Sometimes I just scratch my head and wonder what's wrong with some people.
According to Mainichi Daily News, organizers of a photo exhibition featuring pictures of abductee Megumi Yokota have been forced to move the exhibition from its planned location in Sapporo's Marui Imai department store because of a threat that was posted to them. The exhibition was to run from April 26 to May 1.
A letter was sent to the department store's head store in Sapporo on last week, saying, "If (the exhibition) is held, then we will harm customers, business clients and employees." Marui Imai decided to withdraw its offer to host the exhibition after discussing the threat with police, a decision Megumi's parents said they thought was correct.
No new exhibition venue has been decided. The photo exhibition features about a hundred photographs taken by Megumi's father Shigeru Yokota before she was abducted in 1977. It is sponsored by "Asagao no Kai," a committee made up of residents living in the same apartment block as Shigeru Yokota.
Meanwhile, farther south in Yokohama, threatening phone calls were made to the organizers of a play based on Yokota's abduction by North Korean agents, calling for the play to be halted.
The Kamakura-based theatrical group "Tenbin-za" said over twenty suspicious phone calls and e-mails had been received since mid-April. Tenbin-za officials said a male caller had asked, "Are you kindling war (between Japan and North Korea)?" and said, "You'll get no sympathy from me if something happens on the day (of the play)."
A junior high school student is to play the part of Megumi, which has reportedly caused concern among some parents. The theatrical group plans to hold the play as scheduled next month in Yokohama, and will consult local police to discuss security measures.
The obvious suspects in this would be one or more pro-Pyongyang Koreans in Japan, though it isn't entirely implausible that it could be others trying to make the "North" Koreans in Japan look bad.
Whether this is a genuine attempt to intimidate, an attempt by one group to make another look bad, or just a sick joke, it is thoroughly disgusting.
Darin wrote:
ReplyDeleteIt's not also entirely implausible pigs will fly.
Darin, are you incapable of basic reading comprehension? English is your first language, right?
I have just stated that I think in all likelihood a pro-Pyongyang person or persons is behind this. All I'm saying in addition is that there's a slight possibility—slight—that these calls and emails from these nebulous people are not from the usual suspects.
The likelihood is small, but it's not as small as you suggest. Such a tactic is as old as the Roman Empire, and it is NOT at all uncommon in modern Internet usage for such a thing to occur.
Remember, the de facto North Korean embassy in Japan also steals Japanese secret defense documents for it's missile defense system and sends them to North Korea only to brag about it in the news the next day because it knows Japan can do nothing about it at risk of being nuked at any given moment.
And this is relevant how? Are you trying to convince me that there are some dangerous people among the pro-Pyongyang Koreans? I already know that. I'm certain I knew that before you ever did. Do I think it's possible that some are behind that? Of course I do, I already stated it.
But it's by no means a slam dunk that that is the case. Would some other groups have something to gain by ratcheting up fear of pro-Pyongyang Koreans in Japan? Absolutely. So, no, until I have a lot more to go on, I'm not going to assume I know something that merely seems to be most likely. I've seen things turn out the opposite too many times, particularly on something as easy to manipulate as the Internet.
What is it with the tendency of people to believe there is a giant conspiracy theory throughout the whole world to make anything and everything Korean look bad whenever possible?
Darin, here you're letting your biases get the best of you. I also apply the same standard to things where Japan or some nebulous Japanese is made out to be a bogeyman. My whole Corea-Korea post is borne from that suspicion.
So get off this crap that I'm seeing some conspiracy just because I don't jump to conclusions as quickly and as easily as you do.
Why would this type of work/co-operation be necessary when you have the governments of North and South Korea actual existence being more then enough embarrassment for a people that really only until overcome by the racism disguised as nationalism have nothing to be embarrassed about.
