Asian Actors in Hollywood

     Just as Asian actresses had a difficult time getting meaningful roles in Hollywood, the men also had a hard time.  The stereotype of Asian male was deeply rooted in Hollywood, where male actors could only get parts to play either villains or servants, always inferior to none Asian actors in pay and position.  However, in the very early years of Hollywood it wasn't quite like that.  As mentioned in the blog on Asian actresses, Anna May Wong enjoyed great success in Hollywood at first, but then her roles began to shrink and she was forced to move to Europe to revive her career.
     In the early years of Hollywood, during the silent film era, a Japanese actor by the name of Sessue Hayakawa was possibly one of the biggest male stars in Hollywood.  Hayakawa played leading romantic roles, the "great lover" of silent film era.  Yes, he was the big romantic star before Rudolf Valentino.  In fact, Valentino may have never gotten his start had Hayakawa not turned down the role for the movie The Sheik, which rocketed Valentino to stardom!  Hayakawa was the highest paid actor in Hollywood at one point, making a reported two million dollars a year, an unthinkable amount in pre World War One era!  He is said to have regularly earned $5,000 or more a week during his heyday.  He built a huge castle-like house in Beverly Hills, drove a gold-plated Pierce-Arrow car, and threw lavish parties.  He hung out with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Tom Mix, and such famous Hollywood luminaries.  He was a Hollywood mega star before there was such a thing.  
     Just who was Sessue Hayakawa?  Some of you may remember him from his role as a psychotic Japanese prison camp commander in the 1957 movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai.  Born Kintaro Hayakawa of a respected Samurai family, his father was the governor of Chiba Prefecture.  Hayakawa attended the Japanese Imperial Naval Academy, but was forced to abandon his naval career when he busted an eardrum diving too deep while swimming with friends.  He decided to pursue a business career, possibly in banking, so he came to America to study economics and business at the University of Chicago.  While at the university, he played football, was a star quarterback for the varsity team.  After graduating from the university, on his way back to Japan he spent some time in Los Angeles and was exposed to Hollywood.  He became fascinated with the movie industry and rather than returning to Japan, he decided to stay and try his hand at acting.  He became almost an immediate success, landing leading roles due to what was referred to as "brooding good looks."
     Although he enjoyed great success (he even owned his own production company), anti Asian laws and sentiment were beginning to have an effect on his career.  Laws were passed making it illegal for Asians and Caucasians to kiss, let alone marry. So romantic scenes could not be made between an Asian and a Caucasian actor or actress.  He made the transition from silent films to "talkies" without much problem, but unless he produced the movie, roles were becoming extremely rare.  So, like his Asian female counterpart Anna May Wong, Hayakawa left Hollywood in the 1930s and went to Europe where he, like Anna May, resurrected his movie career.  In a way he was fortunate that he went to Europe in the 1930s, he would have probably been put in an internment camp during the war, had he stayed in America.  Hayakawa was against the war and felt that Japan was wrong in going to war against America.  While in Paris during war years, he actually helped the French Resistance movement with transmitting messages, etc.  The Nazis did not suspect him because he was Japanese, remember, Japan was an ally of Germany!
     When the war ended one of the Hollywood big time producers remembered him and invited him to come back to Hollywood.  He almost wasn't allowed entry, because he was Japanese.  But some Americans who were in Paris during the war vouched for him, said that he actually even helped the French Resistance, so he was allowed to come to Hollywood.  However, his career never took off in America and he returned to Japan in the 1960s.
     It is ironic that the two arguably most talented Asian actors and actresses of the early era, Anna May Wong and Sessue Hayakawa, had to leave America and go to Europe to have success in landing good roles!  All of it was due to the passage of anti Asian laws and other racist policies and attitudes on the part of US government and corporate America. Essentially, Asians were portrayed and thought of as a subservient, inferior, and an unattractive people.  It reached a point where most Americans actually believed that Asians were intellectually and physically inferior, and World War Two anti Japanese propaganda only encouraged that kind of thinking. 
     Today, it seems there is almost an overkill in the number of Asian actors and actresses.  It is almost as if Hollywood is trying to make up for those years when actors such as Hayakawa and Wong had to go to Europe to find success.  Still, it is mind boggling how in this day and age, Hollywood still manages to portray in some movies or TV shows, Asia and Asians inaccurately, presenting caricatures.  But that's Hollywood, I guess.  It will never change, and Hollywood was never known to have been historically or factually accurate in their portrayal of people and cultures, Asian or otherwise!  I believe Hollywood refers to it as "artistic freedom."

Asian Actresses in Hollywood

     In general, Asian actors and actresses did not fare well in Hollywood.  In the early years there were hardly any starring roles for Asians, and if there was a leading Asian role for an actor or an actress, it was filled with none Asians, "made up" to look like Asians!  Of course, things have changed now dramatically and there are many roles today filled with Asian actors and actresses.  But such was not the case in the past, especially in the early years of Hollywood and before World War Two.
     The first major Asian actress who was a star in Hollywood was of Chinese ancestry, born in Los Angeles, California.  Anna May Wong was a big star in the early years.  She managed to get some leading roles, but ultimately, the best roles always went to none Asians.  Her biggest disappointment was probably when she was not cast in a leading role in the movie version of Pearl S. Buck's novel, The Good Earth.  Although she tried out for the part, the role instead was given to Luis Rainer, a German born actress made up to look "Chinese."  Nevertheless, Anna May Wong was the first real Asian woman who became a Hollywood star.
     The next Asian actress that managed to get starring roles in Hollywood was Shirley Yamaguchi.  Born in China of Japanese parents, Yoshiko Yamaguchi became bilingual at an early age.  She got her first acting roles in Japanese sponsored Manchukuo Production movies.  She took on a Chinese stage name of Li Xianglan so that she could play roles of a Chinese woman.  She was also a very talented singer and popularized the theme song from the movie in which she starred, China Nights. Yes, the very popular song that most Americans are familiar with, China Nights (Shina no Yoru in Japanese), was a theme song from a Japanese movie in which she starred. 
     She was called Shirley in Western films because many thought she resembled Shirley Temple!Shortly after the war ended she came to the States and was quite a hit as a singer and made several movies.  She played opposite Robert Stack in the 1955 movie, The House of Bamboo.  But her career, though successful, was short lived.  She returned to Japan in the 1960s and entered politics and served in the Diet (Japanese Congress).
     About the only other Hollywood actress of note in the 1950s was Miiko Taka.  Not that there weren't any actresses available, it is just that roles were very hard to come by.  Miiko would probably not have had the chance to star in a movie if it had not been for a twist of fate.  When casting began for the female role opposite Marlon Brando in the movie Sayonara, based on James Michener's novel, Audrey Hepburn was offered the role!  However, to her credit, Hepburn turned down the role saying that the role should be given to an Asian actress, that it should not be played by an occidental actress!  For Hepburn to turn down the role and say that was huge.  In the 1950s, Marlon Brando was one of the biggest, if not the biggest young male movie stars in Hollywood.  His roles in The Streetcar Name Desire and On the Waterfront not only made him a huge international star but won him an Oscar!  So, one did not turn down a role to play opposite Brando so lightly.  But Hepburn, who was also a huge star at the time, turned down the role, forcing the producers to look for someone else.  It was decided to use someone completely unknown, so in a typical Hollywood fashion Miiko was "discovered" while she was working in a drug store!
     Miiko Taka, a Nisei raised in L.A. was a complete unknown.  But, she managed to carry off the role quite well.  However, Hollywood was not through casting non-Asians in roles of Asians.  In that movie, although they couldn't get Hepburn, they got Ricardo Montalban, a Mexican born actor no less, to play the role of a Japanese Kabuki actor!  Why?  Who knows!
     So, in the pre war and early post war years, it was very slim pickings for Asian actresses.  However, things began to improve somewhat, and, of course, today we have many Asian actresses, both American born and foreign born.

Iran Deal...Who Benefits?

