Georgia/Russia: As expected, “ceasefire” never really means ceasefire, and the saga continues. On the one hand I wonder what the heck Georgia was thinking when it somehow decided to pit itself up against the Russian military machine. On the other hand I also realize that this crisis has been a long time in the making, and and it was probably only a matter of time before the two sides concluded that slinging words at each other wasn’t enough and decided to send in the tanks as well.

Of course, as horrible as the situation is for the Georgians who’ve had to deal with the fighting firsthand, the conflict also brings into question the future of the world’s current international regimes — especially NATO, theUNSC, and even the G8. Whether Georgia’s bid to join NATO is dead on its feet is, of course, a question important to the Georgian Government, but a threat to future NATO has broader reaching consequences. The collapse of NATO would have both symbolic and practical effects on the US security posture and its alliances in Europe. Meanwhile minister from the G7 (that’s the G8 minus Russia) warned Russia it would face a strong reaction from the international community if it tried to effect a change of leadership in Georgia.

Pakistan: The rising tension in the Caucasus has stolen the spotlight from the ongoing political confusion in Pakistan where, on Pakistan’s Independence Day, rumors are circling that Musharraf will resign within days. Of course, this is Pakistan, and no one knows for sure when Musharraf will step down or whether (in fact) he will step down at all. While some media say he’ll be gone “in days,” while others simply state the timing as “soon,” and still others don’t guess at the timing at all. Of course, it’s no surprise that media predict Musharraf’s resignation would only add to the country’s confusion and disorder.

I saw this word online and thought, huh that’s a new one. Actually (if you hadn’t already noticed), I’m kind of a geek, and I love encountering new words. Japan’s version of this concept is encapsulated in their 3R initiative, but somehow (at face value) the “reuse” part of the 3R’s just doesn’t convey the same meaning as “repurpose” — because use can reuse something in the same capacity (for example, reusing plastic utensils), but to repurpose an object is to use it in a different capacity.

At the beginning of the new year it’s impossible to avoid the endless parade of lists — the best x of the past year, the worst x of the year, what’s in, what’s out, etc. etc. But although all this listing usually makes me want to tune out of mass media for the first half of January, I do really like taking a glance at the various words of the year.

I have to admit, the American Dialect Society put forth some pretty odd nominations for 2007. I mean, really. Who in their right mind would ever use the phrase “connectile dysfunction” (inability to gain or maintain an [internet] connection)? Or how about “earmarxist” (a congressman or senator who adds earmarks)? It’s as though they combed the year’s magazines and blogs and plucked out some of the most outlandish terms that people coined to be linguistically “cute.” But sometimes they’re not as bad. “Lifehack,” “sudoku,” and “podcast” all made it into the 2005 nomination list.

At then end of the day, records of words of the year give insight into the development of technology, popular political jargon, and current slang. Another one that’s more useful than anything the American Dialect Society’s come up with: Crapware (that’s of course the crap software that infects and slows down your PC).

When I really think about it, I think I like personality types because it helps my brain group the people I know (loosely) into a matrix of pre-defined categories, and it helps me predict what they’re thinking and how they’re going to react to any given situation. There are other things I’d rather expend brain cells on, so simplifying the world of human reaction is definitely a plus. Plus, I like the guessing game — I’ve a pretty good track record (or something like that).

Anyhow, in my re-discovery of this idle pastime I came across this blog entry that is, perhaps, the best description I’ve seen ever of some of my more random traits. Although you can find countless articles online and in books detailing the traits of different personality types in horribly dry detail, this author uses personal anecdotes to bring the words to life. For example (uh, this is hard, since I’d like to just quote the entire piece):

Disappearing is, perhaps, one of the most annoying things some INTJs do that people dislike. I promise you we are not trying to insult you or to hurt your feelings by leaving. We leave, usually without comment, from groups or meetings or parties or get-togethers because we become interested in something else. It’s that simple. We decide to investigate elsewhere. No malice is intended in disappearing. We don’t see it as disappearing. We see it more like, “moving on…” When I get asked later, You said good-bye before you left, right? and I stammer out an Uhh as an answer, I realize my host probably wondered what happened to me.

