Sunday, March 21, 2010
RUSSIA: On this day: 21 March
On this day (21 March) in 1917, the Romanov imperial family was arrested. It would lead to their execution the following year and Nicholas II became ever-known as the last tsar to rule Russia.
Even though the Romanovs brought many changes and reforms to their country during their 300-year dynasty, making Russia a powerful empire, by the time Nicholas II came to the throne some considered him to be unfit for his post as tsar. Nicholas II was an autocratic ruler. The difference in lifestyles of the wealthy royals to that of the poor peasants was great. Mostly peasants criticized and demonstrated against him, but those who opposed were shot. With Russia’s defeat in World War One and a civil war uprising from the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin, Nicholas was forced by the Provisioning Government to abdicate.
He and his family were soon placed under house arrest at the Alexander Palace. Later they were exiled, first to Tobolsk where they were still treated with respect and consideration. Many sympathized with the former tsar and still believed in his supremacy. But it was when they were moved to Yekaterinburg that conditions became harder. The house was fenced, large boards covered the windows and the Romanovs were constantly guarded by Bolshevik soldiers who humiliated and insulted them.
Maria, Nicholas’ daughter, writes in her diary during their captivity: “Everyone who comes into the house inspects our rooms . . . It's difficult to write about anything cheerful, because there's all too little cheerfulness here. On the other hand, God doesn't abandon us. The sun shines, the birds sing, and this morning we heard the bells sounding matins . . .”
About a month after moving there, the entire imperial family was executed by firing squad in the basement of the house they lived in.
RUSSIA: On this day: 21 March
On this day (21 March) in 1917, the Romanov imperial family was arrested. It would lead to their execution the following year and Nicholas II became ever-known as the last tsar to rule Russia.
Even though the Romanovs brought many changes and reforms to their country during their 300-year dynasty, making Russia a powerful empire, by the time Nicholas II came to the throne some considered him to be unfit for his post as tsar. Nicholas II was an autocratic ruler. The difference in lifestyles of the wealthy royals to that of the poor peasants was great. Mostly peasants criticized and demonstrated against him, but those who opposed were shot. With Russia’s defeat in World War One and a civil war uprising from the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin, Nicholas was forced by the Provisioning Government to abdicate.
He and his family were soon placed under house arrest at the Alexander Palace. Later they were exiled, first to Tobolsk where they were still treated with respect and consideration. Many sympathized with the former tsar and still believed in his supremacy. But it was when they were moved to Yekaterinburg that conditions became harder. The house was fenced, large boards covered the windows and the Romanovs were constantly guarded by Bolshevik soldiers who humiliated and insulted them.
Maria, Nicholas’ daughter, writes in her diary during their captivity: “Everyone who comes into the house inspects our rooms . . . It's difficult to write about anything cheerful, because there's all too little cheerfulness here. On the other hand, God doesn't abandon us. The sun shines, the birds sing, and this morning we heard the bells sounding matins . . .”
About a month after moving there, the entire imperial family was executed by firing squad in the basement of the house they lived in.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
RUSSIA: On this day: 20 March
On March 20 1535, the first currency reform in Russia was held, giving birth to Russia’s smallest coin, the kopeck, the first all-Russia currency. The reform was carried out by Princess Elena Glinskaya, mother of Tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible). Since the Tsar was underage at the time, she ruled the country as his warden and implemented a number of very successful reforms until she was poisoned, allegedly by one of the contending aristocracy clans.
The urgency for this reform was called for by the increasing chaos in the country’s currency system. Before, many minting centres scattered all over the country issued currency that varied greatly in size and exterior. There was no fixed exchange rate. To make things worse, due to no security features, whole pieces of silver from the original coins were cut off, or, in the process of production, cheaper metals were blended into the alloy. The coins lost their value, which inevitably led to unhealthy commodity-money relations. The currency crisis reached such levels that “coin artists” were sentenced to death.
The reform unified the exterior and the weight of the coin. Lighter and cheaper coins were exchanged for the new ones at a fixed exchange rate to keep the new currency solid and reliable. However, the archaeologists still find secret stashes of old coins dating as far back as the 1530s. People were still suspicious of the new currency and didn’t get rid of their old savings in an attempt to secure their future.
The kopeck got its name from the word “spear” (“kopyo” in Russian), as Elena Glinskaya’s currency had the image of George the Victorious, piercing the serpent with a spear, engraved on it. Some sources argue that coins depicted the sovereign in power at the time the coins were minted.
The kopeck later survived a number of currency reforms. In 1704, under Peter the Great, the decimal system was introduced in Russia, equaling the kopeck to 1/100 of one ruble. To make them easily recognised by everyone, its value was written in words for the literate population and drawn as a combination of stripes and dots for illiterate people.
Inflation affected the value of the kopeck over the years. In its early days in the 16th century, three kopecks were worth a good country house, while in the mid-20th century one kopeck was only good to buy a pencil or a glass of soda pop.
Today there is talk about the complete elimination of the 1 and 10 kopeck coins, since they are practically no longer used, and their actual cost of production is about 18 times higher than their nominal value.
Friday, March 19, 2010
DALIAN, CHINA: The Japanese Influence
FROMMER’S:
A stroll around the neighborhood surrounding Nanshan Riben Fengqing Jie will give you a glimpse of old Japanese housing, though the street itself is full of suspiciously modern homes.
