India And The World

[Capt M Kumar]

It is still early in Dr Singh’s second term as prime minister. The opposition is in disarray with both the Left and the Right still recovering from the serious blow they received in the general elections. With President Obama showing a renewed commitment to Afghanistan, the time to act is now. All that is required is for the UPA government to summon the requisite political will and rally the nation by making a clear military and political case for India’s armed involvement in the Afghanistan. For that, it is imperative that India’s military planners develop and have on the ready a comprehensive, well-thought out policy option involving the deployment of Indian troops in Afghanistan.



http://pragati.nationalinterest.in/2010/...ghanistan/

1 comment woth mentioning is:



As a soldier au fait with India’s national security scenario, I totally disagaree with this assessment that India can send many well equipped and trained divisions to Afghanistan in a combat role. Where are these divisions to come from? We have two nuclear powers sitting on our doorsteps.We are raising/have raised two more mountains divisions expressly to counter the threat to Arunachal. Secondly how are these divisions to be moved from India to Afghanistan? By road-Nix. By sea-which port? By air? We just do not have the transport air capability. We should continue training the Afghan Security Forces as we are now doing and even arm them.

[Guest]

[url="http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-asia-killed-us-with-low-end-labor-now-theyre-going-to-finish-us-at-the-high-end-2010-2"]CHART OF THE DAY: Asia Killed Us With Low-End Labor, And Now They're About To Finish The Job[/url]





India is not doing much research, majority of research work is funded by government, Private sector need to do it own research work, not to fund to Government programme.

[Capt M Kumar]

Vice Rector Murat Orunkhanov, on behalf of Rector Academic Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov, presented the Medal of 75 years of the University to Sajjanhar for his significant contribution to strengthening relations between India and Kazakhstan in the area of education.



The formal speeches were followed by recitation of poems and songs in Hindi by several students of the university. Dance items on popular Hindi songs were also presented by the students.



The programme ended with an 'Antakshari' competition between two university teams, in which popular and well-known Hindi songs were sung.



'The celebration of Hindi Day helped to focus on the vibrant and dynamic relations between the two countries in the area of study of Hindi and other Indian subjects,' an Indian embassy statement said. http://sify.com/news/international-hindi...ehjaj.html

[Capt M Kumar]

“India has the cultural strengths for a leadership position. It is a cultural superpower, even though it may not be a nuclear superpower. And it is the cultural strength that is required for a leadership position in the world. It is through winning hearts and minds that leadership can be achieved”, Mr Ghalib said. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news...968548.cms

[Husky]

Japan



1. forbes.com/sites/[color="#0000FF"]stephenharner[/color]/2014/01/02/after-yasukuni-china-closes-the-door-on-abe-why-is-he-smiling/



Shinzo Abe's visit to "controversial" Yasukuni war memorial shrine (not a Kami=religious shrine, but a commemoration site for nationalist dead built in the Meiji-era) was less Shinto-tva [=modern JP nationalism] - which some foreign "analysts"** had insinuated that Abe's move indicated - and more for the purpose of irking China, so that the two countries could both stop pretending to want to be friends.





This bit on additional US bases is not a good thing for JP:

Last month’s Vice President Biden state visit to China, a follow up to last June’s bold and highly promising Sunnylands Summit between President Obama and President Xi, seems to have been fruitless, if not counterproductive. Biden arrived in Beijing after meeting with Abe and declaring that the U.S.-Japan alliance is the “cornerstone” of U.S. security in Asia.



Biden’s words were music to Abe’s ears and elicited one of the intended responses: effective pressure on Okinawa’s governor to approve building a big new U.S. air base that will, in part, replace the Futenma Marine air base but is likely to have expanded missions. The impression that the Pentagon (to the exclusion of others) is orchestrating U.S. diplomacy and overall policy in Asia, both toward Japan and China, is inescapable.



In Beijing, VP Biden admitted to U.S.-China relations being the “central, organizing principle” in international relations in this century. The problem is, while admitting to this principle, the U.S. has been doing virtually nothing to “operationalize” (to use a term favored in Washington) it.

The above writer's own comment later on:

[color="#0000FF"]Stephen Harner[/color], Contributor 1 week ago

Yes, you are correct that I advocate U.S. military withdrawal from Asia. We should close our bases in Japan and Korea and revert to U.S. territory, Guam and Hawaii. This is what I mean by reversing the “pivot” which, although given window dressing about being comprehensive engagement, has been fundamentally military/strategic, driven by the Pentagon whose self-interested and self-fulfilling China threat myth captured the supine Hillary State Department and Obama’s White House. The Japanese Occupation/Korean War/Cold War legacy “forward deployment” of U.S. power and the alliance system is unnatural and highly destablizing in today’s Asia and the destablizing effect increases by the year.Reversing the “pivot” would be drastic change only because the situation today is so unstable and tense. But the way to greater stability is not to “strengthen” or double up the imbalance, but to begin dismantling it.[color="#0000FF"]The two great Asia powers–China and Japan–and the secondary powers–South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines–will be able to reach a mutually beneficial, stable and sustainable modus vivendi if left along by the U.S. to do so.I would add that by virtue of “American exceptionalism” the U.S. is psychologically, philosophically, emotionally, and culturally unable to insinuate itself into Asian affairs without creating great dysfunction and tension. The U.S. is not an Asian country. It is not an Asia culture or society. Asia is the seat of several of the world’s great and most successful civilizations. Asians can and should be allowed to manage their own affairs.[/color]



[color="#800080"](I like his reason for leaving Asia alone: for the reason of just leaving it alone. But as if AmeriKKKa would ever allow that - not until they create a mess in Asia and it gets too hot for them. At which point, the US govt/military will move its seat of infestation from the E and SE to set up shop in so-called "South Asia", aka India and SL etc - since islam won't allow American infidels in dar-ul-islam - to start a headache there.)[/color]

2. ** C.f. how the foreign monitors stationed in Japan seem to go on about the JP nationalist fundamentalism "Shinto-tva" in Abe and its sinister portents/his taint by association with controversial visit to controversial memorial site.

E.g. the following, which links to more examples

shisaku.blogspot.jp/2014/01/hes-pro-shinto-but-not-that-pro-shinto.html

shisaku.blogspot.jp/2014/01/shrine-temple-and-mr-abes-first-year.html



The above blog's "Academic Links" section predictably links to known puppeteers:

academic journals

Chinese Journal of International Politics

CSIS Asia Publications

EJCJS [color="#800080"][uk site on Japanese studies][/color]

European Journal of East Asian Studies

Far Eastern Economic Review

Harvard Asia Quarterly

Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

Japan Focus

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies

Journal of Japanese Studies [color="#800080"][Washington site on JP studies][/color]

Monumenta Nipponica

The Journal of Asian Studies

They have departments to "study" (monitor, influence, control, blacklist) *every* major Asian nation.



The second blog entry mentions Temple University Japan [TUJ] campus, which belongs to Temple Uni US, founded by a reverend of a US Baptist Church. It's officially accredited as a foreign uni, medium is English, international (many western) students, and hosts political views on JP's government in the TUJ's u-toob channel.

The blog host's speech on Abe's nefarious nationalist fundamentalism is not just hosted on TUJ grounds and promised to be posted on their utoob channel, but it was organised/hosted by "Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies (ICAS)", which sounds like yet another JP equivalent of the sort of foreign (usually US) Institutes that "discuss" [lecture about] India to their foreign and sepoy audiences.



An interesting comment at one of the two blog entries above (which follows on from another comment on how Abe, being a 'nationalist fundamentalist/Shinto-tva', he should get along swell with the US christo rightwing):

Robert Dujarric said...

[color="#0000FF"]Yes Abe could find common ground, but could American Christian zealots accept it? Shinto is not universalist, so it's OK for Abe and his folks to accept that US barbarians practice other religions. But the Scriptures prescribe death for idolatry, so the Christian agitators in the US are bound by their faith to either convert or terminate those who reject their beliefs.[/color]

"Shinto is not universalist" -> i.e. it is not missionary (but an ethnic religion. But then, no heathenism is universalist.)

Also nice to see that this last commenter - whatever his opinion on other matters - recognises that christianism only spells convert-or-kill for all heathens and other unbelievers.

[Bharatvarsh2]

What's controversial?



Its only controversial because of the mainland han and koreans (and the goras who ran the original show trials).



And of course goras don't like Shinto reassertion, they had a 3 part alarmist series about it in japan times.



Happy that Abe had the balls to say a fuck you to han. Considering that han are one of our 3 great enemies, this is good for Hindus.



As for the US base, either the brainwashed population in Japan listens to Toshio Tamogami & scraps the rubbish constitution and gets nukes, builds carriers, nuke subs, and ups troop strength. Otherwise they will need the US base as prc would spank them in a war, even as things stand they are set to lose Senkaku if they don't act now.

[ravish]

To maintain peace in Asia, it is better that USA continues to give protection to Japan. After the two world wars, an armed Japan cannot be trusted. We may have a border dispute with our immediate neighbour China but that is not a valid resion to gang up with Japan. It is too early to forget the atrocities committed by Japan on the innocent civilain population of several Asian countries less than a 100 years ago, not once but twice.

[Bharatvarsh2]

ravish the retard strikes again.



Japan's role in WW1 was minor.



Japan was forced into WW2 by the gora scum u admire so much (and the goras committed several atrocities during the war, after the war and do so even today) & no one cares if they killed some chinks considering that the chinks have massacred millions of Tibetans, Uighurs & Mongols & continue to do so.



