0 0 0 which was perfectly orchestrated as a justifiable a coup d'état. Compared [ 0 the large-scale civil war in Qing China, it was much easier tO control the small domestic battle in an island natlon. One can easily imagine 、 Britain determined it would be simpler [ 0 manipulate the lmperial force, which was led by the young, spirited men from ruralJapan who lacked mod- ern arms and had no 、 [ 0 produce ther れ . Britain and France had wasted 、 varships, Officers, and men in the Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion. However, thanks [ 0 hindsight gained from prior experience, they acted with new cleverness in Japan. By the time they landed on Japan, Britain and France 、 vere well versed in the ways Of colonization. The Destruction ofAesthetics Why did Yoshinobu, the last Shogun from the long-lived Tokugawa family that had lasted for 250 years, not fight? Why has the bloodless surrender of his Edo Castle been glo- rified even today and passed down as a heroic tale starring Saigo (age 40 , 1827 ー 1877 ) and Katsu ( 45 years 01d , 1823 ー 1899 Katsu, a prominent shogunate retainer 、 vh() very likely would have been sentenced tO decapitation after the defeat, became a distinguished leader in the lmperial government. Did he have any dealings such as hiS secret betrayal Of hiS master, Ⅵ市 . iCh are not 、 tvritten dO 、 on the pages of history? We have learned during our school days that on March 14 , 1868 during the Boshin War, Shogun s top leader Katsu and Saigo ofthe lmperial force sat across from each other, on two in a large reception hall at the Saigo residence in Ed0. lhere, the two men decided on the bloodless surrender of Edo Castle [ 0 the lmperial force. This tale deeply moves us Japanese because it speaks [ 0 the emotional aesthetics that 、 SO prize. Butthis scenario played directly into the hands of Britain. ne 、 government preserved EdO because it wanted tO use the city,. Britain wanted [ 0 establish a headquarters in beautiful Edo, which was aboutto be renamed Tokyo. lhat reception roomwas the final stage where Saigo and Katsu put on their last per- formances as samurai. Saigo believed that Bushido ("the 、 vay 0 「 the samurai' ) was eternal. He could not imagine that from that historic day, the sun would rapidly set on the age of the samurai. The tragedy 0f the samurai began 、 vhen Bushido, an aesthetic cultivated in one-on- one combat for い VO thousand years, was crushed due [ 0 the influence Of Western 、 veapons designed for wide-scale slaughter. Even after this samurai aesthetic was decimated, its heartbeat kept faintly pounding 16

0 0 0 not ccread the tide Of time ' not as naive and out Of touch, but as an awe-inspiring symbOl Of _Japanese aesthetics entitled [ 0 respect. Even [ 0 this they see the actions Ofthese men and women as genuine and pure, and are profoundly touched by the devotion 0f the defeated. Britain, which contributed significantly to the lmperial force, received land in the best residential area 0fTokyo.1he British Embassy was built on a high ground that overlooks the lmperial Palace, only a stone's throw from the castle gate. What did Britain gain? lt acquired trade and financing of the lmperial government and became the most eminent instructor for all movement in Japan. Britain 、 the first country tO recognize a new Japan, by which it appeared tO be singing its 0 、 praises. On October 14 , 1872 , the nation's first railway was built from Yokohama, where Western fleets entered and exited Japan, to Shimbashi near the lmperial Palace. Shouldn't this railway have serviced the large population centers 0 「 Kyobashi, Asakusa, and Ueno? The building 0 「 this railway was Britain S strategic measure [ 0 restrain the lmperial palace (the cornerstone ofJapan) and guard against the potential danger that a citizen revolt mighttake place [ 。 expel the foreigners from J 叩 as the Taiping Rebellion in China had tried. British and 、 American SOldiers, arms, and ammunition could be transported S 、 viftly by trains from Yokohama [ 0 Shimbashi, which is located at the south ofthe lmperial Palace. ln fact, the railline was like a spear thrusting into the Palace's underbelly. ghosts of the lmperial Restoration still haunt Japan today. Presently, the people are encouraged [ 0 embrace globalization out of anxiety that Japan might be lagging behind the times. Japan's first globalization in the early Mei. ji Peri0d ( 1868 ー 1905 ) was based on the slogans "civilization and enlightenment," the goal Of 嶬市 . ich 、 [ 0 accept Western culture 、 vithout questioning, even at the expense Of Japan S own sophisticated culture, with the unspoken premise being that culture 、 in all Ⅵはメ S superior tO the anachronistic ways ofJapan. ImperialJapan was galvanized by its inferiority complex' which mandated that it had [ 0 catch up [ 0 the British and American