RUSSIA: On this day: 19 March
Tsar Peter the Great
19 March 1697, the Grand Embassy, lead by Tsar Peter the Great, left Moscow to travel to Western Europe. He was the first tsar to leave his country in peacetime and ‘opened a window into Europe’. On his return Russia would never be the same and the west would become a model for changes to come.
The Embassy comprised of around 250 people and its first aim was to strengthen and expand the union between Russia and Europe in the fight against Turkey. Peter also intended to learn about the cultural and economic life of Europe. Officially the embassy was headed by the ‘grand ambassadors’ Frants Lefort, Fyodor Golovin and Pyotr Voznitsyn. Peter himself was incognito under the name of Peter Mikhaylov.
They traveled through Germany, Holland and Austria. Throughout this journey Peter collected knowledge of western technology and hired thousands of craftsmen, engineers, military personnel, architects and painters to take back to Russia. Peter met King William III of England and visited Oxford University and the Greenwich Observatory. As well as English royals at the Royal Mint, he met Isaac Newton. He attended sessions of the English parliament and talked with church bishops and politicians. Peter sought technological innovations and inventions, especially in shipbuilding. He observed and even worked in dockyards and visited cannon foundries, factories and medical practices. But his diplomatic mission was unsuccessful as Europe was too preoccupied with the Spanish and French wars to worry about problems further east and Turkey.
On his return to Moscow, Peter demanded western standards of appearance and that beards be shaved off at court and more European dresses be worn. Many were appalled by his actions but were harshly punished for any criticism. The tsar chose a more western way of development for his country and many reforms followed. One of them being a change from the old Russian calendar to the Julian calendar used in the West, where years were counted from the birth of Christ, rather than the creation of the world. Many later praised Peter for his reforms, but others felt he betrayed his country’s traditions.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA: Central Square
In the 1960 city officials decided to construct a square over the slope facing the Bay of the Golden Horn to provide a spacious meeting ground for local gatherings. It was constructed in the 1970s for parades and holiday events and officially named “Square of the Fighters for the Soviet Power in the Far East.” The square is two stories with a large shopping mall on the ground floor. The former Primorsky Krai administration building is located on the square, and is now used for holding various local events.
There are several monuments in the square dedicated to the heroes of the Soviet Union in the Far East. The central focus is on a trumpeter facing the ocean. This figure was chosen as a symbol of the new, Soviet, power because a trumpeter is believed to have headed the People's Revolutionary Army that liberated Primorye from interventionists and years of Civil War after which Soviet power was then proclaimed in the whole region.
RUSSIA: On this day: 18 March
Picture from book A.Leonov, A.Sokolov 'Life among the stars'
On 18 March 1965, the Soviet cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov left the airlock of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft and became the first man to conduct an EVA (extra-vehicular activity). His “outdoor” time totalled just 12 minutes.
The slugfest that raged between the United States and the Soviet Union for dominance in space ended with a major victory for the Soviet Union. It was only two and a half months later, on 3 June 1965, that the Gemini IV spacecraft, with Edward White and James McDivitt on board, conducted the first American EVA.
The Soviet team of engineers, supervised by the founder of the Soviet space program Sergey Korolev, designed a special airlock compatible with the Voskhod spacecraft series. Additionally, the original spacesuit, used in all previous missions, was reinforced with an extra shell and basically functioned just like a thermos flask. The multimember crew spacecraft was remodelled to include a “spacesuit changing room.” The spacewalking cosmonaut was attached to the craft by a 5-metre tether, which served both for emergency oxygen supply and as a means of communication between the commander and ground controllers.
Leonov’s first spacewalk was mostly successful, but did experience a few off-normal situations, some of which were even considered deadly. A mishap caused the pressure inside Leonov’s spacesuit to surge. The suit ballooned, rendering any movement impossible. Leonov opened a valve to release the pressure, but at the risk of contracting a “decompression disease”, but all went well. Next, he entered the airlock head first, which meant that turning upright was another ordeal. The strenuous physical activity in a heavy spacesuit (weighing over 220lbs) had totally worn him out: he was knee-deep in sweat and had to act quickly. His oxygen supply was also quickly running out. The spacesuit held 60 litres of air for ventilation and breathing, as opposed to modern ones which hold 360 litres. Making matters worse, a fault in the re-entry manoeuvering system had forced the cosmonauts to resort to manual mode, which resulted in the spacecraft landing in the middle of the dense Arctic woodland of the taiga, almost 200 miles away from the original landing site. Leonov and his colleague Pavel Belyayev had to spend three days in the forest, wrapped in foil from their spacesuits inside the airlock until the area was finally cleared for helicopters to land.
The American spacewalk, on the other hand, lasted over 22 minutes and the tether was 3 metres longer. The Americans also devised a hand-held manoeuvering oxygen-jet gun to push the astronaut out of the capsule. But the one major difference was that the American spacecraft did not have an airlock. The astronaut had to exit the hatch after depressurising the entire spacecraft.
http://rt.com/Russia_Now/2010-03-18.htmlWednesday, March 17, 2010
DALIAN, CHINA: Local Currency
FROMMER’S:
Banks, Foreign Exchange and ATMs -- The main Bank of China branch is in a large tower on the corner of Yan'an Lu and Baiyu Jie, behind the Dalian Hotel on Zhongshan Guangchang (open Mon-Fri 8:30am-4:30pm). Traveler's checks and cash can be exchanged at window 32, and credit cards are handled at window 11 (both on the second floor). There are international ATMs next to the old Bank of China on Zhongshan Guangchang and inside the Nikko's shopping arcade.