     The administration insists that the Iran Nuclear Deal that we struck and are trying to get Congress and Senate to approve is a wonderful deal.  It is a deal of the century, a deal that averted a disastrous war, according to Kerry who brokered the deal and Obama, who is determined to establish  his legacy as a peacemaker in Middle East. 
     Averted a war?  What war?  Talk about a spin on the subject!  However, the consequences of having the deal go through might very well bring about a war.  How, you might ask.  Is Israel going to attack Iran?  Not likely.  What will happen is that as Iran grows in power, which it will not only because it will receive all the money, but because it will increase its arsenal of weapons.  Once Iran reaches a point where it will feel that it can defend itself successfully against Israeli or other attacks, you can bet your bottom dollar that those Mullahs will launch an attack either openly or using proxies like the Hamas or Hezbollah.  Iran is the biggest sponsor of terrorism in the world and that isn't going to change, because for one thing, the wonderful Nuclear Deal makes no mention of Iran having to curb its terror group support!
     I  don't know how many people, our Congress and Senate included, made note of the fact that the so called "deal" was brokered and struck with the participation of the P-5 plus Germany.  P-5 are the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the U.S., Russia, UK, France, and China.  Germany was thrown in for good measure because it is economically the most powerful country in Europe.  But what makes this whole scene appear ironic is that all of those countries, except for us, are the biggest traders with Iran, even during all of the time the sanctions were in place!
     Russia is largely responsible for establishing Iran's nuclear program.  In addition, Russia was and is one of the main suppliers of military hardware to Iran.  Most of the nuclear expert advisors and technicians in Iran, still working, are Russians.  As soon as the deal was struck and sanctions supposedly to be relaxed, Russia immediately signed a contract with Iran to sell them a missile defense system S-300.  It is a sophisticated, advanced missile defense system that when in place would make it very difficult for anyone, including U.S. or Israel to penetrate Iranian air space.  We have complained, of course.  Kerry has voiced disappointment to his Russian colleague and others in the administration have said that Russia can't do that, sanctions haven't been lifted yet.  Well, since when did Russia listen to our objections?  This is a multi-billion dollar deal that Russia needs very much to shore-up its coffers.  Putin doesn't give a damn about our protests, he has shown that in his actions in Ukraine, he knows we or Europe will not do a damn thing!  So the deal will go through and Iran will get its missile defense system.  What do we do in response?  We just announced that we will send more jets to Europe.....that's really going to scare the hell out of Russia and Iran!
     China is also one of the biggest traders with Iran.  China has technicians (since 1980) in various fields in Iran and has struck multiple deals to get petroleum.  China provides arms to Iran through the backdoor, sort of.  North Korea is used to provide arms sales, this way China cannot be accused of breaking sanctions!  North Korea, of course, doesn't give a damn and is glad to get hard currency while China not only gets a percentage of profits but the good will of Iran.  China averages 171 Million Dollars worth of sales to Iran per year.
     Iran is France's third leading customer in Middle East.  France is in Iran in a big way in automotive field.  64% of cars in Iran are French made.  France has a Peugeot and Renault assembly plants in Iran.
     Germany has over 100 firms either with offices or sales agents.  Roughly 12,000 German firms have representatives in Iran.  Germany's trade with Iran averages 5.67 billion a year and 80% of various machinery in Iran is made in Germany!  Germany is also known to sell small arms to Iran, submachineguns, assault rifles, etc.
     Even UK, our staunchest ally has maintained trade interests with Iran, as have we, through proxies!  So, basically, all countries involved have vested interest in seeing Iran's sanctions lifted!  In our case, it is our oil companies that are hungrily eyeing Iran for possible exploitation as they have done with other countries in the Middle East and with Iran, before the fall of Shah!  We have also sold certain none military machinery and parts to Iran.
     Aside from the news about Russia selling the SA-300 Missile Defense system to Iran, despite our protests, another issue surfaced that is even more disturbing.  The Associated Press ran a story that divulged some information on "side deals" that were made during the so-called nuclear talks.  Apparently IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the governing body for nuclear control and inspection, made a side deal with Iran.  It seems that Iran will be allowed to use its own technicians to do nuclear site inspections with IAEA oversight.  Not sure what that means exactly, but the bottom line is that Iran will self inspect.  Iran will submit samples from each site that they collect, to show to IAEA that they are not producing weapons grade material.  Yeah, right!  I guess lots of people still believe in the tooth fairy!  Obviously IAEA trusts Iran a lot more than I do!
     Despite vehement denials by IAEA. it is obvious that Iran would be allowed to "self inspect," especially the top secret military site Parchin and other similar locations.  Kerry first claimed that he did not have access to IAEA's classified documents.  That is not true.  IAEA is our creation and we are on the governing board and have control and access to all of their material, classified or otherwise! Initially, the administration supported IAEA's claim that Iran was not going to be allowed to "self inspect," that the accusations were not true.  But when Associated Press (which was accused of making up this stuff) produced proof, their reporter did have access to documents that Kerry claimed to have not seen, a different spin was put on the matter.  Now it seems everything is just a big misunderstanding and miscommunication between IAEA and everyone else.  What a mess!
     Yet, we have Senators and Congressmen that apparently are strictly following the party line or believe in the tooth fairy and are supporting this horrible deal.  This is a deal that is not a deal but basically allowing Iran to do as it pleases!  General Soleimani, the so-called "shadow commander" who is the head of Iran's Quds Force, their Special Operations, went to Moscow to ink the deal with Russia on the S-300s.  The Quds Force, which we allowed into Iraq to fight ISIS did experience some success in the field at first, but now is going nowhere.  But, allowing them into Iran and having the little success has gained them tremendous amount of prestige in the Muslim world.  On the other hand, the very fact that we allowed them into Iran makes us look "weak" in the eyes of the Muslims.  After all, we couldn't handle ISIS so we asked help from our enemy, the Iranians!
     The Nuclear Deal will probably go through because there are enough politicians who see things differently.  For instance, there are some moderates, independents, who now claim to see the light and are for the deal.  Well, if the deal does go through, it won't be the end of the world.  But it won't bring peace to the Middle East as some claim and I doubt if Obama will get the Nobel Peace Prize like Jimmy Carter did for his brokering of Camp David Accords.  But then again, the Nobel Committee has been known to do some odd things, who knows, may be Obama has some inside information.  Whatever the case, the world will not be a safer place as claimed by the proponents of the deal.  If anything it will be more dangerous because Iran will have access to more funds to arm itself even more and increase its support of terror groups.
    

The "Real" Last Manchurian Princess?

