What is Tote?

[Matt Stone]

Originally posted by Mike Clarke

You know, one rape is one too many regardless of who does it.

I agree entirely. My point isn't that a rape by one person is worse than by another, just that the press plays up the "evil gaijin," and neglects equal time for the "evil non-gaijin."

I agree that there is a big push to get some land back, and why not, it's theirs!!!!

I agree entirely (again), and if it were a perfect world I think everyone would be happy to let folks have what they want. But, it isn't a perfect world. They (any country wherein another country's military resides in order to provide regional defense) can ultimately blame their own governments for agreeing to the presence of the "foreign invaders" in the first place. I know that when I was stationed in Korea, and the KATUSA soldiers told me they wished I would go back to the US, I wanted nothing worse! I didn't ask to live on their DMZ to keep their "Northern Brothers" from rolling south and occupying Seoul, I was told to do so by my government, who had hired us out as cheap mercenary help to keep that particular peninsula safe.

Depending on which side of the fence a person sits the Americans are doing a great job defending the free world, or your just trying to take it over? If I were an Okinawan I'd want my land back or at the very least half the service personel off the island.

As for taking over the world, how did you guess?

As for Okinawa wanting their island back, see my above comment. I agree, any given country should have its sovereignty. The Okinawans are perfectly justified wanting the US personnel off their island (I think we damn near out number them).

You guys fought a war with England over two hundred years ago because you wanted your home land to be free. Self determination, everyone wants it.
Why is it so hard to see the Okinawan want that too?

So you buy into the popular version of history, huh? The way I understand it from some unorthodox and none too widely accepted sources, the entire war was a complete misunderstanding, what with the colonists considering themselves citizens of the crown and all... Whatever. The point is, yet again, I agree with you...

I've got lots of American friends,...

I know you didn't mean it this way, but that sentence starts off like the racist guy saying he has lots of ethnic friends... really... :rofl:

..and family members, So I'm not anti-American at all, I love going there, and I've met some great guys in Okinawa who were there on duty. But I've also witnessed more than one jumped up crew cut G.I. pushing their weight around. It's ugly.

One bad apple spoils the bunch. Working for the military legal system, I am all too familiar with how often our little boys in camo get rowdy and make too much noise. And while I don't defend their behavior anywhere they get out of hand, I did once used to belong to the Infantry (heavy mortarman from 1987 - 1990) and the Cavalry (scout from 1991 - 1995), and when you spend all your time training to kill the enemy and destroy whatever you see, polite behavior is often neglected... :idunno: Not an excuse for what some guys get involved in, but it explains some of their behavior. From what I have heard about my father's adventures in the Navy, you folks from down under and the Brits tend to get a bit rowdy when you put into port, too...

You sound a little bitter Matt, or am I reading too much into your comments? Okinawa is a fantastic place and I think it would be a shame if it's culture was lost to the world.

I never said that Okinawan culture should be absorbed by American commercialism and materialism. Far from it. I wish America would learn some of the lessons of history already and stop making so many goddamned mistakes! I am bitter - bitter that things are the way they are in the world, bitter that some countries are content to sit back and let the US do their dirty work and not lift a finger to help themselves, then turn around and beat us up in political forums for saving their bacon, bitter that we ever thought we could give ourselves power to make such decisions (and that bitterness goes all the way back to Rome and the Papal decrees given to traders and explorers). I am bitter that I have to worry about some of the thing I have to worry about and can't just be left alone to train in peace...

I love Asia. I just left 4 years in Japan, and after having returned to my own soil I feel more alienated now than ever. I can't wait to get back "home" to Japan. I have been to Okinawa and think it is a paradise - if there were less Americans there sh*tting up the place.

Bitter? Yeah, just not for the reasons you'd think... Just ask RyuShiKan - he knows me pretty well.

Gambarimasu, mate!

Political fighting is no different from fist fighting, you do what it takes to win, right!

 

[Mike Clarke]

Hi Matt,

I meant no disrespect with my comments, and so I'm glad you took them as I intended. My comment about having American friends was real, but I understand your comment on it. I'm a little nieve when it comes to the culture, race, class divide that goes on around the world. I take people as I find them and wish the rest of the world would too.

One of the things I like about martial arts is that you stand or fall on what you are like as a person, and not what style or art you train in. I find the people who tain with an honest heart [regardless of the art] are also the kind of people I like on a personal level.

I'm sorry you feel a little angry with things as they stand in the world right now, but I have been there too and found the only way to get things back on track was to change my 'own' world and leave the rest of the crap to those who like to wallow in it.

If your ever looking for space and wilderness, Tasmania, where I live has it in buckets and there's always room for one more at our table.

Regards,
Mike.