Beer to celebrate Japan defeating Russia

[Mulboyne]

SeacoastNH.com: Get Smashed for Peace & Drink Retrospectively

Are you ready for a crush of events in 2005 celebrating the centennial of Portsmouth's most famous event? Japan's Ginga Kogen Beer company has begun the party early. The Japanese brewery has released an honorary beer can for the Treaty of Portsmouth Centennial. In 1905 Russian and Japanese negotiated an end to a destructive war under the guidance of President Roosevelt. Roosevelt won the Nobel Prize for his participation, although he never actually came to New Hampshire. The month-long meetings took place at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and envoys of both sides stayed at the luxurious Wentworth Hotel in New Castle. The hotel, recently restored and re-opened after 20 dormant years, is a popular historic site for Japanese tourists.

[Taro Toporific]

I was looking for more pictures of that defeating Russia beer and I found this Japanese "killer" beer.

[dimwit]

The Russian should counter by coming out with Nomonhan Beer to celebrate the 65th anniversary of that special occasion. :P

[Buraku]

How about a beer to celebrate the defeat of Ishihara's fascists during WW2-

you had the Chinese, Russians and Vietnamese kicking the cr%p outta Japan in Mongolia, south east Asia and Manchuria

we had the British, Indonesians , Indians and Aussies beating the heck out of the Japapnese in the Asia Pacific region

and we had the Canadians and the good old USA open a can of whoop-ass in mid-way, Okinawa and a full on attack


Wonder if some should start rubbing it in Japan's face ?


http://www.binarystorage.net/clients/liberty/thumb/berkeleymug-thumb.jpg
http://ericsbeerpage.com/Beer/Label/AtomicAle.GIF
http://www.think.cz/issue/30/NUKE-BEER.jpg

[prolly]

if someone wants to mail me a sixpack (to NYC) I'll gladly pay for it (the beer, the shipping, plus $20 for your efforts)

seriously. but you'll need a paypal acct and be somewhat reputable on this board.

[canman]

The Company that owns Ginga Koen beer is soooo right wing. My student used to work for the company Higashi Nihon House owned by the same company. Everytime they went out for a nomikai, the execs would break into WW2 songs and would force all the emplyees to sing along. She also told me that the president only wanted to build Japanese style houses and couldn't understand why customers wanted western style houses. She got out at that point.

[ChrisRT]

Sounds like something that would happen in America. Just wait till the beer can starts singing or vibrating while you are sober.

[Big Booger]

Yeah it'd be like showing a WWII flame thrower GI barbecuing a Japanese soldier on a can of beer... with a tagline of "It's time to toast"

[Mulboyne]

Today's the day to kanpai!

BBC: Celebrating Japan's Trafalgar
... On 27 May 1905 the Japanese crushed the Russians at the battle of Tsushima, an island in the straits between Japan and Korea...

[blackcat]

brainless cunts

complained no end when a postage stamp in america had a picture of the enola gay to commemorate the end of WW2

two faced to the core japs, lets ask Budweisser/Miller to make a ATOM BEER you know for those really hot days in AUGUST

[maraboutslim]

brainless cunts
complained no end when a postage stamp in america had a picture of the enola gay to commemorate the end of WW2

Surely you realize the difference between a government issued stamp, and a beer released by a privately owned company, right?

(having said that, i'm not the type to loose sleep about either!)

[Mels]

brainless cunts

complained no end when a postage stamp in america had a picture of the enola gay to commemorate the end of WW2

two faced to the core japs, lets ask Budweisser/Miller to make a ATOM BEER you know for those really hot days in AUGUST

nawww....that would be fucked. My birthday is Aug. 6...while in Japan, you know they freaking mourn on that day...wouldnt want a fucking beer in the US reminding us of that....BUT would be interesting to see the Japenese reaction....
nawww...went on a visit to Hiroshima and it was too heart wrenching....seeing all those pictures....my relatives are Japanese and it pained me to see. And on the other side, it pains me to see all the military people who were killed in Hawaii too. fuck, either side I look from, it is fucked. War sucks.. BAAAAAAAAAAA

[Buraku]

Yeah it'd be like showing a WWII flame thrower GI barbecuing a Japanese soldier on a can of beer... with a tagline of "It's time to toast"

what an idea

[homesweethome]

100 years ago Japan ended a war with Russia that set the stage for Imerial Japan and all the fun that followed.


Russian warship Varyag
http://www.russojapanesewar.com/chemulpo.html

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/GH16Dh02.html

Echoes of Tsushima
In 2005, East Asian regional strategy is once again a hot topic for
policy makers, diplomats and journalists. As China begins to
reassert itself regionally and as its economy revives to challenge
conceptions of its place in the world, Japan, Russia, Korea (North
and South) and the United States are busy reassessing their relative
geostrategic and military positions in the region.