     I first did a blog on "The Last Manchurian Princess" last year and it was about the traitor Yoshiko Kawashima, the distant cousin of the last Chinese Emperor Puyi.  Kawashima, as explained was adopted by Japanese and raised and educated in Japan.  In a sense she was more Japanese than she was Manchu or Chinese.  I did another blog more recently also titled "The Last Manchurian Princess," and this one was about Yoshiko Kawashima's youngest sister, who although educated in Japan, was much more of a Manchu/Chinese and never committed any traitorous acts against her people.  She died recently and she was by all accounts, the last Manchu princess.  However, like everything else in life, nothing is definite, nothing is set in stone!
     It is a known fact that royalty around the world had a tendency to intermarry, mostly for political reasons.  This practice goes back centuries when couples were often forced into marriage because the rulers of their respective kingdoms or countries wanted to insure ties, blood ties with their former enemies or rivals.  That is how Catharine the Great became the Empress of Russia.  She was but a minor German princess who was forced into marriage by her king and family to assure peace between Russia and Germany who have been warring historically for ever!  Later on in time Queen Victoria's children, about a dozen of them scattered and inter married with foreign royalty so that about a dozen or so European royalty were her grandchildren and cousins with each other!  Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany was a first cousin of George V of England who was first cousin of Nicholas II of Russia, so on and so forth!  You could say there was a lot of interbreeding among European royalty, some would call it inbreeding.  The situation was not all that different in Asia.
     China was always the big power in Asia and it was advantageous for many weaker countries to marry off their royalty with Chinese royalty to assure "protection" as well as favorable trade.  The various Korean dynasties married off their young to Chinese royalty.  During the Mongol reign in the 13th Century, they married with Mongol royalty.  Later, during the Imjin Wars in the 16th Century, a Korean Prince married a Jurchen (Manchu) Princess  to secure their alliance.  Korea needed Jurchen's help to fight the invading Japanese.  So, Koreans make no bones about it.  They admit that their royalty intermarried with Chinese, Mongol, and Manchu.
     Japan was a different story. Being an island country and somewhat isolated, the Japanese did not seek alliances with China or other countries.  However, Japan's constant invasion of Korea and abduction of Korean artisans, also brought about the capture and abduction of some Korean aristocracy which intermarried with Japanese.  So the often cited claim that the Japanese are completely homogeneous is false.  The modern Japanese is not only a product of Japanese mixing with aboriginal Ainu, but intermarriage with Korean and Chinese as well.  This increased dramatically during the period that Japan colonized Korea and Manchuria and attempted to conquer China.
     When Japan gained concessions in Manchuria after the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese immediately set about to try to find likely candidates to be their "puppets" in the future political arena in Manchuria.  Shortly after the Ching Dynasty fell and the Chinese Nationalists came into power, the Japanese immediately launched into a campaign of befriending Puyi, the ousted last Emperor of China.  Yoshiko Kawashima was recruited to spy for the Kwantung Army and later became one of the key figures in Japan's attempt to establish the state of Manchukuo. The Japanese also sent Puyi's younger brother, Pujie, to Japan to be educated.  Pujie attended the Gukushuin (Peer's College), an exclusive prep school for aristocrats and royalty.  After graduating from Gukushuin, Pujie was sent to the Japanese Imperial Military Academy.  Upon receiving a thorough Japanese education, he was married off to Princess Hiro, a cousin of Emperor Hirohito.  You can imagine what the Japanese plans were like for the couple.  With the establishment of Manchukuo, Puyi was brought back from Peking and crowned the new Emperor of Manchukuo.  No doubt Pujie would have fit in the role someplace in the military.  Temporarily, Yoshiko Kawashima was given the rank of Colonel General and commanded the Manchukuo's military.  But Japan's plans for Manchukuo did not pan out.
     Puyi became increasingly disappointed with the Japanese until he reached a point where he actually became anti-Japanese.  Even Yoshiko Kawashima became disillusioned with the Japanese and the whole Manchukuo scheme, and she too began to side with Manchu nationalists.  So, Pujie and his Japanese wife never got the chance to become part of Manchukuo's royalty or leaders, they remained in Japan.  They had a daughter, Kosei, in 1940 and lived rather a simple life.  The daughter was educated in the best schools, Guskushuin's Women's College, and ended up marrying a Japanese aristocrat by the name of Kenji Fukunaga, who was an executive in the automotive industry.  So, Kosei Fukunaga, who is now 75 and still living in Tokyo, could be called the last Manchurian Princess.  She is certainly the last known tie to the Asin-Gioro, the ruling Manchu clan that established the Ching Dynasty of China.  But then, who knows, may be another "cousin" or other relative will turn up someplace!

Post Script to "The Unsung Nisei Heroes of MIS"

     In the previous blog, I mentioned the fact that the Nisei G.I.s of MIS performed invaluable work for all branches of the US military.  However, I failed to give any specific examples of the kind of work that they performed.  So, as a post script to the previous blog, here are some of the examples of the great work done by these Nisei G.I.s.
     There were several books written about the exploits of the famous Merrill's Marauders, some by authors who were not members of that unit, while other were written by former Marauders.  In one such book, written by a former officer with the Marauders, he describes in detail how exceptional work was performed by Nisei G.I.s in combat.   Early on during the campaign, the Marauders were able to gain invaluable intelligence because of the Nisei G.I.s initiative, exceptional bravery, and language skills. 
     The MIS soldiers main task, besides interrogating prisoners, was intercepting Japanese communication, listening-in on radio transmissions and actually sneaking-in close enough to the Japanese positions to overhear conversation.  However, conversations proved not to be of military value and radio transmissions were always coded, requiring decoding which took time, and sometimes the keys to the codes were not available to the MIS troops in the field.  Japanese prisoners were hard to come by, since they rarely surrendered!  The MIS soldiers were frustrated that they could not come up with good intelligence.  Finally, one of them suggested that he be allowed to sneak close enough to the Japanese lines to physically tap-in to the telephone lines. 
     Telephone communication was not coded, since it was considered secure.  The only way to listen-in to telephone conversation was to actually tap the line, and incredibly, that is exactly what the Nisei soldiers did, splicing the Japanese telephone lines and running a line back to the American position!  For the duration of the Marauders campaign in Burma, the Nisei G.I.s performed this task every time they moved to a new position.  They never got caught and the Japanese never found out.  After the war, one of the surviving Japanese officers of the Burma campaign said that the Japanese were befuddled.  They could not figure out how the Marauders were able to stay one step ahead of them!  The Nisei Marauders performed these highly risky and dangerous missions time and time again.  They risked not only being shot by Japanese, but by their own troops who tended to be nervous and could easily mistake them for the enemy!
     The Nisei soldiers performed these missions routinely.  They were never asked to do this, for this was an extremely dangerous job.  Yet they went ahead and did this without being asked or told by their superiors.  Once again, unfortunately they were never recognized for this exceptional work by the army or the news media.  General Frank Merrill, the commanding officer, however, did know and awarded medals to those soldiers who performed this dangerous mission.  But then, General Merril was partial to his Nisei soldiers.  Hollywood, on the other hand, portrayed this work in a movie with a Caucasian soldier doing the dangerous job.  In fact, in the movie Merrill's Marauders, the Nisei soldiers were only shown in passing!  Interestingly, the very same work was performed by the MIS soldiers who were assigned to the Alamo Scouts and the OSS!  Obviously, they did not consult each other yet were able to determine independently that tapping into the telephone lines was the best source of gaining intelligence.
     But the MIS soldiers performed other extremely valuable jobs other than heroics in combat!  During the Pacific Island Campaign, it was the MIS soldiers who discovered that the vast majority of the Japanese prisoners that they were capturing were not from combat units.  They were from "work battalions,"  i.e., ammunition bearers, etc.  They were also mostly ethnic Okinawans, Koreans, and Taiwanese!  Prior to employment of MIS linguists, the Marines were not able to determine, like the first POWs in Guadalcanal, that the prisoners were not ethnic Japanese!  It just goes to show how difficult some languages can be and little subtleties in accent and word usage can escape the ears of a none native speaker.  It is especially true of so-called "hard" languages like most Asian languages, Arabic, Russian, etc.
     During the last battle of the war in the Pacific, the Battle of Okinawa, the MIS soldiers played a very different role.  On Okinawa, the army wisely chose to use MIS soldiers of Okinawan descent.  This was invaluable.  In seeking out hide outs, caves in particular, the MIS soldiers would announce over loudspeakers for the people not to be afraid, to come out.  They gave the address in Japanese as well as in native Okinawan dialect to calm the fears of the people.  Many times in a specific area, an MIS soldier of Okinawan background was used who was originally from that area! This way he could directly appeal to old friends and relatives!  Such was the case of one G.I. of Okinawan descent, Takejiro Higa. 
     Higa was dispatched to a town where he grew up!  His family left Okinawa for Hawaii after he finished his 8th grade.  In Hawaii he finished high school and even attended the University of Hawaii when the war broke out.  He appealed to the people hiding in the cave to come out, that they would not be harmed, that he was originally from that village!  Imagine his surprise when the people emerged from the cave and his former 8th grade teacher, Shunso Nakamura was among them!  There were also a number of his former 8th grade classmates as well!  Thousands of people were saved in such fashion.  Sadly many others perished because they refused to come out, thinking that it was some sort of a trick, or were held against their will by Japanese soldiers.  The US practice, in such cases when people refused to come out, was to throw grenades into the cave and then incinerate everything within with flame thrower.
     Another little known contribution by MIS soldiers took place once the war was over and the US forces occupied Japan.  All of the translating and interpreting was done by MIS members.  The Nisei soldiers were involved in all the war crimes trials that were held not only in Japan but other parts of Asia as well.  There were several MIS soldiers on McArthur's staff that played a very important role in post war Japan and its reconstruction.  For example, the new Japanese constitution was drafted with the help of George Koshi, an MIS soldier who was also a lawyer.  He not only helped the Japanese draft the constitution but wrote the English version!
     The contributions made by the Nisei soldiers of MIS were immeasurable.  They were the true unsung heroes of World War Two.  Much has been made of other unusual contributors to the war effort.  Movies have been made about G.I.s who "saved" precious art works from the Nazis and other unusual little known activities by "unknown" heroes.  But there has never been a movie about MIS and the Nisei soldiers.  In fact, many of their exploits were "stolen" and portrayed as having been done by others!  A movie was even made about the Navajo Code Talkers, of course it is PC to extoll the activities of native Americans, not that they don't deserve it, but still, let's face it, it is PC.  Here in Arizona, a historical landmark known as Squaw Peak was renamed to Piestewa Peak to honor the first Native American woman killed in combat, Lori Piestewa killed in Iraq.  But, it was more of a PC move than anything else.  Good PR for the Governor of Arizona!
     The Nisei G.I.s of MIS made tremendous contribution to the final outcome of the war in the Pacific.  They also made a tremendous contribution in changing the landscape in the US military, especially the army.  Yes, it was the 442nd, the "Go for Broke" Regiment that established the bona fide of Japanese Americans as combat soldiers.  After all, the 442nd is the most highly decorated combat unit in U.S. history!  But it was those "unsung" heroes of the MIS that truly established "trust," yes, I said trust, and allowed future Japanese Americans to do well in the military.  Without them, there would not have been an Eric Shinseki, who reached the highest rank in the army, nor would there be any future high ranking Japanese American soldiers.  Today's successful Japanese Americans in the military owe much to the Nisei G.I.s of MIS of World War Two.  In fact, all Asian Americans who are successful in their respective military careers, owe a large measure of thanks to those brave unsung heroes of MIS.

