released this year and features Rinko Kikuchi ("Babel"), includes a nyotaimori scene in which suited male guests use chopsticks to sample fish morsels spread atop a beautiful woman.
"It is a national disgrace for Japanese women," announced Atsuko Yamaguchi in the Sankei Shimbun (June 3) after the film premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival. "Some may argue that one shouldn't be overly critical about a movie yet it still catches my attention to see how foreigners perceive Japan as I am myself a Japanese living abroad."
Not long after a fetish fashion event in Tokyo's Ginza district dubbed "Night of the Body," which featured a blonde-haired model using her torso as a tray to serve sweets, Sankei Sports (June 8) was perturbed that the practice was described in foreign-media outlets as being in concert with Japanese style. "Is this a form of Japanese culture?" demanded the headline of the tabloid.
RELATED STORIES
Platter of the day: Flash Sushi
Yasuharu Ishizawa, a professor at Gakushuin Women's College and editor of the 2004 book "Nihon Wa Dou Hojirareteiruka" ("How Japan Is Viewed"), which includes a chapter about the reportage of nyotaimori on a Chinese Web page, says that foreign correspondents seeking sensational stories are largely responsible for cultural misrepresentations. But he also adds that Japanese people tend to be highly sensitive in these cases.
"At the conclusion of World War II, the GHQ (General Headquarters) came to Japan and tried to change Japanese culture and the Japanese social and political system," Ishizawa says. "Under that process, Japanese people realized that their culture was considered strange and different. So they became very sensitive to how Westerners view them."
Sensitivities aside, given that the naked female form in connection to food is not unusual in Japan — for example, plastic plates molded into the shape of a female form are for sale on Amazon.co.jp — there is likely some kind of legacy in Japan of bringing nudity and sushi together.
A peek at the holdings at the National Diet Library reveals nothing substantial about nyotaimori's origins. News archives of the sometimes unreliable tabloids, however, show that, like with Wakabayashi's performances, it seems to have attained nearly mythic status and appears focused within the seedy realms occupied by fuzoku (sex) businesses.
A fuzoku reporter for Sports Hochi (April 14, 2004) wrote about witnessing nyotaimori at a hot-spring resort in Shizuoka Prefecture in the early '80s. Earlier this year, Nikkan Gendai (May 23) looked back at a shop that opened in Shinjuku's Kabukicho entertainment district in June 1998. It was a mix of sushi and sex services. But salmonella eventually became a problem, perhaps as a result of the fish being warmed following contact with the girls skin, and forced the establishment to shut its doors.
Jake Adelstein, author of "Tokyo Vice," a memoir documenting his 12 years of reporting on crime for the Yomiuri Shimbun, says that nyotaimori has its fans within various organized crime groups but adds that it is generally considered over-the-top for today's tastes. "It still takes place and it was definitely something that the yakuza liked to do at parties," he explains, "but as for now, it's less popular [with gangsters] than before."
He cites the aforementioned bacteria problem as being one reason for the decline in interest and adds that nyotaimori in its ultimate form (fully nude) is illegal since public decency laws require underpants. (Note: Wakabayashi performed in a thong.) For yakuza, this became a deterrent in that it gave police unwanted leverage for making busts. In 2004, the Asahi Shimbun (April 15) reported that two members of the Inagawa-kai crime syndicate in Gunma Prefecture used a nyotaimori show to commemorate a release from prison and were subsequently arrested for allowing minors to view the proceedings.
Wakabayashi believes that an old-fashioned view of nudity is what has allowed the practice to evolve and remain in these obscure areas. "In the Western community," she says, "if there is an artistic object that contains nudity it could be considered as a type of expression. In Japan, it is deemed taboo before any kind of examination that might lead it to be considered artistic."
The actress, however, does not agree with the Japanese critics when it comes to the portrayal of nyotaimori overseas. At least, she says, it indicates that others are interested and observing Japan: "It shows they are paying attention."
(C) All rights reserved
"Female body arrangement" may exist in Japan, but you'll have to look underground to find it
By BRETT BULL
Special to The Japan Times
For at least as long as nyotaimori — the practice of serving sushi on the body of a naked female's torso — has been making inroads overseas, the media has been raising the same question: Where does the practice fit within the context of Japanese culture?
For an answer, one can turn to the 168-cm-long body of Miho Wakabayashi. Until last year, the 30-year-old's bare stomach and limbs were adorned with fish and fresh fruit slices once a month at the Sleeping Beauty "happening bar" in Tokyo's Shibuya district. (Such a drinking establishment is one in which customers engage in uninhibited intimate activities with one another.)
"It was a show promoted as a special event," says Wakabayashi, who is also a part-time stripper, sometimes performing at the legendary Rokku-za theater in Asakusa, and an actress in adult films. "It was used as a kind of ice-breaker intended to draw laughs."
Yet it is generally nonexistent today, she believes, "and because it is so rare, when the organizers of the bar announce they are going to do it, it is a good way to get more people to attend."
Perceptions of nyotaimori overseas, however, are quite different. News stories covering the openings of nyotaimori enterprises from Florida to London over the past decade refer to it as a form of Japanese food culture and not as an underground activity — a misunderstanding that has resulted in substantial resentment.
The Spanish film "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo," which was released this year and features Rinko Kikuchi ("Babel"), includes a nyotaimori scene in which suited male guests use chopsticks to sample fish morsels spread atop a beautiful woman.
"It is a national disgrace for Japanese women," announced Atsuko Yamaguchi in the Sankei Shimbun (June 3) after the film premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival. "Some may argue that one shouldn't be overly critical about a movie yet it still catches my attention to see how foreigners perceive Japan as I am myself a Japanese living abroad."
Not long after a fetish fashion event in Tokyo's Ginza district dubbed "Night of the Body," which featured a blonde-haired model using her torso as a tray to serve sweets, Sankei Sports (June 8) was perturbed that the practice was described in foreign-media outlets as being in concert with Japanese style. "Is this a form of Japanese culture?" demanded the headline of the tabloid.
RELATED STORIES
Platter of the day: Flash Sushi
Yasuharu Ishizawa, a professor at Gakushuin Women's College and editor of the 2004 book "Nihon Wa Dou Hojirareteiruka" ("How Japan Is Viewed"), which includes a chapter about the reportage of nyotaimori on a Chinese Web page, says that foreign correspondents seeking sensational stories are largely responsible for cultural misrepresentations. But he also adds that Japanese people tend to be highly sensitive in these cases.
"At the conclusion of World War II, the GHQ (General Headquarters) came to Japan and tried to change Japanese culture and the Japanese social and political system," Ishizawa says. "Under that process, Japanese people realized that their culture was considered strange and different. So they became very sensitive to how Westerners view them."
Sensitivities aside, given that the naked female form in connection to food is not unusual in Japan — for example, plastic plates molded into the shape of a female form are for sale on Amazon.co.jp — there is likely some kind of legacy in Japan of bringing nudity and sushi together.
A peek at the holdings at the National Diet Library reveals nothing substantial about nyotaimori's origins. News archives of the sometimes unreliable tabloids, however, show that, like with Wakabayashi's performances, it seems to have attained nearly mythic status and appears focused within the seedy realms occupied by fuzoku (sex) businesses.
