The year of the blog

A quote from Japan Times:

Merriam-Webster, the U.S.dictionary, recently declared the "blog" the most looked-up term on its Internet site this year. Blog, now happily free of quotation marks, denotes "a Web site that contains an online personal journal."
According to a blog-watching dot-com named Technorati, the number of blogs in existence is 5 million. The wonder is how lively, informative and influential many of those blogs are. ... A tool that gives so many private people a public voice is not likely to disappear soon.
(Cited from 27 Dec. 04 issue of Int'l Herald Tribune.)

Testimony of a "comfort woman" (Ianfu)

On the 4th of December, I attended a meeting to listen to testimonial remarks by a Korean old lady who was once a "comfort woman" or forced prostitute. The meeting was held at Hiroshima University. It was a very heart-rending occasion. Should we hold the view that humans are inherently evil? I hope not.

A Poem (translation)

My poems are my tears,
as my eyes are moistened at once
in joy and in sorrow.

Toshiko Yanagida
A 2nd generation Christian
woman in Japan

Translator: Jiro Numano