Respect and Resentment — page 2

While the Chinese and Japanese media whirl into a frenzy over everything from stray Chinese submarines in Japanese waters to stray Japanese sex tourists in China, one issue has become an emblem of impasse: Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. He has gone there four times in three-and-a-half years of his term, and each time China's government has expressed its dismay, calling the trips a hurtful homage to Japan's warmongering past. Japan has grown impatient with what it considers to be China's pathological nurturing of remote grievances. China, on the other hand, is infuriated by what it sees as Japan's haste to bury unexamined history. "The two sides have locked themselves into a position where they cannot bridge the gap," says Jeffrey Kingston, a professor of history at Temple University's Tokyo campus.

From the Japanese point of view, they have been talking into a void for years. Although Japan may not have reached out as contritely to its former enemies as Germany did following World War II, many Japanese insist that the dawn of the cold war, when Communist China and half of the Korean peninsula became its enemies again, constrained any attempts at coziness. Others maintain that Japan has apologized to China publicly and often, including Emperor Akihito's expression of "sadness" at a Chinese state dinner in 1992 for "an unfortunate period in which my country inflicted great suffering on the people of China." Younger Japanese freely and loudly claim they bear no responsibility for the sins of their fathers (if not grandfathers and great-grandfathers). Hiroshi Kaga, 22, an art student in Tokyo, says, "The war is very over. It has nothing to do with me or my generation, or even my parents' generation. What am I supposed to say about it? Apologize to the Chinese people for what happened 60 years ago? I think that's even more insulting."

It's not that Japan is free of radical nationalism. For every sincere expression of contrition for Japan's conduct in World War II, there have always been a headband-wearing revisionist or a bigoted old-boy politician ready to declare that the Nanjing Massacre never happened or that Korean comfort women were "volunteers." But in modern Japanese society, such voices are of increasingly marginalized fringe elements. Nowadays, Japan can debate issues like the role of its flag, the national anthem, the Emperor and the constitution in a way that it could not do so even 10 years ago. "Japan is at a shifting point," says Koji Murata, an assistant professor of diplomatic history at Doshisha University in Kyoto. "Changes both in Japan and global politics, as well as the flood of information, have made Japanese more practical and pushed them to re-examine their world in a different light."

For businessmen, anti-Japanese sentiment in China is particularly vexing. China trades more with Japan than with any other nation, and only Japan's trade with the U.S. is greater than that with China. But managers and investors fear that if things are left unchecked, what should be a solid and important economic partnership will be derailed. Japan's Nikkei Weekly business newspaper recently launched a special series called "Dark Clouds over China." Its first installment was headlined, "Anti-Japanese Sentiment Sours Business." Inside was chronicled the tale of a business boycott organized against Canon for launching a new digital camera in Japan on Sept. 18, the 73rd anniversary of the Mukden Incident, a railroad bombing Japan used as a justification for annexing Manchuria. (Canon pointed out that it releases more than 100 products a year, that the date was pure coincidence, and that the camera was not even introduced in the China market.) Masaki Yabuuchi, a senior analyst at the Japan External Trade Organization, says many Chinese consumers still believe that Japan sells its best goods domestically and passes off the shoddy stuff to China. Such conspiracy-laden complaints gain a following in China via the Internet, and eventually migrate to the general public. Yabuuchi says anti-Japanese sentiment in China is encouraged by senior Party officials, taught by teachers and internalized by students. "Ever since the 'patriotic education' campaign started, Chinese feelings toward Japan have worsened dramatically," he says.

Even if Sino-Japanese relations are at their lowest point in years, powerful forces on both sides of the Sea of Japan are rallying to ensure they do not deteriorate further. In October 2003, 15 academic, business and media leaders came together to relaunch the 21st Century Committee for Japan-China Friendship, a bilateral advisory board designed to promote dialogue and understanding. Co-chaired by Fuji Xerox chairman Yotaro Kobayashi and Zheng Bijian, the head of the China Reform Forum, a think tank, the group has held two meetings so far during which it discussed strategies for resolving historical grudges and increasing trust. Halfway across the globe, a foundation based at the University of Montana honoring former U.S. ambassador to Japan Mike Mansfield and his wife Maureen runs periodic three-day retreats that bring together six young people of influence from each country to discuss the two nations' different approaches to history and ways to overcome their persistent obstacles. Through repeated gatherings like these at every level of society, including more high school exchange programs, Japan and China have a genuine opportunity to build mutual understanding, say many experts.

But for those Japanese not involved in such exercises, incidents like the harassment of Japanese soccer fans at this year's Asian Cup final in Beijing carry more weight. Says Keio University student Sanae Takasugi, 21: "It came as a shock that anti-Japanese feelings in China could be so strong and massive. Whatever unfriendly feelings the Japanese may hold against the Chinese are completely different in scale compared with that of the Chinese. I think that caught the Japanese off guard." Shingo Nishida, 22, traveled to China to watch the Japanese team's games. He describes with a mixture of disbelief and sadness how he and his compatriots were booed and heckled every time the Japanese side played. "They were yelling, throwing their food and drinks at the Japanese fans," he says. "It wasn't a simple show of hostility. It was more complex than that. Was it Japan? Was it the heat of the moment? Was it soccer? I was there and I still don't know." And then he sums up perhaps the essence of young Japanese's feelings about China. "We need to stay respectful to the feelings of the Chinese, but I can't apologize for what happened. Instead of being tied to the past, why can't we start from the present and look ahead? Let it go."

With reporting by Hanna Kite and Toko Sekiguchi/Tokyo

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