UNDERGROUND LABOUR CAMP DISCOVERED !
…WITH A MINI CASINO !

A vast, secret underground complex for undocumented migrant workers – complete with a canteen, movie theater and chicken coop – was discovered beneath a Moscow street, police in Russia said Wednesday.

About 200 immigrants, most of them from central Asia, were arrested when police uncovered the subterranean living space.

Video footage issued by police showed the underground complex was almost a complete world of its own – with living quarters, work tables with sewing machines, a cafe, and even a casino.

- Underground city: Moscow police dig out over 200 undocumented migrants (WITH VIDEO), Russia Today, 05 June 2013

- Vast underground migrant sweatshop found beneath Moscow street, NBC NEWS, 5 June 2013

- Moscow Illegal Underground City Raided, Sky News, 09 June 2013

The All-in-One Backwater Team by 帝国元帥@魔除け

Date 2 guys and you’re a slut.
Date 100 guys and you’re a legend.

Kuroki Tomoko is a super popular, high school girl, who has had 50 years of dating experience, and 100 boys… in the Otome game world. In the real world, she is a shut-in with all the qualities of a “mojo” (喪女, a gloomy or unpopular woman).

However, when school isn’t going as she expected, and she isn’t as popular as she had thought she was, she takes a look at herself in the mirror for the first time in a few years, and has some shocking revelations…

(MAL)

カエサルさん by ツインポー

Masaatsu Yasuoka, author of Oriental Political Philosophy, introduces himself in terms that at once win the reader’s attention: ” I am a Japanese and consequently disposed to revere what I conceive to be the spirit of my people; but I have also studied with interest and intense admiration the cultural adventure of the Western world.” He proposes that we drop the false idea of cultural homogeneity and try to compose our differences by understanding them rather than by ignoring them. Western philosophy, he says, is analytical, conceptual, and logical; Japanese philosophy is intuitive.
Western learning is inspired by a passion for analysis; Japanese learning by a passion for synthesis. “The West draws a distinction between the things that are Caesar’s and the things that are God’s; in the East Caesar and God are blended harmoniously.”

Yasuoka illustrates the difference between Western and Japanese ideas by a comparison of clothes. Clothing in the West, he says, is sharply individualized; not so in Japan, where the traditional dress of men and women, restrained by rigid conventions in line, color, and form, is a kind of uniform. ” The idea of clothes as an expression of personality, which a casual glance at a fashion journal would suggest is a very important one to Western people, is unknown to us.”

The ” differends ” Mr. Yasuoka describes are more interesting to the student of philosophy than to the general reader, but his comment on the practical applications of the Japanese spirit are politically important. It explains the hive mentality which is so pronounced a feature of Japanese political concepts: “The Japanese spirit fits the Japanese for a self-abnegation and a greater social solidarity than can ever be possible in the individualistic, classifying West. It develops relationships between master and servant, protector and protégé, which are so much the product of our culture that it is impossible to conceive of the one side resenting or the other abusing them. They make for a certain dependence and absence of self-reliance. The essence of the Japanese spirit is eagerness on the part of the individual to find a person worthy to be served with unremitting devotion” (The italics are mine.)

And so he comes to the question of death and gives us an explanation of the Japanese army’s suicide squads which at least is less degrading than some others: ” A differentiating, individualistic culture tends, quite apart from religious dogma, to stress the sanctity of human life. To those trained by a culture which is forever seeking to grasp and serve a large entity the individual life is relatively unimportant. For a Japanese death is not awful in the true meaning of that word, nor is it important except in relation to the purpose it serves.

It is not even a sacrifice any more than the life of devotion is a sacrifice. It is simply the last act of that life of devotion, and that alone gives it its importance. We must know how to die well, we must be assured that our death will serve effectively the purpose which has animated our life. Death for us is a gesture, like life, and consequently we seek to make it an effective one. Thus, even in life and death, there is no differentiation.”

Hugh Byas, Government By Assassination, 1942, p.256

OPEN THE GATES !

“Joining the TPP is based on a farsighted policy,” Abe told a select group of Cabinet ministers on April 12. “We have to fight to protect our national interests from now.”

Japan could lose much, gain little from joining TPP, Asashi, April 13, 2013

TPP THREATS

Ken Akamatsu, creator of Love Hina and Mahou Sensei Negima!, expressed concern the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade) agreement could decimate the derivative doujinshi works prevalent in Japan. Akamatsu argues that the TPP “would destroy derivative doujinshi. And as a result, the power of the entire manga industry would also diminish.” Kensaku Fukui, a lawyer and a Nihon University professor, expressed concerns that the TPP could allow companies to restrict or stop imports and exports of intellectual property, such as licensed merchandise. For example, IP holders could restrict or stop importers from shipping merchandise such as DVDs and other related goods related to an anime or manga property into one country to protect local distribution of licensed merchandise already in the country via local licensors.