A fuzoku reporter for Sports Hochi (April 14, 2004) wrote about witnessing nyotaimori at a hot-spring resort in Shizuoka Prefecture in the early '80s. Earlier this year, Nikkan Gendai (May 23) looked back at a shop that opened in Shinjuku's Kabukicho entertainment district in June 1998. It was a mix of sushi and sex services. But salmonella eventually became a problem, perhaps as a result of the fish being warmed following contact with the girls skin, and forced the establishment to shut its doors.
Jake Adelstein, author of "Tokyo Vice," a memoir documenting his 12 years of reporting on crime for the Yomiuri Shimbun, says that nyotaimori has its fans within various organized crime groups but adds that it is generally considered over-the-top for today's tastes. "It still takes place and it was definitely something that the yakuza liked to do at parties," he explains, "but as for now, it's less popular [with gangsters] than before."
He cites the aforementioned bacteria problem as being one reason for the decline in interest and adds that nyotaimori in its ultimate form (fully nude) is illegal since public decency laws require underpants. (Note: Wakabayashi performed in a thong.) For yakuza, this became a deterrent in that it gave police unwanted leverage for making busts. In 2004, the Asahi Shimbun (April 15) reported that two members of the Inagawa-kai crime syndicate in Gunma Prefecture used a nyotaimori show to commemorate a release from prison and were subsequently arrested for allowing minors to view the proceedings.
Wakabayashi believes that an old-fashioned view of nudity is what has allowed the practice to evolve and remain in these obscure areas. "In the Western community," she says, "if there is an artistic object that contains nudity it could be considered as a type of expression. In Japan, it is deemed taboo before any kind of examination that might lead it to be considered artistic."
The actress, however, does not agree with the Japanese critics when it comes to the portrayal of nyotaimori overseas. At least, she says, it indicates that others are interested and observing Japan: "It shows they are paying attention."
Time to get tough on China
The Japan Times: Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009
(C) All rights reserved
By GREGORY CLARK
No, this is not a rant about China's alleged lack of human rights. When China has something as evil as Abu Ghraib and Bagram we might have a right to complain. Nor am I complaining about China's lack of something called democracy. (Would China's one-child policy have survived in a democracy?)
No, where China is at fault is in a very different area. It complains bitterly about Western, U.S. mainly, tariff/subsidy protectionism. But China itself indulges in a much worse kind of protectionism — exchange rate protectionism. If China's currency is undervalued by around 20 percent, as many estimate, that is equal to a 20 percent tariff on all goods entering China, and a 20 percent subsidy for all exports. Tariff/subsidy protectionism in the West never gets as wild as this.
True, China is not entirely to blame. It has simply been taking advantage of an extraordinary lacuna in orthodox Western economic thinking — the idea that tariff protectionism is evil but exchange rate protectionism can be ignored. We saw a good example at the recent APEC summit conference in Singapore. APEC repeated its ritual calls for free trade. It had almost nothing to say about the 800-pound elephant at the conference table — the controls that Beijing uses to keep its currency consistently undervalued.
Orthodox Western economists are like the man who cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. They are obsessed about the way tariff protectionism raises costs to consumers. But handled well, tariffs are simply a tax on consumers to assist producers whose new or continued existence is crucial to the growth of the economy. There can easily be a net gain for the entire nation, including consumers. There can also be a net gain for the world economy if the strategic use of tariffs helps create vibrant economies able eventually to help expand world trade. Japan was but one example.
Exchange rate protectionism, by contrast, protects all import-competing industries, across the board, whether they deserve protection or not. True, it too can have net beneficial effects; quite a few Asian economies owe their growth to keeping their currencies undervalued for long periods. But the suffering of consumers is greater. And those economies gain at the expense of others. The distortion to world trade is far greater than that caused by tariff/subsidy protectionism.
History is part of the reason for this strange weakness in economic thinking. The 1930s Great Depression saw harmful beggar-thy-neighbor tariff policies as nations competed to protect domestic industries and employment. So the textbooks on which the current generation of economists were raised concentrated almost entirely on the evils of tariff protectionism. Meanwhile, the Cold War and other ideological factors made them favor anything tagged with the word "free" — free trade, free markets, free enterprise, and allegedly freely fluctuating exchange rates despite the ease with which those rates can be manipulated or controlled.
True, if a small economy like Hong Kong manipulates its exchange rate, the harm to the rest of the world is mild. But when it is an economy like China's — already enjoying the advantages of cheap, hardworking labor and the economies of scale provided by a large domestic market — the damage to others can be enormous. The U.S. lost much of its industrial base back in the 1980s as Japan used its undervalued yen to wipe out competing U.S. companies. Now it faces the same risk from China.
A favorite argument of the free traders is that if China wants to provide us with cheap manufactures, then let it. We will concentrate on advanced manufactures. But by exporting those cheap manufactures, China improves its industrial base so that soon it can compete in advanced manufactures. Meanwhile, the rest of us weaken our industrial base as cheap manufacturing dies out. Soon we cannot produce anything.
Some in the U.S. argue that the collapsing dollar will help domestic manufacturers survive. But the collapses follow, and are the result of, its massive trade imbalances. If past inroads of cheap imports mean it has already lost its manufacturing base, there will not be many manufacturers to help.
Australia is a good example. At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and elsewhere, it boasts how it is a leader in cutting tariff/subsidy protection. It makes no mention of the fact that, thanks to past mistakes in economic policy, its currency has collapsed from the equivalent of ¥400 to the dollar to below ¥100, and that even allowing for differential inflation rates this amounts to an across-the-board exchange rate protectionism of over 100 percent.
Even so, Australia could not protect much of its manufacturing since the falls in the exchange rate came after, and as a result of, declines in manufacturing caused by cheap imports, mainly from Japan and China. Today it has to rely largely on resource exports to survive, mainly to Japan and China.
China is rightly proud of its aid to struggling economies around the globe, Africa especially. But can it be proud if its flood of cheap exports to those economies makes it near impossible for them to develop manufacturing? Fortunately the concept of harmful exchange rate protectionism is gaining ground in the West, even in the pages of anti-protectionist media such as the Financial Times. But it may be too late. And is anyone in Beijing listening?
Gregory Clark is vice president of Akita International University. A Japanese translation of this article will appear on www.gregoryclark.net
(C) All rights reserved
By GREGORY CLARK
No, this is not a rant about China's alleged lack of human rights. When China has something as evil as Abu Ghraib and Bagram we might have a right to complain. Nor am I complaining about China's lack of something called democracy. (Would China's one-child policy have survived in a democracy?)
No, where China is at fault is in a very different area. It complains bitterly about Western, U.S. mainly, tariff/subsidy protectionism. But China itself indulges in a much worse kind of protectionism — exchange rate protectionism. If China's currency is undervalued by around 20 percent, as many estimate, that is equal to a 20 percent tariff on all goods entering China, and a 20 percent subsidy for all exports. Tariff/subsidy protectionism in the West never gets as wild as this.
True, China is not entirely to blame. It has simply been taking advantage of an extraordinary lacuna in orthodox Western economic thinking — the idea that tariff protectionism is evil but exchange rate protectionism can be ignored. We saw a good example at the recent APEC summit conference in Singapore. APEC repeated its ritual calls for free trade. It had almost nothing to say about the 800-pound elephant at the conference table — the controls that Beijing uses to keep its currency consistently undervalued.
