Annals of the Obama Administration

One Response to “Annals of the Obama Administration”

1. DAVE in UT on December 9th, 2009 2:48 am

   FRANK =

   IF(?) I’m reading the “non-verbal [diplomatic]” – even rather quite public communications correctly — re: the President B. Obama’s BOWING INCIDENT(s) in Tokyo – I DO BELIEVE that EVEN the Japanese EMPORER’s WIFE was embarrassed – by the excessive ‘bowing and [seeming apparent] scraping’!

   * * * * *

   Two other points =

   FIRST = When the late & former Japanese Prime Ministor E. SATO (who was later honored by RN in Washinton) made his “first trip to the Ryukyu Islands -after WW-II” (at the plane-side Welcoming Ceremony, headed by the US High Commissoner @ the Naha Civil Air Terminal) on the Naha Air Base, I was head of the uniformed USAF military welcoming contingent!

   Great event! Even now memorable for so many subtlties, so typically Japanese.

   Plus: Japanese are always ones for memorable and long-lasting symbolisms.

   In this case, a Japan Air Lines (JAL) Boeing 737 had “over-shot” the main run-way [North side, nearest the Civil Air Terminal] and was left there by the JAL – rusting for a long period.

   The word we received – on Base – was that the Japanese P-M [The Hon.] E. SATO “left something of himself” behind @ Naha during that visit to the Ryukyus.

   You may recal, Mister SATO would have a fatal heart-attac (after leaving office) – at a Tokyo ‘Geisha House’, leaving some to observe that – true to our Western ‘cowboy lure’ – “The Prime Minister DIED WIH HIS BOOTS ON”!

   * * * * *

   SECOND = On ‘a lighter side’, at the time that the JAL was being the challenged (commercially) by “an up-start” All-Nippon Airways (ANA) headed by some formerly disgrunted JAL pilots and ground mechanics!

   In an un-successful effort to under-mine their “up-start ANA competitor” for initial regional — then inevitable — international air routes, the then-JAL executives in Tokyo put out “the propaganda” that ANA was being headed by former WW-II “kamikazi pilots – who had survived their Pacific missions”!

   {THAT WAS: A post – WW-II ‘disgrace’ – within Japanese culture, even then]!

   The JAL efforts, however, clearly failed.

   Today, ANA still owns many financially successful hotels chains world-wide in numerous key cities – not least in San Francisco, among others!

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