Here is some real history for a gora and chink lover like u:

In writing this article, first let me state that today the United States and Japan are close friends and allies and I for one am very pleased about that. For the most part, both countries have gotten beyond the events of World War II and relatively few hold any grudges about it. This demonstrates a great deal of character and goodwill on the part of both countries. Unfortunately, despite the fact that none of what I shall relate in this article is anything less than documented, established fact, a great many still seem to have a very warped view regarding the war against Japan. In spite of all the evidence known even at the time of the war and other information which has been declassified since, many people in both the United States and Japan for that matter, continue to view the start of the war as being the result of Japanese aggression against the United States and nothing more. Some have even tried to twist the facts or simply fabricate their own in order to spread anti-Japanese bigotry to as many countries as possible. It is for that reason, and because truth is to be pursued for its own sake that I address this subject. I do so because I have touched on it a number of times in the past without ever giving a full explanation and I do so today simply because I enjoy offending people who are wrong. It is certainly not my intention to fuel any bad feelings between America and Japan. I wish nothing more sincerely than for the friendship between America and Japan to continue and would prefer that America was friends rather than enemies with all monarchies.





USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor

To start at the beginning of the war, even the most extreme depths of hatred and often unbridled racism against Japan on the part of the United States in World War II is usually forgiven because of the “treacherous” surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The problem with that scenario is the fact that Japan did not intend the attack to come without warning and indeed it was only incompetence on the part of the American government that prevented Pearl Harbor from being warned that an attack by Japan was expected. However, even that is rather disingenuous as the United States had not only planned and worked for quite some time to maneuver Japan into attacking American forces in the Far East or Pacific area but, in fact, had authorized a plan to attack Japan first. Never heard about that? It is true and has been declassified since the 1970’s, the order exists with the signature of President Roosevelt right on it. You have probably even seen at least some evidence of this, even if you do not realize it. For example, most people have probably seen the film, a Japanese and American co-production, about the attack on Pearl Harbor called, “Tora! Tora! Tora!”. If so, you will remember that on the morning of the attack the Japanese planes were picked up on radar but the officer on watch dismissed the report because it was assumed that the planes were a flight of B-17 “Flying Fortress” bombers coming in from the mainland. Those who have seen the movie will also recall the dramatic scene when these bombers arrived later, during the attack, unarmed and out of gas.



Why do I bring this up? Well, ask yourself a question; why were these land-based bombers being sent to Hawaii? They served no purpose in Hawaii but that was actually the first leg of their longer flight to U.S. bases in The Philippines. Why were they being sent to The Philippines and was that their final destination? Remember that the B-17 was a heavy, strategic bomber. Bombers are not defensive weapons, they are offensive weapons. You can defend yourself with fighter planes, you cannot defend yourself with bombers. All you can do with them is attack someone else. Who in the neighborhood of The Philippines would the United States want to attack other than Japan? Of course it was Japan and we have known since the order was declassified in the 1970’s (though it is still mostly unknown) that President Roosevelt had signed off on a plan to attach a bomber force to the American mercenary fighter group in the service of the Republic of China known as the “Flying Tigers”. The plan, JB-355, was for a first-strike against Japan by American pilots flying American bombers but under the flag of China for political cover that entailed the fire-bombing of Osaka, Tokyo and Nagasaki. It was authorized by the President five months before Pearl Harbor was attacked.





FDR

It should also be kept in mind that the Roosevelt administration was breaking American neutrality laws already by funding the American forces fighting for the Chinese against Japan. They were not really mercenaries at all since they were trained, armed, equipped and even paid by the U.S. government secretly while simply being listed as volunteers of the Chinese army of Chiang Kai-shek. Still, many would and have said that all of this was justified because the Japanese were the “bad guys” and “everyone knows that”. The same sentiment is used to justify the undeniable fact that President Roosevelt had maneuvered Japan into a position in which they would be forced to attack the United States. By cutting off all trade with Japan, including the export of iron and oil, persuading the British Empire and the Dutch government-in-exile to do the same, the United States effectively delivered an ultimatum to Japan: they could do nothing and suffer the total collapse of Japanese society for lack of the vital resources all industrialized countries require (and, indeed, Japan had only 18 months of oil left, in total by December of 1941), they could effectively surrender their sovereignty to the United States by giving up the right to manage their own affairs and allow America to dictate Japanese foreign policy or the Japanese could go to war with the United States. Obviously, only one outcome was in any way remotely possible. Again, however, even amongst the relatively few who are aware of these facts (and they are plain for all to see), some still try to justify it by claiming that the Japanese were “bad guys” who would have to be fought sooner or later, one way or another. Well, why was that?



Certainly the Empire of Japan had never attacked or threatened the United States or any part of the American “empire” in the Far East. What were they doing that so outraged the Roosevelt administration that war was the only option, even if America had to be the one to start it? The standard answer, of course, is that Japan had invaded China and the United States didn’t like that. Japan had set up the Empire of Manchukuo in Manchuria and restored the last Manchu Emperor to the throne there and had then gone on to fight Chinese republican forces south of the Great Wall in China proper. There were reasons and “incidents” behind every escalation of this conflict but we do not need to go into those now. The bottom line is that Japanese forces were in China and America did not like that (even though, at that point, China had not declared war on Japan and would not until after America and Britain did). It was an invasion of a sovereign country after all. Whether one thinks it was justified (as Japan did) or not (as America did) this is a fact. The problem with America being so offended by it and compelled to act against Japan because of it arises from another question one cannot help but ask; why was America not similarly prompted to action by other invasions in the East Asia area?





Bogd Khan of Mongolia

After the collapse of the Qing Empire in China both Tibet and Mongolia reasserted their independence. Mongolia had never been part of China after all. The Manchu Qing dynasty had gained control of Mongolia prior to taking over China and so, even while the Qing came to rule over all of China, Mongolia could more correctly be said to have belonged to Manchuria but never China. Besides which, it had been the United States, at least since the time of the Democrat Woodrow Wilson, that liked to talk about “self-determination” so, presumably, regardless of their prior relationship with China, the Mongolians could declare independence if they wanted to. However, in 1919 the Republic of China sent troops into Mongolia, seized power and deposed the reigning monarch; the Bogd Khan. No one seemed to care in America. The only one who did care was the rogue White Russian general Baron von Ungern-Sternberg who drove out the Chinese and restored the Bogd Khan to his throne in 1921. However, his forces were soon driven out by the Soviet Red Army that took control of Mongolia and made it a part of the Soviet Union in all but name. Again, no one in America seemed to care.



Some may be wondering what any of this has to do with the matter at hand. It matters because American security or interests were no more threatened by the invasion of Manchuria or China than the invasion of Mongolia. Why was it wrong for Japan to invade China but okay for China to invade Mongolia and then for Soviet Russia to invade Mongolia? Is it only wrong if the country is big enough? Is it only wrong if there are large populations which equate to lucrative markets for foreign businesses at risk? And if Japan was “invading China” by occupying Manchuria because Manchuria had been part of the Qing Empire, why did Roosevelt not condemn Soviet Russia for “invading China” by occupying Mongolia which had also been part of the Qing Empire or when the Soviets invaded Xinjiang in 1934 which had been part of the Qing Empire and is still part of China today? Why the blatant double-standard? Of course, one could also ask why the Soviet attack on Finland was okay or the Soviet occupation and annexation of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and eastern Poland was okay but an, as yet, undeclared war between Japan and the Republic of China demanded that America take action, freeze Japanese assets, cut of all trade with Japan, ban Japanese ships from the Panama Canal and even plan to fire-bomb three Japanese cities to start a war. Yes, I think one can very well see that the Empire of Japan was being held to a very different standard from other countries in the neighborhood.





Tokyo -when it did happen

It is rather interesting to just take a look at the text of both the American declaration of war against Japan and the much more lengthy Japanese declaration of war against America. The justifications put forward by the United States, that, “the Imperial Government of Japan has committed unprovoked acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America:” is a total lie. It has been a matter of public record since the McCollum memo was first widely publicized in 2001 that the Roosevelt administration was doing everything it could to provoke an act of war by Japan against the United States. And even if one disregards the memo, the same President who denounced the “dastardly and unprovoked attack” on Pearl Harbor was also the President who months earlier had signed off on the fire-bombing of several major Japanese cities with the stated intention of causing as much death and destruction as possible. Keep that comparison in mind; fire-bombing major, heavily populated cities versus the attack on Pearl Harbor in which great care was taken so that no civilian areas or targets were hit. Again, that is a matter of public record that has never been in dispute. For the United States to say the attack on Pearl Harbor was “unprovoked” is nothing short of an outright lie.



In comparison, the Japanese declaration of war relates a lengthy list of provocations by the United States and Great Britain (and most of what Britain did was done at the insistence of the United States, in fact going all the way back to the breaking off of the British-Japanese alliance) which are all perfectly true and, again, not in dispute. Japan mentions British and American support for the Republic of China that was waging war against Japan (which also violated U.S. neutrality laws), the build-up of American military forces in East Asia and the severance of all trade with Japan by America and Britain. All perfectly true. Just consider the situation for a moment. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor the U.S. President had authorized and paid for American pilots and American fighter planes to be sent to China to fight against the Japanese, the Allies were sending 10,000 tons of supplies to the Chinese every month through French Indochina and finally had frozen all Japanese assets in the United States, cut off all trade with Japan and banned Japanese ships from the Panama Canal. Would anyone call these the acts of a neutral or indifferent power?





