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The Controversial Video Let Out Calls for Ryoma
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The video which shows the Chinese fishing boat dashing into the Japanese boat intentionally in Japan's territorial waters, was browsed all over the world.
In this incident, who has to take responsibility?
I think our government does.
Especially our red shadow shogun (chief cabinet secretary) has to.
His first decision made things worse.
After the incident, he must have been informed that the Chinese captain deliberately attacked Japan's coast guard's ship.
But he decided to release the captain because he wanted to get along with the Chinese government.
In nautical terms, he didn't want to "make waves".
He was like leaders of non-mainstream clans, such as the Tosa clan, in what is now Kochi prefecture, at the end of the Edo period (in the late 19th century).
During the Edo period every feudal lord had to show his loyalty to the Tokugawa shogunate.
This meant that they couldn't offend any of the mainstream clans, such as the Owari clan - one of three top Tokugawa-related families.
The first clash between steamboats owned by these mainstream and non-mainstream clans took place at the end of the Edo period.
One foggy night the Owari clan's boat hit Tosa clan's boat and sank it.
First, the Owari clan tried to claim compensation for the damage to their boat.
Perhaps because they were intimidated by the idea of confronting the powerful Owari clan, the leaders of the Tosa clan appeared willing to accept the settlement.
This despite the fact that the Owari's boat had caused the collision.
However, Ryoma Sakamoto, the captain of Tosa clan's boat, said "this is the first dispute of steamboat clash, if we accept defeat so easily, we will be laughed at by foreign countries."
Then he suggested that they follow the prevalent law on the seas and ask the British Royal Navy to judge the dispute.
As a result, Tosa clan got an arm and a leg from Owari clan.
This episode gave non-mainstream clans the momentum to topple the Tokugawa shogunate government.
I wish Ryoma lived in Japan now.
In this incident, who has to take responsibility?
I think our government does.
Especially our red shadow shogun (chief cabinet secretary) has to.
His first decision made things worse.
After the incident, he must have been informed that the Chinese captain deliberately attacked Japan's coast guard's ship.
But he decided to release the captain because he wanted to get along with the Chinese government.
In nautical terms, he didn't want to "make waves".
He was like leaders of non-mainstream clans, such as the Tosa clan, in what is now Kochi prefecture, at the end of the Edo period (in the late 19th century).
During the Edo period every feudal lord had to show his loyalty to the Tokugawa shogunate.
This meant that they couldn't offend any of the mainstream clans, such as the Owari clan - one of three top Tokugawa-related families.
The first clash between steamboats owned by these mainstream and non-mainstream clans took place at the end of the Edo period.
One foggy night the Owari clan's boat hit Tosa clan's boat and sank it.
First, the Owari clan tried to claim compensation for the damage to their boat.
Perhaps because they were intimidated by the idea of confronting the powerful Owari clan, the leaders of the Tosa clan appeared willing to accept the settlement.
This despite the fact that the Owari's boat had caused the collision.
However, Ryoma Sakamoto, the captain of Tosa clan's boat, said "this is the first dispute of steamboat clash, if we accept defeat so easily, we will be laughed at by foreign countries."
Then he suggested that they follow the prevalent law on the seas and ask the British Royal Navy to judge the dispute.
As a result, Tosa clan got an arm and a leg from Owari clan.
This episode gave non-mainstream clans the momentum to topple the Tokugawa shogunate government.
I wish Ryoma lived in Japan now.
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The video which shows the Chinese fishing boat dashing into the Japanese boat intentionally in Japan's territorial waters, was browsed all over the world.
He was like the leaders of non-mainstream clans, such as Tosa clan, now Kochi prefecture, at the end of the Edo period (in the late 19th century).
As the result, Tosa clan got an arm and a leg from Owari clan.
Everything may look clearer in hindsight, but what happened was inevitable. Each of the decisions that the Japanese government made is not necessarily bad decisions given the information they knew at the time. There was clearly a miscalculation on the degree of response of the Chinese government.
After the incident, he must have been informed that the Chinese captain deliberately attacked Japan's coast guards ship.
But he decided to release the captain because he wanted to get along with the Chinese government. In nautical terms, he didn't want to "make waves".
He was like leaders of non-mainstream clans, such as the Tosa clan, in what is now Kochi prefecture, at the end of the Edo period (in the late 19th century).
During the Edo period every feudal lord had to show his loyalty to the Tokugawa shogunate. This meant that they couldn't offend any of the mainstream clans, such as the Owari clan - one of three top Tokugawa-related families. (Since shogunate means a form of governance you don't need to add 'government').
The first clash between steamboats owned by these mainstream and non-mainstream clans took place at the end of the Edo period. (You last mentioned the time frame a few sentences before this, so it's better to restate it for clarity.)
One foggy night the Owari clan's boat hit the Tosa clan's boat and sank it.
First, the Owari clan tried to claim compensation for the damage to their boat. (Verb and preposition collocation is hard to remember for those who did not grow up hearing and reading them - it is "damage to" and "sinking of"
Perhaps because they were intimidated by the idea of confronting the powerful Owari clan, the leaders of the Tosa clan appeared willing to accept the settlement. This despite the fact that the Owari's boat had caused the collision.
However, Ryoma Sakamoto, the captain of Tosa clan's boat, said "this is the first dispute over the collision of steamboats. If we accept defeat so easily, we will be laughed at by foreign countries."
Then he suggested that they follow the prevalent law on the seas and ask the British Royal Navy to judge the dispute.
As a result, the Tosa clan got an arm and a leg from the Owari clan. (This is another case of co-locations, or collocations, in English. "As a result" is a set of words that frequently go together.
Good essay, Mikkom. The principles arising from this historical case (that few people know of) do indeed have some relevance in this contemporary dispute. I made some edits related to collocations, but they are minor. I added a few sentences because I believe that they made the story clearer to the reader. I think this is a great example of story telling to make a larger point. Excellent work!