Ancestor worship, Bushido savagery, and tea

Thank you.

Sasha.

Why is he using chopsticks with his tea cup?

Jim

Is this during the dinner scene? I watched again, but didn't see what you're referring to. If you can tell me at what time point this occurs, I might be able to spot it.

--crymad

If there was a video I missed it. There was a gallery of still shots and at the dinner table the boy's face was blocked by a bowl which you could assume was a handleless tea cup but if you noticed the chopsticks it was obviously a rice bowl. I didn't notice any tea apperati in the shots. It's not important in any case. I don't blame anyone for never forgetting about brutalities. My father in law fought in the Pacific and will only travel as far as Hawaii. He associates tea with the Japanese and when I visit I keep my proclivity low profile.

Jim

Not only video, but videos -- about 7 various download formats are available as well as streaming options in Quicktime and Real, all under the title screen shot. If you have broadband, just download the MPEG4 or MPEG1 file and see this thing in moving glory. It really is a fascinating film.

I see the still in question now. Yes, it is a rice bowl.

Tea makes its appearance throughout the film. In fact, it opens with shots of schoolchildren walking through tea fields. All in all, the film is an effective tool for taking a pot shot at Alex's comments below.

--crymad

You are not taking any shots, just avoiding the serious argument. That is why I thanked you for honorable exit - which is obvious, if this is the best you can do.

Sasha.

In all seriousness, you really should watch this film, Alex. Having never been to Japan, you'll certainly find it instructive. Goodness, even I -- who lived there almost 10 years -- and my native Japanese wife learned something. Did you know that roving tofu sellers used to actually cut the tofu blocks into small, ready-for-soup pieces?

--crymad

I certainly did watch it. My conclusion - this is one of many a pre-war "enemy study" films that introduces elements of everyday Japanese life to mid-level intelligence personnel. The people who made this film most probably were not told what the purpose was. Also, such film can be used as a front for a "documentary" filming for military. That allows am American team travel Japan, take pictures, ask questions, film, bring large amount of undeveloped film back home. Remember - this is 1941 film. But of course these are just guesses. Similar tactics was used by CIA with American students who would come to USSR to study language. They will be given free cameras (and quite nice ones, too) and told that they can keep the cameras as long as they take several rolls of film of people on the street. Just anyone, women, children, groups of men, nothing particular. This way a very critical information about everyday life is obtained constantly that is invaluable for maintaining deep cover. Very smart if you ask me.

I just believe that visiting a country does nothing to knowing it better comparing with STUDYING the country, culture, history, language. I'll give you an example. Mike Petro, I am sure, knows hundreds times more about puerhs that an average Chinese, who lived there all his life. I am not trying to make fun of you, honestly, and I never knew you had a Japanese wife, but so many times in my life I heard that (I am not claiming that you do that) - oh, sure I know - my wife is ... Or - sure, I know, my husband travels there constantly. I do not buy that as an argument. The most knowledgeable experts I knew were people who studied the whole region, not just one country for years and years, never went there for obvious :) reasons and developed a deep respect and understanding to the fabric of the society. As an example. I think you will be fascinated by a book written by an anonymous undercover agent (we do not even know who he worked for) that is called "Jews and Japanese". I never heard any strong objections to my conclusions on the inevitable revival of Japanese imperialism from them. That does not mean that some time next year "Hakko iti U" will become again a policy, but one has to understand that same way as US will never really give up on control of the Middle East oil, same way Japan has to have some way of controlling its access to natural resources. An economic superpower like Japan cannot sleep at night without some way of insuring its future development. So, Japanese imperialism was just an instrument to have such an insurance. Japan today is insured by the US on a condition of its "good behavior". The moment the US will start losing its grip on the world (give it a 10 years if we keep doing what we are doing) and they will have to start looking for themselves.

If you want to become a chess player you study for years it and then you may become one. But leaving in the same building where they make the chess boards from wood won't make you a player.

Sasha.

"crymad" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@xprt.net...

Not to get into the middle of your "discussion" with Crymad, Sasha, but you either have an absolutely great sense of humor or a serious problem. In Afghanistan I drank tea with CIA and KGB operatives, sometimes I dare say in the same person. I wouldn't worry too much. As for knowing the Japanese, well there are different ways to do that, but not is better. Unless you are a trained anthropologist, stick to tea.

