Why did it take last week's murder of a Japanese photojournalist during demonstrations in Myanmar (also known as Burma) for the Japanese government to take the repressive regime in that country seriously?
The mercantilist policies of successive Japanese administrations have emphasized trade and economics while ignoring the human suffering, intolerable politics and human-rights violations that occur in many parts of the world.
As long as both Japan and China have access to natural resources, that's all that seems to matter. Moral duplicity is not acceptable.
If only money talks, perhaps calling for boycotts against Japanese and Chinese products is a fair means of getting the message across to the moral midgets of the world.
kerry berger