At a NicoNico live seminar called How Would TPP Change the Net and Copyrights? An In-Depth Examination: From Extending Copyright Terms to Changing the Law to Allow Unilateral Enforcement and Statutory Damages(果たしてTPPは、ネットと著作権をどう変える可能性があるのか？), artist Kazuhiko Hachiya warned that cosplay could also fall under the TPP, and such an agreement could give law enforcement officials broad interpretive authority in dictating how people could dress up. Critics also have derided the agreement could also harm Japanese culture, where some segments have developed through parody works.

(wiki)

The Final by Charlie

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF FORK !

Six months prior to the series, Nyaruko was subjected among many others in a ritualistic sacrifice that created the Phantoms on the day of a solar eclipse. While many died giving birth to their Phantoms, Nyaruko managed to keep her Phantom Dragon from emerging by facing despair head on and as a result she obtained magical powers. Coming to after the eclipse ended, Nyaruko was attacked by one of the newly-born Phantoms until she was saved by the mysterious White Wizard who presented her with Koyomi, a Gate who also survived the ritual but lost her identity, the WizarDriver and the Flame Ring so that se can access his magic and track down the Phantoms as Kamen Rider Wizard. Motivated to give hope and save people from despair so no Phantom could ever be born again, Nyaruko sought out Shigeru Wajima to be supplied with more Wizard Rings to fight the Phantoms with.
(wikia)

At a recent concert in Cairo, young Muslim women wearing head scarves jumped up and down and roared with delight. The crowd of more than 500 people were on their feet.

The star they had come to see? Hironobu Kageyama, a singer known for animation songs such as the theme tune of “Dragon Ball Z.”

Kageyama’s concert, his first in the Middle East, was part of the Grand Japanese Pop Culture Festival held in Cairo on March 8 and 9. Self-published manga magazines were given away, and a cosplay competition was held at the event, where the recent political uncertainty in Egypt seemed to have been forgotten for a while at least.

Ahmed Hisham, a 19-year-old Egyptian university student studying business administration, wore a Dragon Ball costume and had a picture of himself taken in front of the pyramids.

“My goal is to open an anime store,” he said.

Recharging Japan / Can pop culture recharge Japan?, The Yomiuri Shimbun, April 3, 2013

HILARIA

Hilaria were ancient Roman religious festivals celebrated on the vernal equinox to honor Cybele, mother of the gods; The winter with its gloom had died, and the first day of a better season was spent in rejoicings. All kinds of games and amusements were allowed on this day; masquerades were the most prominent among them, and everyone might, in his disguise, imitate whomsoever he liked, and even magistrates.

The hilaria were in reality only the last day of a festival of Cybele, which commenced on March 22, and was solemnised by the Galli with various mysterious rites. The full festival can be tentatively reconstructed (with the days of the festival literally translated) as follows:

- 15 March. ‘The Reed Entered’. Its exact significance is uncertain (the reeds may refer to the river bank where Attis was exposed as a child and rescued by Cybele.) A nine-day period of abstinence from bread, pomegranates, quinces, pork, fish and probably wine began. Only milk was permitted as a drink.
- 22 March. ‘The Tree Entered’ (Arbor intrat). A pine tree from a wood sacred to Cybele is felled following the sacrifice of a ram at its roots. The tree was carried in procession through the city as if in a funeral to the Temple of Cybele on the Palatine Hill.
- 23 March. A day of mourning.
- 24 March. ‘The Day of Blood’ (Sanguis). Frenzied rites including scourging and whipping. Castration rituals would take place on this day. The tree is symbolically buried.
- 25 March. ‘The Day of Joy’ (Hilaria) celebrating the resurrection of Attis. This was the hilaria proper (as opposed to the mournful tone of the previous days).
- 26 March. A day of rest.
- 27 March. ‘The Washing’ (Lavatio). Added by Marcus Aurelius.
- 28 March. Possible ceremony at the Vatican sanctuary. Appears in the Calendar of Philocalus.

(wiki)

Near the end of his life the Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton said that he wanted “to become as good a Buddhist as I can.” A contemporary priest, Robert E. Kennedy, S.J., Roshi (Zen master), holds Zen retreats at Morning Star Zendo in Jersey City. He states on his web site: “I ask students to trust themselves and to develop their own self-reliance through the practice of Zen.” Meanwhile, the St. Francis Chapel at Santa Clara University hosts the weekly practice of “Mindfulness and Zen Meditation.” Similarly, there are a growing number of Buddhist retreats and workshops being held in Catholic monasteries and parishes.

