In Kinki district, the long-delayed rainy season has finally arrived and gloomy days continue.
On the other hand, the heat was in full swing in various places last week, and extremely hot days over 35 degrees were observed. Average temperatures continue to hit new all-time high in the world. The Paris Agreement, international rule of measures against global warming, sets a target to limit the temperature rise from before the Industrial Revolution (1750~1850) to within 1.5 degrees. But the temperature is rising with a momentum surpassing this target now. The Gutenberg University in Germany published research results that summer in the Northern Hemisphere was the hottest over the past 2,000 years. If we don’t take more serious action against global warming, the impact on food like agriculture and fishery essential for human life will be significant and at the same time, damage due to drought and flood will be increasingly serious on a global scale.

■■What I have recently thought and focused on:
■The decision of President of the United States on critical occasions such as Russian invasion of Ukraine and so on:
It has been almost two and a half years since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, but the battle situation is in a deadlock with neither side gaining a clear advantage. I think that President Putin is struggling with how to get the situation under control, because the expectation that it would be settled in a short period of time did not materialize. For Ukraine’s side, the number of civilian victims is increasing rapidly, but given the historical context, achieving peace will not be straightforward. It is exactly that “starting a war is easy, but ending it is not”. It is pointed out that against such background, now that I think about it, since the start of Russian military invasion, President Biden in the United States was concerned about escalating combat and escalating to nuclear war, and has provided military support (provision of weapons) to Ukraine on a small basis. It seems that such cautious or hesitant strategy made President Putin redundant as a result. And if Mr. Trump returns the presidency in the United States and stops support to Ukraine as he promises, in conjunction of the precedent of withdrawal from Afghanistan under Biden administration in August 2021, the perception that “the United States will not defend it or will not take the trouble to defend it until the end” will spread, and Chinese invasion of Taiwan becomes even more realistic. This is a serious problem for national security of our country.
By the way, in contrast to the political stance of President Biden, what comes to my mind was a resolute decision by President John. F. Kennedy in the United States aged 45 at that time, on the occasion of “the Cuban Missile Crisis” occurred in October 1962, 62 years ago from now. The origin of this crisis was that the Soviet Union, where the current Russia is the core, attempted to bring in nuclear missiles to Cuba that is in the backyard or at the throat of the United States and ruled by the Communist Party as a single party. In response, the said president decided to conduct a maritime inspection, and the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union escalated to the brink of nuclear war. But this president’s decision led Prime Minister Khrushchev aged 68 at that time to abandon the plan. It was truly brinkmanship diplomacy, win or lose the so-called chicken race, but the qualities and skills required to President of the United States is a resolute stance in times of crisis. In this regard, what about President Biden? Incidentally, President Kennedy, aged 46 at that time, unfortunately was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 during his term.
By the way, one more thing is for President of the United States to decide. It has been almost 79 years since the atomic bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and over 200,000 citizens lost their lives. It is natural that Japanese people including me take this as “merciless and indiscriminate mass murder”. However, in the government of the United States and among American citizens, it is still common that “the decision by President Truman saved the lives of one million U.S. soldiers”. It was true that Japan at that time was already lost in the battle of Okinawa and cornered, and major cities were devastated by air raids and no matter who looked at it, it was clear that Japan would lose the war. Nevertheless, military factions in Japan insisted on a decisive battle of the mainland and 100 million honorable deaths, and in preparation to mainland landing by American soldiers, were in a stance of thorough resistance like training the public to “attack with bamboo spears”. The situation where Japan had no choice but to accept “unconditional surrender” can’t be denied, because the atomic bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, in that the persons who became the victim of the atomic bombs were not persons directly responsible for waging the war but innocent civilians, and why Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen, it remains as an unreasonable thought in the hearts of Japanese people.
By the way, it is a hypothesis but if Nazi Germany and Japan had completed the atomic bomb before the United States conversely, can you say for sure that they did not use it?  War drives humanity to madness to the last. War has become a place where civilians are indiscriminately caught up in slaughter since World WarⅡ. What is happening in Ukraine right now is exactly the same.
When the human races landed on the moon for the first time on July 20, 1969 and saw the tiny Earth floating in the vast expanse of the space from there, I expected that perceptions on the nation and life would change and the war over race, religion and territory would disappear. But unfortunately, the reality is that “history will repeat itself” and “the history of the human race is the history of warfare”. It makes me realize that the human races “don’t learn from the past and are stupid creatures”.

■Where have “the virtues of Japanese people” gone?
The current national administration is in a drifting state without knowing where it is going, stemming from the secret funds issue. And the government struggling with low approval ratings and legislators who are afraid of losing election postpone a full-scale discussion on constitutional amendments related to the foundation of the country, nuclear power plants for energy independence and issues such as health care reform and social security reform, and the central focus of policies remain on symptomatic treatments such as benefits, fixed-sum tax cut and measures to reduce the burden of electricity and gas charges that has changed the name to the extreme heat countermeasure for three months from August this year.
And an illegal operation of “specially designated secrets” that led to the resignation of the top management of Maritime Self-Defense Force has exposed a low level of consciousness and a sloppy management system for confidentiality in Japan, and there are concerns that it has an effect on not only the U.S.-Japan relationship but also trust relationship and strengthening collaboration with other allied countries. In addition, problems such as benefit fraud, sexual harassment and power harassment are occurring one after another.
And violation of laws like injustice and bullying subcontractors have also been found one after another in the private sector, major companies and prestigious companies that represent Japan.
Such scandals are also accompanied by a heat wave, and I feel I have had enough. Where have the virtues such as “follow the rules”, “polite” and “have a sense of shame” that Japanese people have inherited since ancient times gone? It is truly regrettable. By nature, when you look at each individual, I think that in most cases, they are good citizens and family-oriented people, and common-sense people. But if someone becomes “an organizational person” (one person in the organization) from a position of “individual”, it is the pretext of “protecting the organization (company)”, but in fact, he seems to be dominated by psychology and thoughts such as “self-preservation within the organization” and “he does not want to be left out (camaraderie)”. Ability to understand and get hold of such human weakness and tendency psychologically and to apply to real-world management of an organization is necessary for outstanding organization administrators and executives.