Chapter 1620 Anchorage Airport
East Africa has been a sports powerhouse since the late 19th century. However, before 1910, East Africa was not keen on the development of sports, the sports industry was not mature, and athletes rarely appeared in international competitions.
The change began in the 1920s, when East Africa began to emerge as a sports powerhouse in the world.
Of course, the background of the rise of sports in East Africa is also very subtle. Modern sports have attracted widespread attention from the world. It was not achieved overnight, but a gradual process. However, its key turning point occurred from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century.
In 1896, the first modern Olympic Games was held in Athens. Although small in scale, it revived the concept of international sporting events and was the first milestone in the globalization of sports.
In other words, the rise of sports in East Africa coincided with the rise of global sports. However, at the end of the 19th century, the attention paid to sports in various countries was still limited to domestic and elite classes.
The early 20th century was a pivotal period in the popularization and entertainment of sports, thanks to technological advances such as newsreels shown in cinemas, which allowed people to witness footage of major events.
Or radio stations and television broadcast live boxing matches, baseball World Series, football cup finals, etc., allowing millions or even tens of millions of people to "listen" to a game at the same time, greatly enhancing the immediacy and public participation of sports.
It is thanks to this that sports have a wide "audience" around the world and have become an important tool for political propaganda.
The German government has obviously seen this, so it actively organizes international competitions to achieve political propaganda and glorification of Germany.
Ma Xuesen said, "During the Winter Olympics, my family stayed in front of the radio to listen to the games. I hope our Alaskan athletes will achieve even better results in this year's Summer Olympics."
Radio is an important household appliance that is now required in almost every household in East Africa, including Alaska, where it has also been promoted to most households.
This is unique among the East African colonies; even East Kalimantan, with a larger population, cannot do this.
The reason is very simple, that is, Alaska developed earlier, even earlier than the mainland of East Africa, while colonies such as East Kalimantan developed later, and many immigrants were new arrivals. Most of these first-generation immigrants did not have much savings and were relatively frugal. They could not spend as lavishly as the local and Alaskan people.
…
At the back of the tour group, a short guy was also listening to the conversation between the tour guide and the tourists with great interest. He muttered a few words to himself and then walked away silently.
He arrived at an apartment in Anchorage, holding a few newspapers under his arms, walked up the stairs, knocked on the door, and when the door opened, a head popped out.
This guy also had a shifty look on his face. He opened the door wide, let someone in, and asked, "Fujino, why are you more than ten minutes late today?"
The man named Fujino responded nonchalantly, "Keishita-kun, I just ran into an East African tour group on the street, and I overheard them chatting with their tour guide."
Fujino's carefree attitude made Keishita Yasuji very dissatisfied. He pretended to be stern and reprimanded him, "You guy, I thought you had discovered some important information, but you ended up doing something as boring as this."
"If you come back any later, I'll even report to the higher-ups that you've been arrested in East Africa!"
Fujino was completely oblivious to Keishita Yasuji's reprimand. He said, "Keishita-kun is making a big deal out of nothing. Although our work is shady, everyone knows that intelligence work in Alaska is just a sinecure."
"After so many years here, we have come to know quite a bit about the Alaskan government. These guys are just a bunch of incompetents. They are not worth wasting our energy on for the Empire of Japan."
In the North Pacific region, Japanese espionage activities were rampant, and various Japanese intelligence organizations operated widely in various countries and regions, including the Far East Empire, the United States, the Soviet Union, Canada and Alaska.
Among them, Japan's main espionage activities were in three countries: the Far East Empire, the United States and the Soviet Union.
Of course, Japan also attached great importance to Alaska in East Africa and carried out intelligence work, but it soon became clear to various Japanese intelligence agencies that the East Africans in Alaska did not care at all, or were not aware of the need to keep secrets in the area.
Therefore, all the intelligence that Japan had thought of about Alaska was like a no-man's land. As a result, Alaska became the "retirement place" in the eyes of Japanese intelligence organizations. Japanese spies in Alaska were also prone to relax their vigilance in this very relaxed environment.
