We, English chatting society, held a regular meeting on September 28 after 2 months intervals. As it was a little muggie that day, we started our discussion ten minutes past seven. We introduced ourselves by talking about what we were doing in the past two months. Although there were not any newcomers on that particular day, we enjoyed lively talks with each other.

First we discussed the deployment of Osprays in Futenma airbase of Okinawa. U.S. has already had several accidents concerning the flight of Osprays. We Japanese have to understand the feeling of Okinawans. There is no denying the fact that Japan depends its economic development on Okinawa’s burden after the World War II. It has been reported that Osprays had crash accidents in Morocco and Florida. Some experts analyze that these accidents were not due to some mechanical errors but due to human errors. We should not compromise with U.S. proposal to deploy Osprays for security purposes in East Asia.

Second we talked about the killing of a Japanese journalist in Syria. I asked a question whether the parents can really send their daughter to the battlefields even if she wants to get the coverage of the conflict-ridden areas. Some attendants said that they can’t let her go abroad if they were the parents of the female journalist.
Many people can say that it is a wonderful thing to work energetically for the spread of peace all the world over. However, they suddenly change their idea when it comes to the story of sending their children to the Middle East. Now, that’s what they call parental love.

Third, we had a debate about a political stand of our central government concerning the incidents of Senkaku islands. Whether Japanese government should sit on the negotiation table with China or not is a great concern for us. Both Japan and China have to make a concession to some degree in order to find a win-win condition for both sides. It doesn’t make any sense at all if we criticize with each other to claim the ownership of the lands.
Prime minister Noda’s announcement of the nationalization of Senkaku islands was not nice timing from the viewpoint of China-Japan relations. Prime minister Noda should have considered much more about the feelings of Chinese authorities to maintain everlasting friendships with China.
There is no denying the fact that we don’t have any strong experts of Chinese politics in Japan. In other words, we are paying the price for not deepening the knowledge of our neighboring country. We as an independent nation seriously have to consider having a hearty talk with Chinese authorities to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.