Chinese Republican troops

Also remember that, at that time, about the only sources of oil exports in the world were the United States, the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and Malaysia and the Gulf States which were all under the control of Britain. When the U.S. cut off all oil exports to Japan and persuaded Britain and the Dutch to do the same, this cut off all oil entirely. Can anyone imagine, even with the more diverse sources of energy and greater number of oil producing countries in the world today, just what sort of social and economic collapse would befall a country like the United States if, for example, just the countries of the Middle East decided to cut off all oil exports? It would be nothing short of disastrous and this was exactly the situation that Japan was facing. Likewise, other justifications for American actions do not stand up to scrutiny either. For example, the occupation of bases in French Indochina is often cited as a reason for America to take action against Japan. The problem with that is that it was done with the consent of the French government in Vichy. Aha! I know some are already shouting that this was the terrible, collaborationist government that was pro-Nazi and completely illegitimate. Unfortunately, regardless of how good or bad the Vichy regime was, at that time, the United States itself still recognized it as the legitimate government of France. So try again. In that case, there is the accusation that Japan was simply keeping bad company by having joined the Rome-Berlin Axis with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The problem with that argument is this; guess who was the biggest supporter of those heroic “freedom fighters” of the Republic of China prior to Japan joining the Axis? Go ahead, guess. Give up? It was Nazi Germany of course. Before the outbreak of war more than half of all armaments exported from Nazi Germany went to the nationalists of the Republic of China and Nazi Germany had, for years, been helping China industrialize and modernize their army.





The President who wanted war

So, again, we come down to a blatant double-standard concerning the Empire of Japan. If being friendly with Germany was a crime, why was it not for China? If the occupation of Manchuria was an invasion of China, why wasn’t the Soviet invasion of Mongolia and Xinjiang not treated the same? Given that America was sending military forces to aid the Chinese, diverting long-rang bombers to within striking distance of the Japanese mainland, cutting off all vital resources to Japan and funding those who were waging war against Japan, how can anyone honestly say that the attack on Pearl Harbor was “unprovoked”? And, I will repeat, none of these facts are in dispute. The sanctions against Japan can be found in any history book as can the history of the American volunteers in China. The order for the fire-bombing of Japan before the two countries were at war was declassified and is now a matter of public record. This is not, furthermore, an attempt to whitewash history. Many terrible things happened during the war that are inexcusable. However, it is a matter of fact that the undeclared war between Japan and certain factions of the Republic of China became part of a world war spreading across the whole of East Asia and the South Pacific because of the actions and desires of the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and not those of the Empire of Japan.



http://madmonarchist.blogspot.ca/2013/12...ndard.html

America and Japan, Who Wanted War?



http://madmonarchist.blogspot.ca/2012/12...d-war.html

I trust Japan far more than I trust goras, chinks, and their stooges like you.



Apparently countries like the Philippines & Vietnam agree which is why they want Japan to assert itself against the chinks.



A scumbag like you is willing to forget the millions of Hindus slaughtered by xtians and sullas (i never saw you demand that Britain be disarmed for what it did all over the world including India & is still doing most recently in Iraq, wonder why) but shed crocodile tears for chinks who were killing mongols, uighurs for trying to be free. The only Asian country Japan fought in WW2 was China, every other country was a gora colony. In several cases it was Japan that provided training and assistance to freedom fighters in Asia whether it was Bose, Suharto, Ba Maw etc.

[ravish]

Britain today is of no consequence, it finds place in the media only as a sidekick of the US. So there is no point in asking for disarming the small time extra in the world arena. I have carefully gone through your post and find that you are also in favour of continued US presence in Asia. Our only point of disagreement is whether to favour China or Japan.Both of us are free to have our own views on the issue;so perhaps no need to be abusive.

Cheers

[Husky]

Concerning post #226



Uh... it's not news to me nor am I the one who needs convincing.





Just to clarify for anyone else who chose to misread my post #225:



Point 1 of that post - where the word controversial was in quotes - was about the real reason Shinzo Abe chose that time to visit Yasukuni: it was a political message to China (as stated: that the two countries could stop pretending to be friends/stop pretending that they could have anything to discuss until China backs down from encroachment on Japanese space).



Point 2 of that post was about the alien psyops against Japan, where they try to generate alarmist fears about Shinto-tva as a fundootva/religious rightwing (akin to alien psyops against Hindootva as allegedly being a fundootva). Though the words controversial and nefarious etc weren't in quotes there, they don't really need to be either because that section is on the alien psyops' POV anyway. [2]



(Shintos are naturally nationalistic - as Hindus are nationalistic since both cases concern the beloved heathen homeland of the concerned heathen populations. Does not imply that Abe's political moves/messages are intended as offensive belligerence toward anyone, let alone as Japan wanting to retread any form of Japanese imperialism - or anything related to channeling WWII, contrary to alien psyops' deliberately alarmist projections [1] that deliberately try to tie WWII with the present.)



And while the christoconditioned western liberals pretended that Abe's Shinto-tva should get along with AmeriKKKa's actually rightwing christian right, one commenter at least saw the most basic flaw in that logic when he observed that AmeriKKKa's christian right would be compelled to convert-or-kill the Shinto Japanese for their polytheistic idolatry. I.o.w. western liberals who wanted to project Shinto-tva as any kind of natural allies with the AmeriKKKan (or other) christian right were deliberately lying to readers about its possibility/viability. Not to mention traditional Shintos have nothing in common with christians and christianism.





Personally, I don't see why Japanese are not allowed to commemorate those that died for their nation, when AmeriKKKans and Europeans who committed crimes against humanity are regularly commemorated and even cheered. Everyone from Columbus, Churchill, to AmeriKKKan founding fathers/presidential genociders of the native Americans is projected positively by the victors' history-writing and this whitewashed projection of their characters as something admirable is imposed on the rest of the world (including the very victims of these alien terrorists). The Japanese are not asking anyone else to commemorate the Japanese dead enshrined at Yasukuni. Whereas - for example - Columbus Day is some special day in America and native Americans are expected to stomach it.



Having said that, and regardless of my opinion, Yasukuni or at least visits by the highest ranking politicians to the memorial are indeed regarded as "controversial" now even in Japan: youngsters are brainwashed into this view.

But will paste less widely-known stuff concerning Yasukuni and Japan in the next post.





[1] One of the Japan-stationed alien anti-Japanese psyops links that was posted earlier mentioned approvingly the news article 'The Economist Tokyo Bureau Chief Tamzin Booth's allusively titled Banyan post "See you at Yasukuni"'.

IIRC that phrase, as all those who were ever interested in the Kamikaze would already know, is what the Kamikaze said to each other before they went on their missions: that they would return (and forever) by being enshrined in Yasukuni upon their death. Rather moving I always thought. Since the alien shisaku blog recommended the article at The Economist (didn't read), it would probably have been alien psyops too and trying to present this as something evil and sinister - with which they try to project WWII onto modern Japan's re-assertion. Note the west (esp. US) has a love-hate thing going for kamikaze: they're in love with Kamikaze's heroism, the kind the christowest doesn't have - because they don't love their countries (which are dead to the christos) the way the Shintos love their hallowed land. But at the same time they demonize the Kamikaze too, for the crime of dying for Japan. If they had died for AmeriKKKa - or if aliens had done this, not that they could - it would be the stuff of legends in the west.



But the phrase "See You At Yasukuni" was far from sinister: The pilots expected to see each other again in their homeland. The Kamikaze were intent on (their spirits) returning to their homeland to live forever there, having served their nation and having died to protect it. (Many Kamikaze willingly sacrificed themselves in their missions even after knowing Japan had lost.) "See you in Yasukuni" is based on a very Shinto notion, shared also by the "Thunder Gods" (IIRC another division of Shinto suicide pilots, akin to the Kamikaze = "Divine Wind"), one of whom wrote the following before his suicide mission [special credit goes to the episode of SAAB from decades ago, that had led me to the book that records it], which echoes a similar notion of living forever in the Shinto homeland upon their sacrifice:

With my mission now at hand, my dear old town, my dear old people,

I now abandon everything and leave to protect this country.

To preserve our eternal and just cause, I now go forth.

My body will collapse like a falling cherry blossom

but my soul will live and protect this land forever.

Farewell. I am a glorious wild cherry blossom.

I shall return to my mother's place and bloom.

- Mayumi Ichikawa.

(By the way, the Kamikaze and Thunder Gods were deeply Shinto in their life and this is specifically documented as being behind their spiritual conviction as Kamikaze too.)





[2] You can see the US demonisation of Japan/manufacturing consent to contain Japan is fully in swing with the recent AmeriKKKan *political* posturing about Japanese hunting dolphins: the news is full of "Evil Japan is hunting dolphins". Abe correctly responded to the US govt official taunting Japan that dolphin hunting was traditional in Japan and that these dolphins weren't endangered.



[color="#0000FF"]japandailypress.com/japans-pm-abe-defends-taiji-dolphin-hunt-cites-culture-and-tradition-2843160/[/color]

Japan’s PM Abe defends Taiji dolphin hunt, cites culture and tradition

Jan 28, 2014 John Hofilena National 1 Comment



Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has defended Japan’s dolphin hunt earlier this month, an act that has been strongly criticized by the international community – including by newly appointed United States ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy who said that the corralling of hundreds of dolphins into the secluded Taiji Bay and killing them was “inhumane”. Abe, in an interview with CNN, had asked the world to understand that the controversial hunt was part of Japanese culture and tradition, not to mention that it financially supports the fishing communities involved in the hunt.