The Unsung Nisei Heroes of MIS

     I have previously blogged about the underappreciated members of MIS, the Military Intelligence Service of World War Two.  This was primarily a Japanese language intelligence service created before the war started.  Although it did have a German language component, it ended up being a Japanese language outfit.
     Even prior to the outbreak of the war, the US Army saw a need for Japanese linguists.  According to various sources, including research done by Life magazine, there were approximately 100 bona fide Japanese linguists in America at the time.  They were mostly missionaries and academics, too old to serve in the military!  The shortage of Japanese linguists was critical in the military.  There were Caucasian service members who were university trained and considered linguists, but as it proved out, although they could read and write, therefore translate documents, their command of the spoken language was not good enough for the most part.
     The army established Japanese language schools in Presidio of San Francisco in California, Camp Savage and Fort Snelling in Minnesota.  It was decided to recruit soldiers who already had at least some knowledge of Japanese to expedite the process.  This meant that Nisei or Americans of Japanese descent had to be recruited.  There weren't that many Nisei soldiers in the army, so essentially most Nisei soldiers were "volunteered" by their commanding officers.  The program was set up for a six month course and the first batch of graduates emerged in the spring of 1942.  There were 40 Nisei enlisted men and two officers.
     The biggest problem that these and subsequent members of MIS faced was the lack of trust by Caucasian members of the service.  Initially, the Nisei MIS members were assigned to rear echelon to translate captured documents etc.  However, as it was discovered quickly, there was an urgent need for Japanese linguists in the front lines to interrogate prisoners and interpret for front line units.  Although Nisei linguists were assigned to most army infantry units, at first the commanders were reluctant to put these Japanese Americans on the front lines.  Additionally, those who did assign the Nisei's to the front lines, had to provide them with Caucasian G.I.s as bodyguards so they would not be killed by friendly fire! The Nisei soldiers found themselves in a doubly dangerous situation.  If captured by the Japanese, they would have been summarily executed, since the Japanese considered everyone of Japanese descent as Japanese citizens.  With their own units they had to suffer through racial prejudice and the danger of being shot mistakenly as an enemy!  But amazingly, they soldiered on.
     As MIS began to rapidly produce more and more Nisei Japanese linguists, they were assigned not only to US infantry units, but to British and Australian and New Zealand forces as well, since those countries lacked the language capability.  Ironically, the US Marines stubbornly refused to use Nisei linguists in the early stages of the war.  Then in Guadalcanal, it was discovered that the Caucasian Marines who were supposed to interrogate prisoners were unable to do so.  They complained that the prisoners spoke too rapidly and used expressions that they did not understand.  At that point the Marines decided to use the Nisei soldiers.  By the time the Marines took control of Guadalcanal and began the invasion of other islands, the Nisei MIS soldiers became permanent fixtures with front line units.  All subsequent island invasions, like Saipan and Iwo Jima had Nisei MIS members with the Marines.
     What I think is incredible is that the Nisei soldiers of MIS served in every branch of the service and with our allies in the Pacific as well!  By 1944 there were thousands of Nisei soldiers who were products of MIS.  The little known fact is that the famous 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Battalion would never have been formed had it not been for the success of the Nisei soldiers of MIS.  The War Department decided to create an all Nisei unit after seeing the success of the MIS soldiers and their loyalty to the United States, something that was unjustifiably questioned at first.  Still, the War Department was reluctant to send the Nisei unit to the Pacific, instead the 442nd was sent to Europe.  It is ironic, because the Nisei soldiers of MIS were trained specifically to serve in the Pacific, and all of them did so with distinction in various Army, Navy, and Marine corps units.
     The Nisei MIS members were assigned to and served with the famous intelligence gathering Sixth Army Unit called the Alamo Scouts, the predecessors of the famous SOG of Vietnam era.  They also served with the OSS.  While OSS in Europe could find enough candidates who spoke German, OSS in the Pacific was lacking in Japanese linguists, so the Nisei soldiers from MIS were seconded to this pre-CIA organization.  Some saw a lot action and suffered through incredible hardships while assigned to OSS Detachment 101, the ones that led the famous Kachin Rangers.
     Perhaps the Nisei soldiers who had the most harrowing experiences and served the most in combat were those assigned to the famous 5307th Composite Unit, nicknamed Merrill's Marauders, a commando type brigade size unit especially created to fight behind the Japanese lines in Burma.  Merrill's Marauders' experience in Burma is well documented, and their accomplishments are legendary, especially that long march through incredibly difficult terrain that they made before attacking the crucial air strip at Myitkyina.  Books have been written and a popular movie was made in the 1960s, so their accomplishments are well known.  But what has been left out for the most part was the crucial contribution that the Nisei soldiers made! 
     The Marauders were mainly so successful because of the intelligence that they were able to gather and stay one step ahead of the Japanese.  That was because the Nisei soldiers intercepted Japanese communications and were also able to extract information from prisoners.  General Frank Merrill, the commanding officer of this elite unit knew the value of Nisei soldiers.  He simply said that the Marauders would not have been able to accomplish their missions had it not been for the Nisei soldiers who provided the crucial intelligence.  Major General Charles Willoghby, the Pacific area G-2, Intelligence Chief, said that the contribution made by the Nisei soldiers of MIS made it possible to end the war two years early!  Now perhaps he was stretching things a bit, but there is no doubt that the contribution made by Nisei soldiers was significant.
     After all the contributions made by the Nisei soldiers and their service on the front lines with the Infantry units, most Infantry unit commanders would not recommend the MIS members for the CIB, the Combat Infantryman Badge.  Their reasoning was that MIS soldiers were not infantry so they did not qualify for the CIB, even though they served shoulder to shoulder with infantrymen.  It was a very narrow-minded and mean-spirited interpretation of army regulations.  Racial prejudice was still alive and well.  General Frank Merrill, on the other hand, awarded the CIB to all members of MIS.  As far as he was concerned, they served with the Marauders so they were Marauders!
     Despite countless testimonies and official reports lauding the work of the Nisei soldiers of MIS, they were never singled out for an award or recognition.  There were those who received personal awards for heroism and outstanding performance.  These were mostly from the Merrill's Marauders that General Merrill personally awarded.  But most others, serving in other Army units or with Marines or Navy and Air Corp, never got the recognition that they deserved.  A pity and a shame!
     In 2000, some 55 years after the fact, a Presidential Unit Citation was awarded to the MIS, but it was a blanket award and did not single out the Nisei soldiers!  Oh well, as they say, such is life!

