I just saw on the NHK news that a crew recovered a faded Colonel Sanders statue from the Dotonbori River in Osaka.  Could it be the one that was tossed in back in 1985 by rabid fans celebrating the Hanshin Tigers' baseball championship that summer?  And if so, does this mean the "Curse of the Colonel" is lifted?  Could 2009 be a toradoshi (year of the tiger)?  Stay tuned.

   In the meanwhile, I'm glad that the American media is starting to pick up on how big the World Baseball Classic is outside the borders of the U.S.  Every move made by the Japanese team is covered in excruciating detail by the press and mass media.  The Korea-Japan rivalry is turning into something really fierce.

   Another East Asian rivalry is apparently mellowing.  Stephen Epstein has a very interesting article this week at The Asia-Pacific Journal:  Japan Focus on the changing image of North Korea in South Korean popular culture.  In recent films, music, and tv shows, irony and humor have emerged as dominant techniques, producing a less fearful sensibility toward the North.

   The North, on the other hand, continues to insist that it will launch a satellite soon, and Japan threatens to shoot it down, fearing that Pyongyang is actually planning a test of its new long-range missile system.  Pyongyang replies that an interception of the launch would amount to a declaration of war.  One hopes Japan is wise enough not to use its new U.S.-supplied missile defense system rashly.  Among other reasons, the system will almost surely fail.  To paraphrase Lincoln, it is better to have North Korea think your missile defense system may be faulty than to use it and remove all doubt.