LONELY PLANET:
Bank of China (Zhōngguó Yínháng; 8280 5711; 9 Zhōngshān Guǎngchǎng; 8.30-11.30am & 1-7pm Mon-Fri) Around the corner on Shanghai Lu is a 24-hour ATM.
China Merchants Bank (Shengli Guǎngchǎng) ATM; opposite the train station, off Jiefang Lu.
HSBC (cnr Renmin Lu & Zhigong Jie) ATM; accepts Cirrus, Plus, MasterCard and Visa cards.
SHANGHAI, CHINA: Fewer city residents say they're happy
2010-3-17
By Jane Chen
FEWER people in Shanghai feel happy about their life than their peers in less developed cities, plagued by the cost of living, housing prices and medical bills, according to the latest survey cited by today's Guangzhou Daily.
Chongqing Municipality and cities in Jiangsu, Sichuan and Fujian provinces score the happiest in the survey, while Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai and cities in Zhejiang Province were the least happy.
The survey covered more than 70,000 people in 10 cities aged 20 to 40 with family income over 50,000 yuan (US$7,325) a year.
People with yearly family income between 110,000 and 200,000 yuan were the happiest. And those aged between 30 and 35 feel the happiest.
People living in second-tier cities are more satisfied with their life than their peers in larger ones such as Shanghai.
Shenzhen, a south China city that enjoys a high economic development, scored the lowest on the list but with a highest rate of mental diseases.
CHINA: Mainland agrees to discuss cross-Strait military security, mutual trust
2010-3-17
Source: Xinhua
THE Chinese mainland agrees to discuss the issue of military security and mutual trust across the Taiwan Strait at an appropriate time, said a mainland spokesman today.
"We maintain that (both sides) can contact and make exchanges on military issues and discuss the establishment of military security and mutual trust mechanism at a proper time," Yang Yi, spokesman with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, told a press conference here.
"Related work should be done step by step, starting from the easy ones," Yang said.
Yang said the exchange of retired servicemen and relevant experts and scholars would be a good choice to begin the work.
The symposium held by the mainland and Taiwan on 60 years of cross-Strait relations in Taipei in November 2009, was a good start, Yang said.
The event was attended by more than 110 scholars from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. They discussed a string of issues covering politics, economy, culture and military affairs.
RUSSIA: On this day: 17 March
Designed and built in the Kharkov Tractor Factory in Ukraine, the T-34 tank made its way to Moscow and was first presented on 17 March 1940 at Red Square. The successful 400-mile journey from Ukraine was the first real test for the armored vehicle that was to become the best tank of World War II.
Its technical design was radical, a major step up from the pre-war light tanks, which were high-speed but lacked firepower and armor and were complex in construction. The T-34 medium tank was built simple and durable with excellent firepower, armor, mobility and shape. The tanks were mass produced before the German invasion and made a successful debut in battles against the Japanese headed by the legendary military commander Georgy Zhukov.
The Germans were advancing deep into Russia, closing in on Moscow and forcing the relocation of the entire Russian military industry to Siberia. New factories exceeded their pre-war production. Outnumbering the German tanks in the great battles of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) and Kursk, the T-34s crushed the enemy.
Western experts and even Russia’s opponents in the war still respond with admiration to the T-34 tank.
German General Friedrich von Mellenthin called it “the most remarkable example of an offensive weapon in the Second World War” and German Field Marshal Paul von Kleist said the T-34 was the best in the world.
More advanced than German tanks, they were the main ‘war-winning’ weapons against the Germans. In 1945, when summing up the results of the World War II, British Prime Minister Lord Winston Churchill had this to say when asked what he thought the best weapon was:
“There were three: the English canon, the German Messershmitt plane and the Russian T-34 tank. The first two, I understand how it was done, but I completely don’t understand how such a tank appeared…”
Another example of its popularity is its inclusion in Stephen Biesty’s “The Incredible Cross-sections,” an internationally known picture book about the greatest creations of mankind.
CHINA: China GDP 'to grow 9.5% in 2010'
China has been accused of keeping the yuan artificially low to help exports
Page last updated at 07:30 GMT, Wednesday, 17 March 2010
The World Bank has raised its 2010 economic growth forecast for China to 9.5% from 9%.
It said consumption by both businesses and households would grow strongly, even though government stimulus measures were being pared back.
But the bank warned that Beijing needed to cool inflation and try to cut the risk of a bubble in property prices.
It urged China to let its currency appreciate to contain prices and to stop the economy overheating.
"Strengthening the exchange rate can help reduce inflationary pressures and rebalance the economy," the World Bank said in quarterly update on the world's third largest economy.
Earlier this week, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao accepted that inflation would be a major challenge as Beijing tried to keep its recovery going.
However, he rejected criticism that China was keeping its currency undervalued in order to boost exports.
He said keeping the yuan stable was "an important contribution" to global recovery from the economic downturn.
Currency pressure
The yuan was tied to the dollar until 2005 when it was allowed to rise in value by about 20%.
The peg was reinstated in 2008 when the global economic crisis cut demand for Chinese products and factories began closing.
China is facing pressure, particularly from the United States, to let the yuan appreciate. A failure to revalue its currency and keeping it artificially low, is giving Beijing an unfair edge in trade, critics say.
China's GDP grew by 8.7% in 2009. Beijing's official growth target for 2010 is 8%.
