Word: shrines
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...restore peace to this shrine for peace seekers from around the world (and perhaps to give the state a cut of the action), Central Java's governor, General Mardiyanto, has proposed a huge public-works project that would sweep away the asongan and replace them with a three-story mall on the outskirts of the zoned district around the stupa. The new complex, bearing the Disneyesque name Java World, would be the gateway to the monument for all visitors, who would park there and progress to the site aboard a silent tram. In place of the chaos that currently reigns...
...exactly the same moment when Okuyama was promoting Japan's multilateralism, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was across town paying his respects at Yasukuni Shrine?a highly controversial memorial to Japan's war dead, including an assortment of convicted war criminals. Although Koizumi later bafflingly claimed that his visit was designed to "reaffirm our antiwar position," most observers declared it a foolishly provocative affront to South Korea and China?the very nations Japan was supposedly reaching out to. By the time the evening news hit the airwaves, the prospect of Japan organizing an international peace coalition was dead...
...spectacle of Japan shooting itself in the foot isn't novel these days. But Koizumi's visit to the shrine raised a bigger question at a time when North Korea's nuclear gambit has threatened the entire North Asian security arrangement: Is Japan spooked enough to start rattling its own sword, one that's been carefully sheathed since its defeat in World War II? The U.S. made Japan demilitarize and democratize, and wrote a new constitution forcing its leadership to "renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation." And yet last December the Japanese destroyer Kirishima set sail...
...soon, in part because any dramatic move to create a full-fledged military with significant offensive capabilities would cause a diplomatic furor. Such a move would also require the tacit blessing of China?hardly likely as long as Koizumi continues to indulge in provocations like visiting the Yasukuni Shrine. Further-more, Japan already labors under a government debt that tops 130% of GDP, giving it scant fiscal justification for a military buildup...
...woman laughs as I struggle with my slippery hijab, then helps tie the scarf that covers my hair. Is she scared of war, I ask, miming planes and bombs. She shrugged and pointed to the sky. God will decide. Then she turns to pray at the beautiful, golden shrine. She looks extremely devout, and perhaps her God is listening. She is praying for peace...