Kaz wrote:

> Well, Britain still holds its main power but as far as I know,
> Scotland wants to be independent and you have already lost the
> majority of Ireland.

Some confusion here, I think. You mean "England", not "Britain", right?
Actually, from its voting patterns, I think Scotland as a whole is more
interested in socialism than in independence, but if Blair and Blair-think
continue to dominate the scene that may change. Southern Ireland is, indeed,
independent but, until recently, it continued to "service" the UK, providing
it with a large percentage of its construction site labour. This reminds
me - let the "Tokyjaps" (as you call them) commit cosmetic surgery upon
their persons as they wish, but for pity's sake let them stop perpetrating
those "public works" programmes, pouring concrete over every available inch
of the country (worst of all when they use Kinai labour to do so)! When they
die, they'll take their faces with them, but the legacy on the landscape
will endure.

> And I think the real main power-holder of your
> Anglo-Saxon world is not Britain anymore, and it's your countrymen US

Oh, absolutely. Blair is just Bush's poodle. But it seems the "Anglo-Saxon
world" is not as "Anglo-Saxon" as we have been assuming. The majority of
"English" are apparently about 50% Celtic in their genetic make-up, and the
Celts, in turn, have a significant amount of Stone Age blood in them (from
what are known as the "Beaker people" and, possibly, the Celts, who may or
may not have been pre-Celtic in origin). *Culturally*, it's a different
matter, and what we popularly think of as Anglo-Saxon culture may indeed be
reaching its apotheosis in the United States.

> now, just like our countrymen Tokyo holds the real power of Japan. So
> you say Kinai is the one that lost its power but I think England
> itself is also kinda Western version of Kinai. You have all those
> traditional and classic things, but economically, Britain is behind
> the US, just like we have all those traditional classic things in
> Kinai, but recently, economically behind Tokyo.

That's an interesting way of looking at it. Kinai is to Kanto (especially
Tokyo) as Britain is to the US. There's something in the analogy, I feel.

Now, I made myself a bit "famous" in this newsgroup a couple of years ago by
criticising a posting about American gun laws and the constitution (I was
upset that it was not only unrelated to life in Japan, but not even
comprehensible to the majority of people who were not from the US). I came
off worst in that flame war, I fear, but did at least manage to score a
minor victory by gaining recognition of the term "USian".

Now you've got me fantasising about where I might have got to if I'd started
calling Bush's citizens "wanking US Saxons", or whatever, instead of
"USians", or whatever, in the same vein as you like to refer to your fellow
countryfolk from Tokyo!

Answer? *At best*, I'd have had people talking about my "violent and deluded
fantasies" and asking if I was taking my medicine, just like you've got over
at fj.soc.politics! At worst, I'd have been waylaid in a dark alley one
night...

Quite apart from the fact that I don't actually *want* to use such terms,
who wants to live with all that aggro?

Answer? Not me! And you?

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com