With this kind of irrelevant and gratuitous tirade, you're dangerously close to getting banned from this blog, Darin. I don't mind your posting when you're cool-headed, but when you go off like this, I am not inclined to leave your stuff up here. Cut it out, or go somewhere else. Deal with the issue at hand in a calmer way.
Japan attacked America, America attacked back and now Japan and America are even. However Japan made quick work of anything and everything Korea ever had, and to this very day Korea is still working to 'get even'. This believe that Japan is an evil nation that's sole goal is to make the Korean people look bad is part of that attempt to get revenge, and it's just pathetic, simply pathetic.
Darin, yes, there are people who try to make Japan out to be an evil nation. They try to convince people of that because they believe it themselves. You may not believe this, but I spend as much time trying to talk them down from the clock tower as I do you. Yeah, there are these Darin-esque people here who, just as you've never been to Korea but you think you know how it ticks, they've never gone to Japan but still think they know how it ticks.
But don't sit there and tell me that there are no people in Japan who do try to manipulate information to make Koreans, other gaijin, or other groups look more criminal, somehow dangerous, etc. I've talked with some such people, so I know at least some exist. That some fringe person might have done this is not impossible, even though it is considerably less likely.
And for the record, this would be about making North Korea look bad, wouldn't it? Why would you need to throw South Korea into the mix, unless you yourself are one of those simple-minded people who thinks the two countries are interchangeable?
Come on, Darin. You can do better. Stick to the issue at hand. If you disagree with me, do so in a cool-headed, focused way that doesn't lash out at your favorite targets.
As you wish. Good-bye.
ReplyDeleteDarin, that sounds almost like a "conspiracy theory."
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the sitemeter data indicates someone who was posting from Japan.
But, yes, it appears that Darin and darin may not necessarily be the same person.
Still, your propensity to fly off the handle and bring in other issues as part of you agenda, as well as your admitted violence toward people whose views you don't agree with, have convinced me that if I were to allow you to continue posting here, I should keep you on a short leash.
This is a highly disappointing development, since when you first showed up on the scene I thought you were a person seeking answers, not someone seeking to verify an agenda he already believed in.
Darin (capital-D) wrote:
ReplyDelete... you're saying the ancient romans did something 1000 years ago, so the current japanese are capable of the same thing.. (okay, both humans.. perfectly capable.)
Darin, your interpretation of what I wrote is highly selective. I was not referring to something that occurred back in Roman times, but something that has been occurring since Roman times.
One example, the 2001 anthrax killings, for example, with their statements that "Allah is great," "Death to America," and "Death to Israel," were in the end most likely instigated by a native-born American from the Princeton area. Yet in the days and weeks after 9/11, this convinced many people that America was under fire and the Patriot Act was needed.
I'm NOT saying that that is part of some conspiracy—my guess would be no—but an assumption that "the obvious" suspects were the person(s) who did it would likely have been wrong.
but i'm saying the current n. korean regime did the same thing yesterday, so they're capable of doing it today.. (same humans, same regime, SAME MILLENNIUM!) now tell me, which has more merit? which is more likely to be true?
The North Korean regime is an evil, evil regime. There are people in Japan who do their bidding. I agree—and I've said this three or four times now—that one or more of them are the likelly suspects. But even if that's a 95% likelihood, I'm going to wait to reserve judgement, because there's certainly something to be gained by certain individuals if people in Japan are thinking that North Koreans or their sympathizers are out to get them right there in downtown Sapporo.
In the Japan of the past, engineering a flimsy pretext as an excuse for much wider action was almost an m.o.
Darin, limit your comments to the scope of what I or others on the blog talk about, or else you're gone.
ReplyDeleteChucky wrote:
ReplyDeleteOf course it's South Korean's fault for North Koreans kidnapping Japanese.
Um, although Darin did extraneously drag South Korea into the issue of who made theh phone calls in his first comment, I think Darin later made it clear that it's North Koreans involved in this situation.