empires ・ Japan dove headfirst into the deep end 0 「 modernization, imitating the brutal imperialism Of the belligerent West until the mid- summer of 1945. lhe story we learn in our compulsory education overtly praises only the 1868 lm- perial Restoration, leaving out the details that would mar such an OptimistiC account Of convenient, biased history. Sakamoto Ryoma, a young energetic rebel and a close friend 0f a British arm dealer Glover, has been deified in our academic and popular cultures. Even asking who paid for his traveling expenses (such as hiS transportation and living COSts) iS blasphemy. ・ he dangerous liaisons between the highest echelon of the lmperial government and the British and Americans who became hugely wealthy on opium have been erased, as if 18

ⅱ引 skirmish, fled in the middle ofthe nightto the USS み舛〃 0 な ( 1 , 032 tons), a new warship from the U. S. Asiatic Squadron in Osaka Bay. He returned to Edo on his warship the ん四 外翔 ( 2 , 590 tons), which was anchored 0 伍 the coast, and placed himself under voluntary confinement at a temple ⅲ Ueno (ofTokyo). Sir Harry Smith Parkes, the British envoy who started the Second Opium War, had already made a secret agreement with the lmperial force to overthrow the Shogun, yet he met with him in Osaka CastIe. Did parkes courteously threaten the Shogun there? Parkes' interpreter was Sir Ernest Mason Satow ( 1843 ー 1929 ) , who was a gifted inter- preter and a preeminent spy. 11e top men Of the lmperial force 、 vere SatO 、 v's close friends. Top-secrets Of the Meiji government were readily leaked [ 0 the British government via Satow. ln 1906 , Satow was awarded the Order ofthe Rising Sun に CIass, the highest honor given by the Empire ofJapan. The Shogun army, totaling one million soldiers, was preparing for a decisive battle. But seeing their supreme commander flee from the headquarters of Osaka Castle, the mas- sive army set fire [ 0 the castle and dispersed. ・ Ihe fire spread [ 0 the PO 、 vder magazine, and the large, beautiful castle collapsed amidstthunderous explosion and roaring flames. All Japanese learned in their school days that Saigo Takamori 0 「 the lmperial force and Katsu Kaishu of the Shogun Army agreed [ 0 the bloodless surrender of the Shogun s Edo Castle, triggering the quick demise of the Shogun regime. I, however, cannotswallow this fairy [ a に . France and Britain manipulated the Shogun and the lmperial forces like pieces on a chessboard. After inciting them [ 0 civil 、 var and exhausting bOth sides, Britain's goal 、 vas [ 0 make the lmperial force win and then by proxy gain control ofJapan. lt is rumored in Japan even tO this day that Britain and France 、 vere hostile [ 0 each other, but that is not true. Britain and France fought together in the Crimean War ( 1853 ー 1856 ) and Second Opium War in Qing China ( 1856-1860 ). Both ofthem received enor- mous indemnities totaling 41 trillion yen. Afterwards, [ 0 prolong thelife of the dying Qing Dynasty, they besieged Hong Xiuquan (age 50 ) , the leader of the Taiping Rebellion, whose army was headquartered in Nanjing. Hong ended up dying 0f starvation, by which they suppressed the rebellion that had threatened Beijing for 15 years. Britain and France were comrades in arms WhO fought on fierce battlefields together for 10 whole years. hey were not battling in Japan; they were united in greed up until right before the Meiji lmperial Restoration of 1868. Japan was in a state 0f chaos during the 1850S and 1860S. ⅵ 0 に n [ slogan 0f "re- vere the emperor and expel the barbarians ' appeared tO justify assassination Of foreigners in Japan ・ Britain and France urged the lmperial force to fight 竄 civil war against the Shogun,

such relations had never occurred. same applies to go 旧 and silver. Japan's plentiful precious metals flO 、 ved overseas via underground channels 、 vith the force Of a glittering pyroclastic flO Ⅵ ,. Perhaps it 、 vas tO pay the "tuition fees" for receiving the Western education. We are used [ 0 hearing the phrase "modernization ofJapan," but behind this phrase is a stigma condemning the ages ofsamurai as SO feudal and regressive, as shamefully una 、 vare OfitS 0 、 shortcomings and archaic traditions that had no place in a progressive 、 vorld. such condemnation on . justifies the lmperial Restoration as having brought about wonderful modernization to a backwards country desperately needing the generous hand of the 嶬 [. There is no indictment of the arrogant Western po 、 vers that used arms [ 0 forcibly open up the Japanese archipelago from its peaceful isolation. lt seems that the Japanese have [ 0 be grateful for the brutal imperialism of the U. S. and Europe, which colonized the globe through racial discrimination and slaughter. ユ石 e Western powers declared that Japan's isolation was a bad policy. お e cheerfuleu- phemism