in article cksben$bf3$2@news.Stanford.EDU, mtfester@netMAPSONscape.net at
mtfester@netMAPSONscape.net wrote on 10/17/04 8:39 AM:

> Ernest Schaal <eschaal@max.hi-ho.ne.jp> wrote:
>> in article ckrb14$l1e$1@news.Stanford.EDU, mtfester@netMAPSONscape.net at
>> mtfester@netMAPSONscape.net wrote on 10/16/04 11:25 PM:
> 
>>> Ernest Schaal <eschaal@max.hi-ho.ne.jp> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I must admit to reservations about the author (a gaijin scholar working in
>>>> a
>>>> Japanese university) since he parrots the language of Japanese "scholars,"
>>>> who call it an "incident" instead of a "rape".
>>> 
>>> But that's simply the Japanese use of the word "jiken". While not
>>> unambiguous, it does NOT imply a trivial matter. They use it to describe
>>> (eg) the Sarin Gas attacks in Tokyou, and assuredly they do not think
>>> lightly of the "Sarin Jiken".
>> The author in question was not Japanese and was writing in English.
> 
>> Therefore, the use of the word "incident" instead of "rape" is telling.
> 
> Not if he's describing it from the standpoints of Japan and China which
> are, after all, the 2 nations most immediately concerned.
> 
> Mike

Again, Mike, the author was writing in English. As for China and Japan,
China considers it a rape/massacre/war crime and Japan considers it, as Kaz
once wrote, being "gentle" with China.