“The dolphin fishing that takes place in Taiji is an ancient fishing practice rooted in their culture. It supports their livelihoods,” Abe said in the interview which was uploaded onto CNN’s Japanese website on Friday. “We hope you will understand this,” he added, saying that the Japanese government was aware of criticism of the hunt. “In every country and region, there are practices and ways of living and culture that have been handed down from ancestors,” Abe said. “Naturally, I feel that these should be respected.”



According to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the Taiji fisherman herded more than 250 dolphins into the cove at Taiji on Jan. 18. The annual dolphin hunt caught worldwide attention when it became the subject of a 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary film called “The Cove”. Those who support the Japanese practice say that the dolphins that are targets of the hunt are not endangered, a position that has been echoed by the Japanese government. They say that the criticism the hunt receives is hypocritical, especially as they claim that the dolphin hunt is not different to the slaughter of an obviously bigger number of cows, pigs and sheep to satisfy global demand.

Hypocritical AmeriKKKan govt has no moral leg to stand on. Cows, pigs and chickens in the west incl AmeriKKKa have no room at all to do anything but stand in the same position. It's really pathetic. And then they get killed. Why don't they stop that - it's not even a tradition. AmeriKKKa is inhumane.





And then there's the recent Chinese film Flowers of War from 2011 (imdb.com/title/tt1410063/?ref_=nv_sr_1) starring Christian Bale despite it being a Chinese film directed by Zhang Yimou. Using the real "Rape of Nanking" only as a setting, the actual plot of the film itself is a total fiction: some western guy hiding as a priest in a Chinese nunnery/church (but of course, it's christo dawaganda film) where the Chinese nuns get brutally raped by the Japanese soldiers. (Then the Western/White Male runs off with the Asian Female as per the mention of this part of the plot at the bigwowo blog concerning Interracial Relationships Disparity.)

Important note: The plot is fiction: it never happened. Not based on true events or anything. But the film apparently *graphically* depicts all the rape scenes of the poor Chinese nuns by the evil Japanese men anyway. And why would the film do so? For the same reason that Slumdog Millionaire was pure fiction and depicted graphic and disgusting violence. I.e. [color="#0000FF"]it's dawaganda cinema: its purpose is to show extreme violence and cruelty using fiction to emotionally incense viewers into hating the bad guys in the movies, as intended by the creators.[/color] And Zhang Yimou deliberately used nuns as the victims to appeal to a western audience and make them hate the Japanese for attacking helpless celibate christian women so brutally, despite this particular story never happening in the Rape of Nanking. Christian Bale was obviously cast to appeal to western audiences, as was the Western Male - Asian Female subplot.



If Zhang Yimou had made a historical movie - of some actual events at Nanking - it would have been less offensive and not seem so political. But by using highly contrived fiction instead of facts (which were bad enough, so why create fiction?), it's clear that the movie is being blatantly opportunistic in trying to demonise Japan to western audiences.

Though several of the comments at the madmonarchist blog entry linked to at the Rajeev2004 blog were also interesting in what they had to say.

[Husky]

Post 2/3

Stuff on Yasukuni. People can decide for themselves whether Shinzo Abe's visit was unacceptable or acceptable or controversial.



First, about the site from which stuff gets quoted below and in the next post. Repeating:

[quote name='Husky' date='20 January 2014 - 08:35 PM' timestamp='1390229841' post='117004']a Japanese "nationalist" site that Harvard/Asian Studies entities shriek at as Japanese fundootva. I figured that "therefore, there must be something good about the site" and had a look. I didn't read all that much - not enough to make up my mind on the site itself [/quote]

The rest of the stuff I had read there follows.





en.yoshiko-sakurai.jp/2013/08/21/5501

2013.08.21 (Wed)

Time to Ponder Why Visit to Yasukuni Shrine Is Important



[...]



As we near August 15, the day World War II ended, I earnestly would like for as many people as possible – especially those who have turned their backs on Yasukuni – to come to grips with the history of this shrine.



It is natural for the people of any nation and the government representing them to show their heartfelt gratitude and deference to those who lost their lives as they fought for the nation and its people. However, this very natural act has been discontinued in Japan since the mid-80’s, some four decades after the war ended.



Visits to Yasukuni by Japanese political leaders have attracted stern criticism from abroad – especially from China and South Korea – on the grounds that “Class A war criminals are enshrined together with the war-dead.” However, when Japan regained independence on April 28, 1952 with the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, a vigorous campaign sprang up across Japan demanding the release as well as pardon of war criminals. The movement was touched off by the issuance of “A Written Opinion Regarding Recommendations for the Release of War-Criminals” by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. It may perhaps be possible for those critical of the “joint enshrinement” to change their minds if they come to understand how earnestly the Japanese of those days put their hearts and souls into this campaign. In point of fact, the number of those who signed petitions reached nearly 40 million. In 1952, the total Japanese population stood at 85,850,000, of which those over 20 years of age numbered 47,390,000. This shows that virtually every adult in Japan signed the petition.



I believe we should imprint this important fact in our minds as reflecting the genuine sentiments of those people who lived through that traumatic period. The Japan Socialist Party – predecessor of the Social Democratic Party which stringently opposes Yasukuni visits today – supported the people’s sentiments for this campaign then. It was the very desire of the nation, and of virtually all of its political parties, to see all of the war criminals, beginning with the Class A criminals, pardoned at an early stage.



Every Post-War Japanese Prime Minister Visited Yasukuni



The pardons were eventually granted, but not due to the public opinion of the Japanese alone. Nations that fought each other work out solutions to all problems resulting from their war by signing a peace treaty once the fighting is over. In Japan’s case, however, Article 11 was added to the San Francisco Peace Treaty which took effect on April 28, 1952, stipulating that no war criminal be pardoned without a majority approval by the parliament of all the governments that had sent delegates to the International Tribunal for the Far East (held in Tokyo May 3, 1946-November 11, 1948). The Japanese government took pains in approaching the respective governments in order to win their consent to the coveted pardons.



With each government having given its consent to the request for pardons under a spirit of healing the wounds of the war and building a new peace, all of the Class A war criminals were pardoned by March 31, 1952, and jointly enshrined at Yasukuni in 1978. Class B and C war criminals were pardoned by May 30, 1958 and enshrined.



Because all of the Japanese war criminals, including Class A, were pardoned thanks to domestic and international consent, none of them was enshrined as a war criminal at Yasukuni. Isn’t it curious that we still talk about them as “war criminals”? They once were war criminals, but were pardoned and restored to the status of ordinary citizens.



In a recent TV show, I noted that Japan actually had no war criminals after all of them were pardoned under international law. The woman who hosted the show gave me a questioning look, but the truth stands that war criminals ceased to exist in Japan when they were finally pardoned.



Japanese today have a responsibility to ponder deeply the meaning of the pardon of those war criminals which materialized with virtually every Japanese adult living in that era signing the petition after having lived through the war days and been made painfully aware of the fallacies of the Far Eastern Military Tribunal. It is our responsibility to relate the sentiments of our predecessors to the present generation and further on down to posterity.



Another reason for domestic opposition to Yasukuni visits is objections from nations like China. And yet even this issue can be resolved by looking sincerely back on the post-war history.



During the seven-year American occupation of Japan (1945-1952), Japanese prime ministers, cabinet members, and government employees were banned from visiting Yasukuni under the Shinto Directive of December 15, 1945 separating state and religion. On October 18, 1951, about a month after the signing of the Peace Treaty, then Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida visited Yasukuni, thereafter continuing to attend the shrine’s spring and autumn semi-annual observances.



Successive prime ministers followed suit – Nobusuke Kishi, Hayato Ikeda, Eisaku Sato, Kakuei Tanaka, Takeo Miki, Takeo Fukuda, Zenko Suzuki, and Yasuhiro Nakasone. Ony Ichiro Hatoyama and Tanzan Ishibashi, who were prone to illness, did not make any visits to the shrine.



It was during the time of the cabinet of Masayoshi Ohira that the joint enshrinement of Class A war criminals, which nations like China subsequently found upsetting, was made public.



China’s Request for the Strengthening of Japanese Military Power



Scooping its competition, the mass circulation daily Mainichi Shimbun ran an article on April 19, 1979, shortly before that year’s spring observances, revealing that the government had enshrined former Class A war criminals jointly with the war-dead during the fall observances the year before. Attending the 1979 fall observances at Yasukuni, Ohira found himself tightly surrounded by reporters out to verify the Mainichi report. The Christian prime minister replied magnificently: “How others view my visit is their business. I pray at Yasukuni because that is what my heart tells me to do. How others may criticize my visit doesn’t really concern me.”



Having thus made his visits to Yasukuni, Ohira was summoned again to a session of the Upper House Cabinet Committee on June 5, 1979, remarking: “I believe history will be our judge (on the decision to enshrine the former Class A war criminals).”



Ohira attended the fall observances at Yasukuni that year, then visited China in December.



China gave Ohira a big welcome – this prime minister who had visited Yasukuni several times. Although difficult to believe in the context of the recent friction between the two countries, the Chinese government at the time even called on Japan to double its defense budget. China made the request contending that raising the defense outlay up to 2% of Japan’s Gross National Product (GNP) would not significantly impair Japan’s economy.



The Chinese request was believed to have reflected its increasingly hostile relations with the Soviet Union. The important point, however, is that the call for Japan’s increased defense build-up was made after the enshrinement of the former Class A war criminals had been brought to light. In other words, there was no indication whatsoever at the time that China would regard visits to Yasukuni by Japanese political leaders as problematical. That Japan and China maintained passionately friendly relations for the next six and a half years after the enshrinement was made public is proof enough.