Orthodox Western economists are like the man who cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. They are obsessed about the way tariff protectionism raises costs to consumers. But handled well, tariffs are simply a tax on consumers to assist producers whose new or continued existence is crucial to the growth of the economy. There can easily be a net gain for the entire nation, including consumers. There can also be a net gain for the world economy if the strategic use of tariffs helps create vibrant economies able eventually to help expand world trade. Japan was but one example.
Exchange rate protectionism, by contrast, protects all import-competing industries, across the board, whether they deserve protection or not. True, it too can have net beneficial effects; quite a few Asian economies owe their growth to keeping their currencies undervalued for long periods. But the suffering of consumers is greater. And those economies gain at the expense of others. The distortion to world trade is far greater than that caused by tariff/subsidy protectionism.
History is part of the reason for this strange weakness in economic thinking. The 1930s Great Depression saw harmful beggar-thy-neighbor tariff policies as nations competed to protect domestic industries and employment. So the textbooks on which the current generation of economists were raised concentrated almost entirely on the evils of tariff protectionism. Meanwhile, the Cold War and other ideological factors made them favor anything tagged with the word "free" — free trade, free markets, free enterprise, and allegedly freely fluctuating exchange rates despite the ease with which those rates can be manipulated or controlled.
True, if a small economy like Hong Kong manipulates its exchange rate, the harm to the rest of the world is mild. But when it is an economy like China's — already enjoying the advantages of cheap, hardworking labor and the economies of scale provided by a large domestic market — the damage to others can be enormous. The U.S. lost much of its industrial base back in the 1980s as Japan used its undervalued yen to wipe out competing U.S. companies. Now it faces the same risk from China.
A favorite argument of the free traders is that if China wants to provide us with cheap manufactures, then let it. We will concentrate on advanced manufactures. But by exporting those cheap manufactures, China improves its industrial base so that soon it can compete in advanced manufactures. Meanwhile, the rest of us weaken our industrial base as cheap manufacturing dies out. Soon we cannot produce anything.
Some in the U.S. argue that the collapsing dollar will help domestic manufacturers survive. But the collapses follow, and are the result of, its massive trade imbalances. If past inroads of cheap imports mean it has already lost its manufacturing base, there will not be many manufacturers to help.
Australia is a good example. At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and elsewhere, it boasts how it is a leader in cutting tariff/subsidy protection. It makes no mention of the fact that, thanks to past mistakes in economic policy, its currency has collapsed from the equivalent of ¥400 to the dollar to below ¥100, and that even allowing for differential inflation rates this amounts to an across-the-board exchange rate protectionism of over 100 percent.
Even so, Australia could not protect much of its manufacturing since the falls in the exchange rate came after, and as a result of, declines in manufacturing caused by cheap imports, mainly from Japan and China. Today it has to rely largely on resource exports to survive, mainly to Japan and China.
China is rightly proud of its aid to struggling economies around the globe, Africa especially. But can it be proud if its flood of cheap exports to those economies makes it near impossible for them to develop manufacturing? Fortunately the concept of harmful exchange rate protectionism is gaining ground in the West, even in the pages of anti-protectionist media such as the Financial Times. But it may be too late. And is anyone in Beijing listening?
Gregory Clark is vice president of Akita International University. A Japanese translation of this article will appear on www.gregoryclark.net
Battling deflation in Japan
Feeling deflated
Dec 1st 2009 | TOKYO
From Economist.com
Japan’s central bank takes an overdue swipe at an old foe
THE Bank of Japan (BoJ) must feel as if it has a bad case of déjà vu. Three years after the central bank thought it had ended deflation, it has returned. And to fight it, the bank has had to resurrect a policy tool it tried to bury long ago—quantitative easing. If that is not bad enough, the BoJ once again has to deal with a government breathing hotly down its neck.
The BoJ’s discomfort explains why, on Tuesday December 1st, it made what analysts considered to be a half-hearted attempt to reflate the Japanese economy and weaken the yen. What the bank did was better than nothing, but it did not go as far as some had hoped—nor as far as Japan needs.
On the face of it, the BoJ’s announcement that it would make available ¥10 trillion ($115 billion) in three-month loans fixed at a 0.1% interest rate, appears generous. The loans can be exchanged for a broad array of collateral such as Japanese government bonds, corporate bonds, commercial paper and other assets. They are aimed at boosting the economic recovery by providing liquidity to banks.
The size of the facility amounts to only 2% of GDP, however, which analysts believe is neither enough to ease the deflationary threat in Japan significantly, nor to weaken the yen seriously. Masaaki Shirakawa, the governor of the BoJ, deliberately avoided discussing the currency at a news conference after the meeting, which frustrated those who think the financial authorities need to speaking plainly about the dangers of deflation to jolt Japan out of years of economic stagnation. “It was the size and the commentary that were disappointing,” said Richard Jerram, chief economist of Macquarie Securities in Japan. “It was all pretty tame.”
Added to which, Mr Shirakawa described the measures as “quantitative easing in broad terms”. But this appeared to be more of a sop to government ministers who have called for such a policy, than the result of a firm conviction on his part. Mr Shirakawa is among those in the BoJ who have been sceptical of the merits of quantitative easing, which it used during the deflationary years between 2001 and 2006. The BoJ has been cautious about using it ever since. According to GaveKal, a financial consultancy, during the global financial crisis Japan’s monetary base increased by a paltry 4.7% a year; in America, it has grown by 71%.
Analysts said the BoJ’s move would have had more impact if it were accompanied by dramatic policy initiatives from the government that looked like a serious attempt to weaken the yen. But that did not happen.
Instead, after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the fledgling administration of Yukio Hatoyama, the prime minister, lamented the strength of the yen and drew up some ill-defined counter-measures. These included the unveiling of a supplementary budget by the end of the week to tide Japan over for the rest of the fiscal year ending in March. But the size was not expected to be much bigger than the ¥2.7 trillion shaved off a previous budget by the new government. Its intention to find ways to increase domestic demand was similarly vague.
Mr Hatoyama, who indirectly put pressure on the BoJ by announcing on Monday that he planned to meet with Mr Shirakawa, praised the bank after Tuesday’s announcement. “It has demonstrated through its actions its determination to stem deflation and revive the economy,” he said. His meeting with Mr Shirakawa was still expected to go ahead.
Whether or not his government eases up on the central bank may well depend on what happens to Japan’s financial markets. The yen was lower against the dollar and other currencies during and after the central-bank meeting. The stockmarket also benefited from hopes that the yen would fall, because of the damaging effect the currency is having on exporters.
The yen may well climb higher again if the markets feel Tuesday’s efforts were not meaningful enough. However, now that the BoJ and the government have put the markets on notice that they are vigilant to the deflationary risk posed by a rising yen, they may be more inclined to use concerted action next time.
Dec 1st 2009 | TOKYO
From Economist.com
Japan’s central bank takes an overdue swipe at an old foe
THE Bank of Japan (BoJ) must feel as if it has a bad case of déjà vu. Three years after the central bank thought it had ended deflation, it has returned. And to fight it, the bank has had to resurrect a policy tool it tried to bury long ago—quantitative easing. If that is not bad enough, the BoJ once again has to deal with a government breathing hotly down its neck.
The BoJ’s discomfort explains why, on Tuesday December 1st, it made what analysts considered to be a half-hearted attempt to reflate the Japanese economy and weaken the yen. What the bank did was better than nothing, but it did not go as far as some had hoped—nor as far as Japan needs.
