I have been to Japan a few times over the past couple of years, each for a different reason. My first visit was to attend my mom’s graduation ceremony back then in my high school days, followed by a rather long stay for a college internship shortly afterwards. The third one was an out-of-the-blue invitation from a good friend to her wedding (she just gave birth to a cutesy a couple of months back) and the last one (which just concluded) was… well, this one was purely for leisure.
I love exploring Japan and would go as far as my wallet stretches (read: not so far), perhaps more so because it has one of the world’s best public transportation system, in terms of security and reliability. That said, I have not made it to Shikoku (not really interested as of now) or Kyushu (will be there someday), let alone Okinawa (well, this is a bit too far). In fact, revisiting the exotic nature of Hokkaido at the country’s northern tip is more appealing to me and I have promised my girlfriend to go there for our honeymoon (OK, faaaaaar to distant…)
Overall, Japan did not seem to be changing much throughout my visits. However, I noticed a rather major change on my latest trip. It is not about fashion trends, neither is it about some new buildings or the hike of the Disneyland’s entrance fee. It is about the unique relationship between Japan and its superpower neighbour, the People’s Republic of China.
It appeared to me that Chinese now constitute the majority of foreign visitors to Japan. Wherever I went, from Osaka to Nara and Kyoto and Tokyo to Nikko, Kamakura, and Hakone, they far outnumbered any other foreign nationals. So much so that in my last few days in Japan, I got pretty much accustomed to people speaking Chinese around me (although I still can’t tell Mandarin from Cantonese or any other dialect in that matter). This was not the case when I visited Japan roughly four years ago. Of course, prior to that there had already been strong Chinese communities in most major cities but they did not really come to touristic areas (as tourists) back then. A quick chat with a few Japanese I know reveals that this phenomenon started a couple of years ago, when the Japanese government relaxed their visa restrictions to Chinese citizens.
Whilst this is some good news for the tourism industry who amidst the global crisis tries hard to woo foreign visitors to the country (not that it is necessary, I guess), some Japanese apparently feel uncomfortable about the steep increase of Chinese nationals arrival in their country. Not that they have personal problems with Chinese people, of course, but a few recent events have made China largely unpopular in Japan; the latest was a September drama involving a collision between a Chinese-flagged trawler and two Japanese Coast Guard vessels.
The collision took place around the Senkaku islands (Diaoyu in Chinese), an area in South China Sea long disputed between Japan and China. Both countries claim sovereignty on these islands although it is widely perceived to belong to Japan, who then captured the ship and arrested the seamen (this supposedly confidential footage was however leaked on YouTube). This move apparently angered the Chinese government, who then out of the blue arrested a couple of Chinese residents of Japanese citizenship accused of espionage. It is said that unless the Chinese ship crew members are released, they will execute them, turning on the heat even more. It seems that everybody on TV was talking about this when I was in Japan earlier this month, whether or not the Chinese provocation calls for a war or rather, whether or not Japan is ready for a new episode of Sino-Japanese war (the last was won by Japan way back in early 1900s).
One would argue that with the backing of the superpower USA, Japan has nothing to worry should the war really happen. But nobody knows exactly how strong Chinese army really is with many of its weapons and troops somewhere above the world’s radars. That said, a war between these two countries will only bring bad impacts to both and benefit none.
A sudden attack launched by North Korea to its southern sister a couple of days back gave another huge blow to the relatively peace Far East and another World War might not be too much of a distance away. God forbid.
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