It was during the Nakasone administration that the Chinese posture towards Yasukuni changed suddenly. On August 15, 1985, Nakasone visited the shrine for the tenth time as prime minister. A little more than a month later, on September 20, the Chinese government began taking issue with the Yasukuni visits out of the blue, charging that “the official visits by members of the Japanese cabinet to Yasukuni, which enshrines the spirits of Class A war criminals” has “grossly hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.” Clearly, there was a political movitation behind the change in attitude.



The “Yasukuni problem” can hardly be resolved as long as Japan continues to bow to pressure from China and South Korea which regrettably are unable to extend the internationally recognized courtesy of respecting the different values and religious outlooks of other countries. It is best that the Japanese firmly understand the background and readily pay visits to Yasukuni at every opportunity. After all, it is the people’s hearts that support the government as well as the nation.



(Translated from “Renaissance Japan” column no. 570 in the August 15-22 combined issue of The Weekly Shincho)

(While I haven't bothered to confirm any of the statements made above, it seems to me unlikely that the writer would lie about things that anyone could potentially check up on and think to get away with it.)





Meanwhile, German nazis who were known war criminals involved in genociding the Jews were invited over by the US govt and habilitated in the US. Complete with new identities being given to them. I think the article "Good Americans" by Judge John Deed (or some such name) was about this and IIRC also the famous work "The Real Odessa" (?).

Furthermore, we see AmeriKKKan war criminals in Afghanistan blow up civilian children for (as admitted by the culprits) no reason at all other than to collect some of their bones as "trophees". And the US courts want to rehabilitate these very persons and even specifically declared that these criminals are "productive" members of US society. News articles on this were posted in some IF thread.



Everyone only remembers Japan in WWII. But mention Ustashe - the Catholic Croatian Nazis - and no one knows who these are, yet their crimes against humanity creeped out even the German nazis.



The Comfort Women thing is regularly brought up - Japan has made monetary and other amends for this - and everyone immediately knows what Comfort Women refers to, yet no one else ever even mentions the infamous Joy Division of the German nazis. (Anyone who's heard of it thinks it's the name of the 80s band. At least the band - previously known as Warschau Pact and later as New Order, which last is still its name today - knew very well what Joy Division actually referred to: they specifically named themselves after various horrific WWII instances because nazis/WWII bothered them so much.)



And indeed, why look so far back as the Joy Division of the nazis when current trafficking of women and children around US army bases in Asia is of a shocking nature and frequency. (As an aside, in Philipines prostitution went up 600% around US bases where the AmeriKKKans deal in very racist ways with the women concerned.) PLUS, every year huge numbers (IIRC thousands) of Filipino women are sent back from the US in body bags: exploited then murdered. Many of them were the original "mail-order" brides and went to the US into marriages with psychotic catholic christowestern males (which is what christianism groomed Filipino women for). No one mentions this, why? All recall only WWII Japan, but no one's memory wants to reach so far back as *today's* AmeriKKKa (or Europe, another sink for women and children trafficking). And neither AmeriKKKa nor Europe have every apologised for this.

Not to mention the west's penchant for kidnapping heathen children via alien abductions legalised as adoptions. (And the famous mass cass of the American evangelical project "Operation Babylift" to steal heathen children from IIRC Vietnam and put them into psychotic christo families in the US.)

[Husky]

Post 3/3



And again. The links belong to

[quote name='Husky' date='20 January 2014 - 08:35 PM' timestamp='1390229841' post='117004']a Japanese "nationalist" site that Harvard/Asian Studies entities shriek at as Japanese fundootva. I figured that "therefore, there must be something good about the site" and had a look. I didn't read all that much - not enough to make up my mind on the site itself [/quote]



en.yoshiko-sakurai.jp/2014/01/10/5582

2014.01.10 (Fri)

Time-Honored History: the Source of Japan’s Strength in 2014

[..]

Compassion for the Weak



Takeda further notes that in ancient times the heavenly gods could at least hear the tearful voices of the earthly gods, citing as examples the story of the “White Hare of Inaba,” who was stripped of his skin and fur for cheating, and then saved by Okuninushi, also known as Onamuji-no-kami, or the story of a hunter god, Hoori-no-mikoto, who was saved by a god of the sea, Shiotsuchi-no-kami. These stories adequately demonstrate the compassion that the ancient Japanese gods had for the weak.



These values shared by our ancestors permeate through the 17-article constitution—Japan’s first constitution written by Prince Shotoku in 604, more than a century before the Kojiki. The fundamental spirit of Shotoku’s constitution called for the rulers to watch prudently what they did and fully devote themselves to the building of a nation on behalf of the general populace based on principles of fairness. For nearly 14 centuries since then, as demonstrated in the teachings of the domain schools and terakoya private elementary schools of feudal Japan—as well as in the teachings of bushido—the Japanese people have, under the guidance of benevolent leaders, nurtured a remarkable sense of responsibility as citizens.



Those values were incorporated into the Charter Oath of Five Articles (1867) setting the legal stage for Japan’s modernization following the Meiji Restoration. Japan can truly take pride in what the oath represented in terms of a pledge by a newly born modern state determined to join the ranks of the world’s advanced nations. The basic posture of the new Japan as seen through the Oath corresponded to what was richly demonstrated in the 17-article constitution, as well as the Kojiki, calling on the new leadership to build a nation by heeding the opinion of every single Japanese regardless of his station in life. And it was at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that the basic principle of fairness that the Meiji Japanese leaders advocated regarding man’s individual integrity blossomed in the international community. Toward the creation of the League of Nations at the end of World War I, Japan powerfully proposed the abolition of all forms of racial discrimination as the standard operating principle of the international body.



The Japanese proposal was rejected by the US. However, throughout World War II, the Japanese values of detesting racial discrimination remained unshakable. Wasn’t it amply proven by the fact that the Japanese government committed itself to saving Jews where it could, despite its alliance with Nazi Germany? These Japanese actions were an expression of a national determination to create a world without racial discrimination.



Having maintained its silence since the end of the Greater East Asian War, a period of more than 60 years, Japan is now being asked to step forward and play a larger role in international affairs—particularly in checking China’s often irrational behavior. In order for Japan to contribute to building a better international community, I sincerely hope that in 2014 we will spare no effort to connect with our origins as we strive to reestablish our true identity.



(Translated from “Renaissance Japan” in the January 2-9, 2014 combined issue of The Weekly Shincho)

I recall an NL WWII anti-Axis poster shown in history class depicting deformed (highly, offensively caricaturised) Japanese officers pleading with German nazis that now they too are Arische brothers by siding with Germany. (It didn't purport to be historical, it was just lampooning the Axis powers.) But what nonsense, the Japanese - unlike some Indians - did not harbour the notion of being IE/Oryan nor did they want to join that clique anyway. They were Japanese, which was good enough for them.





en.yoshiko-sakurai.jp/2013/11/19/5556

2013.11.19 (Tue)

Time is Opportune for Prime Minister Abe’s Much-Awaited Visit to Yasukuni Shrine

The annual autumn observance is scheduled for October 17-20 at Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo. In view of the current international situation, there appears no more opportune time than now for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to realize his long-cherished dream of a visit to the shrine, where the spirits of the nation’s war-dead are enshrined.



On August 15th, Abe sent his proxy Koichi Hagiuda, who serves as his special advisor, to Yasukuni. Abe instructed him to convey “my heart-felt condolences to the spirits of those who died fighting for our nation and its people during the last war” and to “deeply apologize for my failure to personally be present due to the present circumstances.” Two months later, on October 11th, Abe observed on BS Fuji’s “Prime News”: “I regard it as a very natural sentiment and an intrinsic right of the leader of a nation to show reverence to the spirits of the war-dead who sacrificed their lives fighting for the nation.”



These remarks eloquently convey the strong yearning on the part of Abe to visit the controversial shrine. Violent reactions from China and South Korea, each determined to politicize the issue, have frustrated Abe’s plans to visit Yasukuni. And now, with the autumn observance just around the corner, a visit by the prime minister is again being taken up in China and South Korea as a serious “diplomatic issue”.

(Look, she refers to it as controversial too: because other people make it so.)



On condition of anonymity, a senior member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party commented:

“Frankly speaking, the biggest stumbling block for Mr. Abe is neither China nor South Korea. In point of fact, it is US. President Obama, ridden with delicate issues such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) negotiations, North Korea, and Syria, among other things. His hands also full with domestic issues, Obama regards discord between Japan and China over Yasukuni as an added burden on the US.”



Those fundamentally opposed to Abe’s Yasukuni visit conveniently take advantage of such sentiments on the part of the US administration, eagerly looking for reasons why Abe should not visit Yasukuni. They say, for example, that: (1) even the Emperor is unable to visit the shrine because of the so-called “Class-A war criminals” enshrined there; and (2) the Japanese people are not convinced that those who did not die on the battleground should be enshrined at Yasukuni. They say that the people do not support a visit by the prime minister.



Although these are essentially trivial reasons, largely groundless, they nevertheless are still frequently brought up. Let us consider reason (1). Emperor Hirohito visited Yasukuni on November 21st of 1975. That was the last time an emperor—either Emperor Showa or current Emperor Akihito—visited Yasukuni. It was not until three years later that the spirits of seven of the “Class A war criminals” were enshrined there. That is to say that the enshrinement of these so-called “war criminals” has had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the Emperor has refrained from visiting Yasukuni.