opening ofthe country is used presently, but what was really opened was a gate [ 0 hellthat destroyed this co un try of advanced aesthetics and morals. The lmperial Restoration is revered as right and good, while isolation by the Shogun iS despised as 、 vrong. lt has alSO arbitrarily indicted the Shogun regime as an incompetent government. Rather than judging the peacefultranquility ofthe Shogun period as a short- coming Of a stagnant nation devoid Of innovation, 、 should recognize the Shoguns great deed of maintaining peace for 250 years. The ne 、 Japanese Empire developed an obsession with becoming 、 vesternized. ln a short time, it rushed intO foreign 、 vars, one after another, engaging in fierce battles over its vested interests in neighboring countries, ironically against the very Western PO 、 that had forced Japan into its dogmatic globalism. Just 77 years after the lmperial Restoration, the corpses 0 「 the nation s ハ vo slogans, "wealthy nation and strong soldiers" and "civilization and enlightenment could be seen rotting on the bloody battlefield in the summer 0 日 945. Japan should not have modeled itselfon the British Empire as a paragon ・ Globalization Born or れ Domestic Destruction The terms internationalization" and globalization" have been hugely popular in Japan for the past 30 years. These abstract meaningless slogans cast magic spells upon Japan ・ This brainwashing says that Japan must "align itself with the global standard" and abandon its refined aesthetics and morals. ls this a relapse Of the inferiority complex that infected Japan right before the lmperial Restoration? 19

0 0 0 um and morphine. surgeries could not be performed without anesthetic morphine made by refining opium. Opium and morphine are also instantly effective painkillers and cough suppressant for tuberculosis patients. The arm メ and navy Of the Meiji period required vast amounts Of morphine 「 every battle. TO ignore the 日 00d of opium from Qing China and insist that Japan was the only country without opium iS [ 0 espouse a historical falsehOOd. lhe American Civil War (April 1861 ー May 1865 ) was the bloodiest war in American history with 650 , 000 people killed in action. Millions ofwounded soldiers became addicted [ 。 a に 0h01 and morphine by drinking whiskey or bourbon into which morphine had been generously mixed as a painkiller. To believe that opium did not cross the narrow Sea 0 「 Japan, especially when large quantities 0 「 opium and morphine 、 brought [ 0 the American continent across the Pa- cific and Atlantic oceans from lndia, Turkey, and China, would mean to be willfully blind. ・ western. , rr s in Japanese HandS Right after the end 0f the American Civil War, vast volumes of ammunition and 300 , 000 used and new rifles crossed the pacific Ocean and were delivered via Shanghai [ 0 the lmperial rebel force that was planning [ 0 topple the Shogun regime ・ %omas Blake Glover ( 1838 ー 1911 ) , a young weapons merchant, was in charge ofthe arrangements. He brought 、 varships and modern 、 Armstrong (; ・ uns 「 Britain [ 0 Nagasaki and Kobe, where they were sold [ 0 the lmperial rebel force. q10 had the great sums 0 「 money [ 0 buy these weapons? %e GIover Trading Company handled the expense. But who financed Gloven who was the Nagasaki branch manager 0fJardine Matheson and Company? Jardine Matheson in Guangdong 、 vas ASia'S premier opium trader. Was it the British government that financed Glover? The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank? Jardine Matheson? lhe Rothschild's London bank? Was ⅱ of the above? None of them would have undertaken such risky liability if they were not certain that the lmperial force would win over the Shogun s army ・ lhe western powers believed Japan s civil war, called the 、、 Boshin wan" would be fought for a long time, making itselfa highly profitable venture. But this war ended quickly. victorious lmperial force, facing economic criSiS, could not the debt to Glover. Glover went bankrupt. Tokugawa Yoshinobu ( 18 聟ー 1913 ) , the last Shogun, encamped at Osaka Castle be- fore the outbreak ofthe Boshin War, and upon hearing that his side was defeated in the ini- 14

