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| China-Japan-Koreas | |
| U.S. Aegis destroyer to call at Nagasaki | |
| 2007-02-19 | |
| Kyodo) _ The USS Mustin, a U.S. Navy destroyer equipped with the most advanced Aegis missile guidance system, will make a call at Nagasaki Port for five days from March 1, the Nagasaki prefectural government said Monday. The U.S. Navy said the call by the 9,238-ton warship that is deployed at a base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, is aimed at promoting friendship. Or is someone expecting things to heat up in the Axis of Evil around that date? Wishful thinking, I'm sure. The Nagasaki prefectural and city governments have requested Japan's Foreign Ministry and the United States to keep from making the port call as "citizens of a prefecture that suffered from atomic bombing hold complex feelings," but the requests were rejected, they said. "The port call stirs concerns among atomic-bomb victims and citizens of the bomb site, and we absolutely will not tolerate it," said Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito in a released statement. The scheduled port call at Nagasaki is the first by a U.S. fleet since last February.
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| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #8 Went to Nagasaki on the USS Blue Ridge (I think 1995 or 96). We expected lots of protests. On the way in there was a flotilla of protest boats on the starboard side. I was on the port side and thought more protest boats were coming. They were a welcoming group. I don't know who organized that but I remember a lady on the loud speaker thanking us for helping Japan and she was waving an American flag for ages; longer than I would of waved it myself. When we moored I looked out on the pier and it was crowded with well wishes. The demonstrators were off to the side. During a visit there were lines of people standing in the sun to visit. There's lots of protests in Japan but a lot of it is formalized, no heart in it. Lot's of good people there. |
| Posted by: MoeDee 2007-02-19 22:51 |
| #7 I though GHWB officially removed all nukes from our surface ships in 1989 or so, so it was OK to "deny" (except SSBNs, of course). |
| Posted by: Jackal 2007-02-19 20:40 |
| #6 USS Mustin is not nuclear powered, so that can't be it. Must be the usual local socialist, progressive crazies trying to stir things up. But the locals always ask if the ship(s) are carrying nuclear weapons and since the official policy is to "neither confirm or deny" in any statement made to anyone, the local rabblerousers use that as a convenient trigger to rile up the "usual suspects." |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2007-02-19 11:11 |
| #5 Maybe a few of 'em would also like to visit such diverse places as Shanghai, Bataan, Seoul, or maybe talk to the survivors (or children of surviviors) of the "comfort women", the Kwai River Bridge, or the Bataan Death March (if you can find any still left alive). I bet they'd come away with a whole new set of those "complex feelings" Procopious mentioned above. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-02-19 10:24 |
| #4 Feelings too complex to deal with reality. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-02-19 08:34 |
| #3 Yes, this always surprizes and disgusts me, the way the japanese offer themselves as victims and from there moral beacons, thanks to being nuked in WWII. From what I understand, japanese textbooks and general official History is quite matter-of-factly revisionnist in that regard. I guess not being bothered by that old judeo-christian guilt is a big boost in holding the moral highground despite your dark past. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-02-19 08:31 |
| #2 Maybe the Nagasaki prefectural and city governments official need a vacation to Manila to see what their Imperial Japanese forces did to the civilians of that city in February 1945. I'm sure there are some still around who have 'complex feelings' they'd like to communicate. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-02-19 08:11 |
| #1 "The port call stirs concerns among atomic-bomb victims and citizens of the bomb site, and we absolutely will not tolerate it," said Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito in a released statement. If I was him, I'd be more concerned about having a genuine North Korean atomic bomb drop in on my head. |
| Posted by: Mike 2007-02-19 06:08 |