Any futher replies to this, please make them to me off-list...

----- Original Message -----
From: "allyn yonge" <ayonge@yahoo.com>
To: "Jourdan M. Bickham" <jmbickham@hotmail.com>
Cc: <ffml@anifics.com>; <montanto@hotmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 12:47 PM
Subject: Re: [FFML] Re: [query]ninjas

@@I meant that as a general example of how to hide
things in layers of government only.

I knew that...but not necessarily everyone else who read your post.  It was
a general FYI...not just for you or something like that.

Next the Japanese don't
NEED a "Billl of Rights."

@@I didn't say they needed one,(although it's evident
that they do) I only said they did not have a Bill of
Rights (which they don't)

I never said that you said they NEED one...you pointed out that they didn't
have any and I said there isn't a need for one since about all of those
rights are spelled out already.

@@Article 21 of the Japanese Constitution:
Freedom of assembly and association as well as speech,
press and all other forms of expression are
guaranteed. 2) No censorship shall be maintained, nor
shall the secrecy of any means of communication be
violated.

I'll try to clarify my original meaning. Despite the
"written" constitution, there is little of no freedom
of the press. Or any of the other types of freedoms
that are supposedly guaranted by the constitution.
All of which, IMO, make a difference in how "ninja"
would/could be used in a story.

Which is exactly why you contradict yourself later.  Specifically for
Andrew, I never did say that I thought they followed what the law
says...just that the laws do exist.  Just like the anti-discrimination in
the workplace one...as if that's followed...HA!  There is little point in
making more laws if the courts and other parts of the justice system rule
more by cultural practice than by the rule of law, thus interpreting the
laws in weird ways that they were never intended to be.  But then again in
other arenas they Japanese are notorious for following the rules to the
letter rather than the spirit of the rule...

Example:
1)Government censorship
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (1999)
revealed a plan to establish a 24-hour system to
monito radio, newspapers and TV for incorrect or
biased reports about the party.

And what company or organization doesn't keep an eye on how it's being
quoted or misquoted in the news?  Whatever they said they're doing... few
people really care, and to be honest the quality of Japanese news much less
tv is as a Japanese reporter told me once "compared to the US, Japanese tv
is very amature."  Generally the news is crap anyways.

2)Police brutality:
After arrest a suspect may be detained without bail
for up to 28 days before a prosecutor
must bring him before a judge. Amnesty International
 calls Japan's police custody system a
 "flagrant violation of United Nations human
rights principles."
Suspects' confession rate in Japan is 95%.
Suspects who stand trial have no right to a jury.
Japanese trial conviction rate is 99.91%.

Police routinely beat suspects, sometimes to
 death and often rob gaijin
suspects; deporting them before
 they come to trial.

<SNIP>

Been reading the anti-japanese books eh?  I read one of those the first time
I came here and wrote a paper about all such things.  After living here for
awhile now... I have yet to be beaten, robbed, asked to show my gaijin card
or any of the many things that have been listed, and the same goes for the
many foreign friends I have here as well.  That's not to say they don't
happen, or have never happened... that's more a statement of those cases
aren't the everyday norm.  Flipping the question around, what do you think
happens everyday in the US?  Ever hear of "driving while being black"?  Ever
been followed around a deparment store by clerks or security?  Let those who
haven't sinned cast the first stone...

4)Government sponsored and sanctioned
revisionist history texts in schools.

Can't argue with you here.  Other than to say... Japanese educational system
is really pretty shitty.  Works good to build workers for an industrial
economy.. don't need to be smart or think... just be a cog in the machine.

My major point was and is that:
1)Despite what the Japanese "written" constitution may
say,
actual life in Japan does not match the written word.

Name some place where is does...

2)Given the massive amounts of government corruption
and influence by "Big Business) (also corrupt) coupled
with
a very top-down social system there seem to be several
interesting
ways in which ninja could survive/flourish in modern
Japan.

President George W. Bush.  'nuff said.

3) For an interesting Japan Culture Primer (I
especially like
the section that compares the Japanese to "Borg"
http://www.geocities.com/japanfaq/FAQ-Primer.html

And even published academics have put out books and articles that are
totally full of it.  Ever read "Clash of the Civilizations"?  It's utter
shit...and the guy who wrote it is a big time political scientist.

As far as Unit 731 goes.  You're wrong.  The US kept them safe because the
research they did was useful to the US bio-weapons programs.  So offer them
a deal... give us the research... come work for us and we'll let you live.
Sounds good to you?  I don't condone the situation...but that's just how the
government works.  The occupation, War Crimes trials, everything... big
problem.  The one from the start was a lack of people who knew anything
about Japan...there were the "old Japan hands," who practically worshipped
the Emperor, and not even so many of them either.

However on the anti-communist note... trust me.  That anti-communist fever
wasn't so hot in the occupation 1945-48 or so.  NSC-68 based upon the
letters of George Kennan were close in time to this, however, even Kennan
himself admits that he did not push for Japan to undergo the "reverse
course" inorder to bring it into the "containment" fold.  The JAPANESE
government was very anti-communist from before WWII...trying to stop it out
as much as possible during the 30's and early 40's.  Basically during the
occupation the communists were weaken to the point that they posed no threat
to anyone.    I can't remember all this quite as well as I used to... it has
been over 2 years since I wrote a paper on this.

Bringing all this back to the Ninja.  The China idea is actually really
good.  There were people who moved over to Manchukuo (Manchuria) to colonize
it, and after the war got separated from their families and trapped in
China.  There are still people now who are finding family members.  So that
is definitely a real possiblity.  I like the island one even better, because
then you could develop a whole training compound on the island, and don't
have to worry about the communists or any other complications.  While you
could have some Shinobi in plain view...where are you going to train the new
ones?  Can't do that in plain view.  So have some like that in the palace,
but need another location for the clan and training...

J

	     .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'