Kublai Khan

The Japanese are coming! Now there's a fresh twist     and just when Pearl Harbor seemed poised to become     another Asiamerindian household word amid     electronics, megavision and technological hoopla.     Surprise. They're outslugging us. We're cannon     fodder amidst cunning economic wiles. The "sneaky"     Yellow Peril (updated and given a newer "slant" from     that 19th century prejudicial posturing) has gone     awry. No death march at Bataan. No G.I. blues. Old     Cornpipes General MacArthur at ease; Inchon still     years away. Where is Emperor Tojo when we need     him? Who remembers the Aryans of the East? A     Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere?     Is SEATO still intact? If Korea, Formosa, Singapore     and Hong Kong are "little Japans" does that mean     we're to become, by default, the new coolies?     Tha land of the Rising Sun is broader than a battleship     listing in heavy seas    -    it's the New world Order. Is     North America being prepared as hewers of grain and     drawers of petroleum? Alas, co-existence brings     dilemmas: the Toyota outwits even a "K" car. And     them outpacing our GNP at 6% per annum. It's enough     to rethink the whole scheme of things. They're     obviously in the forefront of the New Economic     Policy. More than just "Nippon"    -    that's simply a bad     press release from the dark days of a misunderstood,     but euphemistically labelled "second global conflict".     Rubber and fibre sanctions will do it every lime. The     Arizona and Oklahoma will testify to that. Feudal     Japan would never have tolerated it, either. Who's to     say the Samurai are caught up in splilting hairs?     Admiral Perry should have stayed out of Tokyo Bay.     The Earthquake of 1923 just made things worse.     Land's End means more than Manchuria and resources.     Industry and wily opportunism have broader vistas.     The Kuril Islands are a No Man's Land hut so are the     Ainus, a primordial white race of Asia.     What's red and white and comes in with the tide?     America. Compared to the Japanese miracle, it's all     washed up. It's hard to contemplate N.Y.C. as a     suburb of Osaka, but try. The Japanese believe in     communal bathing, so will North Americans when the     recession hits full stride. Remember, shower with a     friend.     Japan is a land of aura. Of mystery. Genghis Khan     never got there in one piece but sent his legions     anyway. Flotsam and jetsam. A bully vanquished.     1066 in reverse.     Britain was the workshop of the Victorian world.     Japan is the Britain of the universe. The whole cosmos     is borrowing her tricks. No one does things so     efficiently. No one has developed cooperation to such     a fine "T". Nowhere is individualism shepherded to     the goal of the "greater good".     Pierre Trudeau would be pleased. "To each his own     according to his worth." Sounds impressive. Does that     mean Jaffa oranges are safe to eat    -    mercury and     cyanide poisoning notwithstanding. Will the Levant     acknowledge the supremacy of the Orient?     What's new about mulberry leaves? Are silk worms     interlopers, too?     Shogun is too realistic for the narrow orchestration of     facts. The difference? They play to win.     Hands down, Kirin makes a wonderful beer. Sushi     bars are all the rage. Leyte Gulf was more than a     tempura explosion, Corning Ware or "Made in Japan"     labels produced in bulk.     Coral Gardens is a real and legitimate extension of the     Rice Factory idea.     Cipangu. As you like, what you will. No race has     undergone a swifter transformation in the world's     eye.     They deserve more than groping admiration. They     deserve our admirals, too. Who else outfoxed military     victory reversing it from the insides cadaver out? The     peter principle enshrined. The victors don't enjoy the     spoils.     The Lion's Share is as it should.