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TOKYO

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A city of many many millions

A throbbing city with

A thousand dreams

And a painful past

Earthquakes, fires, killings,

Allied bombings, palace intrigues

Power struggles and

Religious persecutions

Never douse its forward

Matching spirit to the fore

Of technology, fashion, ideas,

Knowledge and world peace

A city that has astounded the

World with its mindboggling transformation

From feudal backgrounds to

Modernity and world's top in less

Than a century never

Fails to fascinate a foreigner

With its contrasts between

The old and the new

The Occident and the Orient

A geisha walking under her

colourful parasol

in the midst

Of modern skyscrapers

An emotion charged enka played

Amid catchy modern hits

Old Chinese inspired temples, jinjas

And pagodas with up-to-date facilities

The only city in the world

That forever renounces war

In its constitution

This is Tokyo, a city fortunate

Enough to have Van Goh's Sunflower

Nobel-prize writer Yasunari Kawabata

Oscar Samurai celluloid creator Akira Kurosawa

The blessings of Sungoddess Amaterasu

And auspices of the world's oldest monarchy

The next great earthquake

Predicted to strike anytime

Doesnt seem to dim the enthusiasm of

Its populace who seek out every

Inch of land here for

More development and......fun!



CHINA

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CHINA, THE MIDDLE KINGDOM;

A NAME THAT SMACKS OF

THE NATION'S PRIDE,

BUT WHICH HAS ALSO

CAUSED MANY OF ITS MISERABLE

FAILURES TOO.

A PARADOX IN WORLD'S HISTORY,

CHINA IS BUT A SURVIVOR OF THE ODDS,

NEARLY DOOMED AS FOES RAVAGED

THIS WORLD'S OLDEST CIVILISATION

THE LAST ONE CENTURY.

BUT THANK GOD'S MERCIFUL

TWIST OF HISTORY

WHICH ENABLED THE NATION TO

STAND UP TO THE REST AGAIN.

THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

HAS EVENTUALLY LEARNT TO

EMBRACE THE WORLD,

TO WALK HAND IN HAND WITH THE REST

IN ABSORBING THE WORLD CULTURES INTO ITS OWN;

A REALISATION OF THE INADEQUACY OF

KNOWLEDGE AND THAT BEING THE

MIDDLE KINGDOM DOES NOT

MEAN TURNING A BLIND EYE TO

THE REST....

HOW SMALL THE CHINESE WORLD MUST HAVE BEEN

THE LAST TWO THOUSAND YEARS

AS THEY MISCONCEIVED THE STATE OF THE WORLD,

AS THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE THE LEADING RACE,

AS THEY DECEIVED THEMSELVES WITH MEGALOMANIA.

AND AS THEY MISCONTRUED THE MEANING OF THE WORD MIDDLE,

JAPAN, ITS NEARBY NEIGHBOUR

A FORMER DISCIPLE OFFERED AN EVERLASTING

LESSON TO ITS FORMER MASTER.

THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN

OPENED ITSELF UP TO LEARN FROM THE WORLD

AND LATER WAS ABLE TO CARVE UP

THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

LIKE A MELON LAID ON A TABLE.

IT WON SOLELY BECAUSE OF

ITS ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT.

THANK GOD, CHINA'S MENTAL DOORS HAVE

EVENTUALLY OPENED FOR

ALL DESIRABLE INFLUENCES.

IT HAS ITS RIGHT TO PROVE ITSELF AS THE

MIDDLE KINGDOM AGAIN BUT

MY GOD, PLEASE LET'S IT BE

A MIDDLE KINGDOM FOR THE

CONVERGENCE OF ALL WORLD'S KNOWLEDGE;

THE REAL MIDDLE KINGDOM OF THIS AGE.