Criticism from the US

I suspect that back in 1975 the Imperial couple decided not to visit Yasukuni Shrine because of concern over how such a visit would be interpreted in view of the separation of government and religion, which was hotly discussed in the Diet at the time.

That, I believe, is why, instead of personally visiting Yasukuni, Emperor Akihito along with Prince Akishino and other members of the imperial family send their emissaries or make votive offerings at the annual spring and autumn observances each year.

As regards reason (2), here’s how I see it.

[...]

[Read at link]



Abe’s long-promised visit to Yasukuni is indepensable not only to respond to the expectations of the general populace, but also to enable Japan to hew a new path through the harsh realities of international politics. Who among us can expect to dedicate himself to a mother country whose prime minister is unable to publicly offer prayers to his own war-dead while still able to present a wreath and offer prayers to America’s war-dead at Arlington National Cemetery? Such a nation cannot possibly sustain itself.

(Exactly.)



And yet, according to Eto, the US—our most important ally—is trying to block a visit by Abe to Yasukuni.

[...]

[Bharatvarsh2]

ravish its not abuse to call a retard as one.



1st wtf does two world wars have to do with Japan when WW1 was essentially mostly a conflict between gora powers.



Japan played a minor role in WW1 as a Brit ally & their largest campaign was this:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tsingtao



Did you get Japan confused with Germany? lol



You are not ready to supposedly forget a war finished 70 years ago, a war provoked by ur gora masters who created a situation where Japan had to go to war or collapse without a fight. But you are ready to forget the millions of mongols, uighurs, & tibetans killed by chinks and still being killed today, the thousands of Indian soldiers who were killed in 1962 by the chinks, the daily incursions into India.



You know what that tells me?



You are either a chink lover/stooge, a moron, or both.



Britain may not be what it once was in power but they helped destroy Iraq, assist Pakis, & hostile to India. Yet u say nothing and instead worry about Japan lol.



My reason for backing US presence in Japan for now has nothing to do with yours, Japan needs time to rearm itself & stand up to chinks on its own, until then US presence acts as a deterrent to chinks. I back Japan declaring itself a Shinto state, dumping the US imposed constitution, getting nukes, and expanding the military a great deal with carriers, nuke subs, greater troop strength (including conscription) etc.



Shinto in politics & its significance for Hindus



http://vajrin.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/148/

[Husky]

Good that someone wrote about

* how Shintos and Hindus are truly natural allies, since both Shinto and Hindoos are heathens. The phrase had been misused/abused before when AmeriKKKa kept saying that about US and India and Indians were actually eager to believe it.

* and that Shintos gaining political power again - at last - can only be a good thing for Hindus. (Though, one wishes Hindus had political power again too. And were *Hindoo* about it instead of nationalistic seculars. Sigh)

* and of course about the Shintos having historically successfully beat christianism back. That's 'cause Shintos are so kewl, and a role model for all heathens all over the world to emulate.



The article could have further included one more important piece of info: [color="#0000FF"]the Japanese Sangha (i.e. Buddhist Sangha) tend to get really vindictive about any part in their history when Shinto was the state religion.[/color] And especially every current JP Buddhist process of recounting on the Meiji era has nothing good to say about Shintoism and whines on about how the nationalist Shinto government "forcibly" removed Buddhist items from Shinto shrines - whereby the Sangha pretends they ever belonged together - conveniently omitting to mention that Buddhism had *forcibly* installed these items in Shinto shrines in the first place, and that, in removing the intrusions, the Shinto state had merely finally implemented what the nation's Shintos had wanted since Buddhism had first been imposed on them by converted rulers: freedom from Buddhist inculturation and encroachment on Shinto religion and sacred space.

Given that the Sangha remains very fiercely antagonistic towards Meiji era State Shinto and that the Sangha's slant on this history is to pretend that they were the ones victimised, and that a forced syncretic religion with Buddhism (i.e. subversion of Shinto religion) was a "boon" to Japan/Shintoism, [color="#0000FF"]it remains to be seen how the Sangha will react concerning Shintoism asserting itself politically once more in Japan.[/color] But should make it 'With or without you', as the old U2 song goes.





[Uh. And now there's 4 writers online that all seem to sound much the same/employ the same style. And I'm not just talking about the use of the Royal "We". Alternatively the writer is a reincarnation of one of the existing trio. Or all these people went to the same school together. Or they're all channelling each other. Or whatever.]



I'm liking the final line:

May the Gods grant victory to both peoples [Shintos and Hindoos] in these endeavors.

"To-o Kami emi tame" (sp?) to the Shintos.







- rajeev2004.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/quick-notes-abe-on-india-sikhs-in.html]recent news on Rajeev2004

Why India and Japan are becoming closer: [color="#0000FF"]Abe wants Japan's navy and Indian navy to be seamlessly interconnected.[/color]

- [color="#0000FF"]rajeev2004.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/japan-and-india-bolster-ties.html[/color]

- [color="#0000FF"]rajeev2004.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/japan-to-build-bullet-trains-for-india.html[/color]



Once Japan and India have strengthened themselves strategically, my wishlist includes that Japan starts joint animation firms with Indians: India has the masses of Hindoos needed for continuing the sublime artform that is tradigital (2D hand-drawn) animation, and Japan has the heathen vision for proper heathen cinematic and serialised representation of the narratives about the Gods. (Indian animations concerning Hindu material tend to be all new-age and utterly lame/unHindoo and downright de-heathenising. Ugh. :ban Plus Japan - more than Hindoos - has always been interested in other heathenisms. Including in animating these. E.g. they've animated Daoist, Hindoo, Hellenistic and other sacred heathen katha.



If organised well, it will be profoundly influential in



1. instilling heathenism - the proper, traditional heathen views - in the younger generations.

Can start with covering Shinto, Daoist and Hindoo narratives and eventually move on to those of the rest of the world. The first 3 together will help re-heathenise the young of the future generations of Asia into their native ancestral religions.



2. preserving native languages. E.g. don't release any of the animations in English, just dub them exclusively in Asian heathen languages with subtitles in the native languages' scripts. (And where Hellenistic, African, NW European heathen, Native American or other heathen narratives are animated, release them in Greek/Latin/other relevant heathen language to let the relevant heathens have access to their own sacred narratives, and to support their ancestral languages: they could contribute the dubs themselves.)

But "converts" and other aliens should not be given access to the animations. These are not universal religions after all, and the narratives are not universal. In time can make humane, secular animations for a world-wide general audience: sci-fi, fantasy, etc.



3. promoting art among heathens. Will certainly prevent the anti-heathen and visual junk of the christoislamics such as MFH from being passed off as "art" ever again.



4. Christoislamicommunits will look suitably constipated.



5. Nice way to bypass bollywho's monopoly of brainwashing. Bollywho will die a natural death among the young/next generations, who will have become immune to all insipidity and tackyness, having been exposed to the glorious and the wholesome/life-giving stuff.

[Bharatvarsh2]

^^ "Including in animating these. E.g. they've animated Daoist, Hindoo, Hellenistic and other sacred heathen katha."



can u give me titles/links? thanks



I am aware of the Ramayana one & Shinto stuff in some other anime like that movie Spirited Away but I don't watch anime/TV much so must have missed the above.



Oh & do u have details on which gora subversionists are behind this blog?



http://www.greenshinto.com/wp/2014/01/03...hauvinism/



reminds me of when they lecture on Hindu stuff to Hindus.

[Husky]

I had written up most of my answer to you last time I logged in, having already looked through both my DVD cupboards as well as going through my wishlist of further DVDs to purchase and of programs I'm keeping an eye out for for if they release it as well as of descriptions of half-remembered programs we* watched in childhood whose titles we never knew or have forgotten. [* Where "we" refers to sister and myself.]



But I haven't posted all that yet. Because.





[color="#0000FF"]I'll answer your questions, if you'll answer mine.



Which of HH or Bodhi authors that vajrin blog?[/color] (Didn't see that one coming did ya?)



The third person who sounds somewhat like HH got eliminated owing to a few features of the blog. And I don't think there's any extra persons I need to consider: there's certain terminology used that limits the options to just HH and Bodhi. Well, unless HH has another blogger friend/acquaintance who has adopted all his terminology/his style of invention of terminology.)



It's really bugging me now because there are features that are very Bodhi [and unlike HH] and yet there's also suggestions made that I'd have bet money were more HH than Bodhi. I myself suspect it's a certain one of the two (but am obviously not sure/am left with questions that don't add up, else I wouldn't be asking), but don't want to influence your answer in case point 3 below applies. I really want to know if I'm right. I may not be great at guessing which signature belongs to which handwriting, but I hate being stumped on the question of who wrote something, when just a little data should allow one to make up one's mind.



[color="#0000FF"]Now, it may be that: 1. the blogger's identity is a secret; 2. it's not your secret to tell; 3. you don't yourself actually know, but haven't (or have) thought about it; 4. none of 1-3 (i.e. you know the answer and it's not particularly private) but you don't want to answer the question for whatever reason.[/color]



If it's 1 or 2, that's okay, I respect keeping secrets. And will answer your questions anyway.



If it's 4, I'm just going to have to withhold my answers too. Not that they're a matter of life and death.