JAPAN: Japan increases stimulus measures
Deflation tends to make consumers delay purchases as prices fall
Page last updated at 06:52 GMT, Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Japan's central bank has increased a stimulus measure aimed at encouraging financial institutions to lend more.
It has doubled to 20 trillion yen (£145bn; $220bn) the amount of cheap short-term loans it is offering banks.
The scheme, which lends money at a rate of 0.1%, was introduced in December to try to tackle the deflation which is threatening Japan's economic recovery.
The Bank also voted to hold interest rates at 0.1% - the level at which they have been since December 2008.
Bank pressure
Data released last week showed that Japan's economy grew by less than first estimated in the final quarter of 2009.
The Cabinet Office said the economy expanded by 0.9% between October and December of last year, down from its initial estimate of 1.1%.
That downward revision increased pressure on the Bank of Japan to ease monetary policy.
However, with interest rates already down to 0.1%, it does not have much room to move.
The continuing problem of deflation is bad for an economy as it tends to make consumers and businesses delay major purchases in the expectation that prices will fall further in the future.
Japan has a history of struggling with deflation. The 1990s are often referred to as Japan's "lost decade" because of its 10-year struggle with falling prices.
The period followed a collapse in prices in the housing market and the stock market at the end of the 1980s.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
JAPAN: Okada does not rule out introduction of nuclear weapons in emergency
Mar 16 11:21 PM US/Eastern
TOKYO, March 17 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Wednesday did not rule out the possibility that nuclear weapons may be brought into Japan by U.S. forces in a defense emergency in the future, while reiterating that the current government would stick to Japan's three non-nuclear principles.
"In a case in which Japan's security cannot be protected unless we accept temporary port calls by U.S. ships carrying nuclear weapons, the government at that time would make a decision even if it may affect its political fortunes," Okada told a parliamentary committee.
The issue of introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan has drawn renewed attention after a recent investigation conducted by a Foreign Ministry panel acknowledged that "a tacit agreement" was reached between Japan and the United States in the Cold War era which led Tokyo to allow U.S. nuclear-armed vessels to visit Japanese ports.
The move revealed that Japan's non-nuclear principles of not possessing, producing or allowing nuclear weapons on its territory were a mere facade.
But in 1991, after the Cold War ended, U.S. President George W. Bush announced he would withdraw tactical nuclear weapons from U.S. vessels, making the secret pact with Japan obsolete.
JAPAN: Hatoyama 'seriously reflecting' on role of money in politics, says reforms coming
March 17, 2010
(Mainichi Japan)
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Tuesday that he is "seriously reflecting" on the relationship between politics and money, an issue that has dogged his administration in its first six months in power, and suggested political funding reforms are on the way.
Talking about the priorities for the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)-led government as it moves past the half-year mark, Hatoyama said he hopes "to complete the program of government reform and eliminating government waste."
At the beginning of his comments to the media at his office, the prime minister reflected on the money scandals which have tainted his fledgling government, saying,
"We have been scolded severely by the people for not changing (politics), and over the problem of the role of money in politics. They demand that we fulfill our responsibilities and provide a proper explanation.
"I want to speed up political reforms such as the prohibition of donations from business organizations and defining the status of politicians' private secretaries in cooperation with all parties, and present an answer on these issues (to the people)," Hatoyama continued, suggesting that reforms to the Political Funds Control Law are forthcoming.
JAPAN: Tokyo rediscovers long-forgotten waterways
The Nihonbashi bridge and the river it spans are overshadowed by a Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway overpass. (DAISUKE TSUJIOKA)
2010/03/17
BY DAISUKE TSUJIOKA THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
The custodians of the grand canals in Venice and the colorful floating markets in Bangkok need not worry about their status just yet, but in Tokyo a group of concerned citizens is convinced it can transform the city's sludge-clogged waterways into a magnet for tourism.
The hubbub on the capital's rivers and canals was once one of its most celebrated sights.
During the Edo Period (1603-1867), boats carried people and goods on an intricate water system that was the equal of any in the world.
The late Edo Period chronicle "Yureki Zakki" marveled at the sheer density of the traffic: "Boats paddling away, floating by leisurely, others mooring, it is impossible to see the river surface."
But decades of modernization have left many of the city's waterways filthy and neglected.
Most canals no longer serve the logistical purposes for which they were built. Many were filled in to create a network of roads.
The rivers that once carried the lifeblood of the city are often completely overshadowed by the elevated highways that resulted from a construction spree that preceded Tokyo's hosting of the Olympic Games in 1964.
Boat traffic has been reduced to a trickle, rendering the craft little more than eyesores.
Nowhere is the decline of the capital's water system more dramatic than at Nihonbashi bridge in Chuo Ward at the heart of the city.
The first Nihonbashi bridge, a steeply arched wooden span made famous in numerous woodblock prints, was built around the time the warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Edo Shogunate in 1603. It became closely associated with that long running dynasty.
The bridge was the symbolic center not just of the Edo capital's transport system but also the transport system of the entire nation.
All distances along Japan's five main land routes, including the vital Tokaido road to Kyoto and Osaka, were calculated from the Nihonbashi bridge.
The surrounding neighborhood, centering on the famous Kisarazu-gashi fish market, was a thriving commercial center.
Nowadays, people cross the span without even realizing the history that is associated with it.