On the face of it, the BoJ’s announcement that it would make available ¥10 trillion ($115 billion) in three-month loans fixed at a 0.1% interest rate, appears generous. The loans can be exchanged for a broad array of collateral such as Japanese government bonds, corporate bonds, commercial paper and other assets. They are aimed at boosting the economic recovery by providing liquidity to banks.
The size of the facility amounts to only 2% of GDP, however, which analysts believe is neither enough to ease the deflationary threat in Japan significantly, nor to weaken the yen seriously. Masaaki Shirakawa, the governor of the BoJ, deliberately avoided discussing the currency at a news conference after the meeting, which frustrated those who think the financial authorities need to speaking plainly about the dangers of deflation to jolt Japan out of years of economic stagnation. “It was the size and the commentary that were disappointing,” said Richard Jerram, chief economist of Macquarie Securities in Japan. “It was all pretty tame.”
Added to which, Mr Shirakawa described the measures as “quantitative easing in broad terms”. But this appeared to be more of a sop to government ministers who have called for such a policy, than the result of a firm conviction on his part. Mr Shirakawa is among those in the BoJ who have been sceptical of the merits of quantitative easing, which it used during the deflationary years between 2001 and 2006. The BoJ has been cautious about using it ever since. According to GaveKal, a financial consultancy, during the global financial crisis Japan’s monetary base increased by a paltry 4.7% a year; in America, it has grown by 71%.
Analysts said the BoJ’s move would have had more impact if it were accompanied by dramatic policy initiatives from the government that looked like a serious attempt to weaken the yen. But that did not happen.
Instead, after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the fledgling administration of Yukio Hatoyama, the prime minister, lamented the strength of the yen and drew up some ill-defined counter-measures. These included the unveiling of a supplementary budget by the end of the week to tide Japan over for the rest of the fiscal year ending in March. But the size was not expected to be much bigger than the ¥2.7 trillion shaved off a previous budget by the new government. Its intention to find ways to increase domestic demand was similarly vague.
Mr Hatoyama, who indirectly put pressure on the BoJ by announcing on Monday that he planned to meet with Mr Shirakawa, praised the bank after Tuesday’s announcement. “It has demonstrated through its actions its determination to stem deflation and revive the economy,” he said. His meeting with Mr Shirakawa was still expected to go ahead.
Whether or not his government eases up on the central bank may well depend on what happens to Japan’s financial markets. The yen was lower against the dollar and other currencies during and after the central-bank meeting. The stockmarket also benefited from hopes that the yen would fall, because of the damaging effect the currency is having on exporters.
The yen may well climb higher again if the markets feel Tuesday’s efforts were not meaningful enough. However, now that the BoJ and the government have put the markets on notice that they are vigilant to the deflationary risk posed by a rising yen, they may be more inclined to use concerted action next time.
Russia's GDP decrease in 2009 to exceed predicted 8.5% -- Kudrin
21:0802/12/2009
Russian federal budget for 2010
Russia's GDP decrease in 2009 will exceed the forecasted earlier figure of 8.5%, the Russian finance minister said on Wednesday.
The Russian Economics Ministry earlier predicted the national economy to shrink 8.5% in 2009, but to grow 3% in 2011 and 4.3% in 2012.
"It will definitely exceed 8.5%," Alexei Kudrin said, but did not say whether the decrease will be less than 9%.
President Dmitry Medvedev approved earlier on Wednesday the federal budget for 2010 and basic budget parameters through 2012.
The 2010 budget will run a deficit of 6.8% of GDP, or 2.9 trillion rubles ($100 billion). It should fall to 4% of GDP in 2011 and 3% in 2012.
MOSCOW, December 2 (RIA Novosti)
Russian federal budget for 2010
Russia's GDP decrease in 2009 will exceed the forecasted earlier figure of 8.5%, the Russian finance minister said on Wednesday.
The Russian Economics Ministry earlier predicted the national economy to shrink 8.5% in 2009, but to grow 3% in 2011 and 4.3% in 2012.
"It will definitely exceed 8.5%," Alexei Kudrin said, but did not say whether the decrease will be less than 9%.
President Dmitry Medvedev approved earlier on Wednesday the federal budget for 2010 and basic budget parameters through 2012.
The 2010 budget will run a deficit of 6.8% of GDP, or 2.9 trillion rubles ($100 billion). It should fall to 4% of GDP in 2011 and 3% in 2012.
MOSCOW, December 2 (RIA Novosti)
Preparation Works for Construction of APEC Summit Objects in Vladivostok Over
Wednesday, December 2 2009, 09 PM ←
Total number of construction areas is 40
VLADIVOSTOK, December 1, vladivostoktimes.com At the weekly meeting on preparation to APEC Summit the Primorsky Territory Governor Sergey DARKIN reported that the important and long preparation stage is over. Today the construction is being carried out on all summit objects. The total number of construction areas is 40.
As Primorsky Territory Administration press service reported to RIA PrimaMedia, construction work on sewage disposal plants of northern area in Vladivostok has started. The construction of central sewage facilities is almost over. The construction of two bridges – over the Golden Horn Bay and over the Bosphor Vostochny to Russkiy Island – is being carried out. Recultivation of the solid domestic waste landfill and construction of the new one is being realized. Also they are working on sewage system construction.
Road construction is being realized on the M-60 highway, highway between De-Friz and Patrokl, roads on Russkiy Island are built. The reconstruction of the airport and construction of the new terminal is in the process.
We would remind that during the meeting on Russkiy Island on Saturday Sergey DARKIN noted that the construction of the objects of the Far Eastern Federal University where the Summit will be held also goes according the schedule. The frameworks for university buildings are almost erected, and they started to build press center and conference center buildings. Fast speed of works allowed the Primorye Governor to offer changing Summit days from November to September 2012.
Total number of construction areas is 40
VLADIVOSTOK, December 1, vladivostoktimes.com At the weekly meeting on preparation to APEC Summit the Primorsky Territory Governor Sergey DARKIN reported that the important and long preparation stage is over. Today the construction is being carried out on all summit objects. The total number of construction areas is 40.
As Primorsky Territory Administration press service reported to RIA PrimaMedia, construction work on sewage disposal plants of northern area in Vladivostok has started. The construction of central sewage facilities is almost over. The construction of two bridges – over the Golden Horn Bay and over the Bosphor Vostochny to Russkiy Island – is being carried out. Recultivation of the solid domestic waste landfill and construction of the new one is being realized. Also they are working on sewage system construction.
Road construction is being realized on the M-60 highway, highway between De-Friz and Patrokl, roads on Russkiy Island are built. The reconstruction of the airport and construction of the new terminal is in the process.
We would remind that during the meeting on Russkiy Island on Saturday Sergey DARKIN noted that the construction of the objects of the Far Eastern Federal University where the Summit will be held also goes according the schedule. The frameworks for university buildings are almost erected, and they started to build press center and conference center buildings. Fast speed of works allowed the Primorye Governor to offer changing Summit days from November to September 2012.
China showcasing its softer side
Growing role in U.N. peacekeeping signals desire to project image of benign power
By Andrew Higgins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
CHANGPING, CHINA -- After bulking up its armed forces with new missiles and other advanced weaponry, China recently invited U.S. and other foreign military officials to inspect a less bellicose side of the People's Liberation Army: a fleet of bulldozers.
