I must admit that the main stream media coverage of Japan´s prime minister Shinzo Abe´s visit to America didn’t make much sense. It was plain boring. I figured his visit was only courteous and that he wanted to say hello to Mr Bush. After reading the analysis on the blog of AMPONTAN the things got another perspective.

Day to day news and politics are usually boring to follow because they have little meaning on a day to day basis. So I prefer to read a good analysis every now and then instead. If you have any interest at all in Japanese current affairs I highly recommend this entry from AMPONTAN. Here is a sample:

Translation in plain English: “World War II is over. You can forget about seeing any more self-abasement for our actions during that war. We used to bow and suck air whenever another country confronted us with our past. In bilateral negotiations, we would back down from our position when other countries brought up the behavior of Imperial Japan.

“Those days are gone. We’ve behaved responsibly during the past 60 years—more responsibly than most of the rest of you—and we’ve also spent a lot of our hard-earned money on good works internationally. Now, we will no longer be denied our place as an equal at the table of the Community of Nations.

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