Witty yet very un-PC, I know..but if you'd seen the things that the Japanese did during WWII to Chinese, Soviet, and British POWs, you might be saying the same thing. But lets backtrack a bit.
I've been in Harbin, the capital of a province nestled unncessarily close to North Korea and Russia. It's home to the world's largest Siberian tiger park. I checked it out yesterday, after a cab, two buses, and a three-wheeled electric "taxi" finally got me there. The park's goal is to increase the population of the critically endangered Manchurian/Siberian tiger. Last year it boasted 80 births, and with only 300-500 in the wild..it seems to be succeeding in creating more tigers. However, it isn't at all preparing them for release into the wild. You can't exactly rehabilitate captive bred animals by allowing park visitors to buy live game to hand-feed the tigers, can you? At the end of the tour you are allowed to take pictures with a Siberian tiger skin or a tiger cub, neither of which I did out of silent protest. They also had various other big cats, such as Lions, Ligers, Panthers, and Jaguars.
Today I took a visit to a former Japanese Special Military Zone, Base 731. From 1939 to 1945, it was a research center for germ warfare. 3,000 people died there over six years through various experiments involving frostbite, small pox, pneumonic plague i.e., bubonic plague, and trial by fire. Physicians would infect people with pathogens or expose them to extreme heat/cold to see how their bodies reacted. Now I'm off to a happier place, Dongdan. It's directly on the border with North Korea and, if I'm lucky, I'll get to buy some smokes for a North Korean soldier at the "one step across," point where only a stream seperates the two countries. As there is no fence, I could easily help the poor guy out.
Until next time,
Jeff