Through clouds of smoke generated to simulate the look of a war zone, a PLA engineering brigade showed off its earthmovers, mine-clearing gear and other nonlethal hardware at a base north of Beijing.
The display, put on shortly after President Obama left Beijing last month, represented what China sees as an important part of its answer to a question that shadowed Obama's eight-day Asia tour: How will China use the formidable power generated by its relentless economic growth?
The engineering unit that staged the show is spearheading China's growing involvement in international peacekeeping, a cause that Beijing for decades denounced as a violation of its stated commitment to noninterference in the affairs of other nations but that it now embraces.
Today, about 2,150 Chinese military and police personnel are deployed in support of U.N. missions. They serve around the world, from Haiti to Sudan.
A 'peaceful rise'
Though the peacekeepers represent only a fraction of the PLA's more than 2 million soldiers -- and account for a minuscule part of the Chinese military budget -- China's enthusiasm for peacekeeping signals a clear desire to project an image as a responsible and peaceable great power. And even if, as some experts say, China's total military spending is perhaps double the stated amount, it is still less than a third of the United States' basic military budget, which excludes spending toward the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We promise that we will fulfill our duties to safeguard peace," Senior Col. Yi Changhe, an engineering brigade commander, told the visiting foreign defense officials.
When Germany and later Japan emerged as military powers on the back of surging economies more than a century ago, a calamitous reordering of the world order followed. China, pursuing what it calls a "peaceful rise," points to the PLA's peacekeeping activities as evidence of its benign intentions.
But while increasingly willing to let its soldiers don the blue helmets worn by U.N. peacekeepers, China has shown little enthusiasm for the U.N.-sanctioned mission that currently matters most to Washington -- the war in Afghanistan.
Wariness toward NATO
When the United States wanted to fly a group of Mongolian trainers to Afghanistan in October, China objected to letting the aircraft go over its territory. Beijing eventually gave the flight a green light -- but only after ammunition was taken off the plane, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.
Though authorized by the United Nations, the Afghanistan mission is led by NATO, an organization China views with deep wariness. Beijing blames NATO for the 1999 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo war.
China's shock at NATO's military campaign in the former Yugoslavia helped prod Beijing into playing a bigger role in U.N. peacekeeping, said Bates Gill, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and co-author of a recent report on China's peacekeeping activities. China, he said, is "highly unlikely" to send soldiers to Afghanistan to help "what is essentially a NATO operation, albeit with a United Nations blessing."
Beijing recently enrolled a small group of soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq in a mine-clearing course at the PLA's University of Science and Technology in Nanjing and has expressed interest in helping to train Afghan police. But it has balked at providing direct support for NATO's campaign against the Taliban. China has focused its resources on supporting operations run directly by the United Nations. It has more troops and police deployed on U.N. missions than the United States, Russia and Britain combined. Of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, only France makes anywhere near as big a contribution to U.N. peacekeeping.
Washington has generally welcomed China's increasing readiness to join U.N. operations, though a Pentagon report this year noted that the capabilities that allow China to participate in distant peacekeeping and humanitarian missions could also "allow China to project power to ensure access to resources or enforce claims to disputed territories."
Obama, during his visit to Beijing, described greater international engagement by China as a necessary and welcome by-product of its economic strength. "A growing economy is joined by growing responsibilities," he said after talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Presence in Sudan
China has moved far from what, under Mao Zedong, was a policy of steadfast opposition to military interventions by foreign powers. In the 1950s, China actively resisted U.N.-backed military missions, most notably during the Korean War, when its soldiers battled U.S. and other foreign troops fighting under the U.N. flag in support of South Korea.
Chinese troops serve in 10 countries, from the Caribbean to Southeast Asia, but they are most active in Africa, where China has ramped up its diplomatic and economic presence as it seeks oil and other resources to fuel its economy. They focus on providing engineering, medical and logistical help. A top U.N. official who visited the Chinese capital recently said Beijing is considering sending combats troops overseas for the first time.
Chinese personnel have a reputation for tight discipline and have not been tarnished by the sex and corruption scandals that have afflicted peacekeepers from some other nations. Critics, however, note that the largest number of Chinese peacekeepers -- nearly 800 military and police personnel-- are stationed in Sudan, which provides substantial amounts of oil to China and whose government Beijing has strongly supported despite widespread outrage over the killings in the western region of Darfur.
Speaking after a conference on peacekeeping last month in Beijing, Alain Le Roy, the U.N. undersecretary for peacekeeping operations, called Chinese troops "very professional" and said the United Nations has "no concerns" about their role in Sudan. Beijing's close diplomatic ties to countries such as Sudan, he said, give it leverage that "we will try to make the best use of."
By Andrew Higgins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
CHANGPING, CHINA -- After bulking up its armed forces with new missiles and other advanced weaponry, China recently invited U.S. and other foreign military officials to inspect a less bellicose side of the People's Liberation Army: a fleet of bulldozers.
Through clouds of smoke generated to simulate the look of a war zone, a PLA engineering brigade showed off its earthmovers, mine-clearing gear and other nonlethal hardware at a base north of Beijing.
The display, put on shortly after President Obama left Beijing last month, represented what China sees as an important part of its answer to a question that shadowed Obama's eight-day Asia tour: How will China use the formidable power generated by its relentless economic growth?
The engineering unit that staged the show is spearheading China's growing involvement in international peacekeeping, a cause that Beijing for decades denounced as a violation of its stated commitment to noninterference in the affairs of other nations but that it now embraces.
Today, about 2,150 Chinese military and police personnel are deployed in support of U.N. missions. They serve around the world, from Haiti to Sudan.
A 'peaceful rise'
Though the peacekeepers represent only a fraction of the PLA's more than 2 million soldiers -- and account for a minuscule part of the Chinese military budget -- China's enthusiasm for peacekeeping signals a clear desire to project an image as a responsible and peaceable great power. And even if, as some experts say, China's total military spending is perhaps double the stated amount, it is still less than a third of the United States' basic military budget, which excludes spending toward the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We promise that we will fulfill our duties to safeguard peace," Senior Col. Yi Changhe, an engineering brigade commander, told the visiting foreign defense officials.
When Germany and later Japan emerged as military powers on the back of surging economies more than a century ago, a calamitous reordering of the world order followed. China, pursuing what it calls a "peaceful rise," points to the PLA's peacekeeping activities as evidence of its benign intentions.
But while increasingly willing to let its soldiers don the blue helmets worn by U.N. peacekeepers, China has shown little enthusiasm for the U.N.-sanctioned mission that currently matters most to Washington -- the war in Afghanistan.
Wariness toward NATO
When the United States wanted to fly a group of Mongolian trainers to Afghanistan in October, China objected to letting the aircraft go over its territory. Beijing eventually gave the flight a green light -- but only after ammunition was taken off the plane, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.
Though authorized by the United Nations, the Afghanistan mission is led by NATO, an organization China views with deep wariness. Beijing blames NATO for the 1999 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo war.
China's shock at NATO's military campaign in the former Yugoslavia helped prod Beijing into playing a bigger role in U.N. peacekeeping, said Bates Gill, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and co-author of a recent report on China's peacekeeping activities. China, he said, is "highly unlikely" to send soldiers to Afghanistan to help "what is essentially a NATO operation, albeit with a United Nations blessing."
