Economist, Aug 25, 2012

choi

(1) Japan and China | Barren Rocks, Barren Nationalism; Both countries should turn to pragmatism, not stridency, in dealing with island spats.
http://www.economist.com/node/21560882
("History always weighs heavily in East Asia, so it is essential to understand the roots of the squabble. China has never formally controlled the Senkakus, and for most Japanese, blithely forgetful of their country’s rapacious, imperial past, possession is nine-tenths of the law. Yet the islands’ history is ambiguous. The Senkakus first crept into the record lying in the Chinese realm, just beyond the Ryukyu kingdom, which in the 1870s was absorbed by Japan and renamed Okinawa. The Chinese emperor objected to Japanese attempts to incorporate the Senkakus into Okinawa, but in 1895 Japan did it unilaterally. After Japan’s defeat in 1945 the Americans took over Okinawa’s administration, along with the Senkakus")

My comment:
(a) I do not know facts or factoids underlying China's claim over Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. But is it how the Ryukyu was called Okinawa?

Compare
history of the Ryukyu Islands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Ryukyu_Islands
(section 1 Etymology: "The name Ryūkyū originates from Chinese writings, while 'Okinawa' was coined in Okinawa. The earliest references to 'Ryūkyū' write the name as 琉虬 (Mandarin Pinyin: Líuqíu) in the Chinese history Book of Sui 隋书 in 607. It is a descriptive name, meaning 'glazed horn-dragon.' The origin of the term 'Okinawa' remains unclear, though there was a divine woman named Okinawa in the book Omoro Soshi, a compilation of ancient poems and songs from Okinawa. * * * The Chinese monk Jianzhen 鑑真, who traveled to Japan in the mid-8th century CE to promote Buddhism, wrote of the Okinawa as 阿児奈波 (Japanese: Ajinawa, Aninawa). The current Chinese characters (kanji) for Okinawa – 沖縄　– were first written in 1719 by ARAI Hakuseki 新井 白石 [1657-1725], a Japanese scholar, in the book Record of Southern Islands 南島志)

* Jianzhen saw Okinawa in 753 on the ship of 遣唐使 (a diplomatic mission to China, from Japan which was then called 倭国), on the monk's way back to China. 阿児奈波 actually is pronounced Akonawa あこなは in Japanese.
(b) There is no need to read the rest.


(2) Letter to Editor: Akira Sugino, Historical conflicts.
http://www.economist.com/node/21560830

Note:
(a) It is the third letter in the web page.
(b) The Japanese surname Sugino is 杉野, where 杉 sugi is Japanese cedar Cryptomeria japonica.
Cryptomeria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptomeria
(It is endemic to Japan, where it is known as Sugi (Japanese: 杉). The tree is often called Japanese Cedar in English, though the tree is not related to the cedars (Cedrus))


(3) Australia’s two-track economy | Hitched to the China Wagon; The strains of success start to tell.
http://www.economist.com/node/21560914
("THE shores of Botany Bay, modern Australia’s birthplace near Sydney, offer a snapshot of the country’s two-speed economy. Planes taking off over the bay whisk “fly in/fly out” workers to the booming resource-rich states of Western Australia and Queensland, offering wages four times Australia’s national average")

Note: Botany Bay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botany_Bay
(Captain James Cook first landed on Apr 29, 1770, when navigating his way around Australia on his ship, the Endeavour. James Cook's landing marked the beginning of Britain's interest in Australia and in the eventual colonisation of this new ‘southern continent.'/  Cook wrote, "The great quantity of plants Mr Banks and Dr Solander found in this place occasioned my giving it the name of Botany Bay")