The new National Library building has turned out to be pretty awesome.
None of those cheesy government building crap.
These artist impressions are quite close to the real thing.
new national library building/design galleria/gallery
The pod on the roof reminds me of this loftcube I absolutely love.
Pay attention to the water faucet features.
http://www.loftcube.net/
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Bont clothing seems to be really up-and-coming now.
Congratulations Alex "ah beng" Bont.
Love your work.
(Just in case you think otherwise, Alex really is a friend.)
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Germany has unveiled a public memorial to the Holocaust.
There was an article by Jonathan Eyal in Tuesday's Straitsjacket Times titled "Why Japan failed where Germany succeeded".
I quote:
"...So, why has Japan failed where Germany succeeded?
Mainly because Japanese politicians have never understood that forgiveness cannot be demanded but must be earned...
...The Germans were undisturbed by human-rights considerations when it came to this (re-education) process. To this day, the mere denial of the Holocaust remains a criminal offence, as is the wearing of Nazi uniforms or symbols...The message in every classroom is that the end of the war was not a defeat, but the liberation of Germany itself from a criminal regime...
...And when it came to relations with old war enemies, the principle which guided Germany's reconciliation effort was to accept responsibility for all atrocities, and never challenge the numbers of victims which were presented...
...And, just as importantly, the commemoration of these crimes was always considered more important than the remembrance of Germany's own casualties. Like the Japanese, ordinary Germans suffered terribly in the last stages of the war, as their country was pulverised...But no link was ever made between this tragedy and the horrors which Germany inflicted on others. The two episodes were kept apart, something which was not seriously attempted in Japan.
And, while Japan carefully negotiated the language and terms of every official apology it offered, often making sure that this was not too "humiliating" to its perceived national pride, German politicians proffered a constant stream of apologies and breast-beating...
...And then, there is the question of financial compensation for the surviving victims.
Germany started offering payment well before it became wealthy, and it continues doing so. The commitment is open-ended and irrevocable.
A dispute over compensation for "comfort women" - such as currently exists with Japan - would have been inconceivable in Germany.
Of course, not everything went smoothly. Anti-German sentiment lingers today. Yet the overwhelming majority of Europeans now accept that the Germany of today is truly different...
...However hard they try, the Japanese appear to have missed the historic moment..."
Nothing like this subject to rile up the Chinese in me.
The Nanking Massacre, comfort women, Shonan-To etc.
There is this part of me which will never accept the Japanese.
Sometimes I wonder if I was caught in World War II in my past life.
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