[color="#0000FF"]If it's 3,[/color] then I want you to guess which of the two persons it is - preferrably without visiting the blog again, because recollection's a good exercise for your brain - based on any indicative points/features you remember ever reading on the pages of that blog (even if you only ever read one page) combined with what you know of the two persons. In your answer, you will need to list the points for your argument in favour of who it is. Even if you have not reasonably convinced yourself which of the two it is, your reasoning for each person is still valuable. (You may come up with things that I didn't think of and which may help me to decisively finalise on one or the other person.)



In your answer, state which of 1 to 4 it is. If you cheat and say it's 1 or 2 when it's not - to get off easy (say because you don't want to bother writing up your reasoning for 3) - then that's just unfair.





[color="#0000FF"]BE AWARE[/color] though, that there is no real reward: my answers to your questions may be totally useless - as they usually tend to be. Or one of them may be accidentally useful for a change (hey, it could happen). It's a gamble, but one which it's up to you whether you take it or not.

[Bharatvarsh2]

That particular article was written by me, but that blog is shared between me and a friend (not Bodhi or HH) so some of the posts such as response to Han imperialism are his. The one's on Japan are mine.

[Husky]

[quote name='Bharatvarsh2' date='31 January 2014 - 07:24 PM' timestamp='1391176005' post='117029']

That particular article was written by me, but that blog is shared between me and a friend (not Bodhi or HH) so some of the posts such as response to Han imperialism are his. The one's on Japan are mine.

[/quote]

*Ohhhhh*, that explains a lot (not everything, but a lot). Yeah I remember, 'cause you also used to use HH-type terminology. (You say there's yet another one of you at the blog? Does HH even know he's given birth to so many following in his footsteps/channelling his style on the internet?)

I was happy to see the article on Japan and was happier to find and read a few more articles on Japan there. Very good for Hindu readers and also like that it connected things back to how Hindus could learn from the Japanese such as their way of and reasoning for tackling christianism etc. [Also, I approve of everything that speaks well of the Shintos, being terribly biased in favour of Shintos and Daoists.]

And it's sadly so rare to see Hindus take an interest in heathen religions to our east, that it's such a welcome change: most seem to only care about learning of religions to the west of us - if at all - or else threaten (wrongly) that the rest of Asia is "Buddhist" in identity (before concluding 'Indian superiority' for the great 'achievement' of spamming Asia with Buddhism).







Anyway, my half of the bargain.



Japanese Animation (anime):



[quote name='Bharatvarsh2' date='29 January 2014 - 10:02 PM' timestamp='1391012695' post='117025']

^^ "Including in animating these. E.g. they've animated Daoist, Hindoo, Hellenistic and other sacred heathen katha."



can u give me titles/links? thanks[/quote]

Want your bairns to be watching good stuff eh? I got ya, I got ya. Say no more.



Note that Japan doesn't make as many live-action films. Anime has instead become the medium they use to tell stories. As a result, there are anime for adults (some with adult content) and anime for all ages kids inclusive. This is something you need to be aware of if you're trying to choose Japanese animation for your kids: don't get the wrong stuff.

(Anime for adults include thoughtful sci-fi, fantasy, historical and action stuff - some have heathen backgrounds. I'll be mostly skipping these and limiting myself to heathen titles for kids.)



- All Studio Ghibli movies are recommended (and their pre-Ghibli work). Just like Ghibli's Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi [sp?]), some are very Shinto in their basis such as Tonari no Totoro (classic!), Mononoke Hime (epic!) and Pom Poko, which last showcases both Shinto and Buddhism in recent JP. Others are based on ancient JP narratives despite being set outside Japan: e.g. the character of Nausicaa's eponymous heroine is based on The Princess Who Loved Insects; Hols the Prince of the Sun is actually an ancient JP narrative transposed to a Norse setting) and yet other Ghibli films are a product of JP/heathen principles despite being fantastical (Kiki, Rapyuta/Laputa) or have a Shinto background in modern/recent history (e.g. Omohide Poroporo/Only Yesterday - where characters bow to Amaterasu Amman at dawn) or are based on popular JP novels (Umi Ga Kikoeru, Poppy Hill). And others, while loosely based on western fantasy stories (Hauru/Howl, Arietty, Gedo Senki/Earthsea), were significantly altered by the directors. Castle of Cagliostro is straightforward comedy-action.

[color="#0000FF"]Grave of the Fireflies is NOT for kids: WWII tragedy where the main characters - two kids - die.[/color]



- Tatsu-no-ko-Taro (available in US) - ancient Shinto narrative. Also highly recommended. Watch on your own first and then decide if you think your kids are ready to watch it.



- "Tao Tao" (available in mainland W-European languages, DE, FR). Animal stories from around the world.



- Ulysse 31 (En dub and Fr dubs - En is Out of print and can be expensive to acquire). JP-FR co-production. Sci-fi. While the Olympic Gods are not presented as good - because the French wrote the plot - many of the adventures are still there in some way, but transposed to a space setting. Japanese animated it and so the character design has clear influences from Hellenistic statue art.



- various other 70s (or was it 60s) Japanese animated series and movies: The latter are not yet all released, and some are not released in English regions as far as I'm aware.

The episodes from one of the series I saw in my early childhood had Hindu and I think Daoist narratives. One episode had Ganapati, another I think was actually the narrative of Erlang Shen vs River Dragon. We're still searching for the title of this series.

Available on DVD: Lady White Snake (JP animation of Chinese narrative), Sorceress and the Robbers (JP narrative). Japan's Nezha animated series (distinct from China's Nezha film) - not watched this. The first two are/were available from Germany (Lady White Snake has English subs, Sorceress is Out of Print). Japan's Nezha series, and Japan's animation of Chinese Buddhist fictional novels is/was available from Japanese and Chinese online stores. Can try cdjapan.



Note a lot of this stuff, being things I watched in my childhood, is obviously meaningful to me - perhaps owing to what others might call nostalgia. It may not appeal to others. Studio Ghibli films and Tatsu-no-ko Taro however have universal appeal and come highly recommended.



(I do have Ramayana/Legend of Prince Rama on DVD, but it never much appealed to me or my family. The story wasn't much like the Ramayana and also dragged. I suspect it was the Indian half of the JP-IN co-production that is the reason for this.)

[Husky]

And this:

[quote name='Bharatvarsh2' date='29 January 2014 - 10:02 PM' timestamp='1391012695' post='117025']

Oh & do u have details on which gora subversionists are behind this blog?



http://www.greenshinto.com/wp/2014/01/03...hauvinism/



[color="#0000FF"]reminds me of when they lecture on Hindu stuff to Hindus.[/color]

[/quote]

[color="#0000FF"]Sorry I don't know anything about them.

I looked at it and your assessment sounds right to me. There are a lot of alien sites on Shinto and they all sound like this. [Most of the native (=actual) Shinto sites tend to be in JP, btw.][/color]

Aliens always do this to heathens. They are such stalkers, like vampires going after the blood of the living, the aliens are similarly unable to control themselves from going after Others' Heathenisms and try and suck the life out of that as well. It's not enough for aliens that their direct christian ancestors murdered the last inconvertible heathens of their own ancestral religion and hence murdered their ancestral religion.



[color="#0000FF"]From my experience alien Shinto sites are all into one or other (or perhaps both) of the following things:



1. Dabbling/right to convert syndrome.[/color] Derives from aliens - who are used only to missionary religions, which are all universalist (want/accept converts) - thinking that 'therefore' ethnic religions are similarly universal and that aliens thus have the right to "convert" to ethnic religions. In this way, they eventually come to regard themselves as experts, and hence set up blogs/write books/start lecturing to other aliens on the native religion. [Often they even try to lecture the native (sole) heathens of that religion themselves.] Happens a lot to Daoists, Shintos - not just to Hindus. But it happens more commonly to Hindus, courtesy of the number of religion salesmen selling Hindu religion overseas and thus inviting aliens to Please Come Dabble and forcing aliens on the rest of Hindoo society which never sought nor wanted converts.



[color="#0000FF"]2. Infiltrators. Monitoring and subversion purposes. These are the ones that have political opinions[/color] on what Japan's govt should or should not do, or whether it is or isn't Shinto. Pretending they're converts is not enough, they have to pretend that - as "converts" - their opinion as as valid as that of native Shintos.



[color="#0000FF"]Infiltrators may act as English language gateway to perceptions on Shinto and Shintoists for all English readers.[/color] I.e. they end up hogging what views on Shinto are available to those who know only English and not Japanese.



The whole attempt to spook people with "State Shinto [or Abe's Shinto] isn't real Shintoism" or "Shintos shouldn't be nationalist" - to spook foreigners into fear of Shinto-tva and perhaps brainwash any natives that may listen into thinking that actual native Shintos like Abe know less about Shinto religion than the alien lecturer - was also seen over a decade ago at AskWhy, before Shinzo Abe ever came to power. AskWhy was an alien (IIRC British) site exposing christianism, but it was created by a bunch of neopagans who presented all of the Meiji era's Shinto-ism as "subverted" and "not true Shinto". Meiji era Shinto state was in some pursuits more nationalist than Shinto, but this ignores the fact that many in the government and especially the laity were still Shinto.



Not everything Abe politically does will be for the "purpose of Shinto" of course. But being a Shinto-ist himself, he will nevertheless be guided in his principles and approach by this. And that is as it should be.



Alien dabblers are useless at best. They often tend to think that heathen religions are new-ageisms: some fad to dabble in during spare time. They don't realise that heathenisms are the everday life and lifeblood of the actual, native heathens and that therefore it permeates all aspects of native heathens' life, and consequently that heathens require a heathen government/state that represents them and follows their way of life (i.e. the heathen religio).



