For the proud nationalists of China, Japan and Taiwan, the Diaoyu island chain remains the perfect outlet to exercise one’s willfully blind patriotism. Which is -- fortunately for the rest of us -- shouting distance from stupidity. Hilarious, utter stupidity.
It's 2.6 GB, but if you have the disk space and five hours to spare, go here to download Glorious Mission Online, a first-person shooter you'll be hearing a lot more about in the coming hours and days.
We thank and curse Kotaku for alerting us to the game "Defence of the Diaoyu Islands," hosted on Chinese Global Times's website, wherein a player takes control of a Chinese warship that must kill as many Japanese enemies as possible before inevitable failure.
It's interesting, but what a time suck.
So, it seems that some people have yet to fully understand why racism is a bad thing. With tensions in the South China Sea remaining high, we’re still being treated to bizarre examples of unhealthy nationalism. The latest can be found here in Beijing: the proprietors of a snack shop in Houhai called Beijing Snacks... Read more »
Controversy swirls again in the East China Sea as a Chinese naval captain locked his attack radar on a Japanese vessel, says Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera.
Japan's Defense Ministry made the announcement Tuesday, claiming such "painting" happened on January 30 and January 19. Onodera "warned that such actions increased the chances that any missteps in a dispute over the islands could veer into a larger confrontation," according to the New York Times.
Japan scrambled F-15s to intercept a Chinese plane headed for the disputed island on Saturday, according to press releases from Japan’s foreign ministry over the weekend. The Y-12 propeller plane, operated by China’s State Oceanic Administration, came within 112 nautical miles of the island before turning back east and finally departing the area to the... Read more »
Lingering effects from September’s Diaoyu Islands row have caused organizers of the November 25 Beijing Marathon to take the unprecedented step of barring Japanese competitors. Not explicitly, of course — rather, “Japanese” isn’t listed in the nationality section of the online registration page. If you’re from Japan, you can run, technically, just not as a... Read more »
Huangpu Renewable Resources CEO Chen Guangbiao held an extraordinary promotional activity yesterday: he gave away 43 cars, each reportedly worth 128,000 yuan (that’s 5.5 million yuan total, or $830,000), to former owners of Japanese cars that got destroyed during last month’s Diaoyu Island protests. All people had to do to qualify for their free Geely... Read more »
Back on August 24, weeks before people would double down on Diaoyu Islands senselessness, four protesters took to the streets in Shenzhen to urge "civilized patriotism, rational Japanese resistance." Three of them wore swimwear -- bikinis for the two girls, briefs for the man -- and attracted attention as much for their message as their appearance. We posted about it here, with a video.
The man who brutally attacked and nearly killed a 51-year-old driver of a Toyota Corolla on September 15 amid Diaoyu Island protests has been arrested, as announced on Sina Weibo (above, via Business insider; CCed on that message is “Xi’an Police Department”). Shanghaiist relays: Press release: Xi’an 9-15 protest Japanese car owner Li Jianli injury case solved,... Read more »
While Japanese and Taiwanese ships continue playing with their super soakers in the South Pacific, netizens have commented that the Taiwanese ships don't shoot very straight or with force. Indeed, in the video above, you'll see that it does look like they're just pissing -- which completely makes sense, since Japan and China are just having a pissing contest at this point.
On September 15 in Xi’an, Shanxi province, an anti-Japanese protest got so out of hand that a Chinese man was partially paralyzed when someone clobbered him over the head with a piece of steel. Fifty-one-year-old Li Jianli’s only crime? Driving a Toyota Corolla with his family. His wife futilely pleaded with the mob, “It was wrong of... Read more »
The Chinese Basketball Association doesn't take the FIBA Asia Cup very seriously, as a glance at this year's roster will show: every player under 22 years of age, playing against several countries' senior-level teams. But what happens when your team gets paired against Japan in the knockout round amid nationalistic protests back home against this very country?
Picture via Beijing Youth Daily The violence and protests have been stowed away like a jack-in-the-box, some novelty toy to be brought back out at another politically opportune time. The carnival’s over, folks. Time to go home. But there’s a thing about violence. You might know it. Violence owes fealty to no one and nothing, and can... Read more »
Sent in by an anonymous tipster, a restaurant on Jintai Street near Chaoyangmen offered this sweet deal on Saturday: Japanese customers who recognize the Diaoyu Islands are Chinese territory may enter Japanese customers must pay full price on hotpot, rinsed vegetables at this location Chinese people without exception receive 40% discount Drinks, desserts, and fruit... Read more »
Our Wudaokou correspondent Jacob, who runs the site Beijing Wiki, spotted this advertisement in front of a Century 21 office yesterday. We’d like to bring your attention to two things: the blood dripping from the Japanese flag (someone has an overactive imagination), and the Japanese on the ads. But interestingly, the special offer is only... Read more »
On Tuesday, while most protesters were gathering around the Japanese embassy, about 50 people splintered off toward the US embassy, where they happened to catch Ambassador Gary Locke in his official black embassy car. Police very quickly came streaming in from two directions and walked the car down the street, where it took the next left and disappeared. The vehicle sustained minor damages. All else was peaceful.
There’s no superlative I can offer for Nicholas Kristof that you haven’t already heard, so let’s just jump to this latest post on his NY Times blog, On the Ground, written by Han-Yi Shaw. Kristof offers a brief introduction to start: This is a dispute that both sides should refer to the International Court of Justice,... Read more »
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta meets Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, via NBC News (picture by Larry Downing / Reuters) As nationalistic fervor cools across the country, here’s one last compilation of Diaoyu-, Mukden-, and Japan-related links.
Japanese ambassador Shinichi Nishimiya committing seppuku when he finds out he's been assigned to China is a nice touch, though perhaps a tad too soon:
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