More news from CNN here and here. More protests over the weekend, one in Shanghai no less, sigh.
CNN has a timeline of the history of trouble between China and Japan, at least for the last 110 years.
The security detail around the Chinese Embassy was a lot larger than usual, there were even more riot cops than last week. I went up to one of them this morning and asked a couple of questions and then went on with my commute. One of the cops was staring at the paper bag with my breakfast in it, I wonder if he was real hungry or if he thought I had rocks in the bag.
Meanwhile the Japanese Foreign Minister heads to China and warns China of "economic consequences.
Just to clarify things (and this probably does not matter), but the textbooks that were approved that played down what Japan did during World War II are not the standard textbooks being used in schools across Japan. Schools must chose textbooks from the list of textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education, the controversial textbooks have been adopted by only a couple of schools.
I'll post this againIn case you missed it in the earlier post, I'll say it again because I think it still has relevance: Japan is trying to move on and forge new 21st century relationships with the rest of Asia and thus writes the history to not bring up all the nastiness of the past; China, on the other hand, is still feeling victimized and is being overly proud and won't let the Japanese forget it, so they write their history to emphasize the really bad things that happened. Each is falling prey of the Asian habit to save face, except they are doing it in completely different and conflicting manners and thus everyone is getting their panties in a wad.
But seriously, I think you have it right Dice when you say they are letting those who are angry and upset with the state of China to blow off some steam without having it get anti-Chinese government. But there has to be a stopping point here somewhere, the economic argument is all too real and China can't go it alone.
chicken raceIt's a chicken race alright, and this kinda thing is going to continue to happen in the future. Hopefully, both the Chinese and Japanese governments know when to hit the brakes. If anything is underestimated, it is probably the amount of pent up frustration that the Chinese have bundled up.
It is interesting to be able to see the security outside the Chinese Embassy and having cops question me on my way to and back from work. Security outside the Taiwanese representatives office which is also close to my house remains the same (non-existant).
At a personal and selfish level, it kind of sucks that I won't be recommending Shanghai as a vacation spot for any of my Japanese friends for the next couple of months.
China-Japan RelationshipsI think if Chinese and Japanese would drink some tea together, their relationships will be just fine. I also think that Americans came to Japan and messed up the whole thing in 1800's.
But I don't know why they are making this much noise, now. I imagine someone is going to make some money out of this mess.