A Rude Question

I joined a meeting held by a volunteer tour guide group yesterday.  An American young guy gave us a lecture about foreign tourists. He was a 23-year-old New Yorker. 

After his presentation, he allowed us some questions. The questions should be related tourism or so. But some member asked a weird question. He asked, "before World War 2, we have lots of reminded original castles here in Japan. During the war time, the U.S troops were bombing many Japanese city and destroyed historical landmarks including castles. Now, we have only 12 of them. What do you think of that?"

The atmosphere there was frozen. Obviously, he shouldn't ask that kind of question at the time. If he really wanted to ask that, he should ask him after they made a trust relationship and in private. 

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                        にほんブログ村

Yakuza War

The top yakuza group Yamaguchi-gumi has been split into two groups according to some news articles. I'm not familiar with that issue, but it might be dangerous for us too. 

That kind of conflict happened from 1985 to 1989, called Yama-Ichi War. At that time, 29 yakuzas were killed and 70 people including police and citizens were injured. Really dangerous. 

You should not go to dangerous areas, if you know, and hope ordinary people will be safe this time. 

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August 6, 1945

Seventy years ago today, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. American President Truman ordered the inhuman attack. 

The victims of the attack were mainly ordinary citizens. About 140,000 people had died by the end of the year. I pray from the bottom of my heart for the victims. 

The atomic bombing was apparently a war crime because the target of the attack was civilians. American government knew that Japan was about to surrender before the bombing, so they didn't need to do the brutal attack. 

I really hope the United States President admits the fact that the atomic bombing was a war crime and decides to apologize for the victims. 

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War Dogs

War dogs became famous when they succeeded in finding Saddam Hussain of Iraq in 2003 and the Osama bin Laden mission in 2011. 

They play an integral role for U.S. military operations overseas. They can protect soldiers, search dangerous things, attack enemies and so on. 

Their breeds are mostly German Shepards and Belgian Malinois because these breeds are highly intelligent. 

And they also play another important role. They heal soldiers' mental feelings especially in the battle fields. The soldiers can release their tension when they touch these military dogs. 

But like many soldiers, some of war dogs develop PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder. Unlike U.S. soldiers, dogs are not volunteers. Only human beings can make them working in the military fields. Thinking of that I feel sorry for these dogs. Are they happy working with human in that conditions? I'm not sure. 

After Affect of War

Many veterans in the U.S. are suffering from mental illness. About 20% of 2.5 million men and women who served in resent war have PTSD or other mental ills. But the treatment for them is useless like every six months for 30 minutes of consultation. That's obviously not enough.