An elevated expressway built in 1963 runs along the Nihonbashigawa river, crossing directly over the stone river bridge and almost completely obscuring both it and the river.
"Now we have elementary school children who are surprised to learn that a river actually runs through here," said Taito Yamamoto, 61, vice president of Yamamoto Noriten Co. The family business, selling nori dried seaweed, traces its history back to 1849.
Yamamoto said he hoped to help revive river transportation and encourage Tokyoites to rediscover the city's water culture.
Eventually, he hopes to convince enough people of the charm of the Nihonbashigawa river to add impetus to a campaign to get the overpass expressway dismantled and replaced by an underground highway.
But the short-term objective is to capture hearts and minds.
A 5-kilometer cruise passing under 17 bridges on the Nihonbashigawa river has proven popular since its launch last September.
As of January, 90 cruises had been run by the Consortium of Rediscovery Edo-Tokyo Tourism Walk, an organization that brings together nonprofit groups and businesses in the area. All of the cruises were booked out.
A tiny 12-seat electric-powered boat is being used for the trips to help reduce the environmental footprint and to recreate the slower, more sustainable transportation methods of the Edo Period.
Participants are treated to a detailed running commentary on the history of the storied river and the districts through which it runs.
At one point, a large black smudge on the side of a bridge is pointed out. It is a somber relic of a direct hit by an incendiary bomb dropped during the March 10, 1945, Great Tokyo Air Raid, which killed more than 100,000 residents.
With the current Nihonbashi bridge due to mark its 100th anniversary next year, local authorities are showing renewed interest in the waterways.
Officials in Chuo Ward have plans to build a new jetty near the span at the former site of the Kisarazu-gashi fish market.
The city of Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture, the market's namesake, is hoping to re-enact the shipping of clams, seaweed and other local products to Nihonbashi for the celebrations, just as in the Edo Period.
Yamamoto, at Yamamoto Noriten Co., has even more expansive plans. He hopes to eventually link up Nihonbashi with the Asakusa district by boat, creating a link to the Sumidagawa river and the rest of the city.
That idea may not be far-fetched.
Officials in Sumida Ward, where the 634-meter Tokyo Sky Tree tower is scheduled to open in 2011, plan to capitalize on the event by launching pleasure boat cruises along the Kitajukkengawa river, a canal that cuts through the ward and passes near the tower.
Neighboring Koto Ward is also hoping to use its waterways to take advantage of the tower's opening to draw tourists to the Fukagawa district, a quaint neighborhood with a multitude of old temples and traditionally designed houses which retain much of the ambience of the Edo Period.
The metropolitan government has a more ambitious 30-year plan to create a boat transport network, which will link the bay area near Haneda Airport with the Sumidagawa river and other tourist attractions, such as Yokohama and Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture.
According to the blueprint, unveiled in 2006, the network would also provide a crucial alternative route for transporting relief supplies in a natural disaster.
Hidenobu Jinnai, a Hosei University professor of architecture, who helped write the plan, said his fieldwork on Tokyo's network of waterways had convinced him that the city was an "aquapolis," with a water culture and history to rival cities such as Venice, Amsterdam and Bangkok.
View Asahi Article"Through its affinity with water, Tokyo has grown over the years to nurture industry and culture," said Jinnai, "Tokyo's network of waterways is its greatest asset."
JAPAN: Heavier snowfalls in Japan due to big chill blowing from the Arctic
2010/03/17
BY KOSUKE SO, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Bitterly cold air blowing south from the Arctic Circle triggered highly unusual weather fluctuations that brought heavier snowfalls to areas of Japan this winter.
A committee of experts under the Japan Meteorological Agency said the highly unpredictable weather is an anomaly that may occur "only once in 30 years."
A key factor was a dramatic change in what meteorologists call the Arctic oscillation. When the oscillation is positive, atmospheric pressure in the Arctic Circle is lower than in regions to the south and warm air flows north into the Arctic.
This year, however, the oscillation turned strongly negative, meaning pressure in the Arctic Circle was markedly higher than in mid-latitude regions and blasts of Arctic cold flowed south to Japan and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
The difference in the atmospheric pressure between the Arctic Circle and mid-latitude regions this year was the biggest since records began in 1979.
Japan experienced wide fluctuations in temperatures as a result. Although average temperatures for the country as a whole were higher than in an average year, the central Tokyo area had snowfalls on 10 days this winter for the first time in 26 years.
The northern Tohoku region and the Sea of Japan coast of eastern Japan recorded more than 1 meter of snow in December, for the first time since 2005.
Tokamachi in Niigata Prefecture had 3 meters of snow in January for the first time in four years.
Extreme weather conditions were seen across the Northern Hemisphere. Unusually low temperatures claimed numerous lives in Europe.
"We seldom make a conclusive statement, but we can say we are having abnormal weather this year," said Masahide Kimoto, the University of Tokyo professor of meteorology who heads the meteorological agency's experts committee.
"Finding out about the mechanism of the Arctic oscillation will lead to more accurate weather forecasts for the winter," Kimoto told a news conference on March 3.
"We hope to improve the precision of weather forecasts by analyzing in detail this winter's weather phenomena."
The meteorological agency says two negative Arctic oscillations have occurred this winter--one between early December and early January and one from late January to the present. The effect is currently weakening.
Three phenomena contributed to the unusual pattern. First, dramatic deviations of the prevailing westerly winds over Alaska in early December and over the North Atlantic immediately afterward caused high atmospheric pressure to develop near Alaska and Greenland.
