The U.S. was founded 240 years ago based on freedom and democracy. It is supposed to serve as a beacon of hope for people who want to seek justice and to right past wrongs. However, if we examine the U.S.-Japan relationship since the end of WWII, especially that relationship in recent years, we can only come to the conclusion that the U.S.-Japan partnership is not a partnership that Americans should be proud of. As a matter of fact, it is the opposite of that beacon of hope for people who want to seek justice and to right past wrongs. This article discusses the reason for that conclusion.
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U.S.-Japan Partnership: Partnership for What?
June 2016
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What Is Qigong?
March 2016
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Qigong (氣功) has a long history of several thousand years and is practiced by many people throughout the years. It is practiced today by millions of people in China as well as in many other parts of the world. With such a long history involving so many people and numerous teachers/masters, there are many types of Qigong. However, the theory of Qigong is really based on concepts behind Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which includes examining external appearances, examining internal conditions (e.g., via listening to one’s pulse), analyzing patient’s descriptions of his/her ailments, prescribing herbal medicines, utilizing techniques such as Tui Na (推拿), acupressure, and acupuncture. This article provides an introduction to Qigong.
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Meaning of 12/28/2015 Japan and South Korea’s Agreement on Comfort Women
March 2016
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On December 28, 2015, it was announced by the governments of South Korea and Japan that they had reached an agreement to settle the decades-old dispute on the Comfort Women issue. Just exactly what was that agreement, and did it settle this long dispute between South Korea and Japan? This article discusses these questions.
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Resolving Major World Conflicts Needs a New Paradigm
For thousands of years, nations, when faced with major conflicts (frequently due to expansion ambition), would utilize their military power to try to settle the conflict, resulting in major wars between countries. There are literally hundreds of major wars throughout history, taking place in all parts of the world. Here are just samplings of such major wars [1]: Wars of the Babylonian Empire (1770 BC – 1595 BC), Persian Wars (499 BC – 448 BC), Wars of Alexander the Great (334 BC – 323 BC), Roman Invasion of Britain (56 BC – 54 BC), many wars during the Roman Empire (27 BC – 470 AD), Battle of Talas River (between Imperial Tang China and the Abbasid Arabs, 751), various Crusades (1095-1291), Hundred Years’ War (between England and France: 1337-1453), Opium Wars (1839-1842, 1856-1860), First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), Spanish-American War (1898), Philippine-American War (1899-1902), Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), WWI (1914-1918), Second Sino-Japanese War (1931-1945), WWII (1939-1945), Korean War (1950-1953), Vietnam War (1955-1975), Iraq War (2003-2011).
War has been used to resolve not only major conflicts between nations, but also for major conflicts within a nation. Examples of major civil wars include [2]: Various Roman Civil Wars (100 BC – 400 AD), French Wars of Religion (1562-1598), English Civil War (1642-1651), U.S. Civil War (1861-1865), Russian Civil War, (1917-1922), China’s Civil War (1927-1937, 1945-1949), Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
Almost without exceptions, these wars resulted in thousands or millions of human casualties and major destruction of the parties involved, especially the losers. This article discusses whether we can continue to use war to resolve major conflicts?
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