According to The Inquirer, Japanese lawmakers are again in talks about building an underwater train line that would connect Japan and South Korea, similar to the channel tunnel that connects me to Paris. It seems like a plausible idea that has lots of benefits. Prime Minister Fukuda has been promoting improving relations with other Asian countries for ages so this can’t be a bad idea, really. Or so I thought, until I spotted this gem;
“Concrete steps will be discussed in the future,” said a secretary to Japan’s former defense chief Seishiro Eto, a member of the committee, adding that the lawmakers have yet to inform South Korea about the plan.
Brilliant idea there. I absolutely love the fact these guys are insisting “Hey yeah, we are really super serious about this train. Look, I have my serious face on. What’s that? Oh, what will happen when people get to Korea? We hadn’t really thought that far.”
Painful oversight ignored however, this is probably the sort of progress Japan could benefit from. I wouldn’t put “Build a really expensive underwater train” above “Stop going to shrines that celebrate war criminals” in the list of things to do, but since that seems unlikely I guess we have to accept what we can get right now.
Yet more exciting news is that the government are to launch a new group dedicated to becoming friends with South Korea. Whilst this may sound good, remember that this group will do absolutely nothing at all, as is the style in Japanese parliament when it comes to international relations. Oh well, we can dream, can’t we.
I have made a few suggestions of what this group might want to consider in order to improve relations with Korea;
Do: Tell them about the railway idea. They might be quite happy! They might even help!
Don’t: Build the bridge right up to their border, then create a diversion and quickly build the rest while they aren’t looking.
Do: Get rid of this fingerprinting nonsense.
Don’t: Keep the fingerprinting, or add mandatory retina scans, finger and toe counts or any other sort of bizarre measures.
Do: Offer Korean as a language in schools.
Don’t: Gloss over everything in textbooks.
Do: Acknowledge the importance of good relations with nearby countries.
Don’t: Do nothing for the next 20 years.
Any bets for when we’ll see some change? I’m guessing I’ll be celebrating my 60th birthday.
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My only main concern is that it sounds expensive.
Justin: If it stops the government from building more international airports on sinking land it’s worth the price.
One earthquake screws the whole underground network though.
Brilliant! Not really the tunnel but your Do/Don’t list are great ^^ Their hearts may be in the right place but informing South Korea should be first :P Great site btw
Justin: I imagine it’ll be very strong for that reason. We’ll have to see, though.
Shay: Thanks :) Always nice to have a person appreciating my writing style :)
What about an underwater vacuum train so there is no air resistance….4000mph here we come.