Rocky Relations

Below is my comment on the article of "Rocky Relations",　Page 22　 TIME, May 8, 2006.

The hundred years’ war still continues between South Korea and Japan over the sovereignty of some tiny rocky islets in the Japan Sea. Your picture of a pair of South Korean police standing guard on the top of the islands clearly shows the strong Korean will to keep them as the established fact. On the Japan side, it seems that Prime Minister Koizumi pretends to have a wait-and-see attitude for not overly stimulating the Korean people.


As long as the islets have been closely connected to the sovereignty of two nations mixed with hatred and nationalism, only bilateral negotiation could not be successful in the foreseeable future. How unrealistic it might be seen for the time being, the only solution could be with a good mediator of the third country. We should only keep cool.

Between Two Worlds

Between Two Worlds　Page 40　 TIME, May 1, 2006

Your article on a new generation of Asian-Americans gave us an inside look at how they have muddled through racial alienation and ethnic mockery during their school days and established a new Asian-American identity with diligence and high morality in the United States.

I do hope more and more young Asian-Americans respect of their Asian heritage and culture behind them and will serve as a driving force to reconcile themselves with non-ethnic people and work as a bridge between the United Sates and Asian countries now and in the near future.