For the historian, this rivalry finds a particular echo. One hundred
years ago, as the Russo-Japanese war raged, the first major naval
engagement of the 20th century took place in the Korea/Japan
straits - the Battle of Tsushima of May 27-28th, 1905. In this
battle, the Russian Baltic Fleet under Admiral Rozhestventsky was
destroyed by an Imperial Japanese fleet under Admiral Togo,
rewriting naval strategy of the period. With the Russian defeat, the
Russo-Japanese war ended decisively in Japan's favor, Tsarist Russia
turned inwards to meet growing revolutionary pressures and her naval
aspirations in the Far East were extinguished for a generation.

Critically, Japanese regional naval confidence was established for
the next 40 years. Japan went on to colonize Korea in 1910 - without
international opposition - and victory at Tsushima underwrote
Japan's strategic thinking in the years leading up to its bid for
Asian regional dominance from 1937 and the fatal attack on Pearl
Harbor in December 1941.

Even today, the facts of the battle are extraordinary. A Tsarist
battle fleet comprising 40 aging warships and other vessels sailed
18,000 miles around the world from the Baltic to the Korea/Japan
straits, dogged by poor logistics and morale, inadequate sea repairs
in warm waters and more importantly lack of self belief. Russia
embarked on this hazardous course as a last resort following the
comprehensive defeat of its Pacific Fleet by Japan at Shantung
(Yellow Sea) in August 1904. As the only ships available to Russia,
they represented the last hope of set-piece victory against Japan.
Losing on land, Russia's military leaders hoped that victory at sea
would turn the tide. In the event, both ships and crews were to
prove not good enough - Russian naval leadership was poor and
gunnery tactics inferior.

The voyage soon acquired something of a farcical character, a
perception that has lasted to this day and is still considered
shameful in Russia. En route to the Pacific, the Russian fleet first
shelled British fishing vessels at Dogger Bank, killing three
fishermen, thinking them to be Japanese torpedo boat crews. They
then later fired at each other. Moreover, Rozhestventsky was no Lord
Horatio Nelson of Britain: he was castigated by his colleagues as
inflexible, authoritarian, yet fatally also stricken by indecision.
Commanding the flagship Suvarov, he ordered 19 barnacle-encrusted
battleships, armored cruisers and other vessels of his reduced
flotilla to engage a fleet of 31 well ordered Japanese warships,
most twice as fast as their Russian counterparts (such as Admiral
Togo's flagship, Mikasa, built by Vickers & Sons in Britain). The
fleets met in the Korea/Japan straits due east of Tsushima Island
and just north of nearby Iki Island on the morning of May 27 1905.

From the opening salvoes, the Japanese demonstrated superior gunnery
tactics, using better ammunition and ranging and Togo correctly
maneuvered his ships to capitalize on Russian mistakes. At the
critical moment, he ordered his fleet to "cross the T" of his
adversary - ie crossing the enemy line and focussing maximum fire of
his six- and twelve-inch guns. He managed this maneuver twice, and
in later night attacks his ships quickly exacted a heavy price on
the Russians. At ranges of between 6,000 and 12,000 yards, 21 ships
of various classes were sunk,13 were captured or incapacitated and
perhaps 11,000 sailors were killed or wounded on both sides.

Russia lost four prized battleships on the first day of the battle -
the flagship Suvarov (Rozhestventsky was transferred to the
destroyer Bedovyi after fatal damage was inflicted) Borodino,
Emperor Alexander III and Oslyabya. Added humiliation for Russia
came with the surrender or scuttling on May 28 (by Rozhestvensky's
deputy Rear Admiral Nebagatov)of the remaining battleships Orel,
Sisoy Veliki, Emperor Nikolas I, Navarin and battle cruisers
Vladimir Monomakh and Admiral Nakimov. At least 6,000 Russian
sailors were taken prisoner. Several ships escaped the debacle in
all directions, including the cruiser Aurora, later to become famous
as the vessel that signaled the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917
and still sits at anchor in St Petersburg. Rozhestventsky, lying
badly wounded on the Bedovyi, was captured at sea and taken to
Japan's Sasebo naval base. He was later visited in hospital by Togo
and later returned to Russia in disgrace where he died in retirement
in 1908.

For Japan victory was complete. Only three Japanese vessels were
lost at Tsushima and Japan's battle cruisers had proved more than a
match for Russia's battleships. An estimated 700 Japanese sailors
were killed or wounded compared to about 10,000 Russians. Jubilant
celebrations followed and the Russo-Japanese war was finally
conceded by Russia with the Treaty of Portsmouth, brokered by the
United States in September 1905. Togo's flagship the Mikasa was
later anchored in honorable retirement under the Naval Treaty of
1922 in Yokoshuka Harbor, Japan, much like HMS Belfast on the
Thames. The ship is still there.