Beijing recently enrolled a small group of soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq in a mine-clearing course at the PLA's University of Science and Technology in Nanjing and has expressed interest in helping to train Afghan police. But it has balked at providing direct support for NATO's campaign against the Taliban. China has focused its resources on supporting operations run directly by the United Nations. It has more troops and police deployed on U.N. missions than the United States, Russia and Britain combined. Of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, only France makes anywhere near as big a contribution to U.N. peacekeeping.
Washington has generally welcomed China's increasing readiness to join U.N. operations, though a Pentagon report this year noted that the capabilities that allow China to participate in distant peacekeeping and humanitarian missions could also "allow China to project power to ensure access to resources or enforce claims to disputed territories."
Obama, during his visit to Beijing, described greater international engagement by China as a necessary and welcome by-product of its economic strength. "A growing economy is joined by growing responsibilities," he said after talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Presence in Sudan
China has moved far from what, under Mao Zedong, was a policy of steadfast opposition to military interventions by foreign powers. In the 1950s, China actively resisted U.N.-backed military missions, most notably during the Korean War, when its soldiers battled U.S. and other foreign troops fighting under the U.N. flag in support of South Korea.
Chinese troops serve in 10 countries, from the Caribbean to Southeast Asia, but they are most active in Africa, where China has ramped up its diplomatic and economic presence as it seeks oil and other resources to fuel its economy. They focus on providing engineering, medical and logistical help. A top U.N. official who visited the Chinese capital recently said Beijing is considering sending combats troops overseas for the first time.
Chinese personnel have a reputation for tight discipline and have not been tarnished by the sex and corruption scandals that have afflicted peacekeepers from some other nations. Critics, however, note that the largest number of Chinese peacekeepers -- nearly 800 military and police personnel-- are stationed in Sudan, which provides substantial amounts of oil to China and whose government Beijing has strongly supported despite widespread outrage over the killings in the western region of Darfur.
Speaking after a conference on peacekeeping last month in Beijing, Alain Le Roy, the U.N. undersecretary for peacekeeping operations, called Chinese troops "very professional" and said the United Nations has "no concerns" about their role in Sudan. Beijing's close diplomatic ties to countries such as Sudan, he said, give it leverage that "we will try to make the best use of."
Hatoyama's 'change of regime' phrase selected buzzword of the year
(Mainichi Japan) December 2, 2009
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's signature phrase "seiken kotai" (change of regime) was selected as this year's most popular buzzword, it has been learned.
The award ceremony for the winners of the U-Can Shingo Ryukogo Taisho prize was held in Tokyo on Tuesday, highly commending the phrase that Hatoyama chanted during the House of Representatives election campaign in August to bring about the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)'s sweeping victory.
On behalf of the prime minister who was absent from the ceremony due to official duties, DPJ's Public Relations Committee Chair Toshio Ogawa greeted the audience: "Let's hope that the change of regime took place only this year and the coming years will see our administration carry on."
Also ranked in this year's top 10 buzzwords were "jigyo shiwake" (identification of wasteful government projects) and "haken-giri" (layoff of temporary employees). The former phrase's awardees -- the Government Revitalization Unit and its working group members -- were absent from the ceremony, while the Haken Union, which has protested against layoffs of temporary employees sent its secretary-general Shuichiro Sekine into the ceremonial occasion.
"I hope the phrase was only in fashion in 2009," Sekine said.
Other top 10 winners were: child acting sensation Seishiro Kato for "Kodomo Tencho," the role of an auto dealership manager he plays in TV commercials; Moriyo Kimura, a doctor and a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry official, representing the term "shingata infuruenza" (new type of influenza or swine flu); celebrity Teppei Koike and columnist Maki Fukazawa, representing "soshoku danshi" or "herbivorous boys" (boys who are not aggressive in chasing girls); Your Party leader Yoshimi Watanabe, for his slogan "datsu kanryo" (ridding bureaucrat-led politics); fashion model Tsubasa Masuwaka for "fast fashion"; former Rakuten Eagles manager Katsuya Nomura for his trademark "boyaki" (grouching) before reporters following baseball games; and actress Anne for "rekijo" (women versed in history).
Prime Minister Hatoyama expressed his joy over the award later the same day.
"I appreciate that we have achieved a change in government along with the public," he told the assembled media.
However, he jokingly showed concern over the popularity of his catch phrase: "I guess change of regime had better not become a fad ... Well, I'm just kidding."
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's signature phrase "seiken kotai" (change of regime) was selected as this year's most popular buzzword, it has been learned.
The award ceremony for the winners of the U-Can Shingo Ryukogo Taisho prize was held in Tokyo on Tuesday, highly commending the phrase that Hatoyama chanted during the House of Representatives election campaign in August to bring about the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)'s sweeping victory.
On behalf of the prime minister who was absent from the ceremony due to official duties, DPJ's Public Relations Committee Chair Toshio Ogawa greeted the audience: "Let's hope that the change of regime took place only this year and the coming years will see our administration carry on."
Also ranked in this year's top 10 buzzwords were "jigyo shiwake" (identification of wasteful government projects) and "haken-giri" (layoff of temporary employees). The former phrase's awardees -- the Government Revitalization Unit and its working group members -- were absent from the ceremony, while the Haken Union, which has protested against layoffs of temporary employees sent its secretary-general Shuichiro Sekine into the ceremonial occasion.
"I hope the phrase was only in fashion in 2009," Sekine said.
Other top 10 winners were: child acting sensation Seishiro Kato for "Kodomo Tencho," the role of an auto dealership manager he plays in TV commercials; Moriyo Kimura, a doctor and a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry official, representing the term "shingata infuruenza" (new type of influenza or swine flu); celebrity Teppei Koike and columnist Maki Fukazawa, representing "soshoku danshi" or "herbivorous boys" (boys who are not aggressive in chasing girls); Your Party leader Yoshimi Watanabe, for his slogan "datsu kanryo" (ridding bureaucrat-led politics); fashion model Tsubasa Masuwaka for "fast fashion"; former Rakuten Eagles manager Katsuya Nomura for his trademark "boyaki" (grouching) before reporters following baseball games; and actress Anne for "rekijo" (women versed in history).
Prime Minister Hatoyama expressed his joy over the award later the same day.
"I appreciate that we have achieved a change in government along with the public," he told the assembled media.
However, he jokingly showed concern over the popularity of his catch phrase: "I guess change of regime had better not become a fad ... Well, I'm just kidding."
Japanese Top Search Keywords 2009 By Yahoo! Japan
Posted on November 18th, 2009 by Akky Akimoto
Although it is November, the season of 2009 ranking comes! Yahoo! Japan discloses their annual ranking by what keywords people searched in this year.
As always, all Japanese search engines and portals will follow, but Yahoo! Japan is the No.1 search in Japan, this ranking is one of the best to describe “regular” people’s search behaviour, except the keyword “Yahoo”.
PC search
ranking keyword meaning 2008
1 YouTube No.1 movie site 1
2 Mixi No.1 social network 2
3 2 channel No.1 bulletin board 3
4 Google No.2 search 4
5 Rakuten No.1 online mall 5
6 Amazon No.2 online mall 6
7 Niconico Douga No.2 movie site 7
8 Goo NTT’s portal 8
9 JAL No.1 airline 10
10 MSN Microsoft’s portal 13
As you see, most high-ranked keywords just stay the same positions.
