By Yoree Koh
The demonstrators that gathered in Shibuya Saturday afternoon came from all stripes rooted in various right-wing activist interests. Groups and individuals wore placards and waved banners criticizing the Japanese media, the left-leaning DPJ-led government and its controversial proposals like extending voting rights to foreigners. But the unified outpouring of these assorted groups and individuals represent the degree to which Japan’s recent territorial dispute with China touched a volatile nerve within the nation’s psyche.
- Reuters
- Protesters holding Japanese national flags shout slogans as they march at Tokyo’s Shibuya district October 2. Thousands of people gathered and marched to protest China’s claims to the disputed islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
Indeed, Japanese learn from a young age about the Senkaku Islands, the archipelago located off Okinawa Prefecture and controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan. Excitement brimmed among the demonstrators as they began to march from the top of NHK studio park, weaving down past the crowds of shoppers. An angry voice trumpeted from one of the sound trucks, growing husky from shouting anti-China slogans while the soothing lullaby-like melodies of the event’s designated song, an old tune penned by Japanese composer Sugiyama Koichi known for his anime theme songs, with the chorus singing “ganbare nippon” (the lyrics coincidentally matching the name of the event organizer Ganbare Nippon) played from a separate truck. Three first-year high school students dressed in their school uniforms silently looked on at the passing mass while licking ice-cream cones outside a soft-serve store. In between bites of her black sesame-flavored dessert, one girl said that they of course learned about the Senkaku Islands in school. While there hasn’t been much heated discussion between students, she said teachers have been raising the recent row in class this month.
Yuri Kima, 28 years old, a first-time participant in such a demonstration, said that though she also learned about the Senkaku Islands in school, she has combed the Internet for additional information that supports the veracity of Japan’s historical ownership of the territory versus China’s claims. “China suddenly said the Senkaku Islands belong to them and included that claim in their education system. The fact that (Chinese) students can’t verify that claim because they don’t have access to the Internet is very scary,” said Ms. Kima. “There’s nowhere they can learn the truth.”
Second year college student Anna Karaki recalls memorizing historical facts about the islands when she was studying for her college entrance exams, an intense preparatory period known in Japan as “juken”. “I learned about Japan’s history (about the Senkaku Islands) and how China tried to re-claim it as their own,” said Ms. Karaki nudging her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she watched the protesters go by. “But there is no point in attacking China like this.”
People participating in this demonstration are general citizens not the right wing. They are not angry at Chinese people. They are angry at the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese Communist Party does not teach Chinese people the truth. I think that I feel sorry for the Chinese people.Senkaku Islands are Japanese territories. It is written in the Chinese map of 1960 that Senkaku Islands are Japanese territories.
With “right-wing activist” the readers get another biased view due to those loud unintellectual Uyokus. Or is that your intention to ridicule the demonstrators? Someone named Watanabe responds to by calling it a propaganda for ex-Chief of Staff, Mr. Tamogami. Think of journalistic quality.
It is not necessary to discuss it. Because Senkaku Islands is Japanese territory.
It is only it the defense of Japan from the invasion of China.
most chinese know they thmselves are stricktly controlled by government
but few chinese doubt if anything about savege japanese that their government tells is accurate
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9IGTNL81&show_article=1
then can you criticize your own government without using the jargon “zz”?
We all know that the chinese journalism and internet is strongly controlled by the communist government!