Darin will never ever mention the fact that same types of phone threats are made in South Korea, against North Korean defectors and South Korean advocates of North Korean human rights. What we are seeing here folks are North Korean stooges and spies who are active in South Korea and Japan.
So what you're saying is that it's not the regular Pyongyang-associated (as opposed to pro-Pyongyang) zainichi, but rather Pyongyang-sent or Pyongyang-sponsored operatives (who may or may not be zainichi).
Okay, that's entirely possible. There are indeed such operatives in South Korea (no, Darin, that's not paranoia), and they do some bad things (including assassinations on occasions).
I hate to see zainichi as a group get smeared for the (perceived) actions of a handful of people, especially a handful of people who may not even be a part of who they are.
I'm not sure if Darin subscribes to the view that the Pyongyang-associated are a dangerous group in Japan's midsts. I would hope he knows that most Pyongyang-associated zainichi are of that situation either by default (even my Cheju-descended ex-fiancée was initially a DPRK citizen) or because of a need to maintain conduits of communication (and support) to relatives back in North Korea. The vast, vast, vast majority have no love for the DPRK regime.
But of course, some of the folks there are the equivalent of extremist chinbo/jinbo people in Korea, and I have no doubt a handful of them engage in issues that should get them thrown in jail.
Believe it or not, I don't think it's the work of the pro-North Korean association of Japan, but rather the work of the North Korean infiltrators themselves.
That's certainly a possibility.
And to add a wrinkle to this, it is advantageous to the DPRK infiltrators for the general public to fear Pyongyang-associated zainichi because the DPRK operatives would think a backlash against zainichi in general could make a few zainichi join their ideological ranks.
Darin wrote:
ReplyDelete"Darin, limit your comments to the scope of what I or others on the blog talk about, or else you're gone."
Kushibo, I think you've lost it. I think you've gone completely off the deep end man. I am responding to your comments!
So in the discussion of whether this was North Korean supporters or not, when did I bring up South Korea?
Or what? "Or else?" Dude, you've gone wako, and I'm not trying to be an ass, you've seriously lost it.
You have a strange propensity for reading only half of sentences, whether they be long or short.
I wrote, Darin, limit your comments to the scope of what I or others on the blog talk about, or else you're gone.
Or else, you're gone. As in gone from this blog. I am not here to provide a conduit for people spreading their propaganda (not you, someone else) or to indulge in someone spewing out their impassioned defense of nonsense stereotypes, or for other such nonsense.
And how am I getting involved in a conspiracy theory? Some loony goes through the trouble of making an account that looks similar to mine all for harassing me.
Well, you're ダリン／ダリン and someone named ダリン／ダリン wrote that, but you insist it's not you but some disgruntled "he" out to make you look bad. That's at least a little conspiracy-like, especially when the person who sent it was blogging in Japan.
Maybe, just maybe it was you (I'm speaking hypothetically) and you sent it from the dummy account to have a certain level of deniability later.
Look, by your own admission you have violently reacted to what you thought were inappropriate things by other people, and the tone of your first post was on the angry side. It is possible you sent that, or that at least you're capable of it.
And you leave his comment up while you delete my comment in response to yours?
I left "his" comment up (how do you know it's a man, Darin?) so anybody would wonder what had happened could see.
If you didn't write it, you should have nothing to worry about, because everyone will see that you have denied it. They will also see that I wrote you probably did send it either. So what do you have to worry about?
If I were to take it down, you would have a less visual case for your defense. It is good to leave it up there, as long as the refutations are there with it, so all can judge and see.
As for your comment thereafter, I took it down in part because of your tone. In fact, your angry tone plus your innuendo and your extraneous dragging in of South Korea into the issue of North Korean operatives in this thread made me consider removing your first post and giving you the opportunity to rewrite it.
Apparently my comment was right because, "the truth hurts".