This helped induce the negative Arctic oscillation.
Second, there was "sudden warming" in the stratosphere, which raised the temperature over eastern Siberia by more than 30 degrees in December and over the North Pole by a similar amount in January.
Finally, the El Nino climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean may have strengthened the Arctic oscillation.
But it also had a contrary effect of warming Japan, contributing to the higher average temperatures recorded by the Japan Meteorological Agency.
View Asahi ArticleSHANGHAI, CHINA: Suzhou Creek cruises coming
Wednesday, 17 March, 2010
CRUISES of Suzhou Creek begin before the World Expo opens in May, Putuo district officials said this week. The cruise will cost 45 yuan (US$6.40) for a single trip, the officials said.
The trip will last one hour, from Moganshan Dock to Changfeng Ecological Shopping Area, or from Waibaidu Bridge to the area. So far, three small boats that seat 10, and two vessels seating 20 have been prepared. A bigger ship, seating 50, will also be available during the Expo.
CHINA: Film Star Responds to Accusations on Quake Charity
Published: March 16, 2010
By EDWARD WONG
Zhang Ziyi, a star of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and the best-known Chinese actress internationally, has denied accusations that she committed fraud while trying to raise money for victims of the devastating earthquake that hit Sichuan Province and surrounding areas in 2008. Ms. Zhang’s statements, published Tuesday in The China Daily, were the first by her on a scandal that has riveted many Chinese in the last few months. Chinese Internet users, after scouring public records, have accused Ms. Zhang, who also starred in “Memoirs of a Geisha,” of failing to fully donate $146,000 of her own money that she had pledged to the Chinese Red Cross. They also say she has never handed over $1 million that she said she hoped to raise from foreign donors. Ms. Zhang, above, said in the interview that a “communication glitch” led to her donating only $123,000 of her own money, and she asserted that she had donated the rest since the shortfall came to light.
A version of this brief appeared in print on March 17, 2010, on page A5 of the New York edition.
CHINA: World's shortest man dies at age 21
In this January 14, 2010 file photo, the world's shortest man, He Pingping of China, and the world's tallest man, Sultan Kosen of Turkey, 27, pose together during an event organized by Guinness World Records in Istanbul, Turkey. He died on Saturday.
Wednesday, 17 March, 2010
THE world's shortest man, He Pingping, who was just 74.6 centimeters tall, has died at the age of 21 from apparent heart complications.
He died on Saturday afternoon at a hospital in Rome after being sent there for chest pain two weeks ago. He was taking part in a filming of a television program, reported Xinhua.
His body will be sent to China at the request of his family.
He was born with a form of primordial dwarfism in Huade County, Wulanchabu City, in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in 1988. At birth, he was only the size of an adult's palm, said his father He Yun.
He was a heavy smoker and his family said he stopped growing after he turned 18.
Guinness World Records officially recognized him as the world's shortest man in 2008 as he measured 74.6 centimeters in height and 7 kilograms in weight.
Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of the London-based Guinness World Records, recalled measuring Mr He in Inner Mongolia in 2008.
"For such a small man, he made a huge impact around the world," Glenday told the Associated Press. "From the moment I laid eyes on him, I knew he was someone special - he had such a cheeky smile and mischievous personality, you couldn't help but be charmed by him."
He regularly traveled around the world to promote Guinness World Records. His family said he was always happy his performances could bring happiness to others.
JAPAN: Campbell cancels Tokyo visit despite scheduled Wed. meeting
Kurt Campbell
Satoshi Ogawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent
WASHINGTON--Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, has canceled a planned visit Wednesday to Tokyo for discussions with senior Foreign Ministry officials, a U.S. official said Monday.
Speaking at a news conference, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip Crowley attributed the abrupt cancellation to a change in Campbell's itinerary for his tour of Southeast Asian countries that has been cut short due to political unrest in Thailand.
Campbell left Washington for a 10-day tour of Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand, that was to be capped by a stop in Tokyo on Wednesday as he headed back to Washington via Narita Airport.
He was scheduled to be in Japan for about seven or eight hours, during which he was to meet with high-ranking Foreign Ministry officials to discuss pending bilateral issues, including the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture.
But the stop in Thailand scheduled for Monday and Tuesday was canceled due to the country's unstable political situation caused by antigovernment protests.
With the change to the itinerary, Campbell went back to Singapore on Monday and was to leave for Washington on Tuesday via Narita Airport.
Crowley said it had become impossible to secure sufficient transit time for discussions with officials in Tokyo.
But when a U.S. civil airplane is used for a flight from Singapore to Washington via Narita, the transit time is usually about one hour, observers said.
A U.S. government official did not give a clear answer why his return to Washington was advanced by one day while skipping his scheduled meeting in Tokyo.
With the meeting set for Wednesday, it would have been possible to arrange a Tuesday night stay in Tokyo and have the meeting as scheduled before heading to Washington, the observers said.
Futenma was expected to be a major topic at the meeting.
The observers said Campbell canceled the visit to Japan probably because he did not expect any progress would be made over the Futenma issue even if he met with Japanese officials, and a meeting at this juncture might further complicate the issue.
The Japanese government has yet to decide on a new relocation site to replace the offshore site near Camp Schwab in the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture that was agreed on between the two countries in 2006.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters Tuesday morning that Campbell's cancellation of his visit was "not a matter we can be involved in."