Fujino is obviously such a veteran. He has been in Alaska for many years, so he is sloppy at work and just slacks off every day. Keishita Yasuji has just arrived here and his enthusiasm has not been completely extinguished, but it is almost gone.
This can be seen from the clues when Fujino knocked on the door before. There was no secret signal and no observation. When Keishi Yasuji let Fujino in again, he did not show the necessary vigilance at all.
Sure enough, after being choked by Fujino, the team leader, Anji Keishi, said helplessly: "I can't believe how degraded the Empire's personnel in Alaska have become. As you said, our work is really not difficult."
He slumped on the sofa, opened a bottle of beer and started drinking, looking depressed.
Fujino wasn't ashamed. Instead, he smiled proudly and said, "Keishita-kun, isn't this a wonderful life? Although we can't accomplish any great feats for the empire, we are still contributing to it by collecting all kinds of intelligence from Alaska and then compiling it back home."
"So our work is still meaningful. Under this premise, there is absolutely no problem in relaxing and enjoying life."
"I'm afraid we are the only ones who can enjoy such a good job. Others don't have this kind of treatment yet."
Keishita Anji was speechless at Fujino's old-fashioned attitude, but he didn't say anything to refute him. Instead, he asked, "You just said you were listening to East Africans talking. What were they talking about? Why are you so interested?"
In the eyes of the Japanese, Alaskans are also East Africans, so there is no difference between the two.
Fujino said, "Nothing much. It's just about the Winter Olympics in Germany. Alaska represented East Africa and won two medals, one silver and one bronze. And one East African even boasted that they would be a great performer at this year's Berlin Olympics."
Keishita Anji said with some disdain, "This so-called Winter Olympics is completely worthless. If the Empire of Japan participated, we would definitely win a few gold medals. A country like East Africa couldn't even win a single gold medal. It's true that their blood has been polluted by backward nations."
Japan did not get the opportunity to participate in the Winter Olympics in Germany at all. It was not that Japan did not want to participate. In fact, Japan was very positive about participating in this Winter Olympics, but the Western society rejected Japan's request due to the Far East issue.
Fujino was also somewhat indignant about this matter. He said, "Those European countries are simply ungrateful. They are probably afraid that the achievements of the Great Japanese Empire in the Winter Olympics will be too impressive. After all, the Empire is very good at these ice and snow sports."
"If we participate, we will definitely be able to wash away the shame of 1928. After all, the rules of the Winter Olympics are not in our favor, as these are all European events. As long as we take it seriously, we can achieve a good ranking."
When Fujino mentioned the so-called shame of 1928, he was referring to the previous Winter Olympics in Switzerland, which was also Japan's first participation, and Japan gained nothing.
The reason why Fujino remembers the unpopular international event like the Winter Olympics so clearly is that he has lived in Alaska in recent years. As a completely high-latitude region, Alaska has a great passion for ice and snow sports. Similarly, Alaska pays great attention to the international event of ice and snow sports, that is, the Winter Olympics.
Alaska has represented East Africa in the first Winter Olympics in France, the second in Switzerland and this one in Germany, but it did not win a medal in the first two times.
However, the enthusiasm of Alaskans for the Winter Olympics has never diminished and has continued to grow over time. During the second Winter Olympics in Switzerland, Alaskan news media expressed great concern for athletes in the region.
Fujino had been in Alaska for some time at the time, and the second Winter Olympics was also the first time for Japanese athletes to compete, so he had such a clear memory of the second Winter Olympics in Switzerland.
As for why Fujino was dissatisfied with his country's athletes at the second Winter Olympics, it was due to the comparison with Alaska. Although Alaska did not win any medals in that Olympics, it ranked very well in many events, far exceeding Japan.
In Alaska, most of the immigrants came from the Far East Empire. Alaska performed better than Japan. Does this mean that the Far East Empire has stronger physical fitness than Japan?
Obviously, this was an unacceptable result for the Japanese in the 20th century.
Fujino was very upset about this, and at the Berlin Winter Olympics, Alaska won one silver and one bronze, but Japan did not even qualify to enter the competition, which made him extremely dissatisfied.