Some notable changes
“HelloWork”(government job centre for unemployment) moving up from 20th to 13th may show that more people have bitter time this year.
Boosted web services:
•Kakaku.com(Price comparison service) 12th(from 22nd)
•Amebro(Blog hosting) 14th(-, out of top 50 in 2008)
•Han Game(online game) 15th(21th)
•Cookpad(recipe site) 20th(47th)
•“Zenryaku” for Zenryaku Profile(mobile profile site) 34th(-)
•Google Maps 42nd(-)
•Zozo Town(apparel mall) 46th(-)
•livedoor(portal) 47th(-)
Services Losing positions:
•Wikipedia 26th(19th)
•Gurunabi(restaurant guide) 53rd(35th)
•Rikunabi(job matching) 64th(37th)
None of “Twitter” or “Facebook” appeared on the top 100, yet.
Mobile search
ranking keyword meaning 2008
1 Mixi No.1 PC social network 1
2 2 channel No.1 bulletin board 2
3 Mobage Town No.2 mobile social network 3
4 YouTube No.1 movie site 5
5 Gree No.1 mobile social network -
6 Google No.2 search 7
7 Rakuten No.1 online mall 9
8 Amebro CyberAgent’s blog portal -
9 Amazon No.2 online mall 8
10 McDonald Hamburger Chainstore -
On mobile ranking, 7 of 10 keywords remain from 2008 ranking. 3 bbs sites went away, one of them stopped the service.
As always, erotic words seem to be excluded from the rankings.
Although it is November, the season of 2009 ranking comes! Yahoo! Japan discloses their annual ranking by what keywords people searched in this year.
As always, all Japanese search engines and portals will follow, but Yahoo! Japan is the No.1 search in Japan, this ranking is one of the best to describe “regular” people’s search behaviour, except the keyword “Yahoo”.
PC search
ranking keyword meaning 2008
1 YouTube No.1 movie site 1
2 Mixi No.1 social network 2
3 2 channel No.1 bulletin board 3
4 Google No.2 search 4
5 Rakuten No.1 online mall 5
6 Amazon No.2 online mall 6
7 Niconico Douga No.2 movie site 7
8 Goo NTT’s portal 8
9 JAL No.1 airline 10
10 MSN Microsoft’s portal 13
As you see, most high-ranked keywords just stay the same positions.
Some notable changes
“HelloWork”(government job centre for unemployment) moving up from 20th to 13th may show that more people have bitter time this year.
Boosted web services:
•Kakaku.com(Price comparison service) 12th(from 22nd)
•Amebro(Blog hosting) 14th(-, out of top 50 in 2008)
•Han Game(online game) 15th(21th)
•Cookpad(recipe site) 20th(47th)
•“Zenryaku” for Zenryaku Profile(mobile profile site) 34th(-)
•Google Maps 42nd(-)
•Zozo Town(apparel mall) 46th(-)
•livedoor(portal) 47th(-)
Services Losing positions:
•Wikipedia 26th(19th)
•Gurunabi(restaurant guide) 53rd(35th)
•Rikunabi(job matching) 64th(37th)
None of “Twitter” or “Facebook” appeared on the top 100, yet.
Mobile search
ranking keyword meaning 2008
1 Mixi No.1 PC social network 1
2 2 channel No.1 bulletin board 2
3 Mobage Town No.2 mobile social network 3
4 YouTube No.1 movie site 5
5 Gree No.1 mobile social network -
6 Google No.2 search 7
7 Rakuten No.1 online mall 9
8 Amebro CyberAgent’s blog portal -
9 Amazon No.2 online mall 8
10 McDonald Hamburger Chainstore -
On mobile ranking, 7 of 10 keywords remain from 2008 ranking. 3 bbs sites went away, one of them stopped the service.
As always, erotic words seem to be excluded from the rankings.
Net pulse of nation beats for comedian's jokes
By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-03 07:56
In this time of gloom and doom, Chinese people went searching for a laugh.
Stand-up comedians, spy TV series and stories of corrupt officials caught the eye and fingers of many Chinese Internet users, according to an annual list of the most searched words in 2009 released Wednesday by Google Inc's China office.
"The popularity of comedy is a sign of lipstick effect," said Tan Fei, a senior culture critic in Beijing, referring to the theory that consumers in an economic crisis are more willing to buy less costly items. Women, for example, will still buy lipstick but not the $3,000 Gucci purse.
"People want to have some fun and laughter - a getaway from the depressed economy," Tan explained.
At No 1 on the top 10 list was 42-year-old comedian Zhou Libo, popular for his Shanghainese dialect and his humorous look at world affairs, including jokes poking fun at Chinese leaders.
Zhou's haipai qingkou, or Shanghai-style stand-up act, was one of the hottest tickets in Shanghai.
Comedian Xiao Shenyang, who spins a barrage of fast-paced stories, jokes and exaggerated songs, is the most popular search among a list of top 10 celebrities.
Both Zhou and Xiao's acts provide grassroots and truth-telling jokes, said Tan, adding that people "feel connected with them".
Following Zhou on the top 10 Google list was the search for a popular online novel titled Dou Luo Da Lu, a spy-themed TV show Lurk (Qianfu) and wartime TV series Go West (Zouxikou), all of which ranked in spots 2 through 4, respectively.
Salacious news of Xu Zongheng, the former mayor of Shenzhen who grabbed readers with his alleged involvement in a graft scandal and his supposed relationship with a Chinese actress, rounded out the top 5 spots.
On the global scale, Michael Jackson's stunning death was the most read story on the Internet this year, according to annual lists released recently and compiled separately by Google Inc and Yahoo Inc. Both combine for two-thirds of the world's Internet searches.
Net users were drawn to the quest to find out what happened to Jackson in his final hours on June 25. On Yahoo, news of Jackson's death ended singer Britney Spears' four-year reign at the top.
In China, Michael Jackson ranks No 4 on the list of most popular celebrities and is the only foreign artist in the top ten.
Renren.com was the only social networking website on the top ten list in China, mainly because of its name-change this year from Xiaonei.com.
This is in sharp contrast with the list in other parts of the world where the online hangouts Facebook and Tuenti, a socializing site in Spain, both made Google's Top 10, as did the popular communications tool Twitter.
Microsoft's latest Windows operating system also grabbed a spot on Google's list. Singer Lady Gaga was the only other celebrity besides Jackson on Google's Top 10.
Barack Obama made Yahoo's top searches list in 2008 as a presidential candidate and the President-elect, but dropped off after he took office in 2009.
Others falling out of the Top 10 were all actresses: Miley Cyrus, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan and Angelina Jolie.
Updated: 2009-12-03 07:56
In this time of gloom and doom, Chinese people went searching for a laugh.
Stand-up comedians, spy TV series and stories of corrupt officials caught the eye and fingers of many Chinese Internet users, according to an annual list of the most searched words in 2009 released Wednesday by Google Inc's China office.
"The popularity of comedy is a sign of lipstick effect," said Tan Fei, a senior culture critic in Beijing, referring to the theory that consumers in an economic crisis are more willing to buy less costly items. Women, for example, will still buy lipstick but not the $3,000 Gucci purse.
"People want to have some fun and laughter - a getaway from the depressed economy," Tan explained.
