＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
<Added February 27, 2023> Report: U.S. Department of Energy Determines COVID-19 Origin “May Have Leaked from Chinese Laboratory”
The following report was published by Asahi Shimbun Digital.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 26th that the U.S. Department of Energy has determined that the origin of the novel coronavirus likely was a Chinese laboratory leak. Based on newly classified information, the report was reported to the White House and U.S. Congressional leaders. However, opinions are divided within the U.S. government, with some agencies favoring the animal-transmitted-to-human theory.
According to the WSJ, the Department of Energy has determined that the virus spread through an accident at a Chinese laboratory, although with “low confidence.” The Department of Energy oversees the U.S. National Laboratory, which also conducts cutting-edge biological research, and claims to have “considerable scientific expertise.”
Among other government agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also supports the laboratory leak theory. The National Intelligence Council and four other agencies support the animal-mediated theory, while two other agencies, including the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), have not yet reached a consensus.
The world is currently scrambling to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19). The coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and quickly spread throughout the world.
However, there have been a series of concerning developments in China recently.
1. Coronavirus-Related Developments
(1) Appeals to “Conquer the Coronavirus” and “Reopen the Economy”
The Xi Jinping administration, claiming to have contained the spread of the infection to some extent, is making bold claims, such as “lifting the lockdown in Wuhan” and “constructing the world’s largest soccer stadium in Guangzhou,” and is promoting the resumption of economic activity within the country.
(2) Appeals to “China’s Supportive Stance toward the World”
To the outside world, China has emphasized President Xi Jinping’s “community of shared future for mankind” and engaged in “mask diplomacy,” sending medical supplies and medical teams to countries around the world, strongly promoting its international contributions.
However, it has been reported that many of the masks and protective clothing included in this relief supply were defective. Prime Minister Abe’s order to distribute two cloth masks per household from three domestic manufacturers revealed a blunder, with many masks produced in China and elsewhere found to be defective, with stains and insects.
China’s medical aid to Italy appears to have been a cleverly planned “propaganda” campaign. On March 11, the Chinese Embassy in Rome tweeted about its support for Italy using the hashtag “#ForzaCinaeItalia” (China stands with Italy). The hashtag reportedly garnered 60 million impressions.
According to an Italian marketing company, 46.3% of the accounts spreading the message were “bots” (automated execution programs). Of those, 37.1% also had the hashtag “#GrazieCina (Thank You China).”
A video with the hashtag “#ThankYouChina,” showing Italians opening their windows and clapping their hands as the Chinese national anthem plays, went viral in Italy, causing Italians to develop a favorable impression of China.
This is clearly “Chinese propaganda” and “manipulation of public opinion and information,” and the people clapping their hands were apparently “a fake video completely unrelated to gratitude to China.”
In this way, China is trying to make the most of COVID-19 to promote its own country.
(3) The appeal that “China is not the perpetrator”
China’s “concealment of early information” and “delayed initial response” are clear, as seen in the arrest of the doctor who first reported the outbreak of the new coronavirus and the use of WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to praise China’s response, but they strongly deny these allegations.
They also strongly deny the theory that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which the United States has cast suspicion on, arguing that “it may have been brought there by the U.S. military.”
Looking at President Xi Jinping’s methods, I think that when the Chinese government vehemently refutes or strongly denies something, it is “correct to view it as suspicious.”
2. Expansion of Military Influence
(1) Naval vessels sailing around the Senkaku Islands
Chinese government vessels (including the Japan Coast Guard) have become a regular presence around the Senkaku Islands, repeatedly invading Japan’s territorial waters. From January to March of this year, 289 Chinese government vessels entered the contiguous zone around the Senkaku Islands, a 57% increase from the same period last year. Furthermore, there have been seven intrusions into Japan’s territorial waters through April this year.