The "Real" Dragon Lady

     In October of 2014 I did a blog on my brief tenure as a Refugee Officer for our embassy in Tokyo during 1980-81.  In that blog I made mention of encountering Vietnamese refugees on Okinawa, the so-called "boat people" and one particular young lady who had gone through a horrifying experience at the hands of South China Sea pirates.  I did not elaborate on her story and what really happened at the time, so I will give a brief summary now.
     The young woman in question was very beautiful and also very manipulative.  The UNHCR officer, who was also a young woman, was very emotionally affected by this girl's story and went out of the way trying to help her.  The girl claimed that she, along with her family members, were captured by the pirates when they were at sea.  Her parents were brutally murdered and she was raped by the pirates and kept as a sex slave.  According to her, after several months at sea, the pirate ship was caught in a storm, typhoon, off the coast of Taiwan and capsized.  She, along with some of the other survivors managed to hang on to some floating debris until they were picked up by a Japanese fishing boat.
     There were many similar story that were told by other survivors of pirate attacks.  The young Vietnamese woman who had suffered such horrendous experience quickly latched on to the UNHCR officer who was also a young, attractive woman herself, and gained her complete sympathy and empathy.  The UNHCR officer bought clothing and other goods for the unfortunate girl, using her own money!  However, as we interviewed other survivors, a different story began to emerge.  According to other survivors, the girl in question was not a prisoner/victim of the pirates like they were.  She was a prisoner initially, but quickly gained the attention and favor of the pirate captain and became his mistress! Most of the survivors claimed that the girl became just like the pirates, cruel and vicious toward other prisoners/victims.  She had complete freedom and was considered the captain's mistress and feared by other pirates!  Her parents were not murdered by the pirates, but perished at sea when the typhoon sank their ship.  Until then, they too had lived a privileged life on the pirate ship!
     They were at sea for several months while the pirates raided other fishing villages and tried to "sell" their prisoners/victims to a willing buyer in one of the ports in South China Sea.  Then they got caught in a typhoon off the coast of Taiwan and the ship sank.  Apparently most if not all pirates perished or washed ashore on one of the islands nearby while the girl, along with some of the prisoner/victim survivors were picked up by a Japanese fishing vessel.  They couldn't tell the Japanese about her, because no one on the Japanese ship spoke Vietnamese.  Once they got to shore, to Motobu Peninsula on Okinawa, no one seemed to care to listen to them, until we arrived. We were the contingent from Tokyo, representing the U.S. Embassy, UNHCR,, Japanese government, and the U.S, Refugee Office from Washington.
     The young Vietnamese girl did what she had to survive, but she did not have to take on the role of the pirate herself, which she did!  Similar stories were repeated many times in different ways in that region.  Probably the most well known case was that of a Chinese prostitute who became a mistress of a Chinese pirate in the early 19th Century.  She ended up marrying the pirate chief Chung I, the most powerful pirate in South China Sea at the time with a fleet of 500 ships and some 50,000 men under his command.  When Chung I died, Chung I Sao (literally Chung's wife) also known as Ching Shih, took over.  She became the most feared pirate in the region with a fleet that was larger than most navies of countries in the area.  She had increased her pirate fleet to over 1,000 ships and close of 80,000 men.  She fought off the British, the Portuguese, French, Dutch, and Ching Dynasty navies.  She was finally allowed to "retire" with her fortune in booty, without having to go to jail!  That was the only way the combined forces of British, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and Chinese could put a stop to her life of piracy! If anyone thinks Iran Nuclear deal is a one-sided deal, well, the deal that she got makes Iran's deal pale in comparison!
     Ching Shih aka Chung I Sao died peacefully and as a very wealthy woman!  It is said that when Milton Caniff created the character of Dragon Lady for his cartoon strip Terry and the Pirates in 1934, that Ching Shih was the primary inspiration.  The other real life person that inspired the Dragon Lady character creation was the so-called Manchurian Princess, Yoshiko Kawashima.  But Ching Shih, the Lady Pirate, was the main inspiration.  Incidentally, under Ching Shih's command, her pirates were subject to beheading if they raped or mistreated women prisoners!  She had a very strict code of conduct for her pirates!

The "Real" Shigi Hunter

     Many years ago I wrote a story for a sporting journal that was called "The Shigi Hunter."  The character of the story, a Japanese businessman/hunter, was a composite of several people that I knew, but mainly it was about a person that I knew when I was a kid and lived in Tokyo.
     I knew him as Mano-san.  He was in his 50s when I first met him in the 1950s.  My uncle, a Japanese businessman who took me hunting when I was a kid, was a good friend of Mano-san who often accompanied us on our hunting trips.  I had many memorable hunting trips to various region of Japan.  Thanks to my uncle who took me all over, I got to see parts of Japan that I would not have seen otherwise.
     At that time Mano-san owned a restaurant in a prime location in Shinbashi in Tokyo.  Mano-san's restaurant was well known, and it specialized in wild game.  I ate there once, and the food was fabulous, all made of various game meats.  Mano-san's favorite was shigi, Japanese for snipe, and he preferred snipe over all other game.  That is how I got the idea for the story "The Shigi Hunter."  However, it was actually my uncle who was more of a "shigi hunter" than Mano-san.  As much as Mano-san loved hunting, he was not much of a hunter.  He loved his hunting dogs, all beautiful English setters.  He had a huge male English setter that he called "Prince."  My uncle told me that all his male setters were named Prince and they were all descendants of the first Prince that Mano-san had before World War Two!
     Despite his relative wealth, Mano-san lived in a fairly modest house, a typical Japanese style house with tatami floors.  Mano-san let his dogs on the tatami floors! He had to change the tatami frequently, costing him a pretty penny.  But he didn't seem to mind, he absolutely adored his setters.
     I shot my first kiji, Japanese green pheasant, when I was fourteen.  It was at a place called Ito in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo.  Mano-san was on that hunting trip and he had his Prince with him.  It happened that I was with Mano-san at the time.  My cocker spaniel Robin flushed the pheasant while Mano-san's Prince was puttering around nearby.  Mano-san shot first, emptied both barrels, but failed to hit the bird.  As the bird crossed my path, I managed to hit it and it fell.  Robin retrieved the bird to me.  Naturally I was thrilled.  It was my first pheasant ever, and I shot it after my dog Robin had flushed it and completed the whole thing by retrieving it to me.  Despite the fact that he had missed the bird, Mano-san was genuinely pleased for me, I could tell, as he smiled broadly and kept saying that I made a very good shot.  He was that kind of a person.
     I had the pheasant mounted by a taxidermist, and it traveled with me to Okinawa when we moved to that island.  Later I gave away that stuffed bird before I left Okinawa , thinking it was damaged by insects.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered it sitting by the cash register at Pizza House in Oyama in 1981!  Apparently the bird was salvaged by the man who took it and later sold to the Pizza House!  I can only wonder if it is still there!
     Anyway, to get back to Mano-san......when I returned to Tokyo in 1979 to work at our Embassy, I naturally contacted my uncle and we tried to make a few hunting trips as before.  My uncle tried to take me back to all of the places we had been before, when I was a kid.  It was quite an experience.  On one such trip to Shizuoka peninsula, my uncle invited his old friend Mano-san to come along.  As I mentioned earlier, Mano-san was in his 50s when I hunted with him back in 1950s, now he was in his 80s!  He was still spry and seemed to be in excellent health.  He also had another Prince,  I don't know if this was Prince number 5 or 6, but it was a direct descendant of the Prince that I knew back in the 1950s.  I  believe this one was a great-grandson of the Prince I knew.  Mano-san no longer hunted with a gun, but he liked to still go out in the fresh air and watch his beloved dog romp about.
     Like all his ancestors, this one was a beautiful English setter.  It was a good natured dog, but tired easily because it was not in condition, and like all its ancestors, not much of a hunter.  It is surprising that Mano-san who loved hunting so much could never get himself a good hunting dog!  But, it was obvious that he adored this Prince just as he adored all of the predecessors.
     I was very pleased to see Mano-san after some 25 years.  Mano-san in turn seemed to be very pleased to see me and kept talking about how excited I was when I shot my first pheasant.  He seemed to remember everything so clearly, like it was just yesterday, except for one thing.  He seemed to disremember what his old Prince was like.  He insisted that his Prince had made a classic point pinning the pheasant and afterwards, after I shot it, had retrieved it perfectly to his hand.  Of course that was not what happened.  As I said, Prince was pottering about nearby when my cocker Robin flushed the pheasant and it was Robin who retrieved the bird to hand, to my hand!
     But be that as it may, it was wonderful to see Mano-san again, and for the last time.  A few years later, when I was in Greece, I heard that Mano-san had died peacefully in bed with his last Prince sleeping next to him.