No, Darin, it was tone. As for your "truth hurts," you would have to have truth in the first place for that to be the case. That's the thing with people such as you (or your ideological enantiomers on the far left): you confuse strong belief in a handful of selective facts with "truth." You have a bunch of feelings that, unfortunately, have some basis in stereotype and/or incorrect information.
I like the old Darin where we could all sit around and hash out what was correct information and what was not. Now we've got the grandstanding persecuted Darin standing up for the poor, misunderstood views of far right Japan.
Yes, that statement was not related to the subject of this post, but since you brought up the idea of "truth," I had to address that.
It must hurt so much you delete it,
No, Darin, it was tone. There is nothing in there I couldn't easily refute with one typing hand tied behind my back.
yet you leave the lies
That was to keep it there as part of the record. As much as I find the comment distasteful, it is necessary to have a record of the incident. Anyone who encounters the thread will see the difference between "Darin" and "darin," your protests of innocence, and my claim that you probably are innocent.
You have nothing to worry about except the simplest of minds drawing facile conclusions.
(probably the random hooligan that has no life other then to waste time making an account to bother me).
Um, Darin, that sounds like the paranoia you said I must have for being worried about that kind of thing.
In fact, it is only because such a thing has happened to me several times in the past that I was even willing to consider that you might not have written it.
Now, did it also occur to you that this Japan-based poster might actually have planted that comment there to make me look bad? Maybe the person who wrote that—someone who was blogging in Japan—was trying to get me to fly off the handle. Curse you out and ban you. Maybe make some anti-Japanese screed of my own. After all, Darin, why would someone come to my blog as a dig at you? (Well, that kind of thing does happen, too, I guess.)
Which would make sense, because after seeing your blog change from valid (however I think wrong) interpretations of Japan/Korea relations to completely bogus-ness. So, continue to delete all evidence of the truth and keep the lies up and running, otherwise you'd have nothing left.
Darin, you lecturing me on "bogusness" is just rich. Was I full of bogusness when I told you there had been ten female emperors and not just two, as you were sure was true?
Or was I full of bogusness when you thought my saying Empress Michiko was from a flour tycoon family that I was suggesting her family was part of the mob?
Or maybe beating the drum about the kidnap of Megumi Yokota and other Japanese nationals is bogus? Or was it a "lie" when I pointed out that the Yasukuni shrine keepers enshrined, as a political act, people who did not die in war?
Darin, you have such strident beliefs in some things that factually do not hold water. Deep down in my heart, I suspect you are a good person, but I think you need to go back to that truth-seeker persona you once had, instead of defender of the realm.
You know what, in that discussion of Aiko, you made a good argument for tradition and you had me seeing the merits of keeping the succession as traditional as possible. Yeah, I listen to well-reasoned, fact-based discussion, even when it challenges my beliefs. Especially when it challenges my beliefs. Please give more of that and less of your "all of Korea" screeds.
I am closing the comments right here. This thread has been poisoned too far for me to try to save it. Yes, it's not fair that I have the last word, but I have answered your questions and I have tried to leave it on a conciliatory note. It is my blog, after all, and I have the prerogative to do it this way.
If anyone leaves ANY comment between now and the time I get to a PC where I can disable comments (blogspot makes it difficult to do everything from Macintosh Safari—no, that isn't a conpsiracy, it's just poor business practice on their part), I will delete it regardless of content.
If anyone wishes to make a comment about the actual Megumi Yokota case, the exhibition, who is behind the threats, etc., they may do so at this related post.
THIS THREAD CLOSED.
ReplyDeleteTo make comments about the Megumi Yokota case, the cancelled/moved exhibition, who is behind the threats, etc., please go to this post.
Stupid Macintosh hiragana/katakana system that inadvergently flips what you wrote from one to the other by an accidental tick of the down-arrow key!
ReplyDeleteダリン/ダリン should be だりん/ダリン, to reflect both standard accepted katakana usage for foreign names, and Darin's personal protest against such alphabetical Apartheid.
Now comments are closed.