The Intertwined History of Northeast Asia

choi

(1) Banyan  Grandfathers’ Footsteps; Inherited grudges may complicate brittle international relations in North-East Asia.
http://www.economist.com/news/as ... t-asia-grandfathers

Note:
(a) Banyan is the name of the column.
(b) The article states, "Between 1936 and 1939 he [Mr Kishi] was the most senior bureaucrat in Manchukuo."
(i) Nobusuke KISHI 岸 信介
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobusuke_Kishi
(1896-1987; prime minister 1957-1960)
(ii) He is the grandfather on maternal side of the incumbent prime minister Shinzō ABE.
(iii) kishi 岸【きし】 (n): "bank; coast; shore"
(iv) 岸信介
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/岸信介
("1936年（昭和11年）10月に満州国国務院実業部総務司長に就任して渡満。1937年（昭和12年）7月には産業部次長、1939年（昭和14年）3月には 総務庁次長に就任。この間に計画経済・統制経済を大胆に取り入れた満州「産業開発5ヶ年計画」を実施")

* toman 渡満 【とまん】 (n,v): "migration to Manchuria"

(c) The article says of Mr Park: "When Korea was a Japanese colony, Park Chung-hee joined the Manchukuo Imperial Army, and fought in Manchuria in the 1940s. * * * Park Chung-hee [after World War II] switched to the army of the newly independent Republic of Korea, lived down his past as a collaborator, rose through the ranks."
(i) Manchukuo Imperial Army  満洲国軍
(ii) live down something:
"to make people forget that you made a big mistake or did something very embarrassing in the past  <If you show up with green hair, your parents will never let you live it down.>"
Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ ... live-down-something


(2) The Senkaku or Diaoyu Islands
Narrative of an Empty Space; Behind the row over a bunch of Pacific rocks lies the sad, magical history of Okinawa. Economist, Dec 22, 2012.
http://www.economist.com/news/ch ... y-okinawa-narrative
("Descriptions of the islands are rare. Captain Edward Belcher of HMS Samarang visited them in March 1845. They awed him. They had 'the appearance of an upheaved, and subsequently ruptured mass of compact grey columnar Basalt, rising suddenly into needle-shaped pinnacles, which arc apparently ready for disintegration by the first disturbing cause, either gales of wind or earthquake.' His description provided the English name: the Pinnacle group. Half a century later, the Japanese quietly took this name and fashioned out of it a Japanese one for their virgin isles: Senkaku, or 'Pinnacled Pavilions'”)

Note:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of the essay.
(b)
(i) terra nullius
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_nullius
(ii) terra nullius (n):
"in Australia, the legal idea that when the first Europeans arrived in Australia the land was owned by no one and therefore they were free to live there. This idea is not now part of Australian law."
Macmillan Dictionary, undated.
http://www.macmillandictionary.c ... itish/terra-nullius

(c) The essay stated, "A man from Fukuoka, Tatsushiro Koga, was given leave to 'develop' the islands. Koga brought in some 200 Okinawans. They processed katsuobushi—dried, smoked bonito, out of which dashi, a staple stock in Japanese cooking, is made."
(i) Tatsushiro KOGA  古賀 辰四郎 (The "tatsu" is Japanese pronunciation of 竜. Because 辰, the fifth sign of Chinese zodiac, corresponds to dragon, the 辰 is also pronounced "tatsu" in Japanese pronunciation. Its Chinese pronunciation is "shin":
seishin 星辰 【せいしん】 (n): "celestial bodies; stars"
(ii) katsuobushi 鰹節 【かつおぶし】 (n): "small pieces of sliced dried bonito"
(iii) dashi ダシ 《出し》 (n): "Japanese soup stock made from fish and kelp"

(d) The essay continued, "They [Chinese claims] are recorded in “Voyage with a Tail Wind”, published in 1403, a portolano recounting a journey from Fujian province to Ryukyu, the old name for the Okinawa chain of islands."

For portolano, see rutter (nautical)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutter_(nautical)
(It was known as * * * a portolano ("port book") to Medieval Italian sailors in the Mediterranean Sea)

(e) The essay contends "the great Japanese military scholar, Shihei Hayashi, followed convention in giving the islands their Chinese names in his map of 1785, 'A General Outline of Three Countries.' He also coloured them in the same pink as China."
(i) HAYASHI Shihei  林 子平
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayashi_Shihei
(1738-1793)
(ii) Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu (三国通覧図説, An Illustrated Description of Three Countries)  
en.wikipedia.org

(f) Heishuigou  黑水溝
zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/黑水溝
(黑水溝可能指以下其中一個意思：台灣海峽; 中琉界沟)

In Taiwan, it is the former exclusively.