The "Real" Indiana Jones

     When George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the movie character of Indiana Jones and launched the first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, in 1981, the movie and its fictional hero immediately became a hit.  Harrison Ford, whose movie career had been somewhat lackluster to that point suddenly found new life and became a matinee idol.  The creation of Indiana Jones has become one of the most successful Hollywood enterprises ever launched.  There are spin-offs that range from action figure dolls to video games and theme park characters that are found all over the world.  Indiana Jones is one of the most lucrative "cash cows" to have been created in the last half of the 20th Century.
     But just how did Lucas and Spielberg come up with this character?  Surely Indiana Jones was not a pure figment of their combined imaginations.  In fact, Indiana Jones is a product of a multiple fictional and factual characters, all sort of mixed together, more or less.  Of the fictional characters, going back to the 19th and early 20th Century, the most obvious are H. Rider Haggard's Allen Quartermain of King Solomon's Mines and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger of The Lost World.  Of the silver screen heroes, the Doc Savage series no doubt had a huge impact.  But the fictional characters of books and movies were not the only ones that helped create the Indiana Jones of the late 20th Century.  If anything, the two real life personalities are probably the closest to the "real" Indiana Jones origin.
     In the early 20th Century there was an intrepid American adventurer, explorer by the name of Owen Latimore.  He did not look anything like the Indiana Jones of the silver screen.  He was, in fact, a bespectacled, scholarly looking individual who was indeed more of a scholar than an adventurer.  His wild adventures came about because of his areas of exploration, the locations that he chose.  He specialized in China, Manchuria and Mongolia's outer regions where no outsider had ever set foot before.  Latimore grew up in China where his parents were teachers.  Although he was born in America, he spent all of his early youth in China.  He was completely fluent in Chinese and also spoke Manchu and Mongolian.  Naturally, he was a perfect choice to explore those regions and he was sponsored by various interest groups to explore China, Manchuria and Mongolia.  Latimore unfortunately ran into some problems in the 1950s when Senator Joseph McCarthy accused him of being a communist spy.
     For those who are unfamiliar with Senator Joseph McCarthy and his "work" in the 1950s, let me just give a very brief summary of what he did.  McCarthy was a Senator from Wisconsin whose claim to fame was that he was "rooting out" all of the communist agents in America.  He claimed that there were communist spies in the State Department as well as other agencies, and many private individuals, particularly in Hollywood and academia.  McCarthy's "witch hunts" ruined the lives of many good people and in the process, not a single true communist spy was uncovered!
     McCarthy, whose activities in the 1950s gave birth to the term "McCarthyism," was the biggest self promoter and an unscrupulous, unprincipled individual interested only in promoting himself.  Prior to being elected to the U.S. Senate, he was a practicing lawyer in Wisconsin who was censured for unethical practices! During World War Two, he wrote his own recommendation for a Distinguished Service Cross and claimed that it was written by Admiral Nimitz!  Unfortunately the truth was uncovered much later, after he was awarded the decoration!
     It is amazing how such a flim-flam artist could be elected to the Senate.  It just shows how voters can be clueless.  It is particularly scary today, with the presidential elections coming up, how some voters are supporting some of the candidates that have no business running for office.  But, that is neither here nor there, McCarthy served from 1950 until 1958 (two terms!).  The facts about his lying and phony medal recommendation came to surface before his reelection!  As I said, when it comes to voters, go figure!
     Going back to Owen Latimore, his career was ruined for all practical purposes and he ended up teaching at a university in England until his death in the 1980s.  It was never proven that he was a communist agent, although, like most academics, Latimore did appear at times to sympathize with the left, more out of naivete than anything else!  To this date, Owen Latimore is considered to be one of the most knowledgeable Americans when it comes to northeast Asia, particularly Northern China, Manchuria, and Mongolia.  During World War Two, he was appointed a special political advisor to Nationalist China's President Chang Kai Sheik by President Roosevelt!
     Another explorer/archeologist/adventurer, a contemporary of Owen Latimore, was Roy Chapman Andrews.   Andrews was known for his exploration of remote regions of Siberia, Manchuria, and Mongolia, most notably for discovery of prehistoric animal bones and skeletons.  He made some very important discoveries of Dinosaur remains in Mongolia.  Andrews was never targeted by McCarthy, mainly because Andrews made many of those trips to Northeast Asia under the auspices of U.S. Naval Intelligence, the only so-called foreign intelligence that we had before the war!  It would have been foolhardy for McCarthy to claim that Andrews was a communist spy when in fact he was gathering intelligence for America! 
     Roy Chapman Andrews was more in the mould of Hollywood's Indiana Jones.  He was always armed on his expeditions and often wore clothing similar to what Harrison Ford wore in the movies.  Andrews was also an avid hunter and collected museum specimens.
     Many consider Owen Latimore and Roy Chapman Andrews as the real life models for Hollywood's Indiana Jones.  Latimore may have been more scholarly in appearance and demeanor, but he explored some of the most wild and rugged regions in the world.  Andrews was more like the Hollywood version and was reputedly involved in gun battles with Manchurian bandits, the "hoonhoozy" (Hung Hu Tzu) on several occasions.  Both men contributed a tremendous amount of knowledge about Northeast Asia, and to this day, their writings are considered a must reading for those interested or studying Northern China, Manchuria, and Mongolia.  They were the "Real" Indiana Jones'.