At No 1 on the top 10 list was 42-year-old comedian Zhou Libo, popular for his Shanghainese dialect and his humorous look at world affairs, including jokes poking fun at Chinese leaders.
Zhou's haipai qingkou, or Shanghai-style stand-up act, was one of the hottest tickets in Shanghai.
Comedian Xiao Shenyang, who spins a barrage of fast-paced stories, jokes and exaggerated songs, is the most popular search among a list of top 10 celebrities.
Both Zhou and Xiao's acts provide grassroots and truth-telling jokes, said Tan, adding that people "feel connected with them".
Following Zhou on the top 10 Google list was the search for a popular online novel titled Dou Luo Da Lu, a spy-themed TV show Lurk (Qianfu) and wartime TV series Go West (Zouxikou), all of which ranked in spots 2 through 4, respectively.
Salacious news of Xu Zongheng, the former mayor of Shenzhen who grabbed readers with his alleged involvement in a graft scandal and his supposed relationship with a Chinese actress, rounded out the top 5 spots.
On the global scale, Michael Jackson's stunning death was the most read story on the Internet this year, according to annual lists released recently and compiled separately by Google Inc and Yahoo Inc. Both combine for two-thirds of the world's Internet searches.
Net users were drawn to the quest to find out what happened to Jackson in his final hours on June 25. On Yahoo, news of Jackson's death ended singer Britney Spears' four-year reign at the top.
In China, Michael Jackson ranks No 4 on the list of most popular celebrities and is the only foreign artist in the top ten.
Renren.com was the only social networking website on the top ten list in China, mainly because of its name-change this year from Xiaonei.com.
This is in sharp contrast with the list in other parts of the world where the online hangouts Facebook and Tuenti, a socializing site in Spain, both made Google's Top 10, as did the popular communications tool Twitter.
Microsoft's latest Windows operating system also grabbed a spot on Google's list. Singer Lady Gaga was the only other celebrity besides Jackson on Google's Top 10.
Barack Obama made Yahoo's top searches list in 2008 as a presidential candidate and the President-elect, but dropped off after he took office in 2009.
Others falling out of the Top 10 were all actresses: Miley Cyrus, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan and Angelina Jolie.
CHINA: China taking on growing role in U.N. peacekeeping missions
People's Liberation Army soldiers keep watch in Changping, China, during a display of military equipment used on U.N. peace missions. (Andrew Higgins/the Washington Post)
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
By Andrew HigginsWashington Post Staff Writer
China showcasing its softer side; growing role in U.N. peacekeeping signals desire to project image of benign power
CHANGPING, CHINA -- After bulking up its armed forces with new missiles and other advanced weaponry, China recently invited U.S. and other foreign military officials to inspect a less bellicose side of the People's Liberation Army: a fleet of bulldozers.
Through clouds of smoke generated to simulate the look of a war zone, a PLA engineering brigade showed off its earthmovers, mine-clearing gear and other nonlethal hardware at a base north of Beijing.
The display, put on shortly after President Obama left Beijing last month, represented what China sees as an important part of its answer to a question that shadowed Obama's eight-day Asia tour: How will China use the formidable power generated by its relentless economic growth?
The engineering unit that staged the show is spearheading China's growing involvement in international peacekeeping, a cause that Beijing for decades denounced as a violation of its stated commitment to noninterference in the affairs of other nations but that it now embraces.
Today, about 2,150 Chinese military and police personnel are deployed in support of U.N. missions. They serve around the world, from Haiti to Sudan.
A 'peaceful rise'
Though the peacekeepers represent only a fraction of the PLA's more than 2 million soldiers -- and account for a minuscule part of the Chinese military budget -- China's enthusiasm for peacekeeping signals a clear desire to project an image as a responsible and peaceable great power.
And even if, as some experts say, China's total military spending is perhaps double the stated amount, it is still less than a third of the United States' basic military budget, which excludes spending toward the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We promise that we will fulfill our duties to safeguard peace," Senior Col. Yi Changhe, an engineering brigade commander, told the visiting foreign defense officials.
When Germany and later Japan emerged as military powers on the back of surging economies more than a century ago, a calamitous reordering of the world order followed. China, pursuing what it calls a "peaceful rise," points to the PLA's peacekeeping activities as evidence of its benign intentions.
But while increasingly willing to let its soldiers don the blue helmets worn by U.N. peacekeepers, China has shown little enthusiasm for the U.N.-sanctioned mission that currently matters most to Washington -- the war in Afghanistan.
Wariness toward NATO
When the United States wanted to fly a group of Mongolian trainers to Afghanistan in October, China objected to letting the aircraft go over its territory. Beijing eventually gave the flight a green light -- but only after ammunition was taken off the plane, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.
Though authorized by the United Nations, the Afghanistan mission is led by NATO, an organization China views with deep wariness. Beijing blames NATO for the 1999 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo war.
China's shock at NATO's military campaign in the former Yugoslavia helped prod Beijing into playing a bigger role in U.N. peacekeeping, said Bates Gill, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and co-author of a recent report on China's peacekeeping activities.
China, he said, is "highly unlikely" to send soldiers to Afghanistan to help "what is essentially a NATO operation, albeit with a United Nations blessing."
Beijing recently enrolled a small group of soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq in a mine-clearing course at the PLA's University of Science and Technology in Nanjing and has expressed interest in helping to train Afghan police. But it has balked at providing direct support for NATO's campaign against the Taliban.
China has focused its resources on supporting operations run directly by the United Nations. It has more troops and police deployed on U.N. missions than the United States, Russia and Britain combined. Of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, only France makes anywhere near as big a contribution to U.N. peacekeeping.
Washington has generally welcomed China's increasing readiness to join U.N. operations, though a Pentagon report this year noted that the capabilities that allow China to participate in distant peacekeeping and humanitarian missions could also "allow China to project power to ensure access to resources or enforce claims to disputed territories."
Obama, during his visit to Beijing, described greater international engagement by China as a necessary and welcome by-product of its economic strength.
"A growing economy is joined by growing responsibilities,"
he said after talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Presence in Sudan
China has moved far from what, under Mao Zedong, was a policy of steadfast opposition to military interventions by foreign powers. In the 1950s, China actively resisted U.N.-backed military missions, most notably during the Korean War, when its soldiers battled U.S. and other foreign troops fighting under the U.N. flag in support of South Korea.
Chinese troops serve in 10 countries, from the Caribbean to Southeast Asia, but they are most active in Africa, where China has ramped up its diplomatic and economic presence as it seeks oil and other resources to fuel its economy. They focus on providing engineering, medical and logistical help. A top U.N. official who visited the Chinese capital recently said Beijing is considering sending combats troops overseas for the first time.
Chinese personnel have a reputation for tight discipline and have not been tarnished by the sex and corruption scandals that have afflicted peacekeepers from some other nations. Critics, however, note that the largest number of Chinese peacekeepers -- nearly 800 military and police personnel-- are stationed in Sudan, which provides substantial amounts of oil to China and whose government Beijing has strongly supported despite widespread outrage over the killings in the western region of Darfur.
Speaking after a conference on peacekeeping last month in Beijing, Alain Le Roy, the U.N. undersecretary for peacekeeping operations, called Chinese troops "very professional" and said the United Nations has "no concerns" about their role in Sudan. Beijing's close diplomatic ties to countries such as Sudan, he said, give it leverage that "we will try to make the best use of."
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