After the battle naval strategists from Britain and Germany pored
over the reports as a case study in how to fail or succeed at sea.
The world of 1905 hummed with intense naval rivalry. Britain's
revolutionary armored warship HMS Dreadnought was under construction
by October that year and set to render competitors obsolete when
launched in February 1906. The era of the naval race between Great
Britain and Germany was about to begin. A British Royal Navy
observer had actually been present at Tsushima. Captain WC Pakenham
had made notes under shellfire on the Japanese battleship Asahi - he
was later decorated by Togo for his calm demeanor - and filed his
reports back to an eager admiralty. Tsushima thus became an object
lesson for naval planners and fed into strategic planning for later
major ironclad clashes during the Great War, most particularly at
Jutland in 1916. Not all the lessons were applied in the event,
notably a conclusion from Tsushima that improved gunnery tactics and
superior technical sighting equipment would be critical elements in
future engagements.

The location of the battle was also highly significant. In East Asia
the waters south of Korea and in the sea lanes of the Korea/Japan
straits have a long history as a naval killing ground. The straits
have proved strategically important for local powers, as the English
Channel has been in British history. For centuries Japanese, Korean,
Chinese and Mongol forces have fought naval actions here. The Mongol
warlord Kublai Khan's huge fleet twice attempted to invade Japan in
1274 and 1281 but foundered disastrously. In 1592 and 1597 Korean
Admiral Yi Soon-sin, a commander regarded in Korea today as highly
as Nelson is in Britain, dominated the straits and the approaches to
Korea using the forerunner of ironclad warships - armored so-
called "Turtle ships" - and defeated opposing Japanese fleets. In
World War II, the straits were to feature again with surface,
submarine and air operations conducted by both Japan and the United
States. Modern tourists from Busan, South Korea taking the ferry to
Tsushima Island or to Chejudo Island, the latter a traditional
honeymoon destination for Korean couples, pass through once
viciously contested seas and over naval graveyards.

Today, the Korea/Japan straits remain a major international maritime
thoroughfare, but one haunted by the ghosts of Tsushima. Flying over
the straits to Tokyo from Seoul gives a powerful reminder of the
dramatic events that unfolded a century ago. One can compare the
public in-flight navigation display with the known naval lines of
battle by looking due south. The track of Rozhestventsky's ships as
they advanced, in line astern, on a southwesterly track
northeastwards and the positions of Togo's fleet heading southwards
can be visually estimated. The approximate area of sea where the
Russian admiral was captured unconscious on board the fleeing
destroyer Bedovyi can be guessed at by the imaginative. The wrecks
of the Russian battleships and cruisers rest over 90 meters down
east and north of Tsushima Island in the warm Tsushima current,
which flows northward into the Sea of Japan. The area is regularly
battered by typhoon-strength winds and hurricanes. Many sank as
smashed burning hulks and their condition today is judged as poor.
The wreck sites remain war graves and diving on them is rare due to
the combination of crowded sea lanes and the typhoon season each
year making examination and filming difficult.

The events of Tsushima are now finding added resonance in revived
competition between old and new regional naval rivals. Overall, what
remains unclear is whether current strategic arrangements will
survive in future with the rise of China and the uncertain response
of other regional actors, each with individual security concerns.

Japanese government reports in 2005 suggest planned aircraft carrier
construction by China, prompting concerns that Japan might follow
suit to emerge from America's existing protective alliance. To make
matters worse, Chinese-Japanese relations soured in 2005 over
differing perceptions of Japanese actions during World War II and
have been exacerbated further by intrusions by Chinese submarines
into Japan's territorial waters near Okinawa.

The grip of history and memory remain strong. Japan continues to be
embroiled in inshore disputes with both North and South Korea and
argues with Russia over rights to the Kurile Islands. Japan is also
highly concerned by North Korean missile tests over its territory
and possible nuclear weapons acquisition. Japan's neighbors, North
and South Korea regularly lose lives in naval duels in their home
waters and display their own resentments concerning Japan's war
record. Russia's Pacific fleet, weakened in the years since 1991 by
decay and lack of modernization, remains an active regional naval
actor but its parlous position was illustrated this month by its
need for international assistance to retrieve successfully a
stricken mini-submarine off the Kamchatka peninsula.

Finally, China's claims to the island of Taiwan, further south,
involve the United Sates navy as the nominal guarantor of security
under treaty obligations of 1979. A major flashpoint here is
considered eminently possible. The US navy also has hypothetical
plans for blockade of North Korea to prevent possible export of
missile or nuclear technology.

