WHAT A SHAME !

Did you see the photo of the primeminister of Japan and the U.S.president shaking hands on papers? Primeminister Kan promised Obama to build the new U.S. army base in Okinawa without delay. What a shame!!!
One of the grass-roots movement organization put an opinion ad on the Washington Post in April. They raised a fund for it, and I was one of the contributor. The ad said, "Would you want 30 military bases in your backyard? / Last Sunday, tens of thousands of Okinawans gathered to protest plans to build a new U.S. military base on their island. This island in Japan already devotes 20% of its land to U.S. bases. The governor, the mayors, and the voters of Okinawa all oppose another base. / The new base would damage the health and safty of people and threaten a unique ecosystem that contains many rare species. This includes the Okinawan dugong, an endangered cousin of the manatee. / Washington is pressuring Tokyo to ignore the voices of its citizens, despite a U.S. federal court decision that the new facility would violate U.S. law. All for a military base of no strategic value. / Stand up for democracy. Tell the Obama Administration: We don't need this base in Okinawa. "
How many Amerians read this ad and thought of the suffering of Okinawa? Most of them have never heard of it, and never thought of it. I suppose it has not been even a news on the papers or TV in America. But I want the people of the U.S. realize that your country sometimes treat its dependencies very badly. It's far from democracy and justice.
Once Okinawa was an independent kingdom called Ryukyu, but one of Japanese lords in Edo era attacked and occupied it. Meiji government made it one of the prefectures of Japan. During the World War II, the headquarter of Japan wanted Okinawa to fight against and detain the U.S. army to protect Tokyo and the Emperor. More than 100,000 Okinawan citizens were killed. When the war ended, the U.S. army occupied Okinawa and it wasn't given back to Japan untill 1972. The land was taken by guns and tanks of U.S. army and made its military bases. The islands came back to Japan with 30 U.S.military bases in that small island. It's been 65 years since the war, and the condition of the world has changed a lot, but even now the U.S.is using the land as their military bases. They say it's the most dangerous base in the world, and the people living next to the bases are suffering noises, danger, and the soldiers' crimes. Even now the U.S. has a kind of extraterritoriality in Okinawa.
But we can't blame the U.S. only. WE are the ones to be blamed. We used Okinawa as a shield in the war. We sold it to America And we are choosing the governent that can't say "No" to America, that ignores the voices of Okinawa. The primeminiser changed, then the problem of Okinawa seems to be vanished. I feel so guilty. I want to apologize to Okinawans. What can we do about this problem? I think this is not only the problem for Okinawans, but also all of us. It's a problem of democracy, a problem of peace and war, and a problem of natural environment. I would like to hear your opinions.

Difficult Problem for Me

I love to visit other countries and see the people living there. My husband and I sometimes go on cheap tours abroad. If I were younger and had more money, I could have traveled more adventurously. When I was young, I had neither time nor money. And even now, I don't have much money and I can't leave home for very long. But I enjoy walking around the foreign towns and talking with people there.

The best place we visited was Uzbekistan. Its culture on the Silk Road was interesting, and the people were so friendly. The country seemed not so rich, and the life of the people in their folk clothes wasn't modernized very much, but they looked happy. We saw no streetchildren, no beggers on the streets. Even though how beautifulI the the scenery is, or, how interesting the history is, I can't enjoy the trip when I see those people.

There ia a problem with trips abroad. When I go to other countries, I always feel embarrassed with the custom of 'tipng'.
Some twenty years ago we went to America for the first ttime. At a restaurant in the hotel in L.A. a waitress was kind enough to give us some information about Disney Land. Thanks to her, we could enjoy the park with our son, and the next day we wanted to say "thank you" to her. But she never came up to us, never smiled to us. We didn't understand what was wrong, but later, I understood. The reason she was in such a bad mood was that we didn't give her any tip! Her kindness and her sweet smile was for a large tip!
For us, Japanese, kindness requires no repay. We try to be kind not expecting any repay. If I would change my attitude about my job because of small money, I would not be respected.
In foreign countries I always have to worry about waitresses' smile or porters' greeting whether it is for money, or from their heart, and it makes me unconfortable. At the same time I often see that cashiers and clerks are so sullen. I wonder if I have to ask them, "Would you please sell this to me kindly?"? They don't have to wear any smile to the customers because they don't expect any special money from the customers for their smile. I feel a little sad. Smile and kindness makes everyone happy without money .
Some says that their wages are low and it is figured to include their tips. It's strange and not fair. The company or the owner should pay them enough for their work since the owners get enough money from their customers.
OK, I try to respect your 'tipping' custom and give some tip to the people who do small ruoutine work for me. But how do you hand your tip in a refined manner? Old Japanese people feel it's rude to give bare bills or coins to someone. Do you always put coins and small bills in your pockets? Women don't do it, so, where do you have small money for tip? It takes too long to open my handbag, then open my wallet, grab some coins from it, and count them. Are you always calculating the amount of tip when you are eating at a restaurant or talking with porters, like, "Ten percent? No, her smile is nice, fifteen percent. Oh, she is winking to me, it should be twenty." Isn't it a tiring job?
You might ask me, " If Japanese are kind without expecting repay, then please explain the news about the politicians and money." I'm sorry, but I have never seen such big money. Show me that big money, then I might change my idea.