Soccer: Japan easily tops China in Asia Cup

Reviewed by Hitoshi URABE

Article:
"Soccer: Japan easily tops China in Asia Cup"
(AP, Reuters) International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/533113.htm

Comments:

Among literally hordes of reports on the final game of Asia Cup between Japan and China, played in Beijing on 7th, Saturday, the one introduced above is one of the more legitimate articles, as it at least describes how the game was played and scored, and which side won.

Most of the other reports coming out from neither Japan nor China, under the disguise of reporting a sporting event, focuses on the violence of the Chinese spectators - and the band of outlaws who would be interested in the violence itself no matter what the cause. They write about the Chinese rioters embarrassing, threatening, and attacking if not for the armed police, the Japanese fans and athletes.

The news of disorder over a soccer game itself is not uncommon in various parts of the world. The disturbing part is that all of those reports resorts to Japan's occupation of China 70 years ago as the direct cause of the disorder.

Today, August 9 is the day, 59 years ago, a US bomber dropped the second nuclear bomb 3 days after Hiroshima, onto the city of Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousand of civilians, including children, their mothers, and retired elderly folks.

As such, it is not difficult for any people to note some sort of disturbing experience with other people. In fact, unfortunate incidents should not be forgotten. But remembrance and evaluation of the past should not be something that stand in front and before everything else. Much of the troubled regions of the world now are troubled because of the haunting past that the people have not been able to treat in their minds as valuable experiences. From Palestine to tribal conflicts in Africa, animosity is guiding the people.

Japan and China, just like any other relationship between any people, have a long history of mostly amicable, but sometimes hostile, relationships. There may accordingly be still a number of issues pending from the past that need to be sorted out in order to satisfy both peoples, But still, the people should be civilized enough to be able cooperate wherever possible, so as to mutually seek for a productive future. There is no need to fall into the destructive spiral of hatred and anger, as often agitated and fueled by those obsessed with greed, or outsiders having no interest in the welfare of the people of the region.