Firefighters all over Japan practiced for a event on the 26th that I will translate as Cultural Assets Fire Day. In this picture, they are hosing down Nagoya Castle, using a truck with a fifty-meter ladder.
An old man helps a child notch and aim a lucky arrow. There are twelve targets, and depending on whether they get hit or not, predictions are made as to how the weather and harvests will be. This year, ten targets were hit, and a very detailed fortune was told.
There was a protest march suing for peace in the middle east in Kyoto recently. The above picture, however, is actually for an article talking about worries that all the fighting in Gaza is leading to anti-antisemitism.* The above demonstration took place in London. Ah, middle-easterners and their love of shoes...
The above pic actually refers to a video article, of interest even if you can't speak Japanese, of the Nagasaki Lantern festival. I've been to the event twice; and may get around to uploading a youtube video with footage. You know how my video promises go though...
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Bonus English story:
A film about the dolphin slaughters that happen each year in a secluded cove in Japan is a hit. The movie, titled The Cove, may soon bring Japan the amount of shame that seems to be required to get things to change. And good thing too; the dolphin meat is full of toxic mercury!--
*I can't help but wonder if we need a new term, as antisemitism technically means "against Semitic language speakers" (Arabs use Semitic languages too). Anti-Israel won't work, because I think one can be anti-Israel without being anti-Jewish...
Did I just say something controversial?
I'll bite. Not sure why so many on the left try to make an issue of the word "anti-semitism" itself (the German creators of the word had no such doubts and unequivocally used it to refer to Jews, not Arabs), but if it makes you more comfortable, "anti-Jew" communicates the same idea.
ReplyDeleteAlso, under what conditions can one be anti-Israel but not anti-Jewish?
よろしく。
I looked into it further. Wiki:
ReplyDelete"While the term's etymology might suggest that antisemitism is directed against all Semitic peoples, it has been used exclusively to refer to hostility toward Jews since its creation."
Also, the German word was different.
So I guess I can say antisemitic without worrying about etymology.
One can be anti-Israel in terms of the state entity or country. Israel has a few ethnic groups within it. So hating the state is not necessarily hating the religion. I wonder how many people in the picture draw that distinction though.
"Also, under what conditions can one be anti-Israel but not anti-Jewish?"
ReplyDeleteI am Jewish. I am not Israel.
I hope that clears things up for you.