Dear Friends,

Sorry I didn’t update this blog page that often recently, because somebody was always peeping at me…

No that’s not the reason either.

Actually I was updating my facebook everyday.

Facebook is much easier for me to do.

So please visit my facebook as well at http://www.facebook.com/crossxborder

I will keep this blog and see you anyway anywhere!

This is the view spot I like most. 10 minutes walk from my place.

Nobody goes there.  I don’t know why…  

You can see the roofs of those old Kanazawa style houses. 

A friend in Yokohama told me about this movie yesterday, so I just went to watch it!

The story was written about the early 1960s in Yokohama.

Yokohama is the city I probably like the most in Japan.

Somebody is peeping at me.

Everytime I go to Yokohama, I feel a lump in my throat…

I finnaly bought an ipad2 today!

Wish me a luck!

The boy attended the wedding party of his grandma!

Mamma Mia!

May your union be a long and happy one!

Does it still exist?

One of my friends asked me today.

I don’t know, but I think it still exists.

20 years ago, I had an audience with Prince Hironomiya at his palace as a member of Japan Youth Delegation to China.

I remember that time there was a bunch of “Imperial honored cigarette” on the table. I could get one but I didn’t.

Should I have taken one and tasted it?

Who believes if I predicted this poll result more than 10 years ago?

 

China overtook Japan as the most important partner for the United States in Asia for the first time since 1985, reflecting the country’s increasing economic weight, according to the results of a survey covering about 200 U.S. opinion leaders released Tuesday by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

 

The U.S. survey commissioned to Gallup in February and March by the ministry also showed that Japan tied with China for the position of the most important U.S. partner in Asia in a poll of some 1,200 people aged 18 or above among the general public.

 

Among the opinion leaders, 56% said China is the most important partner in Asia for the United States, compared with 36% who named Japan. The poll of the general public put both countries at 44%.

 

The margin of error was 7% for the opinion leaders and 3% for the general public, according to the ministry.

 

As for reasons why the opinion leaders chose China or Japan as the most important U.S. partner in Asia, economic ties and U.S.-bound investment topped the list for both countries, while they cited the size of national land and population for China and the alliance and friendship for Japan as the second most common reason.

 

The Gallup research, conducted almost every year since 1960, demonstrated that U.S. confidence in Japan remains almost unchanged despite a recent bilateral row over the relocation of a U.S. base in Okinawa.

 

Ninety percent of the polled leaders in the U.S. government, academic, business, media, religion and labor sectors as well as 79% of the general public viewed Japan ‘‘as a dependable ally or friend,’’ compared with 91% and 80% in the previous year.

 

On the Japan-U.S. security treaty, which marked its 50th anniversary this year, 90% of the opinion leaders and 86% of the general public said the pact ‘‘should be maintained,’’ showing continued strong support for the security arrangement.

 

On the economic front, 64% of the opinion leaders and 54% of the general public supported the idea of signing a free trade agreement between Japan and the United States, while 49% of the leaders backed the introduction of Japan’s high-speed railway system to their country.

 

The question on the railway system was included in the survey for the first time and posed only to the opinion leaders.

 

Asked whether they support the idea of Japan becoming a permanent U.N. Security Council member, opinion leaders were split with 56% backing it and 41% opposing it.

 

Of those against the idea, 69% said Japan lags behind other countries in providing contributions in personnel in the areas of U.N. peacekeeping operations and multinational forces. This question was posed only to the opinion leaders.