On April 11, a total of six Chinese naval vessels, including the aircraft carrier Liaoning and a guided-missile destroyer, sailed south between Okinawa Island and Miyako Island, entered the Pacific Ocean, and also conducted military exercises in the South China Sea. Furthermore, the number of scrambles by Japan Self-Defense Force aircraft in response to Chinese military aircraft threatening to violate Japan’s airspace has remained high, reaching 152 times between January and March of this year. China appears to be testing Japan’s readiness to respond.
Defense Minister Kono expressed his displeasure with these ongoing Chinese military provocations, saying, “I find them extremely outrageous,” but there has been no statement of protest from Prime Minister Abe.
I believe that there is no value in inviting Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “state guest” when he continues to behave like a thief. On the contrary, I think China should align itself with the United States and clearly demonstrate its diplomatic stance by saying “we will say exactly what needs to be said,” “we will lodge protests in a timely manner,” and “we will not invite him to Japan until hostile military actions that threaten Japanese territory end.”
(2) Establishment of a new administrative district in the South China Sea
On April 18, the Chinese government announced that “the State Council has recently approved the establishment of the Xisha District and the Nansha District.”
To “reaffirm its sovereignty,” China has built artificial islands and turned them into military bases, establishing new administrative districts in the “Paracel Islands” and “Spratly Islands,” further strengthening its effective control.
This has sparked strong opposition from Vietnam and the Philippines, which are in territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
The United States has also expressed “serious concerns.” A State Department spokesperson issued a scathing statement, saying, “Even after the pandemic, China continues to set up research institutes on military bases. We urge China to stop exploiting the weaknesses of other countries in order to expand its unlawful claims in the South China Sea.”
(3) Repression of Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy Movement
On April 18, Hong Kong authorities arrested 15 prominent pro-democracy figures on suspicion of “inviting and participating in anti-government protests between August and October of last year.” This repression, which uses the pandemic as a cover in Hong Kong, amid the country’s ongoing battle against the spread of COVID-19, is believed to have been instigated by President Xi Jinping.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed strong concern about these moves, criticizing them as “the Chinese government continues to take actions inconsistent with the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which guarantees transparency, the rule of law, and Hong Kong’s continued high degree of autonomy.”
3. Sekihei’s Viewpoint
Sekihei (naturalized Japanese in 2007), who primarily comments on Japan-China and China-related issues, stated on the April 25th episode of Asahi Broadcasting Corporation’s news commentary program “Oshiete! News Live: Justice’s Friend” (broadcast every Saturday from 9:30 to 11:00), that he believes that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s actions “can safely be seen as having leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology” and that “it’s like taking advantage of the chaos the world is experiencing in its response to the coronavirus.”
By the way, Sekihei’s background is as follows:
He was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China in 1962. In 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, his parents, who were teachers, were expelled from university and sent down to work on a farm, so he was raised in rural Sichuan Province by his grandfather, a traditional Chinese medicine doctor.
His grandfather taught him the Analects of Confucius as part of his liberal arts education so that he could take over the practice of traditional Chinese medicine, but he passed away when he was 11 years old.
During his junior high school days, there was a poor old woman living nearby who picked up trash. She would always smile and say, “Study well!” But one day, she suddenly disappeared. She was arrested as a “counter-revolutionary” and shot to death. He was shocked to learn that the reason she was executed for the grave crime of being “anti-Chairman Mao” was because she had wrapped radishes in newspaper with a picture of Mao Zedong’s face printed on it that she had found in a garbage dump.
He entered the Department of Philosophy at Peking University in 1980 and graduated in July 1984. While still a student, he became passionate about the “Chinese Democratization Movement” to prevent the return of Mao’s tyranny, and in 1988 he studied in Japan. His anger and despair at the Chinese Communist Party’s partisan machinations during the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989 led him to make a spiritual break with his native China, saying, “I no longer have any use for this country; I no longer have any attachment or obligation to it.”
Meanwhile, while studying in Japan, he became attracted to Japanese culture, which had preserved and developed the ancient Chinese culture of the Sui and Tang dynasties. He was impressed by the fact that the ideas of Confucius and the Analects of Confucius continue to live on in the Japanese spirit, and gradually became a “Japanophile.”