The naval theater of East Asia thus continues to provide potent
strategic challenges a century after Tsushima. The era of the
ironclad may be over but the echoes of 1905 can still be heard.

What China is Doing with the Varyag
http://www.varyagworld.com/

[Socratesabroad]

It's 'Tsushima' not Tsuchima.


Echoes of Tsushima
By Ronan Thomas

In 2005, East Asian regional strategy is once again a hot topic for policy makers, diplomats and journalists. As China begins to reassert itself regionally and as its economy revives to challenge conceptions of its place in the world, Japan, Russia, Korea (North and South) and the United States are busy reassessing their relative geostrategic and military positions in the region. ...

[Mulboyne]

A British Royal Navy observer had actually been present at Tsushima. Captain WC Pakenham had made notes under shellfire on the Japanese battleship Asahi - he was later decorated by Togo for his calm demeanor - and filed his reports back to an eager admiralty.

Pakenham was earily composed. He was on the Asahi for over 14 months and would sit in his cane deckchair taking notes while the battle raged. He was described as being dressed in heavily starched whites, high collar, boots and a monocle in his eye. After the First World War it was noted that he completed fifty two uninterrupted months, impeccably dressed, on Royal Navy ships.

At one point on the Asahi, some seaman were blown apart next to him, covering him in blood. He wrote "In spite of the quantity scattered, the amount of blood left on deck looked sufficient to fill a big cask". At this point he went below, leading the crew to suspect he had reached his limit. Within minutes he had returned in a new, clean uniform and continued taking notes.

Sadly for the world, the real lessons of the war were on land where the role of artillery, trenches and the ineffectiveness of cavalry were all on show but, despite the presence of hundreds of observers, tactics and strategy remained unchanged at the outbreak of the Great War.

Rozhestventsky was undoubtedly at fault during the engagement - he issued only two orders and never explained his battle plan to his commanders but he did show considerable skill in getting his fleet to Tsushima.

One interesting feature is that Japan began hostilities without a formal declaration of war. The Times believed that should be considered quite normal for modern times although Britain was an ally of Japan at the time. The US was less convinced but elected to fall in line since Roosevelt was sympathetic.

I can recommend "Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear" by Richard Connaughton as a good read.

[cstaylor]

The US was less convinced but elected to fall in line since Roosevelt was sympathetic.

Theodore, not Franklin.

[Mulboyne]

Theodore, not Franklin.

Well, it was 1904 so I didn't think there would be any confusion

[cstaylor]

Theodore, not Franklin.

Well, it was 1904 so I didn't think there would be any confusion

Never know... some of our readership isn't up to speed on some aspects of history.

[Mulboyne]

The 100th anniversary celebrations will soon draw to a close...

Christian Science Monitor: Treaty of Portsmouth now seen as global turning point

TOKYO, AND PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – For a month 100 years ago, a quiet New England port held the focus of the world.
From Aug. 9 to Sept. 5, diplomats were thrown together with local ladies clubs, and foreign reporters swooped onto picket-fenced streets and called the town a beacon of hope to end the cataclysm between "East" and "West." In fact, the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, fought mostly in Manchuria, was so profound in its effect that some historians now call it "World War 0"...more...

[dingosatemybaby]

Theodore, not Franklin.

Well, it was 1904 so I didn't think there would be any confusion

[voice of Kramer from "Seinfeld"] Oh, you'd be surprised.

[Taro Toporific]

The Russian should counter by coming out with Nomonhan Beer to celebrate the 65th anniversary of that special occasion. :P

via fark
[floatl][/floatl]

Khalkhin-Gol: The Battle that shaped WW2 (aka the "Nomonhan Incident")21 January 2008---
In August 1939, just weeks before Hitler invaded Poland, the Soviet Union and Japan fought a massive tank battle on the Mongolian border - the largest the world had ever seen.
Under the then unknown Georgy Zhukov, the Soviets won a crushing victory at the batte of Khalkhin-Gol (known in Japan as the Nomonhan Incident). Defeat persuaded the Japanese to expand into the Pacific, where they saw the United States as a weaker opponent than the Soviet Union. If the Japanese had not lost at Khalkhin Gol, they may never have attacked Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese decision to expand southwards also meant that the Soviet Eastern flank was secured for the duration of the war. Instead of having to fight on two fronts, the Soviets could mass their troops - under the newly promoted General Zhukov - against the threat of Nazi Germany in the West.
In terms of its strategic impact, the battle of Khalkhin Gol was one of the most decisive battles of the Second World War, but no-one has ever heard of it. Why?
...more...

------

A longer account of the battle of Khalkhin Gol/Nomonhan is here.