I remember being at a social function not too long ago and thinking about an hour and a half in that it was time to move on. It wasn’t that I “wasn’t having fun” but rather that I couldn’t shake the thought from my head that there were other ways that I’d rather be spending my time — and I just sort up picked up and left. Yes, I said goodbye to one or two folks but other than that it was just, woosh.

We generally have strongly-held values about right and wrong and “right and wrong” for many of us are defined in a social sense and not necessarily a religious one. We know the world is grey but doing the right thing — the promises we make to each other kind of morality — is important to us because it helps shape the world into the worthy and the unworthy of our involvement. Seeing Justice done is a vital element for us because it carves the right stake in society.

I have a hard time explaining this to other people, especially those who are strongly religious (personally, I find organized religion rather too confining–most religions claim to have all the answers and if you do x, y, and z then everything will be good. Where’s the mystery, the challenge?). It’s entirely possible to have a strong sense of morality without a strong sense of religiosity. I wonder sometimes, why do you need a book to tell you what’s right and wrong? Shouldn’t it just be intuitive?

We are sometimes accused of being disconnected from the rest of society. We aren’t disconnected to the present. Funerals, for me anyway, are a waste of time because we are not our bodies. That thinking, I have learned, is offensive to many people on a plethora of levels.

The gist of the rest of this excerpted paragraph is that INTJ’s tend to be forward-looking, not backward-looking. This combined with a “different” sense of religiosity and a general disdain for energy-wasting social convention means that they’re not huge fans of funerals. I especially don’t get the appeal of open-casket events. Blech.

Unfortunately, it’s not a given that in the end the best tools will prevail. Since web 2.0 is a community-driven concept, any new tool has to reach a critical mass of active users before it become self-sustaining — something sort of like Malcolm Gladwell’s “tipping point.” Therefore, I’ll take this moment to advertise some of the tools I’ve found most useful, innovative, well-designed, or otherwise intriguing.

	Flickr: Probably the best online photo-sharing site out there — easy to navigate, endlessly flexible, enough professional-quality photos to make my jaw drop
	del.icio.us: Although there are countless social bookmarking sites, the top English-language sites are probably digg, del.icio.us, and StumbleUpon. What choose del.icio.us? It seems to have the most Japanese-language users.
	Spicy Elephant: A newcomer to the web 2.0 scene, this site lets users create decks of virtual flashcards and share them with other users. Not an entirely new concept, but the interface is easy to use, and the color scheme is soothing.
	Timetoast: Users create interactive timelines to share over the web. There’s a lot of randomness but also some pretty nice submissions.
	Forvo: An interesting concerpt still in beta phase, this site is a collection of words spoken in dozens of language by (supposedly) native speakers across the world.

Although Fukuda served four years as Chief Cabinet Secretary (内閣官房長官) under former prime minister Junichro Koizumi (2000-04), his political style is quite different from Koizumi — considered a maverick even within his own party, Koizumi relied more on public support than intra-party backing to hold onto power during his tenure. With the nickname “lionheart,” coined out of his “unusual” hairstyle, Koizumi enjoyed public approval ratings of over 80 percent at the hight of his popularity.

So who exactly are the heavyweights who occupy the reshuffled Fukuda cabinet (or as he calls it, the “cabinet for realizing peace of mind”)? Here’s a run-down on some of the new cabinet members:

• Former LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Sadakazu Tanigaki (谷垣禎一): Finance minister in the third realigned Koizumi Cabinet, Tanigaki ran against Fukuda and Aso in 2006 for the post of LDP president (i.e. prime minister).
• Former LDP General Council Chairman Toshihiro Nikai (二階俊博): METI minister in the third realigned Koizumi Cabinet, in 2005 Nikai head of the Diet committee in charge of the privatization of Japan Post. He also served as Minister of Transportation under prime ministers Keizo Obuchi and Yoshiro Mori.
• Former Justice Minister Okiharu Yasuoka (保岡 興治): Although he was first elected to the Diet as an independent, Yasuoka later joined the LDP

Of course, it’s probably only a calculated gesture to win goodwill before his visit to the ROK and Thailand ahead of the Olympics opening ceremonies in Beijing. This visit to the ROK, originally scheduled to take place after the G8 in July, was postponed in part to the beef riots that filled the streets of Seoul this summer.

