Column by Akira Hasegawa
Mr. Yasuyuki Aizawa, our guest for this issue, is not exactly what we call "a photographer." He was born in Miyagi-Prefecture in 1971. He worked as a freelancer, but he also worked as an interpreter.
He became interested in Iraq as he looked into what kind of route the U.S. will take after 911. He observed how it developed into a war with Afghanistan and how they shifted the target to Iraq, he began protesting against its unconscionability.
İYasuyuki Aizawa/Asphalt 9
He went to Iraq before the war in February 2003 as a member of "human shield." He stayed in Iraq even after the war began and he stayed and continued shooting until August 2004. The Iraq War was never a legitimate one, as it was initiated one-sidedly based on the U.S. reasonings.
First of all, al-Qaeda has no relations to Iraq whatsoever. Al-Qaeda originated from a fundamentalist group called Wahhab, which is a part of Sunni Muslim. They were explicitly against Saddam Hussein, who was the secular leader. Henceforth, they did not have a chance to expand their influence to Iraq while Saddam Hussein was alive. The possession of "weapon of mass destruction", or WMD, was used as an excuse to initiate the war, however, it was proven after the war that this was not a fact. After all, what the U.S. had in mind must have been "maintenance of domestic military industry", "stable supply of oil" and "protection of Israel." And what the U.S. did was nothing less than a massacre using WMD. This is nothing new, they have history of using atomic bombs in Japan as well as incidents like Great Air Raid in Tokyo and indiscriminate bombings in Vietnam; however, the usages of depleted uranium (DU) weapon and cluster bombs in Middle East during this war shall be blamed and regarded as an act against humanity. DU sprinkles radiations to the air upon its landing.
After the war, Iraq has seen an increased number of cases of leukemia, cancer and fetal malformation in children. Cluster bombs split into some 200 pieces of bomblets upon its landing and each one explodes in the surrounding area, however, it is assumed that more than 5% of which do not explode and they remain and function as land mines thereafter. Not calling these weapons WMD is nothing but selfishness on the U.S. side. Simply put, the only thing that the U.S. spent time on thinking after 911 was how to replace words. They are calling their enemies "terrorists" in order to justify their attacks.
İYasuyuki Aizawa/Asphalt 9
Professor Michael J. Sandel at Harvard University has published a book called "Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?"; however, my question is, "has justice ever existed in America, which was founded by paralyzing the native tribes in the first place?" Or is it that justice in America means nothing more than pissing on dead corps of the enemy soldier?
Also in Asphalt IX:
"Butterfly had a dream Part 2" is a continuing series from the previous issue. This time, he has captured peaceful life of the main character on Miyako-Island. Considering how hard her life is in Tokyo, it is quite strange to see this in comparison.
Butterfly had a dream Part 2İAtsushi Fujiwara
"Kuroshio Farm - Shikoku" by Mr. Eiji Sakurai was shot in Kochi-Prefecture and Ehime-Prefecture on the Pacific side of Shikoku in March 2009. We have featured his fascinations and attachment to the ocean in the third issue of Asphalt as well, but his fascination goes to the ocean and the port and those who work on the ocean and he is actually not interested in fish. He does not go fishing. His interest is more like he used to dream of going to unfamiliar port cities on a tramp cargo ship.
Kuroshio Farm - Shikokuİ Eiji Sakurai
His photos in this issue have captured the reality of fishery workers quite well. By the way, I'm going off the topic, but since this publication is gathering more and more readers from overseas, I would like make some things clear. Japanese have always lived with the ocean; we live near the ocean and eat what we can get from the ocean. Our protein intake relied heavily on seafood. It should be obvious that whale fishing has been one of them and this has been a custom in our tradition. We don't even have to show you the evidences from Jomon Period, you could just see the brave pictures of whale fishing by Koukan Shiba in 18th century. This has some things in common with the issues in Middle East, however, white Christians often attempt to attack and exclude customs and manners that are foreign to them. Refusal to understand different cultures is an indication of childish mentality, at least that's what I believe.
Kuroshio Farm - Shikokuİ Eiji Sakurai
"Encounter with a man" by Hirotoshi Nishioka features the scenery of Changjiang in Nanjing, China. He was born in Kanagawa-Prefecture in 1982. He has graduated from design school in Milan. He visited China for the first time with his parents in 2006. This photo was taken in 2008. It is unfortunate that we could not print more than one photo, but he has a very unique vision and we are looking forward to seeing more work from him in the future.
Encounter with a manİ Hirotoshi Nishioka