小さな新生国家　東ティモール 

Recentry I read a book about East Timor.
Do you know East Timor???
It is a tiny country that occupies the eastern half of the island of Timor.

The island straddles an ecological border between Asia and Australia.
So there are not only Australian but also Asian species.
Yes, East Timor is so attractive country.

However,
this country experienced a tragedy, before the independence.
For more than 400 years,
Portugal have governed as colony.
After that,
War broke out between East Timor and Indonesia.
because Indonesia annexed Eate Timor by main force,
Indonesian army cracked down on independent faction completely.
As a result,
about 200,000 East Timorese were killed in the fighting for 24 years.


Now, East Timor is one of the poorest countries in the world
40% of the population live on less than $1.50 per day.
This tiny new country have a lot of problem.
But they are not miserable,
because they were able to get independence.


五輪開会！　日中関係の行方 

the opening ceremony of Olympics has taken place
at China's packed national stadium !

I have seen the ceremony,
and i was surprised at a dramatic display and the scale.
It seems that
some 10,000 performers took part in the festivities !
Wow.
Fireworks are so beautiful.

Beijing Olympic

Beijing Olympic02


By the way,
According to the survey of japanese and chinese media,
There is a difference about Japan-China relations
between china and japan.
67% of Chinese believe that Japan-China relations have improved.
However only 36% of Japanese believe
that Japan-China relations are good.

Good Japan-China relations is just one-sided ???

高層スラム　九龍城砦とは 

Have you heard about The Kowloon Walled City(九龍城砦）?

The Kowloon Walled City is big slum in outskirts of Hong Kong.
This slum was called the Casbah of the East,Asian gamble den.
And notorious for its excess of brothels, casinos, opium dens, cocaine parlours...

However,
The Kowloon Walled City was not normal slum.
The slum was composed of a lot of bank building.
Unplanned construction make it complex slum labyrinth...

九龍城


The Kowloon Walled city was originally military fortress.
When Britain made Hong Kong British colony,
the Kowloon became the enclave like buffer zone.
After WW��,
A lot of refugee flowed in the city.
So in 1990
it had 50,000 inhabitants on 0.026 km²,
making it one of the most densely populated urban areas on Earth.

This slum don't exest now.
In 1993,
China government torn down the walled city
and make it changed to the park.

When i lived in Hong Kong,
The Kowloon Walled City had not yet broken down.
I feel strange.


九龍城02



アジアで相次ぐ災害 

Yesterday,
south-western China was hit by a strong earthquake
Surprisingly,
The death toll is now more than 12,000,
officials say, and looks set to rise...
And moreover, a lot of people are said to be buried under the rubble
I wonder this earthquake affect the Beijing Olympic.

That reminds me,
Recentry,
the cyclone hit Burma(Myanmar).
You know, about a hundred thousand people died because of this cyclone.
That's too bad.
On Monday,
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed his "immense frustration"
and blamed Burma's government for slow response.

I feel a lot of disaster strikes in Asia.
Actually,
We have to remember that this can happen to us too.
we might be next...


China earthquakes


インドネシアの肺なしカエル 

At the island of Borneo in Indonesian,
New toad has been discovered.
Its name is the Bornean Flat-headed Frog (Barbourula kalimantanensis).

This toad is no more than 40 mm in length
and live in the rainforests of Borneo.

Surprisingly,
This amphibian don't have a pair of lungs !!!
Instead, they breathes entirely through its skin.

I guess
there are many interesting lives around the world.
Maybe,
a lot of interesting lives have not yet been discovered.
We should protect the environment, shouldn't we?


Barbourula_kalimantanensis.jpg