Humour in the face of war
By Oli
At 9:09 AM · Tuesday, 25 February · 2003
To Humour · Japan
The world is presently focussed on Iraq, and a potential war that nobody wants, but some want less than others. However living in Japan there’s also another danger - North Korea. The statements North Korea makes are even more unusually juxtaposed than those from the USA and Iraq; ‘We want peace but we’ll attack you at the slightest provocation’. The Japanese popular media does nothing to help. I recently saw a prime-time talk show playing a dramatisation of a North Korean missile strike on Japan, ending with a little girl in Tokyo asking Mommy, what’s that?
. I half expected a Japanese McCarthyist to appear, ranting about the ‘Red menace’.
So what to Japanese people think about this? Older people I’ve spoken to feel very concerned about North Korea’s threat. While they aren’t doing anything different because of it, they seem very aware. Young people I’ve spoken to seem to be worried, yet at the same time not really concerned. As one said I’m worried, but it doesn’t seem real
.
My friend Anthony sent me a humourous error page that plays on the present situation in Iraq - check it out, it’s funny.