===
Okada, Clinton might meet
Tokyo and Washington are making arrangements for Foreign Minister Katsu-ya Okada and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to hold a meeting later this month.
The two governments are considering having the meeting in Washington on the weekend before the Group of Eight foreign ministerial meeting set for March 29-30 in Canada.
(Mar. 17, 2010)
VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA: The Japanese Occupation
A 1919 poster depicting the Japanese occupation of Vladivostok. Note the Russian flag is in a French pattern.
Vladivostok became capital of the Maritime Territory in 1888 and grew rapidly after the completion (1903) of the Trans-Siberian RR.
During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 a Japanese squadron of warships attacked the city with over a hundred shots. The Vladivostok Cruiser Group participated in the war, blocking the approaches to the besieged Port-Arthur. It developed as a naval base after the loss of Port Arthur to Japan in 1905.
In World War I the Allies used the city as a major supply depot, and after the Russian Revolution of 1917 they occupied it. On December 31, 1917 Japanese, British, and American cruisers entered the Golden Horn Bay. In April 1918, the Japanese firm Isido was attacked in Vladivostok. After this incident the Japanese and British Commands landed their troops under the pretext of protecting their citizens. Most of the occupying forces were Japanese, but there were also about 7,500 Americans and contingents of British, Italian, and French troops. Canada sent 4,000 troops, with headquarters in the Pushkinskaya Theatre and barracks at Second River and Gornostai Bay.
By 1920, when Vladivostok was included in the newly proclaimed Far Eastern Republic, the Japanese continued to occupy the region and installed a counterrevolutionary Russian puppet government. By 1922 all the interventionist forces had withdrawn and the city came under Soviet control.
RUSSIA: On this day: 17 March
Designed and built in the Kharkov Tractor Factory in Ukraine, the T-34 tank made its way to Moscow and was first presented on 17 March 1940 at Red Square. The successful 400-mile journey from Ukraine was the first real test for the armored vehicle that was to become the best tank of World War II.
Its technical design was radical, a major step up from the pre-war light tanks, which were high-speed but lacked firepower and armor and were complex in construction. The T-34 medium tank was built simple and durable with excellent firepower, armor, mobility and shape. The tanks were mass produced before the German invasion and made a successful debut in battles against the Japanese headed by the legendary military commander Georgy Zhukov.
The Germans were advancing deep into Russia, closing in on Moscow and forcing the relocation of the entire Russian military industry to Siberia. New factories exceeded their pre-war production. Outnumbering the German tanks in the great battles of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) and Kursk, the T-34s crushed the enemy.
Western experts and even Russia’s opponents in the war still respond with admiration to the T-34 tank.
German General Friedrich von Mellenthin called it “the most remarkable example of an offensive weapon in the Second World War” and German Field Marshal Paul von Kleist said the T-34 was the best in the world.
More advanced than German tanks, they were the main ‘war-winning’ weapons against the Germans. In 1945, when summing up the results of the World War II, British Prime Minister Lord Winston Churchill had this to say when asked what he thought the best weapon was: “There were three: the English canon, the German Messershmitt plane and the Russian T-34 tank. The first two, I understand how it was done, but I completely don’t understand how such a tank appeared…” Another example of its popularity is its inclusion in Stephen Biesty’s “The Incredible Cross-sections,” an internationally known picture book about the greatest creations of mankind.
View RT ArticleJAPAN: Pro-N.Korean school mums rally in Japan
AFP – Ethnic Korean mothers living in Japan hand out fliers to pedestrians on a street in Tokyo.
Tue Mar 16, 7:02 am ET
TOKYO (AFP) – Hundreds of mothers whose children attend pro-North Korean schools in Japan rallied on Tuesday, demanding that the government include them in plans to make high school tuition free.
Japan's six-month-old government on the same day passed a lower house bill to scrap school fees and give aid to private schools, meeting one of their key pro-family election campaign pledges.
The pro-Pyongyang schools have so far been excluded from the programme that starts in April after opposition from conservatives who say Tokyo should not support schools linked with the nuclear-armed communist country.
About 2,000 students attend 10 pro-Pyongyang schools in Japan, which are run under the instructions of the North Korean residents' association Chongryon, Pyongyang's de facto embassy, and feature portraits of national founder Kim Il-Sung and his son Kim Jong-Il in their classrooms.
On Tuesday about 300 ethnic Korean mothers, many walking with toddlers and pushing prams, rallied in Tokyo, urging the centre-left government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama not to discriminate against their children.
"We must move the government to include our schools in the tuition-free programme with the power of omoni ('mothers' in Korean)," one woman shouted at the rally organised by a network of Korean mothers in Japan.
Ryang Son-ryo, a 37-year-old mother, said: "We were born in Japan and will continue living here. We have been discriminated against in many ways in Japan, but we don't want our children to go through the same thing."
Some 700,000 ethnic Koreans live in Japan, mostly descendants of migrants and forced labourers who were brought to the country during its 1910-1945 era of occupation of the Korean peninsula.
Most identify with South Korea or hold that country's passport, but a minority are affiliated with the Pyongyang regime, which has angered Japan with missile and nuclear tests, and by kidnapping its citizens in the 1970s and 80s to train the regime's spies.
Hiroshi Nakai, state minister in charge of handling the North Korean abduction issue, has openly voiced his opposition to letting pro-Pyongyang Korean schools receive Japanese public funds under the programme.