The Last Manchurian Princess

     Back in May of 2014 I did a blog on "The Manchurian Princess."  It was a blog about a Manchu princess of Aisin Gioro clan who became a traitor to its people by being a spy for the Imperial Japanese, the Kwantung Army.  Her Chinese name was Chin Pi Hui, although she was mostly known by her Japanese name of Yoshiko Kawashima.  Her story is a sad one, yet it is interesting and somewhat improbable in parts.  As explained in the earlier blog, she was "adopted" by a wealthy Japanese, although some claim she was simply sold by her "down on luck" father, who was a Manchu prince related to the Emperor's family.   She was raised and educated in Japan and became as much Japanese as she was Manchu/Chinese.  She had numerous affairs with both men and women, and acted as a Japanese secret agent within the Chinese, Mongol, and Manchu communities.  She was briefly married to a Mongol prince so she could even lay claim to being a Mongol princess.
     Some claim that Yoshiko Kawashima was instrumental in paving the way for the establishment of the puppet Manchukuo government by the Japanese.  At any rate, when Manchukuo was established in 1931, Yoshiko Kawashima became a General in the new Manchukuo army.  She organized a 5000 man cavalry brigade composed mostly of "reformed" Hung hu Tzu, the bandits.  The "army" was formed ostensibly to fight anti-Japanese elements in Manchuria, mostly Korean Freedom Fighters and some Chinese Communist guerrillas.  She liked to dress in uniforms and was seen in a fancy cavalry uniform with her new rank of Colonel General, complete with a sword!  She was a character.
     However, she was reviled by the Manchu and Chinese, considered a traitor, while the Japanese glamorized her and even made a movie about her in the 1930s!  But, she soon realized that the Japanese had simply used her and when her usefulness was over, they simply dumped her.  At that point she tried to revert back to Chinese/Manchu community but was having a difficult time.  She was ultimately captured by the Chinese Nationalist forces at the conclusion of World War Two, tried as a traitor and hung like a common criminal.  A sad ending for someone who at one time, less than a decade earlier was so popular in some circles, held a high, prestigious position, and even had a movie made about her!  Life can indeed be cruel.  But then again, some say that she caused death and misery to thousands of Chinese and Manchus who opposed Japanese rule.
     She was not exactly unknown in the West.  Someone as flashy as her could not go unnoticed by the Western press.  There were many stories written about her and she became a very popular model for depicting an evil Asian woman.  It is believed that the so-called "Dragon Lady" was patterned after her!  She was a striking woman who liked to dress as a man from time to time, but could also put on a very glamorous appearance in a fancy Japanese kimono or a traditional Manchu dress.
     But, Yoshiko Kawashima/Chin Pi Hui was not the last Manchurian princess as she is often depicted.  She was one of the last, but not the last.  The true last Manchurian princess was one of her younger sisters, Jin Moyu, who died recently, in 2014 at the age of 95.
     Unlike her older sister Chin Pi Hui/Yoshiko Kawashima, Jin Moyu was never a traitor to the Chinese or Manchu.  She was sent to Japan to be educated because at the time she was of high school age, Japan had colonized Manchuria.  She was college educated in Japan, but really had no profession to speak of.  She attempted to work at a newspaper office but found it hard to maintain work discipline, to come to work on time, etc.!  Her privileged life as a princess had not prepared her for life as a common person!
     When the Nationalists fled to Taiwan, she stayed on the mainland.  She was left alone, since she was really apolitical and of no danger to the new communist regime.  So, for the next half a century she struggled along trying to survive, trying to make a living.  She was briefly successful at running a restaurant, but that didn't last long.  However, she was fortunate in that she married someone (an artist) who was fairly well off by communist standards, so she did not suffer like some former aristocrats and members of the privileged class.  All in all she led a rather insignificant existence.  Her last attempt at starting some sort of a business was to open a Japanese language school in the 1990s.  With Chinese business and industry booming, there was a heavy need for Japanese speakers and she capitalized on it.  Her school was successful.  She died peacefully in May of 2014, the very last Manchurian princess.  She had no children, so there were no more descendants of the Aisin Gioro clan, the Royal Manchu line.  The 95 year old Jin Moyu was the true last Manchurian princess.

Radical Islam

     The 18th Century Irish statesman/philosopher, Edmund Burke, said it best when he said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."  It appears the we, as well as the rest of the non-Islamic world, is doing precisely that, nothing!  No one is really doing anything when it comes to trying to rid the world of this vile, barbaric menace, the so-called "radical Islam."  Instead, there appears to be the policy of appeasement, turning the other cheek and hoping that by being nice, it will somehow disappear!
     Did you know that there are currently 23 hostages from various non-Islamic (Western) countries being held as hostages by ISIS?  Four of those hostages are Americans!  Lack of intelligence assets inside ISIS makes it very difficult for us to carry out any rescue attempt, but still, the absence of any attempt is truly disheartening.  Perhaps with our new policy of allowing payment of ransom by private parties, our government is hoping that the situations will be resolved by the families?  Hopefully Pentagon will have an opportunity to deploy our Special Operations troops to perform a rescue, who knows, may be it is in the works and I am just being impatient.  But whatever the case may be, we are not doing enough!
     But ISIS is not the only radical Islamic group that has American hostages.  Iran has four!  Yes, Iran, the country with whom we just negotiated (?) a "good" (according to Washington) Nuclear Agreement is a part of that radical Islamic group, the same as ISIS (ISIL), Taliban, Al Qaeda and several others.  Iran is the main (and only) sponsor and financial supporter of Hezobollah, that radical group in Lebanon who not long ago held hostage and murdered several Americans, including our CIA Station Chief in Lebanon.  The Hamas in the West Bank, the ones that daily are trying to destroy Israel and whose favorite targets are school buses with children, are also supported by Iran.  Why did we not include some sort of a demand for the release of our hostages when we negotiated that "good" deal with Iran?  Could it be that our government doesn't consider them "true" Americans because they are naturalized citizens of Iranian birth?  Why has not there been more coverage on their fate?  One of these Iranian-American hostages is a former Marine, veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan.  Whatever happened to "no Marine left behind" promise!
     Make no mistake about it, the so-called radical Islam's main focus is the destruction of the Western World with America leading the list.  There is not a single Islamic country in the world that does not have extremists, the radical Islamists who preach Jihad for destruction of non-Islamic world.  Their main target, without exception, is America!  America is the biggest enemy of these radical Islamists.  It doesn't matter if these countries are our "friends" like Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, they all have and harbor extremists who preach destruction of America to their followers.  In Lebanon, textbooks that are used in Islamic schools openly state that the goal of Islam is to destroy America!  It seems that in every country, Western countries included, various Muslim clerics preach violence and destruction of the Western culture and America!  It is like a broken record, America appears to be the target in every one of those anti Western speeches and lectures.
     Just a few days ago, one of the high ranking Mullahs in Iran came out with the same old rhetoric, "death and total annihilation to Israel, death to the great Shaitan (devil), America!"  It seems he hasn't heard of the "deal" that we made.  In fact, the only Iranian official that went along with the deal was their Foreign Minister who did the negotiating!  The president of the country and all the others are unchanged, still spewing out hatred towards America.  They consider the "deal" as a non-military victory for Iran and are celebrating it as such!  Nothing else has changed, and we call that a "good deal"?
     The main problem appears to be that although we are all looking at the same object, we are seeing a different version from what the radical Islamist see.  Their vision and goals are clear cut - death to Israel, death to America.  Ours is different.  We seem to feel that perhaps we can "change" them.  We are optimists and see the glass as being "half full" rather than "half empty" while the radical Islamists see only complete destruction of their enemies.  I guess we are like the missionaries in a cartoon that insist on trying to convert cannibals to Christianity even as they are being boiled in a cauldron!  We are not going to convert those radicals in Iran or anywhere else for that matter!
     Islam is like any other religion or philosophy, it can be corrupted, changed to the needs of whoever decides to twist it to their use.  A simple definition of Jihad is a holy war against non-believers or non-Muslims.  However, the radicals are able to twist it into a definition of Jihad into that of a holy war that must be carried out by all believers to destroy the West!  The Jihad is presented as the most wonderful thing anyone can participate in and go to heaven by dying!
     The Muslim mentality is different.  I learned that a long time ago and mentioned it in one of my short stories in Snap Shots.  In that story, which takes place in Egypt, I mention the fact that there is an Air War Victory Museum in Cairo.  At first I was a bit confused and thought perhaps it was a museum dedicated to some war that was fought that I was unaware of.  But I discovered the museum was in honor of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which Israel completely destroyed the Egyptian Air Force!  Things got so bad for Egyptians that Israeli jets were flying unmolested and strafing Cairo at will!  Yet, the Egyptians built a museum honoring their air victory in that war!  Obviously they were seeing things differently from the rest of the world!  It was the same thing when Saddam Hussein declared an Iraqi victory in the first Gulf War when we stopped short of Baghdad!  You see, according to Iraqi mentality, we didn't take Baghdad (they felt that we couldn't) so they won the war!  This, despite the almost complete destruction of their armed forces!  Its hard to fathom that kind of mentality and try to reason!
     So, in the minds of Iranians and other Islamic countries, Iran "won" on the nuclear deal.  Actually, they did indeed "win."  They got billions of dollars and sanctions partially lifted and to be lifted completely.  What did we get in return?  The right to inspect nuclear sites, but with 23 hour notice, and a promise from Iranians that they will not build nuclear weapons in the next ten years.....right!  On the other fronts, we are still fighting Al Qaeda.  Yes I know, we have killed many of their top leaders, and according to Washington have done irreparable damage to the organization.  That may all be true, but they are still around, and we are still fighting them.  The Taliban is also still very much around and we are still struggling to rid Afghanistan of their presence.  ISIS, despite all our efforts, even bringing in Iranians into Iraq while Hezbollah is in Syria, is still very much around and causing havoc.
     We are just not doing enough.  There are politicians in Washington who are aware of this and insist that we should do more.  Unfortunately, those who are in power and make the decisions seem to have a different plan.  We are sort of chipping away, dangerously close to not doing anything.  Had Edmund Burke been still around and witnessed what is going on, he no doubt would have quipped something prophetic like:  "The only thing ISIS needs to triumph is for America to continue to do as
little as it is doing now!"

