Anti-Japanese protests at Ningbo Auto Show (Anti-Japan update)

Danwei ^ | 04.05.05 | Jeremy Goldkorn

[Dr. Marten]

Anti-Japanese protests at Ningbo Auto Show

As the the online petition against Japan getting a permanent seat on the UN Security Council grows to more than 22 million signatures, demonstrations — smetimes violent — have broken out in Chengdu and Shenzhen, while Shenyang has seen a convenience store chain pull all Japanese goods off its shelves.

Danwei received photos today of another demonstration. The photos were labelled "Ningbo Auto Exhibition" (宁波车展) and date stamped March 31. They were also watermarked with the URL Pic.tiexue.net, the gallery section of Iron Blood (铁血), a Chinese online forum devoted to military matters. The gallery section contains images and video clips uploaded by users.

 

 

[Dr. Marten]

I also have a few more updates posted.

 

 

[Dr. Marten]

More on the anti-Japan riots.

[risk]

bizarre.

[sushiman]

The Chinese have their foibles and are far from perfect ,but I understand their anger ...Sometimes I'd like to nuke Japan , too , and I live here ! The place is screwy man !

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #4

Many of them get bottled up and twisted inside. Is that what you are referring to, when you said "screwy" ?

[Captain Rhino]

Probably just a general reference to the often frustrating "Japanese way (of doing things)."

Sort of like the mistake that non-Japanese businessmen make when they take "Hai" (in Japanese) and "Yes" (in English) to mean the same thing when they receive it in response to a serious question. They are not; but if you don't know that going in, serious misunderstandings can occur.

Fortunately, I am married (for 28 wonderful years) to a well-educated Japanese woman who has instructed me on the finer points of the Japanese world view. Once explained, it makes sense but it is really different from the typical American/western world view.

[sushiman]

" Is that what you are referring to, when you said "screwy" ? "

By screwy I meant weird . I've been married to a Japanese woman for 18 years and have lived in Japan for 19 , and man oh man the place still mystifies me . Wackos abound . Hehehe ...

[tcostell]

Any suggestions on reading material which might help illuminate it (the japanese wordlview)? Thanks.

[sittnick]

You might want to start with their comic books. I'm NOT kidding!

[dsc]

That Bush is even dreaming of allowing the Japanese a permanent seat on the security council shows, once again, that he gets nothing but downright boneheaded advice from the State Department's "Japan experts."

It's like taking astronomy lessons from the Flat Earth Society.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Nothing political happens in China spontaneously. It sounds like the Commies have decided to focus the tensions of the Chinese people on the Japanese. What have the Japanese done recently to cause such a reaction? Going back to the 1930's and 1940's doesn't cut it. China is a tinderbox today. They've had all kinds of riots, anti-tax, anti-corruption and commie. Are the commies trying to distract from the Pope John Paul II's death? The Catholic Church is oppressed in China and there's a chance a Chinese could be elected Pope (assuming the secret Cardinal is Chinese).

[Wiz]

A Chinese firm union is behind the boycott Japanese product campaign. I wouldn't be surprised if the government is in the back of the firm union.

[Captain Rhino]

Tough question to answer. Don't have any references readily at hand.

You need to read a detailed general history of Japan to start. Then maybe a book on Japanese culture and traditions. Tuttle Books specializes in Japanese subjects. Perhaps you could start with their catalogue.

The best window is to have the luck I had; spend time seriously discussing Japanese views on various issues with a well-educated, good English-speaking Japanese who is interested in you really understanding the Japanese approach to the world. The well-educated part will be easy as the Japanese have a very high college attendance rate. The good English-speaking part will be more difficult. (Clumsy construction but fluency is too nebulous a term. The person needs to have a large enough English vocabulary and a clear command of the language so that they are comfortable in explaining the topic at a fairly high level of detail AND can catch and correct you immediately when you have understood them wrongly.) Or you could learn Japanese. For years. I didn't (except for a few words and phrases). Instead, I choose to marry the beautiful young woman I met in college and have her come to live in the United States. :-)

Concentrate on the period 1600 to present because IMO the foundation of modern Japanese culture and social mores really gets its start under the unified governance of the Tokugawa shogunate and the social and political measures they instituted to control the country and its population.

The transition of governance from the shogunate to the Meiji constitutional imperial government in the mid-19th century leads to what one of my professors at the UW called the "bushido-ization of Japanese culture." (What does an educated ex-bushi do for employment when they disestablish his clan? He teaches, goes into government, serves in the armed forces.) That militarized worldview permeates Japanese society until the defeat of Japanese militarism in WWII.

Subsequent decades have seemed to see Japanese attitudes on social and political issues all over the map. But underneath, the clan, family, and group orientation toward thinking and acting that was established under the Tokugawas still exerts a terrific influence on this mannerly and really fairly conservative people.

[cloud8]

"...oh man the place still mystifies me"

My boss is a Japanese woman, 30-something. My next-door cubicle mate is also a 30-something Japanese woman. The one is school-girl, preppy; the other, Pokemon. Know the types? But that's just looks. Not that it's easy to figure anyone out, Japanese or no, but they can be inscrutable...disappearing behind a sort of professional cloak. Last night they were both yacking away and giggling in Japanese while I was getting ready to leave, and I said, I can assure you I don't understand a word. Biggest laugh I've gotten out of them so far.

But to keep on topic, we know how strongly the Chinese feel about this UN thing...what is the opinion in Japan? I think they should be on the Security Council (along with India), and kick France off.

[struggle]

F**K China.

[sushiman]

" I think they should be on the Security Council (along with India), and kick France off. "

Kick France off and screw the Japanese . I'm sick of the Japs' history revision , and " we were the victims of WW2 " crybaby antics .

[risk]

You sound bitter.

[cloud8]

> Kick France off and screw the Japanese.

The world's no. 2 economy should count for something, regardless of their penchant for revisionism. There's talk of there evolving a dollar zone, euro zone and yen zone--though such an arrangement may already be crowded out by the yuan. Watch out for China!

[DM1]

you live there? what is it like? other than the latent racism i thought they were fairly reliable allies and would make a helpful check to China's Rise. ANy thoughts?

[Wudan Master]

You wish to kick France....but that is easier said than done, cos France can veto any UN motion to remove her

Fact is,.... France can also veto India or Japan getting a Perm seat