0 0 0 Opium lhe white Western powers pillaged anywhere on the planet where there was money to be made. mry used advanced weapons to enslave indigenous peoples and sellthem around the 、 vorld for enormous profits. Qing China 、 vas a self-suffcient, afHuent nation that had been isolated for more than 250 years. lt was destroyed by the opium produced in the British colony oflndia. Pure silver 、 vas piled high in the national treasury in Beijing. These precious moun- tains were chipped away at everyday to pay for opium, in a short time eroded like the aftermath 0 「 a massive landslide. Moreover, opium-related corruption crippled the Chinese, from high offcials in Beijing's Forbidden City [ 0 the mass of addicts in filthy opium den alleys. China decayed, and Qing became its last dynasty. Britain knew that Qing China was very wealthy, so it brought aboutthe two Opium Wars and extorted large indemnities from China. The total amount Qing China had [ 0 pay Britain was 34 trillion yen ( 3.4 trillion US$) in today's currency. lt also paid seven trillion ) ℃ n [ 0 France. Qing China struggled in this living hell, and tried to escape into transient pleasure of flesh and 、 vine and drug, but 、 vas unable [ 0 continue this unsustainable fagade in the wake of its newfound poverty. China could not even recall the brilliance of its wealth and splendor, and its pride as the birthplace 0 「 great civilization. country was in shambles, experi- encing misfortune after misfortune, and signs 0 「 restoration 、 never again. China tumbled dO 、 the steep staircase of disrepair, thanks t0 an enthusiastic kick in the back from Britain. The British Empire showed 0 伍 its elegant way oflife as a wealthy nation that had successfully realized a popular shibboleth of the time, [ 0 become "wealthy and militarily powerful." Britain had colonized one fourth of the globe. ln the world ofthe 19th century 、 rife With poverty, starvation, infectious despair—Britain Ⅵ, ・ as revered as a parliamentary democracy, 、、 said [ 0 ShOW 0 伍 the maturity Of itS government. Most history books about the Meiji lmperial Restoration of 1868 make no mention of opium. Opium flows through the arteries of world history from time immemorial. If the Opium Wars had not occurred ⅲ China, the Meiji Restoration would not have taken place. Did the young lowly samurai men who played leading roles in the Restoration have any connectlons tO OP1t1m. The profit 丘 om opium was of a different order of magnitude from any other trade goods. lhat is why Asia was flooded with opium oflndia and Turkey that Britain and the 12

0 0 0 is it necessary for the entire country Of Japan, a maJOr technological and eco- nomic power, tO meet the standard set by the U.S. and or the ・ ()J ・ nited Nations or UNESCO?The Japanese political world, financial circles, lvory towers, and mass media 浦 blindly chantthe praises of globalization. Globalization would erase Japan'S borders, condemn our own spiritual culture as a symptom ofthe so-called "Galåpagos syndrome," and hasten the destruction 0fJapan itself. Are notJapanese leaders merely groveling [ 0 powerful figureheads in other countries? Japan's globalization" has already brought about strange results. For instance, TO- kyo's world-famous hi-tech Akihabara Station is labeled 、 'AKB" for the sake of foreign na- tionals. (AKB also happens [ 0 be a very popular singing group of teenage girls.) ls this globalization an ephemeral moneymaking attempt? ls it a way of appealing [ 0 people from the English-speaking world? Will the pride of the Japanese people be crushed as they become obsequious tO Other countries, become rootless "citizens Of the 、 and lose their native homes?lhe globalization being pushed forward in Japan is Just another name for C'Westernization. Today a type 0 「 globalization is in vogue, in which Japanese words written in 可 / characters are replaced with the much less complex んれれん〃 4 script used tO 、 foreign words. This is an attempt to ruin the country by abolishing the Japanese language and making English the nationallanguage. After defeating Japan in World War ll' the U. S. Army General Headquarters (GHQ) in Tokyo seriously considered abolishing the Japanese language altogether. G10balization is nothing but a blatant scheme in which m 可 or corporate groups across the 、 vorld are striving [ 0 dO business in multiple countries, abOliSh customs, liberalize trade, and monopolize the globaleconomy. 石 e Japanese government is frantically trying to improve the English skills ofthe peo- ple by inviting many so-called "native" teachers from the English-speaking world [ 0 Japan ・ English has been a required subject in Japanese schools since the hot, humid summer 0 「 1945. lt is required in examinationS for entering schOOls or companies. The alphabet is alSO included in tests for some kindergarten children. Globalization inspires an inferiority complex among the Japanese people who have poor English-language skills. Japanese who cannot speak English are discriminated as un- educated or intellectually challenged—there is a certain shame should one have poor Eng- lish skills. Yetthe surprisingly overwhelming majority ofJapanese people struggle [ 0 master ifthey studied hard, shouldn't it. is a nation 0fvery talented and smart individuals they have the top English skills in the worl 譱 、 American universities judge whether or not [ 0 accept international students according [ 0 the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). But the Test of English for lnterna- 20