At the rally 17-year-old pro-Pyongyang high school student Cho Ei-Ok said: "Can the Japanese government solve the kidnapping and nuclear issues if they discriminate against us?"
Monday, March 15, 2010
DALIAN, CHINA: Shuishi Ying
FROMMER’S:
The Shuishi Ying (tel. 0411/8623-3509; ¥40/$5.20/£2.60; open 7:30am-5pm), in the village of Shuishi, is where commanders of the Japanese and Russian armies met to discuss and sign Russia's surrender of Lushun in 1905. The tiny house, chosen because it was the only major structure still standing after both sides bombed the town, contains the original table on which the agreement was signed.
RUSSIA: On this day: 16 March
Chervonets - former currency of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. First issued in 1922.
On March 16 1921, the 10th Congress of the Russian Bolshevik Party announced the adoption of the New Economic Policy. After the Civil War (the fight for power that occurred following the overthrow of the tsarist regime that broke out from 1917-1923 between multiple social and political groups, and resulted in the victory of the Bolsheviks and establishment of the Soviet system), the NEP replaced the policy of the War Communism pursued by the Communist government from 1918-1922 and was marked by high tax rates and a mobilization of the country to meet the needs of the army, it consisted in temporarily switching over to a market economy. Exhausted by WWI and the Civil War, the country needed immediate mending and renewal.
In fact, the new economic policy was a set of reforms with a serious slant toward capitalism. However, with all the devastation, the slumping economy, agonizing agriculture and increasing danger of popular uprisings, only drastic measures could help and Lenin had decided to stray from the communist line.
In agriculture, the food tax had been reduced by half and later converted into currency. In 1922, peasants were given the right to choose the form of land ownership to their liking and wage labor was permitted.
Industries were restructured, becoming almost autonomous and taking responsibility for all their affairs. The enterprises could syndicate to speed up the purchase or distribution of their goods and significant foreign capital was attracted to Soviet industry in the form of concessions. The ruble then strengthened and became a hard currency.
So controversial and unusual, the NEP stirred up social life. It was the time of easy money when the innate capacity for entrepreneurship was the key to success and wealth. Those who spent their childhood in poverty were now trying to make up for all the fun they had missed. The restaurant and cabaret culture thrived and many of the songs of the time are still popular as “Russian chansons”. The 1920s was also the era of the satire magazines. Full of witty stories and cartoons, they enjoyed huge popularity. Only one of them, the “Crocodile”, though, managed to outlive NEP and remain a beloved satire publication right through to the present.
Overall, NEP was a very successful policy, the country did rise from the ashes and even caught up with its pre-war economic figures. The party members, however, saw NEP with all its excessive freedom as a threat for the socialist system and kept taking preventive measures to stop the market economy from going too far. Due to this inconsistency, NEP eventually failed and was ended.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA: Submarine Monument & Museum
- Address: Korabelnaya Naberezhnaya
- Telephone: 21-67-57
In the city's oldest marina, "Karabelinaya", is the Pacific Fleet Memorial Submarine Museum located inside a World War II S-56 submarine. The Submarine S-56 was built in 1936. S-type ships (Stalinist) were recognized as the most effective ships of World War II. This submarine sank 10 enemy ships in the war.
RUSSIA: On this day: 15 March
Fort Ross
Fort Ross in California, about one hundred miles north of San Francisco, gets its name from ‘Rossiya’ (the Russian word for ‘Russia’) as it was a group of Russian settlers who first arrived here on 15 March 1812.
The expedition, sent by the Russian-American Company and chartered by the tsarist government, came ashore the coast of Spanish California to establish trade relations and hunt sea otters for Russian settlements in Alaska. The land all around Fort Ross was bought from the local Kashaya Indians for three blankets, three pairs of breeches, two axes, three hoes and some beads.
Ivan Kuskov, the founder of the settlement, laid the foundation of the first house of the wooden fortress which was built in traditional Russian architectural style. Most of the structures at the fort were made of local redwood. Today, only one original structure survives – the Rotchev House. It is one of the oldest buildings in western North America and is a National Historic Landmark. Many other buildings have been reconstructed.
Not many Russians actually lived at the fort. Many intermarried with the California natives and the Alaskans. But the place still retained some of its Russian heritage and today there are many Russian surnames in the area and numerous Orthodox Russian churches.
The Russians left the settlement in 1842 as trade declined and the fort was sold several times to various owners, but the structures of the fort remained and in 1906 the site was turned over to the State of California for preservation as a historical monument. It is now a State Historical Park. Every year the park hosts a Cultural Heritage Day. Celebrations include Russian music and dancing, traditional costumes and Russian dishes.
View RT ArticleJAPAN: 2 U.S. Marines in Okinawa arrested over drunken driving, obstruction
Mar 13 11:50 PM US/Eastern
NAHA, Japan, March 14 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Two U.S. Marines were arrested Sunday in Okinawa, one on suspicion of drunken driving and another for allegedly obstructing official police duties, police officials said.
Both lance corporals at the U.S. Marines' Makiminato Service Area in Urasoe denied the allegations, they said.
Jamel Gary, 23, is suspected of drunken driving in Naha shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday, while Christopher Brooks, 24, in the front passenger seat of the vehicle, allegedly obstructed a police officer's attempt to conduct an alcohol test on Gary by throwing himself at the officer, according to them.
The police eventually detected 0.75 milligram of alcohol in 1 liter of Gary's breath, five times the permissible level, but he denied drinking, they said.
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