Dear Friends, Historical atrocities are crimes to humanity, but it can be forgiven, under the condition that the aggressing nation involved truly reflects on its past sins and repent. Only then will there be a hope for peace. Likewise, we believe in the beauty of reconciliation, but it can only be realized with the aggressing nation truly understanding the magnitude of hurt it had caused and denounce the crimes. The UN is the organization for peace, development, and humanity. We do not think that Japan, with its government and right-wing groups refusing to even acknowledge the crimes, deserve a seat as a perm. member of the security council. It is an outright insult to people who have been victimized in the "Asian Holocaust". The Japanese military did not target a specific ethnic group, but murdered millions in China (including of course, Taiwan\Hongkong\Macau), Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and other countries of Southeast Asia. Not to mention the many British and Australian POWs (soldiers and civilians alike) who have been inhumanely tortured and died in the camps. The Germans and Jews can reconcile. So can the Japanese with the rest of Asia, but only if they learn from the Germans' attitude towards history. Therefore, before that is done, we are saying "No" to Japan's bid for a perm. seat in the Security Council. That seat is not for sale. We have received approval from New York City to hold a protest to oppose Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. It will be held on this Friday, April 22, from 1 pm to 3 pm, at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.(47th street and 1st Avenue, ). We will also be submitting our letters to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan; Permanent Representative of China to the UN, Wang Guangya; Ambassador of Consulate-General in New York, Liu Biwei; Permanent Representative of Japan to the UN, Kenzo OSHIMA. So, peace lovers, see you there! Thank You. 谢谢。