Here is the cinematic intro to Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, a tactical shooter game released in October 2009. In it, an island originally owned by the Chinese, called Skira, is jointly colonized by Russia and Japan through military force in the 17th and early-18th centuries. After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan gains the entire island, then loses it back to Russia following World War II. Sometime during the Cold War, oil is discovered on this volcanic island but is "hard to reach."
The more I think about it, the more I want to believe these anti-Japan protests are just an excuse for people to catch some fresh air and blow off steam. The genuine anger in some parts isn't reflected in the above video, taken today by Jacob of BeijingShenghuo (who you'll remember took this video of Saturday's more volatile protests). The chants of "Little Japan, fuck your mother" are said so nonchalantly that a spectator who doesn't know Chinese could confuse this gathering for a high school prep rally. Look at all the people recording with cell phones: they're not angry; they're curious.
Via John Kennedy Apologies for the delay. Along with no free water, Air Asia also does not offer Wi-Fi on its international flights. But here, on the anniversary of the Mukden Incident, is a special Diaoyu Islands links edition.
Global Voices reports that according to the Chinese NGO Canyu, “three human rights activists were arrested in September 16, 2012, during the anti-Japan protest.” Quoting a translated Canyu post: (Canyu’s news brief on 16 September 2012) This morning, the grand anti-Japan rally took place in the Shenzhen downtown area, around Huaqiang North and Citizen Center. Shenzhen... Read more »
No two protests are ever the same, as the above video will show. In Changsha, people flip cars. In Dali, they sing the national anthem. In Qingdao, they chant. (Actually, they sing and chant everywhere, but you know what I mean.) There are a lot of banners that read “Japanese Devils,” a term that originates... Read more »
Tea Leaf Nation has this amusing story of former Japanese AV star Sola Aoi, who has more than 13 million followers on Sina Weibo, trying to placate fans on both sides of the sea: Ms. Aoi recently tweeted two images via iPhone from her account (@苍井空)… the first reads “Japanese-Chinese Friendship,” with Ms. Aoi commenting... Read more »
We’ve gone way beyond civil disobedience. Who are the Chinese attacking? Chinese-owned Japanese restaurants, and Japanese people who may call China home, and now journalists. It is, as the proverb goes, shitting on your carpet to spite the neighbor. We’ve seen this line of indiscriminate violence in this country before — it was called the... Read more »
Anger remains in the air. While a man living in Tokyo who we’ll refer to as Doug tells me that the majority of Japanese people are more concerned about issues other than Diaoyu, such as nuclear power, the average Chinese person would as lief see the two countries go to war than let Japan “own”... Read more »
Tension over Japan’s purchase of the Diaoyu Islands appears to be escalating. Today, on what appears to be a gorgeous autumn afternoon in Beijing, thousands gathered outside the Japanese embassy to throw rocks, eggs, and bottles. Similar protests apparently happened in more than a dozen cities. Jacob, who runs the excellent YouTube channel BeijingShenghuo, was at... Read more »
In a cab yesterday evening, the first words the driver said to me were, "They gonna fight?" I was confused and signaled as such. He nodded at the radio. A broadcaster was in the middle of reporting on the Diaoyu Islands -- sold on Tuesday to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's administration from their Japanese owners -- and that's when I realized he really meant, "Might they go to war?"