On another Japan-related note, rumors abound that prime minister Yasuo Fukuda will finally reshuffle his cabinet on Monday after two ministers return to Japan from the WTO talks in Geneva. There are other rumors that the announcement may come as late as August 18th.

And finally, I’ve rediscovered the wonderful music of Joe Hisaishi (久石 譲) who composed the scores to some of my favorite Miyazai films. He really is amazing.

“Summer” from Kikujiru (菊次郎の夏)

My Neighbor Tottoro (隣のトットロ)

Known as Takeshima in Japan, Dokdo/Tokdo in South Korea, and the Liancourt Rocks in the US, the disputed territory consists of two “islets” and a scattering of “rocky outcrops” in the Sea of Japan. While the islands themselves are nothing to write home about, the surrounding sea is rich in fishing and possibly natural gas.

South Korea has physically controlled the territory since July 1954, and there are two permanent Korean citizens, Kim Seong-do and Kim Shin-yeol. The islets are 217 km (135 mi) from mainland Korea and 250 km (150 mi) from mainland Japan.

Of course, the ownership of these rocks has been a persistent irritant in Japan-ROK relations since the end of Japanese colonial rule, but the recent flare-up was sparked by new Japanese middle school curriculum guidelines that say teachers should treat “the northern territories as part of [Japan's] territory,” while also instructing educators “to provide a deeper understanding of [Japan's] territory” by treating the Takeshima islets “in a manner comparable to that used in dealing with the northern territories.” According to Japanese media, the ministry of education initially considered having the manual incorporate the phrase “Takeshima is an integral part of our country” but softened its wording our of “diplomatic consideration for South Korea.” Although the guidelines are not legally binding, they serve as a guideline for the editing of school textbooks by publishers and for classroom teaching.

So I suppose you could say that Tokyo was asking for trouble by publishing the new guidelines — but it’s also true that South Korea has taken the insult and run with it. In addition to recalling its ambassador, the ROK >a href=”http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP142224″ target=_new>also dispatched its prime minister on a brief tour of the islands, and the South Korean Navy said it would conduct a joint drill with the Air Force in defense of the islands tomorrow. Japan, in response, has urged the ROK “handle the issue cool-headedly” — a little too late for that, I’ll say.

So the question now is whether this will be simply a flash-in-the-pan that fans dislike on both sides but disappears before too much diplomatic damage occurs or whether it will have lasting negative effects on regional issues, such as the six-party talks and the Japan-ROK-China trilateral meeting scheduled for September. We shall definitely see….

The 2008 Toyako G8 Summit (hosted by Japan in Hokkaido) came and went without incident, but what else is to be expected of an archaic Cold War institution whose members reflect a late 20th century balance of power and whose non-binding statements don’t even hold the signatories accountable for the agreements reached? The Economist, in its usual glib style summed it up in the words: “A mountain-top gabfest provided a spectacular show and a long guest list but few answers to the woes of the world” (July 10).

At any rate, as the event’s host, the biggest task for Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda’s was to not screw things up, and if the avoidance of failure is held as the bar for success, it does appear as though he made the mark — whatever that means for Japanese politics. Predictions that Fukuda may reshuffle his cabinet after the summit have flown back and forth around Japanese media for months, but cabinet reshuffles in Japan are generally calculated PR moves, and who knows when the Kantei will decide that the time is right to get the most out of the announcement?

As far as Japanese PR in general goes, the next G8 summit in Japan won’t occur until 2016, so the country has more than enough time to ponder their next theme…. How about asking world leaders to do a little Yatta?

Or if they find that too difficult, maybe the MDSF could help them out…

I stumbled across another one of those pointless but nonetheless fantastic Japanese inventions: the Rolly by Sony. The video above shows the device in action, the video below is mostly an interview with one of its creators. I’d first heard about the Rolly concept about a year ago and though to myself, ‘Why would anyone want a music player that rolls?!’ But I have to admit that after watching the video clips, it is indeed pretty cute…. I just love the way they programmed it to mimic animals!