Panasonic, Canon, and other Japanese technology firms have suspended operations at their plants in China, as massive anti-Japan protests continue over disputed islands in the East China Sea. (AFP)

  • http://2kob.com/ CRF Sanders

    See, Korea, that’s how you protest Japanese claims to your islands.

    • benher

      I realize it is a joke, but for the pedant record, Takeshima is a Japanese island. Like China, the ROK wants what’s under the ocean floor and their president brings it up now to save himself from scandal (his brother has already been arrested.) In that country the only way out of high political office is death or imprisonment. 

      • Antinous / Moderator

        Once again, here’s the map of China’s territorial waters claim in the South China Sea.

        I understand why China has historically bad feelings toward Japan, but given their own behavior, Japan has every right to say:  “Bitch, your pancakes look fine to me.”

        • goosemcgoose

          Actually the small group of islands that are causing all the commotion in Mainland China are the Diaoyu Islands (Chinese), Senkaku Islands (Japanese), or Pinnacle Islands (English). They are not anywhere on that map and are actually north east of Taiwan.

          However I do agree with your point that China’s claims in the South China Sea are pretty bold. For the record, the countries that usually get pissed off and involved in boycotts/protests for that area are the Philippines and Vietnam.

      • KWillets

        It actually goes back to the nutsy anti-beef protests.  After being outmaneuvered by the opposition’s sheer public hysteria, Lee picked up the Dokdo issue within a week of a successful Japan trip.  It’s like a continual arms race to see which party can field the craziest people.

      • TheMudshark

        You do realize that literally the exact same thing can be said of Dokdo from the opposite side and be just as legitimate? It´s not like the Japanese government is a bunch of starry-eyed idealists with nothing to cover up by stirring up shit about some remote island. I´m sure they are not interested in raw materials either, since they´re so abundant on the Japanese mainland, which coincidentally also has nothing to do with their imperialist frenzy in WWII. You could of course be joking …

        • benher

          Just as legitimate?
          Well then surely Korea will not object taking the dispute before an international court for review. Oh wait, they refused. You could of course be joking?

          • TheMudshark

            An international court heavily influenced by the US no doubt, who are heavily biased towards Japan in this issue.
            Besides, I´m sure the US like any country would be more than happy to go before an international court in case another country suddenly decided to claim part of their territory as their own.

            My point though is really that I doubt you or I are qualified to make any explicit claims toward one side or the other in this highly convoluted matter, yet you are strutting around this thread as if you of all people were the ultimate authority.

          • KWillets

            Shhh!  We were just getting him going.

  • benher

    Ah yes China, stirring up nationalism among the populace it deliberately keeps ignorant in order to detract from it’s domestic turmoil. 
    From whom I wonder did they learn such lessons? 

    • retepslluerb

      From the best…

      Well, apart from the winning Wold Wars.  We kinda sucked at that.  It’s really harder than one would think. 

    • KWillets

      The Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere?

  • oldtaku

    I saw a report that they burned some South Korean stuff too (all those Asians look alike, dontyano), but the only English source was Sankaku, which you have to take with a grain of salt till you find another one.

    • benher

      Well, there’s a lot of bad feelings around here. For example, before the Korean Peninsula was annexed by Japan over 100 years ago it was a part of China for a long time (with several on and off periods of autonomy) And of course, China wasn’t always the PRC anymore than Taiwan was always the ROC. 

      My point is, there’s plenty of butt-hurt to go around Asia, just like anywhere else in the world. But these most recent power plays are just that – forced annexation in order to usurp resources – while handily exploiting previously stated butt-hurt. 

      Japan signed a shitload of treaties with the US after they were devastated at the end of the second world war. Korea, China, and Russa (yes, them too) are just Making-Shit-Up-in-2012(tm)

      The irony for the PRC and it’s 1%, is that if Japan suffers, the effects will ripple throughout the US, Europe, and Asia as well. As one of the staunchest allies of the US, I feel that it is their imperative to stand with countries like Japan on these issues. (Taiwan and Tibet too for that matter)

    • disillusion

      No matter if it was from Sankaku, the pictures of a Samsung factory burning kinda confirms it.  There was also someone who stole a hood ornament from a Mercedes, possibly thinking it was a Mitsubishi, as well as the person that was dragged out of his Japanese car and then beaten into a coma, possibly being paralyzed for life.  During the last round of this happening, they stripped a woman thinking she was wearing a kimono, but was actually wearing traditional Chinese garb.  Let us not forget the reports of the Chinese foreign minister saying “Japan must take full responsibility for all the damage.”