He said somewhat stubbornly, "Alaska's success this time was completely achieved by luck. We also have Hokkaido in Japan, which is very suitable for the development of winter sports, and the quality of the people there is better."
“Without the obstruction of the Western world, we can definitely achieve better results than in East Africa.”
Anji Keishita also agreed with Fujino's words, although they themselves knew very little about ice and snow sports.
"Well, this Winter Olympics doesn't mean anything. At this year's Berlin Olympics, we can compete with Western countries and show them the strong physique of the Yamato people."
As he spoke, Xixia Anji waved his fist, which, combined with his childish expression and short stature, made him look quite funny.
Of course, Keishita Yasuji's "prophecy" is not impossible to come true. As a powerful country, Japan's current sports development is ranked among the top in the world. In the previous Berlin Olympics, Japan achieved an excellent result of eighth place in the world in terms of the number of medals, winning 18 medals, including 6 gold medals.
Even if Japan's performance declined in this time and space, it is impossible for it to have no achievements at all.
At this moment, Keishita Yasuji suddenly thought of something and said to Fujino, "Let's not talk about the Olympics now. I almost forgot. Buy today's newspaper. Is there any information worth noting?"
Fujino was suddenly interrupted by Keishita Yasuji, and then he remembered their identities. He put down the newspaper and said to Keishita Yasuji, "I got the newspaper back, but I haven't read it yet. After all, Alaska is still quite cold."
Xixia Anji didn't listen to his explanation. As usual, he spread the newspaper on the table and quickly scanned today's news.
Fujino also picked up a newspaper and started reading with his legs crossed. Unlike Keishita Anji, Fujino read the newspaper mainly to relieve boredom. In this era, reading newspapers is also an important leisure and entertainment.
Just as Keishita Anji was searching and sorting through various pieces of information, Fujino suddenly said, "Keishita-kun, there seems to be an important news item in my newspaper. Please take a look."
Xixia An'er was indeed alarmed. He said, "Show it to me!"
Fujino handed the newspaper to Keishita Anji and pointed to a news headline. "It seems to say that Anchorage is going to build an airport. I think this is definitely very useful information for the Empire."
Xixia An'er was also very excited at this time. He read the news carefully. The meaning of it was very simple, that is, East Africa planned to build a large airport in Anchorage and serve as the core hub of the North Pacific region.
In the past, Anchorage Airport was one of the three most famous cargo airports in the world, thanks to its excellent location advantage.
In its past life, Anchorage was located at the crossroads of the "Arctic Circle Route" of the world's major aviation markets, and was a natural and irreplaceable "gas station" and "transit station."
The route where Anchorage is located is the shortest path connecting Asia and the east coast of North America. After all, the earth is a sphere, so the shortest path does not cross the central Pacific Ocean, but bends northward, passing through Alaska and the Arctic region. Anchorage is located near the midpoint of this route.
Of course, Anchorage's status as one of the world's three largest cargo airports is a brilliant achievement in its previous life, and the rise of Anchorage's aviation industry in its previous life was after the 1940s.
During World War II, the United States built a large amount of infrastructure in Anchorage, as well as runways suitable for large military takeoffs, which became one of the important basic conditions for Anchorage's rise.
There is no doubt that if East Africa builds a large airport in Anchorage now, the military and strategic use of this airport will be extremely high.
Keishita Anji and Fujino were naturally well aware of this. Keishita Anji said, "If this airport is built, it will become East Africa's shipping center in the North Pacific. If they use it for military purposes, then Anchorage Airport may pose a threat to the empire."
"The distance from Anchorage to the Empire's homeland is not far. If East African military aircraft take off from here, they can carry out military missions such as reconnaissance and bombing against the Empire. Therefore, we must report this intelligence to the Empire and ask it to increase its attention to Anchorage."
In fact, the role of Anchorage Airport is not limited to this. If it is really used for military purposes, East Africa can use it as the center to form a deterrent to the Soviet Union, Japan, the Far East Empire, Canada, and the United States.
(End of this chapter)
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