2010冬季奧運

2010冬季奧林匹克運動會於二月中旬開始在溫哥華舉行, 今天二月二十八日是閉幕的日子. 除了奧林匹克官方的活動和比賽外, 市中心每天都十分熱鬧, 到處人頭湧湧. 鬧市街頭有不少表演. 小女兒在過往兩星期亦有觀看其中一些活動, 並影了一些相片給我分享, 把這次城中盛事留下一些回憶.

大阪汽車賊

Recently Asahi News reported the following:

車を運転すると「カラカラ」と変な音。降りて調べているすきに男が車に乗り込んで発進――。そんな被害が大阪市内で相次いでいる。乗り捨てられた車の左前のタイヤには金属片が張り付けられていて、車内の財布などが盗まれていた。捜査員の間では「カラカラ盗」とも呼ばれ、大阪府警は同一犯とみて捜査している。
　生野区の主婦（６８）は昨年１０月下旬、天王寺区の路上でセダンを発進させた直後、車の下から異音がした。車を止めて降り、しゃがんで左前部下をのぞいた。顔を上げると、フロントガラス越しに運転席の男と目があった。 男は３０代ぐらいで、白っぽい作業着に帽子とマスク姿。両手でハンドルを握っていた。助手席には財布の入ったバッグがある。「あんた何よ！　何で座っているの！」と、車の前で両手を広げて叫んだ。男は運転席から出て「何でこんなとこに車止めんねん」と言い、悠然と歩き去ったという。
　車の左前タイヤには、金属片が付いた縦５センチ横１１センチほどの薄いゴムが接着剤で張られていた。主婦が用事で車を降りた数分間に張り付けられたらしい。「走り続けたら危ないと思って降りた。偶然キーを抜いて出たのがよかった」
　２３日午後には、東成区の路上で会社員の女性（３８）が被害にあった。点検中に２０～３０代の男が突然運転席に乗り込んで逃走。女性は車のサイドミラーをつかみ、転んでけがを負った。東成署によると、女性は銀行で現金を引き出した直後で、同署は「女性の行動を観察して目をつけていたのでは。ターゲットを絞って効率的に犯行を重ねているようだ」とみる。
　大阪府警のまとめでは、同様の被害が昨年１０月末から大阪市内で計８件発生し、被害額は計約６００万円にのぼる。

When the car was driven, there was a "kara kara" strange sound. When the driver got off to examine it, a man stepped into car and drove it away. Such crime had happened successively in the Osaka city. A metal piece was found being stuck to the left front tire of this driven away and then abandoned car, and the purse in the car was stolen. Among the investigating officers, it was called" kars kara thief", and the Osaka prefecture police was looking for one suspect.

In late October last year, a housewife (68) in Ikuno Ward heard strange noise from under the car shortly after she started driving the sedan on the road in Tennoji Ward. She pulled over the car, got off, squatted down, and peeped down into the left front part. When she looked up again, she saw through the windshield a man in the driver's seat. He was a man aged around thirties, wearing a hat and a mask, and looked like wearing white work wear. Both hands were holding the steering wheel. In the passenger's seat, there was a bag that had a purse inside. She spread out her hands in front of the car and shouted "What 's the matter, why you are sitting there". Going out of the driver's seat he said "Why you stopped the car in such a way", and walked away calmly.

A thin rubber of five centimeter in length about 11 centimeter in width, with a metal piece attached was found being put on the problematic tire of the car with the adhesive. It seemed that it was stuck to the car a few minutes after the housewife got off the car to do something. ｢Get off the car if you think it is dangerous to keep on driving. It is better to take the opportunity to pull out the key. ｣

In the afternoon of the 23rd, a female company employee (38) became a victim on the road in Higashinari Ward. While checking, a man in 20s-30s suddenly entered the driver's seat and then escaped. The woman gripped the side-view mirror of the car, fell down, and sustained injuries. According to the Higashinari Police station the woman had just withdrawn some cash from the bank, the same police station saw that "The woman's behavior is being observed and having been marked down. It seems that it could efficiently select the target and to commit the crime repeatedly".

According to Osaka prefecture police' summaries, in total eight similar victimization had occurred in the Osaka city since the end on October last year, and the damage cost amounted to six million yen in total.

So, be careful if you are driving a car in Osaka city in Japan in these days.

春天來了

最近這幾天總是下著毛毛雨, 家門路旁的櫻桃樹則在盛開, 可說是櫻花怒放. 花的彩色雖然略淡,但 亦有其觀賞價值. 花開花落, 四季有時, 我在散步其間, 映了一些相回來, 作為對一個季節開始的見證.

George Kennan (Part I)

In 1947 George Kennan (1904-2005), a career diplomat of the US, published an article anonymously in Foreign Affairs. This article was entitled "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" and was singed by "X". It asserted that Stalin's policy was based on a combination of Marxist-Leninist ideology that aimed at the defeat of capitalism in the world outside USSR. At that time Kennan was the director of policy planning under the supervision of Secretary of State George C. Marshall. When the real identity of X was eventually known, people began to believe that its content represented the official viewpoint of the Truman administration as far as US foreign policy towards USSR was concerned. On the death of Kennan on 17, April 2005 at the age of 101, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice published a statement on March 18 which called Kennan "one of the greatest strategists in the history of American foreign policy". Kennan was regarded by many as the US diplomat who first proposed the Cold War strategy of containment that would be followed by the Americans for over half a century. Some of the ideas presented in the "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" are quoted as follows:

1) The political personality of Soviet power as we know it today is the product of ideology and circumstances: ideology inherited by the present Soviet leaders from the movement in which they had their political origin and circumstances of the power which they now have exercised for nearly three decades in Russia.

