Japan is not nearly as reviled among folks who speak English as Germany. Fixed that for you.
There isn't much animosity against the Germans here in China, but, well, check out the OP. When the Greeks might dress up Mrs. Merkel as a Nazi in effigy, they symbolism makes for easily understood stories in the West. It takes a riot for the Chinese to make the news. I’m surprised by how relevant the Japanese crimes from WWII are to today’s relations. Remember a couple of years ago when the circle in the Shanghai World Trade Center needed to change to a trapezoid because a circle in a Japanese building was a symbol of imperialism? Every year the Japanese leaders either visit or don’t visit the Yasukuni Shrine, either way, it makes the news. Beijing has an Anti-Japanese Museum, a 100,000 square foot museum dedicated to the atrocities committed by the Japanese during WWII. This was opened 50 years after the beginning of hostilities, just in case you’re thinking such sentiments have waned over time.
It’s an easy appeal to populism, there aren’t any pro-Japanese folks here and it’s not like the Japanese can defend their history of aggression.
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Date: 17/9/12 03:54 (UTC)There isn't much animosity against the Germans here in China, but, well, check out the OP. When the Greeks might dress up Mrs. Merkel as a Nazi in effigy, they symbolism makes for easily understood stories in the West. It takes a riot for the Chinese to make the news. I’m surprised by how relevant the Japanese crimes from WWII are to today’s relations. Remember a couple of years ago when the circle in the Shanghai World Trade Center needed to change to a trapezoid because a circle in a Japanese building was a symbol of imperialism? Every year the Japanese leaders either visit or don’t visit the Yasukuni Shrine, either way, it makes the news. Beijing has an Anti-Japanese Museum, a 100,000 square foot museum dedicated to the atrocities committed by the Japanese during WWII. This was opened 50 years after the beginning of hostilities, just in case you’re thinking such sentiments have waned over time.
It’s an easy appeal to populism, there aren’t any pro-Japanese folks here and it’s not like the Japanese can defend their history of aggression.