Literature: Sirens of the Sky

Out beyond infinity's edge
Far above the terrestrial ledge
Above -- diamond dancing lights
Below -- silent sleeping vertigo
Chasing the world from far above
Drifting up into the endless night

To the stars -- to the brightest stars
Let's cross the purest darkness
Leaving all reason far behind
Nothing else on my mind
Only your desire sets me free
Let us drift above, all alone

I cannot resist your call
We will set our wings and fly
Let us be the sirens of the sky

Politics: Shoot Japanese Devils Game

I heard recently that the Chinese newspaper People's Daily recently put up an online video game where the player shoots Japanese "devils", world war war criminals. Worsening relationships between the two countries have made it perfectly legal to throw the anger at Japanese. "Japanese devil" is a common racial slur for China's regional rivals. The game marked the same day as the Chinese government approved two national days, September 3 to mark Japan's defeat in World War II and December 13 to commemorate the victims of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, where six weeks of slaughter ensued on the wartime capital of China and ultimately culminated in over 200,000 casualties.

Both my parents attended university in Nanjing and my parents have many friends and some relatives there. My feeling about this is that neither country should stir up angry popular sentiment like this. The Japanese should stop paying respects to war criminals at the Yasukuni shrine where 14 class A war criminals are honored. Mutual respect requires both sides to own up to history and not continually bring up the past to assault the other.

If you're curious, the game can be found here. The game is all in Chinese.