It was the striking picture of Mao Tse-Tung--with ‘slashes’ of black paint across his face--that caught my eye as I was perusing the CS Monitor this morning. And I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the image is actually from the cover of the latest book by Denise Chong, from my hometown of Vancouver.

Chong, an economist working for the Canadian government, changed careers in the 1980s and ended up an award-winning writer. She is also the author of The Girl in the Picture (2000), a biographical and historical account of Kim Phuc, the young girl whose screaming and naked image taken during the Vietnam War is still known around the world.

Chong’s much anticipated latest book is Egg on Mao: The Story of an Ordinary Man Who Defaced an Icon and Unmasked a Dictatorship, and it has already been getting some good reviews.

The Montreal Gazette calls the book a ‘gem,’ saying, ‘While telling this highly charged political story, Chong never loses sight of the human factor, nor of the toll that an authoritarian society takes on the individual.’ Meanwhile, the Quill and Quire also praises the book, noting: ‘Chong is a masterful storyteller. . . .Egg on Mao is a lovely and fascinating look at not only China, but also the power of friendship and human decency.’

Egg on Mao is, like The Girl in the Picture, a historical and biographical tale centered on Lu Decheng, a rural bus mechanic who in 1989, along with two friends, infamously defamed a portrait of Mao Tse-tung in Tiananmen Square with paint-filled eggs. The Canadian Newswire describes the account as an exploration of ‘whether repression and imprisonment, or even time itself, can douse the flame of desire for human rights.’

When Barack Obama visits Japan next month, one issue that’s bound to come up in discussions with recently elected Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is the issue of the US military presence in Okinawa and, specifically, plans to relocate the US Marines Corps Air Station Futenma.

The Hatoyama administration, in part because it believes the overall current relocation plan for US forces is too pricey, wants to move the base outside Okinawa. As our Japan correspondent Takehiko Kambayashi points out, this would reverse a 2006 agreement between the Liberal Democratic Party-led administration and Washington.

He says Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima told Seiji Maehara, state minister in charge of Okinawa affairs, that moving the air station off the island was the ‘best’ scenario but that it ‘isn’t easy from a practical viewpoint.’ The US presence on the island has been the source of tensions over the years, especially with the periodic reports of bad behaviour--or worse--by US servicemen.

Kambayashi explained to me exactly what Nakaima meant by ‘practical viewpoint’.

‘Okinawan leaders have grown accustomed to carrot-and-stick political manoeuvring. They’ve used the base issue to squeeze more money out of Tokyo, and an increasing number of plush facilities started to spring up in sparsely-populated northern Okinawa after a 1998 agreement between Tokyo and Washington to build a military facility in Nago, which will replace the air station.

‘Nago is awash with public projects, tax breaks and other financial infusions from Tokyo. About $50 million was spent in the city to put up three “intelligent buildings”--a multimedia center, the 1st Mirai Center and the 2nd Mirai Center. The city was also a site for the 2000 meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized countries.

‘The central government also spent $26 million on Kanna Thalasso Okinawa (pictured above) a luxurious spa, and $33 million to set up a data centre in the neighbouring village of Ginoza.’

This is all very well, but as Peter Mauch, a professor of international relations at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto pointed out to me recently, the agreement with the US was one reached between two sovereign governments--the DPJ can’t make a habit of revisiting these kinds of issues.

It will be interesting to see how far Hatoyama is willing to go to recalibrate relations with what is still Japan’s main ally, and also still ultimate guarantor of its defence.

Two weeks back, tropical storm Ketsana thrashed the Philippines, causing some of the worst floods there in 40 years and leaving upwards of 100 dead in its wake. In Japan last Thursday, meanwhile, more than 40 people were injured and 2 killed as Typhoon Melor raged over its mainland.

And the news seems even bleaker for Taiwan, with an AFP article (‘Global warming “to triple rain over Taiwan”’) stating that climate change ‘will cause the amount of heavy rain dumped on Taiwan to triple over the next 20 years.’

But setting these big future trends aside, one small but striking image from the Japanese coverage of the aftermath were the hundreds of damaged umbrellas littering the sidewalks and toppling out of overflowing public garbage bins in Tokyo. It seems ironic that nature will eventually be forced to suffer the environmental consequences of the extra trash resulting from the damage it wreaked.

