Many Japanese living in China stayed home Tuesday as anti-Japanese protests
entered the eighth day since the Japanese government purchased some of the
Senkaku Islands.
The day also fell on the 81st
anniversary of the Liutiaohu Incident, which led to the Japanese setting up a
puppet government in Manchuria.
Anti-Japanese demonstrations were
held in front of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing and more than 100 other cities
and regions across China.
"You should refrain from
taking radical actions. Don't upset the public order," a public security
officer said via a bullhorn as thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of
the embassy.
At 9:18am, a ceremony to mark the
1931 incident started in Shenyang--the site of the incident is in the city's
outskirts.
At about the same time, the
demonstrators in front of the Japanese Embassy shouted, "Never forget the
humiliation this nation suffered."
Riot police five lines deep
confronted the excited crowd.
Demonstrators generally followed
instructions from police officers to continue marching rather than remain in
front of the embassy. Some, however, threw plastic bottles and eggs at the
embassy, while others chanted such phrases as "Declare war on Japan!"
and "Drown Tokyo in blood!"
Meanwhile, Japanese residents in
China kept a low profile Tuesday and some Japanese businesses told their
employees to stay home.
In Beijing, many Japanese
companies and restaurants covered their names with Chinese flags in the hope
they would not be targeted by anti-Japanese demonstrators.
Some Japanese restaurants even
posted signs stating, "Diaoyu are part of China's territory." Diaoyu
is the name China gives to the Senkaku Islands.
A 43-year-old Japanese woman, who
has worked at a Japanese-affiliated company in China for years, said she had a
terrifying encounter with demonstrators.
"When I was passing
protesters, they asked me where I came from. I instantly replied I was South
Korean," she said. "I won't take a taxi as I fear the driver would
find out I'm Japanese. I don't utter a word aboard buses."
In Shanghai, home to the largest
Japanese community in China with about 56,000 long-term residents, Japanese
schools were closed Tuesday and will remain shut Wednesday. Many kindergartens
have also closed.
"I'm concerned anti-Japanese
sentiments will escalate rapidly," said a Japanese employee of a Japanese
manufacturer, who stayed home Tuesday with his wife and child. "We are
very worried about the situation."
A Japanese employee of another
Japanese manufacturer, whose head office has ordered its workers in China to
stay home, said he had stocked up on food at a supermarket dealing with
Japanese products.
"We can stay at home for at
least one week," he said. "We're preparing for an emergency because
nobody knows what will happen in China."
In Guangzhou, where anti-Japanese
protesters turned violent Sunday, the local Japanese school closed Tuesday,
while some Japanese companies ordered their Japanese employees to stay home.
A 37-year-old employee of a
Japanese manufacturer, who has a wife and an 11-year-old son, said they would
not leave their condominium Tuesday.
"Although I've been living
here for five years, I've never felt such strong hostility toward us in China
before," he said. "If the demonstration continues, I may think of
sending my family back home as I'm concerned [about their safety]."
Kouchi is a correspondent in Beijing, Seki is in Shanghai, and Yoshida
is in Guangzhou.
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