Today there is a proliferation of resources and retreats dedicated to combining Zen Buddhism and Catholicism, suggesting that the Catholic Church has finally “awakened” from its “outdated” and “exclusivist” ecclesiology. While Buddhism has not been in the news recently as much as Islam, its influence and attraction has steadily increased in the West. Is Catholicism really “parallel” to Buddhism? Can Catholic doctrine be reconciled with Buddhist beliefs and practices?

The Coming of Buddhism

Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the world, with about 370 million adherents, or about 6% of the world’s population. Although less than 1% of Americans identify themselves as Buddhist, interest in this ancient belief system is growing. Sections on Buddhism in major bookstores usually dwarf those dedicated to Islam or Hinduism and there has been a steady stream of articles and books about (and by) the Dalai Lama in recent years. Some stores even display the Dalai Lama’s works beside those of Pope John Paul II, hinting at the “similarities” of the Buddhist and Catholic faiths.

The influence of Buddhist thought in some Catholic circles has been evident since the 1960s. In the wake of the Second Vatican Council’s call for respectful dialogue with other religions, many Catholics, including many priests and religious, dove headlong into studying Buddhism. Much was made (and still is) of the many “common characteristics” of Catholicism and Buddhism, especially in the realm of ethics. External similarities, including monks, meditation, and prayer beads, seemed to indicate a newly discovered closeness between the followers of Christ and Buddha. While some helpful interreligious dialogue and study was accomplished, some Catholics mistakenly concluded that Buddhism was just as “true” as Christianity, and that any criticism of Buddhism was “arrogant” and “triumphalistic.”

This attitude still exists, of course, as do attempts to combine the two faiths. It’s not uncommon for Catholic retreat centers to offer a steady diet of classes and lectures about Zen Buddhism, Christ and Buddha, and even “Zen Catholicism.” Their bookstores feature titles such as Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit, Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings, and Going Home: Jesus and Buddha As Brothers. Comparisons are often made between Christian mysticism and Buddhist mysticism, at times suggesting that the two are essentially identical in character and intent.

Catholicism and Buddhism, Ignatius Insight, Anthony E. Clark and Carl E. Olson, 2005

“Well, girl, you may have bad luck, but you’re on the lucky side of bad luck. Araragi-kun here didn’t just meet his; he was attacked. And attacked by a vampire. Is there anything more embarrassing for modern man?”

Drop it.

Drop it now.

“You’re much better off than he was.”

“Why?”

“Because gods are everywhere. They’re everywhere, and nowhere. It was with you before your present condition arrived…but you could also say it wasn’t.”

“Is that some sort of Zen?”

“Shinto. Shugendo, specifically,” Oshino said. “You need to understand, girl. You didn’t wind up like this because of something else. You just changed your point of view.”

She was always like that.

Almost exactly what the doctors said, as they threw in the towel.

“My point of view? What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying, you need to stop acting like a victim, girl,” Oshino snarled, sudden heat behind his words.

Hitagi Crab

Much might be written on the solitude of mystics. One and all, from those with fuller experience to the blind gropers after a light they are hardly aware of, are impelled to retire for a space from their fellow-men. Whatever the future may bring, there can be no doubt of the strong individuality of our nature here, and while human love, which draws us closer together, is felt to be symbolic of the divine love, it is no more than a symbol. Human souls do not mingle for “the flight of the Alone to the Alone”. These wandering monks, of whom Saigyō, Chōmei, and Bashō are the noblest types, seem to have chosen, partly in imitation of the Buddha’s example, the most profitable form of religious life, being in the world, yet not of it ; able to withdraw entirely for so long as they desired, or to keep under observation the human struggling which taught them the need of salvation.
Saigyō spent one year in a hermit’s hunt on a mountain slope, and another year in a temple, but he was no mere recluse. He knew the value of solitude for “the silent working of the spirit”, and like to be alone in his contemplation of beautiful things. The only fault he could find with the cherry-blossoms was that they attracted people to crowd to the places where they grew. Further, he realized that to be alone, and especially alone with nature, is uplifting in that it produces a sense of equality – the humblest may aspire, and the richest gits are theirs :

“It was a desolate house, and no one would trouble to visit it. But the moon shone gently on it through the leaves.“

Edward Vivian Gatenby, The Cloud Men of Yamato, p 44