Thailand has allowed gays in the military… and ladyboys! No word yet on what changes this will mean for the uniforms, but I expect stilettos.

Japundit looks at Koizumi’s dissolution of the Lower House. Good news, it’s looking less like a suicide and more like a showdown.

This article from the Daily Mainichi reports on the latest polls, revealing that support for his Cabinet has climbed 9 percentage points to 46 percent. It is not uncommon for the LDP to do well in elections despite a Cabinet approval rating of less than 50 percent, and these polls show a substantial upswing. Voters also supported Koizumi’s decision to dissolve the Diet by a margin of 54 percent to 36 percent.

John Ziemba has more, plus an item on China’s militaristic past.:

A former Secretary General of Taiwan’s National Security Council reports that South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun made the following comment to George W Bush in June.  From RealClear Politics:

During his visit to the US in June, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun told  President Bush that China had invaded Korea over 100 times in history. His remarks shocked China, which views itself as the victim of invasions (most humiliatingly, by the Japanese) and has forgotten its own history of bullying its neighbors.

The Lost Nomad reports that South Korea has not fallen under the spell of the iPod.:

The iPod may dominate the MP3 player market in almost every country in the world, but one nation is holding out against Apple’s onslaught.
Yes, South Korea, home of a number of contenders to the iPod’s title, favours local product over all that ‘designed in California’ stuff.
According to market watcher GfK’s Korean subsidiary, Apple’s share of the South Korean MP3 player market is a mere 1.8 per cent - enough to put it in 13th place.