Asia @ MindSay

I had seen the first Godzilla movie as it was released in the United States (see the review for Godzilla: King of the Monsters) but I didn’t like it very much.  Since the 1950’s, every Godzilla movie that’s been in the U.S. has been dubbed in English, each time done terribly enough to make it a stereotype for Asian cinema.

Gojira was a complete redemption for the “jolly green giant” and his Tokyo-bashing tendencies.  With the original actors and scenes intact, and subtitles replacing the dubbing I was able to enjoy Gojira to its fullest potential.  I don’t know the actors’ names because the credits were all in Japanese, but I thoroughly enjoyed their performances.

The film was presented in its original black and white form, which was very nice to watch at night.  Here’s a little advice: when watching a black and white movie, watch it in the dark.  The Godzilla costume ...Read more

Aug 23, 2007 4:37 PM

A member of a Japanese right-wing group was arrested after he sent his severed little finger to the ruling party's headquarters in protest at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's failure to visit a war shrine this month.

Abe stayed away from Yasukuni Shrine on the August 15 anniversary of the nation's World War II surrender, avoiding a slight to those in China and South Korea who see the shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

An envelope delivered to the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo ...Read more

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

June 3, 2007 – Asian defense and military leaders meeting here showed "great receptivity" to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' call for Asian countries to contribute more toward stabilizing Afghanistan and Central Asia, Gates told reporters today.  Gates issued a challenge here yesterday to participants in the International Institute of Strategic Studies' Asia Security Summit, urging their countries to help Afghanistan and its newly independent neighbors in Central Asia become secure, fully sovereign nations.

He asked participants to contribute through economic development, counterterrorism and counternarcotics support and by providing military trainers, peacekeepers and advisors to strengthen new defense establishments.

Today, Gates said representatives of 25 Asia-Pacific nations at the three-day conference engaged in "a protracted discussion" of the request. They talked during a defense minister's luncheon following his address about getting more Asian countries to join the 42-nation coalition in Afghanistan and increasing the support among those already involved, he said.

The talks extended to improving the way coalition members coordinate their activities. Gates cited the need for this during a question-and-answer session following yesterday's keynote address.

"We need to do a much better job of sharing with each other what we are doing in a place like Afghanistan and coordinating those efforts so we can benefit from the experience that each has had," he said.

Gates emphasized today that while many in the group were open to his request, no formal new commitments have yet been made.

"It's important to understand that the people at this conference are defense ministers and representatives of the defense ministries," he said. "Additional commitments to Afghanistan, in virtually every case, require a political decision on the part of their governments."

Defense representatives wrapping up the conference's third and final day will have to go back to their capitals and work with their governments before making firm new commitments, he said.

Gates said he did not specifically extend his request to include Iraq. We have not made any requests for new commitments in Iraq from Asian countries," he said. "We have encouraged those who are already there to sustain their presence, to sustain their help."

During yesterday's speech, Gates emphasized the far-reaching security consequences of failed governments in the region.

"Whatever your views on how we got to this point in Iraq, it is clear that a failed state in that part of the world would destabilize the region and embolden violent extremists elsewhere," he told the group. "The effects of chaos in Central or Southwest Asia will not recognize national, continental or regional boundaries."

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By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

June 3, 2007 – It's too soon to say if the United States and its coalition partners are winning the war on terror, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here yesterday. Gates comments came as federal authorities in the United States announced they had broken up a suspected terrorist cell planning attacks at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Gates, here for the International Institute of Strategic Studies' Asia Security Summit, cited "heartening developments" in the short term, but emphasized that long-term challenges remain.

"It is early in the struggle," he told Asian defense and military leaders participating in the conference. "Some very positive things have been accomplished, but the danger remains very great and is going to require even more intense collaboration."

Gates credited unprecedented international collaboration with preventing a second Sept. 11-type attack in the United States.

"A degree of international cooperation has developed that, in many respects, would have been unthinkable prior to 9/11," he said. "So there is a wealth of sharing of information among almost all countries."

In addition, there's widespread cooperation in helping prevent terrorist attacks from happening and bringing terrorists to justice, he said.

"There is a growing understanding of need to work together in places like Afghanistan to prevent failed states or states in trouble from becoming failed states that may become safe havens to terrorist groups," he said.

Gates hailed the elimination of an al Qaeda sanctuary in Afghanistan, but emphasized that al Qaeda is far from beaten. "We still have to deal with their activities elsewhere," he said.

The secretary said he has a map showing countries with al Qaeda cells, affiliated terrorist cells, or cells that want to be affiliated with al Qaeda. "It's a lot of countries," he told the group. "Clearly they are expanding. So the challenge is there."

Gates said a key to tackling that challenge is to gain a better understanding of how violent extremist ideological is able to take hold.

"On the negative side of the ledger, I think we have not made enough progress in trying to address some of the root causes of terrorism in some of these societies, whether it is economic deprivation or despotism that leads to alienation," he said.

But the secretary acknowledged that other, more complicated factors come into play, too. "One of the disturbing things about many of the terrorists that have been caught is that these are not ignorant, poor people," he said. "These are educated people, often from professional families. So dealing with poverty and those issues is not going to eliminate the problem, but it certainly can reduce the pool of people prepared to give their lives for this cause."

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By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

June 2, 2007 – The United States hasn't let Asia slip from its radar screen in light of operational demands in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hot spots, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates assured Asian defense and military leaders here today. "In fact, far from neglecting Asia, the United States is more engaged than ever before," Gates told representatives of 25 countries participating in the International Institute of Strategic Studies' Asia Security Summit, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Gates said the U.S. is building on its long history of engagement with Asia to strengthen existing relationships in the region and build new ones to confront current challenges, including terrorism.

The secretary cited the United States' historical roots as a Pacific nation committed to stability and peace in the region and the price it has paid over the past century in both lives and treasure to live up to that commitment.

"We are an Asian power with significant and long-term political, economic and security interests," he told the audience. "Our commitments elsewhere notwithstanding, we will fulfill our commitments in Asia."

The United States has been "extraordinarily busy" reshaping and strengthening its security ties in the region in recent years, he said. As part of that process, it has formed new bilateral relationships and renewed and modernized others.

Gates cited the U.S. relationships with South Korea and Japan as examples. As South Korea is assumes more responsibility for its own defense, the United States is reducing its military footprint there. Similarly, the United States is realigning and repositioning its forces in Japan while cooperating in new areas, such as missile defense.

These moves shouldn't be viewed as a U.S. retreat from the region, he said, but rather as an effort to create stronger, more balanced security partnerships. "In carefully calibrating and refining each of these important relationships, we are guided by one overarching principle: to make each relationship more relevant, more resilient, more responsive and more enduring," he said.

Gates pointed to improved U.S. relationships elsewhere in the region, including expanded ties with India and Mongolia and the reestablishment of military-to-military relationships with India and Pakistan that were cut off in the late 1990s.

Meanwhile, he said, the U.S. also has been active in key regional initiatives focused on counterterrorism, non-proliferation, missile defense, maritime security, and crisis response.

U.S.-Asian relationships and the security benefits they yield offer a blueprint for the cooperation needed to confront violent extremism and other emerging threats, he said.

No single country, however wealthy or powerful it might be, can face these threats alone, he said. They demonstrate "the need for civilized nations to come together in new and dynamic ways -- as we are doing in Asia," he said.

Gates said the cooperation demonstrated in Asia, which has had a longstanding impact on the region's security, is proving even more important today. "Through commitment, partnership, cooperation and resolve, we are overcoming current challenges to our freedom, prosperity and security as we overcame the threats of the past," he said.

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