  • http://lectiblog.blogspot.com/ lecti

    Seriously, did they REALLY have to burn the damned factories and ruin it for other fellow citizens that work there?  It’s far beyond just being a bunch of jerks, it’s nuts.  Zero respect for whatever they are bitching about this time.

  • The Squidboy

    Please, let’s not confuse the Korea-Japan island-dispute with the Senkaku/Diaoyu island-dispute causing all the current unrest in China. The situation is confusing enough.

    The latter sea-rocks were handed back to Japan in 1972, along with Okinawa, by the USA–which had retained possession since its post-war occupation of Japan. But they have traditionally been Chinese territory, primarily because Japan was essentially a walled country until the mid-19th century, while China explored the surrounding seas.

    The islands have been disputed for years, but things escalated when rightist Japanese politician Shintaro Ishihara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shintaro_Ishihara launched an online appeal fund to buy them from their private owners. Ishihara is not subtle–in 1990, he said in a Playboy interview that the Rape of Nanking was a fiction, claiming, ”People say that the Japanese made a holocaust but that is not true. It is a story made up by the Chinese,” and in 2000 he commented that homosexuality is abnormal, which caused outrage in Japan’s gay community).

    The current rage is likely fueled in part by the inflation and rising property prices China has experienced in recent years, but also in part by nationalism–fed by the state-run media, which has toned down its rhetoric given the severity of the riots.

    I had planned a trip to Zhuhai in southern China today, but have no wish to mix it up with hyperactive mobs. The losers in all this, of course, are Chinese people who run Japanese restaurants or shops and anyone unfortunate enough to be targeted. Mob violence is ugly, and my sympathy goes out to anyone who suffered damage in any of these incidents.

    It’s a well known secret that mainland Chinese come to Hong Kong so they can participate in protests. But protests in Hong Kong are established and little if any damage ever occurs (although shouting, props and pepper-spray do come into play). So the HK protests, ironically, have been calm. Across the border, the tragedies continue.

    • disillusion

      Slightly off-topic but related to your mention of Ishihara, that guy is a plague.  His rampant xenophobia and, really, fear of all things not him seemingly at this point, makes the whole country look worse.  There has been so much controversial stuff that he has said it makes any sane person looking in through the outside wonder why he gets re-elected.  It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just controversial, but most of it is bigoted, racist, homophobic, and every other thing you can think of that would be wrong, from saying stuff like the Korean sex slaves during ww2 were just in it for the money, otaku are genetically inferior, the recent earthquake was divine retribution, and calling those that live in Tokyo non-Japanese because they weren’t all too happy for his 2020 Olympic bid.

      Back on topic, I think the biggest issue isn’t the island itself, but what’s under it, as apparenty as far back as the late ’60s there has been knowledge of oil under the islands.

      • benher

        Yeah, Ishihara is a goofball.

  • Jonathan Roberts

    I don’t know if it’s been mentioned in other posts, but today is the 81st anniversary of the Mukden Incident, which was the start of the Japanese invasion of China. There’s a three minute siren all over Shenyang (and possibly other cities) at 9:18 am and anti-Japanese demonstrations are common at this time of year. I actually work in a Korean international school in Shenyang, so I get to hear both Chinese and Korean kids calling Japanese people monkeys. One class recently made a presentation about the Dokdo / Takeshima Islands, which included cute anthropomorphic versions of the islands and some writing about how they clearly belonged to Korea!

    • benher

      I’ve seen these pictures in television reports. They usually involve kids drawing pictures of Japanese being murdered with cartoony blood, teachers gleefully cackling behind them. I worked in the education system in Japan for 3 years – if you even suggested saying something negative about a Korean (or even singing your own country’s anthem) you’d be likely to get slapped upside the head. Even the English books were full of we-were-so-wrong-for-the-war style apologetics. Japan has been more then repentent for it’s wartime past.

      The PRC and the ROK are irresponsible to ignite hatred in order to bolster support for the incursion on sovereign Japanese land.

  • benher

    Audi China calling for the genocide of all Japanese… Audi “distancing” itself and calling for “dialog.” Anything that will keep the ol’ Capital a-flowin’!

    • The Squidboy

      Ishihara is repulsive, and the Mukden Incident anniversary is why I didn’t visit Zhuhai yesterday. There have been regular protests there as well as Shenzhen & Guangzhou.

      benher, I respect your opinion, but must take issue with Japan’s acknowledgement of Pacific War history. If you’re still in-country, ask any Japanese student about Nanjing 1937 or Manchuria’s Unit 731 and see what kind of information comes back. I bet you a bowl of akamiso ramen it’s gonna be “Eeeeeeeeh??!!?”