Unlike alien converts whose hobby is to treat other people's ancestral religions as an outlet for their new age tendencies whenever they feel like it, heathens have their survival at stake: we don't get to escape from what threatens us, we can't drop who we actually are and choose to adopt someone else's life and identity/stalk someone else for a while. (Not that heathens would.)

Japan's source of strength is its Shinto/their Kamis. They *should* let their Shinto identity guide their nation.





And not that today's Hindus would do the following, but personally I think all heathens need to distance themselves from alien "converts", stop making them feel welcome, and let them know they're not accepted. While it won't stop aliens from threatening to dabble, it de-legitimizes anything they may have to say/do on behalf of the native heathenism or native heathens. (Ignore them constantly and consistently - stop sending mixed signals - and they may go away eventually. At the end of the day, heathens have no one else to look out for them but themselves. Aliens are NOT an asset. They are almost always a liability, though some are smaller ones than others. And many are an outright threat.)

IMO, should do what the L/N/Dakota North American native Americans did in their declaration of war on both alien "converts" and those traitors who sold native American spirituality to aliens. But then, the native Americans were always centuries ahead of Hindus. Including - tragically - in what happened to them.





Found at that site.

One thing of note is that the Hellenes are not the only ones drawing a willing comparison with Shinto:

greenshinto.com/wp/2014/01/28/hellenismos-pt-2/

greenshinto.com/wp/2014/01/27/hellenismos-pt-1/



Back in the early 2000s, the Roman Reconstructionists at beliefnet discussed among themselves that the religion closest to them was .... Shinto. "Shintos have a <pooja area> too!" the Roman Reconstructionists declared, and more such generic comparisons. (Except most of the features listed then - and I think all those listed at the links above - are also present in Hindoo religion and Daoism. Meanwhile, I also note that traditional Shintos - i.e. not alien "converts" - have repeatedly drawn comparisons with Hindoo-ism as the closest religion to their own in terms of views. :cheering: Indeed, as an extreme case, that Japanese professor even went so far as to declare an Identity relation between Shintoism and Hindoos' religion.)

But it is nice to see Europeans bypassing PIE-ism and seeking a natural/heathen (and not an enforced genetic/IE) affinity with non-IE religion. It is a victory of sorts for heathenism.



greenshinto.com/wp/2014/01/28/hellenismos-pt-2/

admits:

Home worship



The Japanese kamidana (literally, spirit shelf) sits high up on the wall so that one looks up to the kami (kami also means 'above' or 'upper')

In both traditions the home is a central locus of worship, although there is at least one difference that may indicate an underlying divergence in approach or emphasis. In the Greek household, or oikos, the hearth was where the family gathered and was the sacred center of the home, where offerings were made. In contrast, the Shinto home has a kamidana that is placed high up on a wall in the main room, so that it is elevated above the people.



The most common act of Hellenic worship was the “first fruits” offering to Hestia at the start of each meal, a small portion of the meal set aside for the goddess; again, a sacrifice (however token), performed as many times a day as the family ate meals. This offering was thrown into the hearth-fire, where the family were gathered, and consumed by the flames and thus by the goddess herself. Modern Hellenists have varied approaches to these basic meal offerings, often dictated by their personal circumstances (since most homes no longer have an actual hearth fire); but the importance of sincerely making the offering is widely acknowledged as one of the most basic expressions of eusebia (piety).



In the basic Shinto home worship scenario, a family member will present the first-fruits offering of clean rice (cooked or not), water and salt, together with acknowledgement of the presence of the kami. At the end of the day, the offerings are removed from the kamidana and frequently eaten with the evening meal, in order to internalize the blessings of the kami. In both cases, it seems to me, there is a common core of relationship and reciprocity – we receive blessings from the gods or kami, and give them offerings and prayer in return (or sometimes vice versa), and thus we stay in right relationship.

greenshinto.com/wp/2014/01/27/hellenismos-pt-1/

According to Yamakage Motohisa, Shinto priest and author:

“When the physical body is made clean by water, our heart and mind are purified at the same time. The act of washing our hands before worshiping at a shrine is about more than the magical cleansing power of water. We also make a distinction within ourselves between the secular and the sacred by that act, and thus we change our attitude and our mindset. In so doing, we wash away uncleanness. We purify our heart and mind so that we may connect with the spirit of Kami with a heart and mind that is clean, bright, right and straight. This is the most important goal of misogi.”6

At the bottom is a picture of Shintos gathering in the water to cleanse themselves and offer prayers to the Kamis, captioned "Mass misogi on the summer solstice near Ise".

Compare with what Hindus do in rivers.



[Sidenote: Stupid PIE-ists will next declare that this "must have been" PIE-influence on Japanese religion - or indeed that it is "proof" of how PIE-ism must have been at the root of constructing Shinto, the way they're working on declaring that everything Daoist is originally owing to PIE influence. But Shinto Kamis are real, whereas PIE-ist gods are merely reconstructed=invented and no one - not even the hardcore PIE-ists - has ever seen a re-constructed PIE god.]





Hindoos will recognise that Shintos are a lot like Hindoos. (As Shintos have observed too, upon noticing Hindoos.) And Shintos are a lot like Daoists, who are a lot like Hindoos. Daoists also do "first-fruits" offering of food - especially of fruits - to their Gods in their often-huge pooja room. And these are then likewise eaten as prasaadam.

Daoists are a lot like Hellenes - as noticed by many people (including me, but not often by Daoists themselves, who have however noticed they are a lot like Hindoos). And the above shows that Hellenes (like the Beliefnet Roman Reconstructionists) have noticed the Shintos are a lot like Hellenes.

I will admit that Daoism [and Shinto] are a lot more like Hindoo-ism in certain detailed respects than they are like Hellenismos. E.g. as based on the comparison drawn by Daoists between Daoism and Hindooism of festivities, their dates and observances during those festivities. Also, Certain Rituals - which shall not be named - and the views concerning them are slightly more similar between Daoists and Hindoos than between Hellenes and Daoists and Hellenes and Hindoos.



Also, even modern Daoists and Shintos seem to like Hindoo Gods and imagery of Hindoo Gods, and apparently feel a natural inclination - not instilled by Hindus, btw - towards recognising these images as being those of Gods (albeit not always Gods they have heard of or seen images of before, which underscores it is a natural inclination). It goes without saying that traditional Hindoos would feel the same for moorties of Daoist Gods and for the Saaligraamam and Ayudhas and Sacred Items etc. of Shinto Gods. And like Hindus, Daoists for instance insist that their temple moorties are actual embodiments of their Gods.



Heathenisms are simply like this. The "We're the only one, We're the only one" attitude that Hindus adopt has to change. And the "We're the last of the 'pagans'" self-delusion also has to change. For one thing it is downright offensive: it betrays not only that claimants are utterly ignorant of what exists in sufficiently large numbers to our east but also that claimants discount these heathen populations and their heathenisms altogether. Yet often when certain modern 'Hindus' discover any similarities with ancient heathen religion X in the world (say the Mayans), they embark on that lame enterprise of declaring that it "must" be Hinduism (Uh, how? Any proof? And similarity is not proof of transfer, right? Much rather it's because - again - "heathenisms are simply like this".)

[Husky]

1. Had accidentally left out a few things:

[quote name='Husky' date='01 February 2014 - 04:57 PM' timestamp='1391253568' post='117030']

- All Studio Ghibli movies are recommended [/quote]

Had re-written that post to make it shorter, but in re-writing had left out the following Ghibli titles and a Japanese live-action movie:



- Ponyo is a fantasy fairytale (not recognisably based on the Little Mermaid) and features a Sea Goddess as the little heroine's mother. The Sea Goddess appears at the end and the JP sailors are shown as praying to her.

- Takahata has just come out with his animation of the very ancient Japanese narrative of the tale of the Moon Princess. Released in JP, still waiting for local release.

- Miyazaki also came out with an animation last year, set around WWII, but doesn't seem to be a sad/war story. One about designing planes, I understand. Waiting for its local release too.



For those wanting to buy the Ghibli oevre on DVD* AND want English dubs alongside the original Japanese VO [color="#0000FF"]AND who have multi-region players[/color]: there are regularly sales on R2 UK DVDs, selling titles for <= 6 or 7 pounds. For Sen to Chihiro No Kamikakushi (sp?) R4 has the better quality release, and for Mononoke Hime R1 (or R2 France) has the better quality release. *Don't know about blu-ray.





Live-action JP movie: "Shinobi" is - as its title already says - about Ninja (and Ninja are Shinto). Based on the Basilisk anime, it has an extremely linear plot of 2 Ninja groups killing each other. Not for kids: artistic violence/fake blood etc. The movie is just historical-fantasy rather than historical realism, btw. Nevertheless recommended since it has an excessively beautiful heroine that I think every Hindoo should have a good look/stare at.





2. Weird

greenshinto.com/wp/2014/01/27/hellenismos-pt-1/

My name is Erik and I am a modern Hellenic polytheist; I worship the ancestral gods of my (American, Western-European-descended) culture.

Uh, I've not heard that all of "Western-Europe" was to have worshipped the Greco-Roman Gods historically. (Or that say Vikings took to Hellenismos like ducks to water; those that entered the Roman empire were more famous for taking to christianism if they weren't converted by then already.) Not sure when Olympic Gods became the common inheritance of all W-Europe.

Meanwhile, it is known that at least by late antiquity many Phoencians (and Syrians) were Hellenes. E.g. the famous Porphyry was a Phoenician, who are Middle-Easterners, *not* IE.