The Manchurian Bandits

     I have actually blogged on this subject in the past, two blogs in fact, back in March of 2014.  But I thought it would be worthwhile and interesting to revisit this subject again.  Like most, I too have referred to these bandits as "Chinese Bandits" in the past, including in my two earlier blogs.  However, the correct name should be "Manchurian Bandits," for they operated predominantly in Manchuria or what was then called Manchuria.  Today, of course, all of that territory is simply called China.  But until 1946 when the Soviet Union turned over control of the region to Mao and PRC, it was known as Manchuria.
     The "Manchurian Bandits" were unique in that many of them were former Chinese soldiers and the bandits were by and large ethnic Chinese, so I suppose that calling them "Chinese Bandits" is also correct.  They were, as I explained several times before, called Hung hu Tzu or Hong hu zi.  The Russian pronunciation was "hoonhoozy" so that is what they were commonly called.  In Chinese, Hung hu Tzu means red beards.  Apparently in the early years there were some red bearded (ethnic Russian?) members of some bandit gangs.  But more than likely the name originated from Russian Siberians who used to raid Manchurian villages back in 1600s.  However, since the 19th Century, the name applied to Manchurian bandits only.  In the more recent times, during the height of their activity in the early 20th Century, many of the recruits were either former (discharged) members of the Warlord's or Nationalist Army or simply deserters.  Chang Tso Lin, the Manchurian Warlord who operated until 1929, had a very large army which was organized as a regular army.  However, they were in fact, little better than the "hoonhoozy" themselves, except for the fact that they wore uniforms and had ranks!  Transition from the Warlord's Army or the Chinese Nationalist Army to banditry was not a very difficult move!  Often the bandits continued to wear the uniforms with which they left the service to join the bandits or acquired uniforms from soldiers that they killed.  So, at times it was very difficult to tell the real Warlord or Nationalist Army soldiers from "hoonhoozy."
     In the early 20th Century word reached Europe and America about the existence of the Manchurian bandits.  The civilized world was starved for some exciting news from less "civilized" areas.  The American West and its violent and wild life style which was so popular for many years in the press and popular literature was tame by the early 20th Century.  The Manchurian bandits, the "hoonhoozy" replaced the Apache Warriors or the Desperados of the Old Wild West in the sensationalized reporting of the media of the day.  Most of the stories that emerged were wildly exaggerated and inaccurate.  Reporters who had never been to Asia wrote stories about the Manchurian bandits.  Names, locations, and other information were horribly incorrect, mangled, and stories were so improbable that they were laughable.  Yet, the public bought it and read the stuff eagerly. 
     In 1925 a visiting American doctor in Manchuria was held captive by "hoonhoozy" and upon his release ten weeks later wrote a book which became a best seller, Ten Weeks With The Chinese Bandits by Harvey Howard.  Howard's account was interesting, although it really did not give the full view of the "hoonhoozy" and their activities.  His lack of knowledge of the region and ability to speak the language fluently made for very sketchy descriptions of some things.  He was captured by a very small band of bandits who spent most of their time on the run.  However, he was able to confirm that there were ethnic Russian members of the bandit gangs. The book was published in 1926 and it was, for all practical purposes, the very first factual account and gave the readers at least a partial view of Manchurian bandits. 
     It may be hard to believe and comprehend today, but there was a very lively interest in Manchurian bandits, especially in America, back in the early 20th Century.  The great American artist of the late 19th and early 20th Century, Fredric Remington, is mostly known for his paintings and art work with the American West theme.  Remington's paintings of cowboys, Indians, and other Western subjects are famous and sought after by collectors.  But even Remington tried to cash-in on the popularity of Manchurian bandits.  His 1904 painting titled "A Manchurian Bandit" is a superb piece of work portraying a "hoonhoozy" on horseback.  Remington was very accurate in his portrayal of the Manchurian bandit.  He must have consulted people who had actually seen the bandits and studied photographs, for the clothing appears accurate and the bandit with the old, what appears to be, Mauser service rifle, looks every bit the part of a real "hoonhoozy."  Remington painted several works on the subject of Manchurian bandits and the Amur Cossacks.  Amur Cossacks were Cossacks who were mostly ethnic Asian and were the main deterrent to "hoonhoozy" on the Russian side of Amur River.
     But, as I said, information about "hoonhoozy" was very sketchy.  Harvey Howard's book gave readers some insight, but it was only a small piece of a much larger puzzle.  Had Howard been more familiar with Asian culture and spoke fluent Chinese, he would have been able to give the readers a much broader and informative picture of the bandits and their way.  Nevertheless, many stories were being published, outrageously inaccurate, by authors who never set foot in Manchuria and knew nothing of the place and the culture.  Still, if the stories had lots of action, the gorier the better, the readers gobbled-it up.  Those who were more knowledgeable simply ignored these sensationalized, inaccurate stories and treated them more or less like those cheap "dime novels" of the 19th Century!
     In the late 1920s, a short story about "hoonhoozy" was published in Redbook magazine.  The Redbook, along with Collier's and Saturday Evening Post were the most popular magazines of the day and published many literary works.  The Redbook of old was not like it is today.  The story was written by a college student in Nebraska, a Valentin Hahn, who came from Manchuria.  Although it was a work of fiction, it was very accurate and informative about "hoonhoozy," and the story was based on an actual incident that took place in Manchuria some years earlier.
     Except for Harvey Howard's book and Valentin Hahn's short story, there really weren't any accurate works describing the Manchurian bandits, the "hoonhoozy."  There were works written by scholars, anthropologists and historians who traveled to Manchuria and some even interviewed supposed "hoonhoozy."  But as for general information, it was strongly lacking and ambitious reporters made up stuff as they went along.  As I mentioned in the earlier blogs, during World War Two, even cartoonists got into the act.  The popular syndicated newspaper strip cartoon Terry and the Pirates heavily relied on stories about "Chinese bandits."  Later, Terry and the Pirates morphed into Steve Canyon, and the artist/cartoonist continued with the subject of "Chinese bandits."
     Hollywood has never been able to do a believable portrayal of the "hoonhoozy."  Many movies, particularly those about China before World War Two attempted to show Chinese bandits.  But somehow the characters never came out right.  I believe that is mainly because to this day there is so little factual and accurate information about the "Manchurian Bandits" and script writers have to rely on their imagination and the wildly inaccurate portrayals in some of the earlier newspaper accounts and stories.
     Like so many other things, the Manchurian bandits are a thing of the past.  They are like those American Wild West Desperados, the gunslingers, and the various Indian Warriors.  They were, like the American gunslingers of the old West, mostly killers, thieves, and robbers.  Not exactly nice people or someone that you want your children to admire.  But, they were there, for an awful long time, longer than their counterparts in the American West.  The "hoonhoozy" had been in Manchuria and parts of Siberia (which used to be Manchuria!), since around the early1800s when their name first surfaced, and they lasted well into the 20th Century, into the 1930s and 40s.  Some say that they are still around in the remote areas, and there are a lot of remote areas in Manchuria and Siberia!