The recent sourness between the People’s Republic of China and Japan has resulted in an angry mob overturning cars and attacking the Japanese restaurant, Tokugawa, in Guangdong province’s city of Shenzhen. The mob was infuriated by Japan’s unfurling of its national flag on a disputed island known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, which is located in the South China Sea. Approximately 5,000,000 Chinese Yuan ($15, 725 USD) in damages to Tokugawa alone was caused by the mob.
Although Japan may have been the target of the Charge of the Idiot Brigade, the sabres they were rattling blinded them from realizing that Tokugawa is actually Chinese-owned.
This is not new. Often, Japanese restaurants have owners with no ethnic or political ties to Japan, from Chinese-owned establishments in Northampton, MA to Korean-run sushi bars in San Francisco, CA.
Similar sentiments exist amongst South Korea’s civilians, who have also voiced their own distaste for Japan’s claims as well in varying degrees over the Liancourt Rocks in the Sea of Japan. The territory, known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea (both North and South claim it), according to Kotaku, has led to one Internet cafe shop owner going to extremes such as posting a sign saying “No Japs Allowed” in English and Korean. It is then followed by a Korean sign that reads “However, it is possible to enter if you shout ‘Dokdo is South Korean territory’ three times”.
Here’s a problem: the signs are in English and Korean, but no translation of those anti-Japanese sentiments is in Japanese.
Sometimes, I wonder if people should just stick to flag burning instead.
[Photo courtesy of here.]