Michael

Alex Chaihorsky2xt2d.20534$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr27.news.prodigy.com9/17/04

I hit the site and the first thing that popped out was the screen gallery so I assumed that was your 'video'. I've never come across a website that serves video without a catch so I didn't look further. I'll give it a look-see over the weekend. I've been looking for video about tea on the Internet. I'm not having much luck. Lots of audio but no video. I want to see video of monkeys picking tea or virgins filling baskets under the moonlight.

Jim

Let us say I have a problem. In 1981 when I was detained by KGB (it was the time of contra-detente) I told the interrogating officer that I believe that USSR will fell apart within 10 years. He laughed and told me that playing an idiot won't help me. I told him that I am not playing anything - he can ask around - I came to this conclusion the moment we invaded Afghanistan. In my analysis the slightest hope that USSR will be able to survive another 25-50 years was shattered the day it happened. He made several calls and found out that I did say that many times. His attitude changed immediately. I was not an enemy - I was just sick in my head. He was nice. He was compassionate. And you know what? He let me go. Honestly, I swear, he just let me go. I have many witnesses of me telling everybody that USSR is no more way back in 1981 and of course later. And absolute majority of my friends be they pro- or anti-Soviet with a tiny-tiny exception of one or two - believed that I was an idiot.

See, Michael, there are two ways to argue - address your opponent's arguments and dismantle them or put out your own that contradict your opponents arguments. Anything else is a political confrontation when everybody knows the result ahead of the time, people just make statements. So if that what you want to do- fine. But if you want to have a good, serious discussion about the matter - please, ARGUE. With arguments. Then, at the end you will probably find out that nobody has a problem - people just come to different conclusions because they evaluate things differently and have different view angles. And you won't have to suggest that I am crazy. I'd love to meet that KGB guy, Major Kapustin some day. Thank him for letting me go and ask him what did it take for him to see that the King is naked and actually - dead.

Sasha.

In other words, you don't know what you're talking about.

I'd say living in another country almost 10 years, interrupted by only a couple brief visits back to the US, qualifies as more than a "visit". And this wasn't some diplomatic or business or military post that had me surrounded by other Americans, speaking English all day. I lived and worked with Japanese.

A passionate account, indeed. One wonders exactly what indescribables transpired there on that fresh wet riverbank.

All right. Both I and my wife have stared at this dimwitticism, "Hakko iti U", mulled it over, slept on it, and have finally come to this conclusion:

We don't know what the f*ck it means.

You're obviously trying to say something in Japanese. In spite of your study and erudition, though, you have failed. You remind me of those middle-aged Japanese men who, having received good marks on the standardized tests of their youth, insisted on trying to communicate with me in English. Desperate they were to show their hard efforts were not all for for naught, and yet all that managed to issue from their mouths was gibberish and spit.

--crymad

The Prelinger Archives is a real treasure trove. Here's the link for the Children of Japan movie in its entirety (tinyurl seems to be down at the moment):

--crymad

Space Cowboy wrote:

I actually found a site where it is written in kanji.

Alex.

When you talk about Russian teas, it's interesting. When you talk about Russian political concerns about other powers in Asia, it's just not talk about tea. We need only enough personality to know that there's a human drinking tea, not more than that.

(And could everyone else just stop responding to the off-topic political stuff or take it to political groups).

Today, I bought some Chinese oolong from the tea shop in Reading Terminal Market, and served it to friends semi-gongfu style. It's not the best Ti Kuan Yin I've had, but it appeared to be a bit better than my China town red metal box general favorite.

This is a tea drinking group, gentlemen. Can we talk about tea?

If this is the case, then we can chalk up the confusion to simple paragraph structure. I apologize for the misunderstanding.

Yes, the meaning is clear now. Had it been written in kanji (or uttered in Japanese) or simply presented in the standard English translation, the mystery could have been avoided.

--crymad

If you would just re-read the thread you will find that all I did was describe a Japanese Tea Ceremony among Japanese ex-POWs. The rest is me answering questions, attacks and name-calling. This is definitely a tea drinking group, but it is also a free USENET. Deal with it. Nobody stops you from opening private yahoo group and moderating it. See how much discussion you can get there. I have nothing against polite reminders, especially sent over e-mail, but your patronizing tone is out of place here.

Sasha.

I can't send email from this program and I don't know if you're posting with a real email address and there are other people besides you who were going at it.

Plonk for a while.

Hi Crymad,

Thanks. That's an interesting doc. That reminded me of the novel "Shonen H" (the first book I could read in Japanese thanks to the "ruby" on nearly each word.).

Kuri