Maybe Taiwanese consumers (and others for that matter) can at least alleviate some of this long-term impact from coming storms through the use of environmentally conscious umbrellas.

The Monsoon Vermont is an innovative brand that uses ‘non-recyclable plastic collected by scavengers from the streets, landfills and waterways of Jakarta’ to create its line of Trashion, including travel totes and umbrellas. The latter are each hand-made with a unique pattern.

There’s also the Brelli, which is simple and Eastern-influenced in its design. It’s 100% biodegradable and will, according to the company, ‘at the end of its long and useful life…leave nothing more than an excellent memory.’

Ahead of the upcoming UN climate summit, I thought I’d turn to some positive news from one participating country—Japan.

Among the sea of casual late-night dining spots (called ‘izakayas’) in Tokyo, there’s one chain that stands out for its philanthropic efforts. Those of us who have visited Japan may well have dined at (or at least caught sight of) a Watami restaurant. There are over 600 sprinkled around the country, and a Watami izakaya can be found at nearly every train stop in central Tokyo.

Watami Co. has announced the results of its ‘carbon off-set cocktail’ campaign that lasted for 10 days this summer. The result is: 30,180 glasses sold. And, with 1 kilogram of CO2 to be offset for each, the total carbon offset was 30 tons. The company has pledged to donate the profits to NPOs. It has also bought 15 tons of emissions credits from a wind power generation project in Argentina.

The 25-year old Watami Co. was started by CEO Miki Watanabe, who was just 24 years-old at the time. Since then, he’s expanded Watami from its original food and beverage line to other areas and industries such as nursing care and organic farming.

Watanabe was also named one of Forbes’ 48 Asian Altruists 2008, in part for launching his own NPO, School Aid Japan, in 2001 to build schools in Cambodia and Nepal ‘after (becoming) outraged by how another group doing similar work was misusing his contributions.’ The entrepreneur also donates royalties from his numerous books and lecture fees (for which he can fetch up to $18,500 an hour) to related causes, and he keeps a strict policy of tracing every yen sent from supporters.

Watami Group’s official slogan is ‘to receive the most number of thank-yous in the world’. To do this, it follows a 10-point code of conduct:

1.      Always be humble and grateful.

2.      Share the joys and sorrows of others.

3.      Keep promises and tell no lies.

4.      Make no complaints and spread no gossip.

5.      Greet with spirit and a smile.

6.      Never say never.

7.      Do not push failures onto others.

8.      Dare to say that can’t be done.

9.      Listen to others.

10.  Put away embarrassment.

What would happen if this was the official guideline for conduct for participants of the Copenhagen summit?

Before (and since) coming to power, the Democratic Party of Japan promised that policymaking would become more transparent. This was a welcome pledge, and shining a light on the cosy ties between politicians, bureaucrats and business should have myriad benefits for Japan.

But, as has been frequently noted by outsiders, these cosy ties also extend to relations between politicians and the press. As Japan expert Chalmers Johnson noted some years ago, the so-called kisha club (reporters’ club) operates ‘under an implicit agreement that, in return for access to a government agency, political party or industrial group, nothing embarrassing will be printed.’

Hardly healthy, and clearly hardly what Japanese voters need if they’re to make informed choices on how their country is run. So it was good to hear from our Tokyo correspondent Takehiko Kambayashi that Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada last week opened up press briefings at the ministry to all media outlets, including freelance journalists, as he had promised.

“Briefings were opened to only kisha club members before, that is, those who belong to Japanese major new organizations,” Takehiko told me. “Only kisha club members are basically allowed to attend news briefings at government ministries and agencies. Some critics have called this system an information cartel.”

 “Okada’s move seems to be one of his efforts to show the difference from previous administrations. He’s dubbed ‘Mr Clean’ for his straight-laced image and apparently also wanted his message conveyed. At his first news conference, Okada asserted the new government should focus in its 100 days on its assistance to Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

But the picture is still a little mixed by the sounds of it – Takehiko added that Okada’s move came after the Prime Minister’s office denied some journalists access to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s first press conference on Sep. 16^th, despite his repeated promises before taking office they would be allowed in.

Journalists are supposed to be reporters not part of the government press kit. Their failure to ask the tough questions begs the obvious question -- what exactly do they think they’re there for?