2) The circumstances of the immediate post-revolution period -- the existence in Russia of civil war and foreign intervention, together with the obvious fact that the Communists represented only a tiny minority of the Russian people -- made the establishment of dictatorial power a necessity. (to be continued)

Reference:
1. [George Kennan]. "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" in Foreign Affairs, 1947.
2. US Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs.(http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/March)
3. Una McGovern ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.,2002.

The China White Paper 1949(XVI)

In China Hurley had spent much time in mediating the differences between the CCP and the Nationalist Government. Another problem for Hurley was about the supplying American arms and equipment to China other than the Nationalist Government. In January 1945 Chu Teh (朱德) asked the US to lend the Communist forces US 20 million dollars for the purpose of "procuring the defection of officers and man of the Chinese puppet government. "1 Such a proposal was objected by Hurley. In mid-February 1945 Hurley returned to the US for consultation. When he left Washington for Chungking in early April 1945, he travelled by way of London and Moscow. While in Moscow, Hurley had a discussion with Stalin and Molotov.2 He recorded this discussion in a report dated April 17, 1945. In this report Hurley was optimistic about USSR's attitude towards US's policy in China, saying that Stalin would be glad "to cooperate with the US and Britain in achieving unification of the military forces in China."3 However, Hurley's optimism as presented in his report was not shared by the Charge d'Affaires in Moscow, George Kennan. Kennan in his report dated April 23, 1945 stated that while nothing in Hurley's report was not honest, it had to be understood that "to the Russians words mean different things than they do to us." Kennan believed that Soviet's policy towards China would still be "a fluid resilient policy directed at the achievement of maximum power with minimum responsibility on portions of the Asiatic continent lying beyond the Soviet border . . . within the framework of this policy Moscow will aim specifically at :(1) Re-acquiring in substance, if not in form, all the diplomatic and territorial assets previously possessed on the mainland of Asia by Russia under the Czars . . . (3) Acquiring sufficient control in all areas of north China now dominated by the Japanese to prevent other foreign powers from repeating the Japanese incursion. . . It would be tragic if our natural anxiety for the support of the Soviet Union [leads] us into an undue reliance on Soviet aid."4 (to be continued)

Notes:
1.United States, Department of State. The China White Paper-August 1949. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1967, page 86.
2. page 94.
3. page 95.
4. page 97.

日本立體電視

Recently Yomiuri News reported the following:

家電メーカーなどが、人やモノが画面から飛び出してくるように見える３Ｄ（３次元）映像を無料体験できるショールームを相次いで開設している。 ３Ｄ映画「アバター」が大ヒットするなど２０１０年は「３Ｄ元年」と位置づけられており、各社は、３Ｄ対応テレビやデジタルカメラの普及につなげたい考えだ。 東京・銀座のソニービルでは、自分の姿を３Ｄテレビに映して見ることができる。専用のメガネをかけ、３Ｄカメラに向かって手を伸ばすと、画面から自分の手が飛び出してくる。「プレイステーション３」用のレースゲームでは、本物の自動車を運転しているように錯覚しやすい。 大阪・梅田の「ソニースタイル」や「パナソニックセンター」（東京、大阪）でも、３Ｄカメラで撮影したアニメ映画やスポーツの名場面を大型モニターで視聴できる。

Electrical appliance makers were opening up showrooms one after another to give free trial of 3D(three dimensions) that produced images which people and things seemed to dash out from the screen. 2010 was the year considered to be the "3D first year" because 3D movie "Avatar" became a big hit, and each company thought that they were tied to the spread of 3D televisions and digital cameras. In Sony Building in Tokyo, Ginza, it was possible to see one's appearance being projected into 3D television. When one reached out his hand towards the 3D camera one would see his hand dashed out from the screen if special glasses were worn. In the racing game for "Play Station 3", it was easy to mistake driving a genuine car. In Osaka, Umeda's "Sony Style", "Panasonic Center" (Tokyo and Osaka), great scenes of cartoon movies and sports could be enjoyed with large-scale monitors using pictures taken with 3D cameras.

It seems that the "3D Era" has started in Japan.

The China White Paper 1949 (XV)

In the US in August 1944, arrangements were made to send General Hurley to China, the goal of his visit would include: 1) to serve as personal representative of the US President to Chiang Kai-shek, 2) to promote harmonious relations between US General Joseph Stilwell and Chiang, and 3) to unify all the military forces in China for the purpose of defeating Japan.1 Hurley arrived Chungking (重慶) in September 1944. He traveled to China via Moscow in order to have a discussion with USSR Foreign Minister Molotov about the situation in China. Among other things Molotov said that his country had been unjustifiably held responsible for many happening took place in China recently, and stressed that his government had no responsibilities for these developments. He also said that 'in China some of whom called themselves communists but were related to Communism in no way at all. It was merely a way of expressing dissatisfaction with their economic condition and they would forget this political inclination when their economic condition improved.'2 Molotov also confirmed the statements made previously that "his government would be glad to see the US taking the lead economically, politically, and militarily in Chinese affairs".3 After arriving at China Hurley thought that in order to unify all the military forces in China for the purpose of defeating Japan, it was important to achieve mediation between the Chinese National Government and the CCP.4 (to be continued)

Notes:
1. United States, Department of State. The China White Paper-August 1949. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1967, page 71.
2. Ibid., page 72.
3. Ibid., page 72.
4. Ibid., page 73.