ABSTRACT
Is “Japan” really winning the hearts and minds of young people in China, as Foreign Minister Aso seemed to imply? The press reports from the past few years suggest otherwise. In April 2005, we witnessed young Chinese people joining anti-Japanese protests across major Chinese cities for two weeks, triggered mainly by Japan’s efforts to gain a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council and by the latest government approval of a controversial history textbook. Digital messages mobilized tens of thousands of young Chinese protesters, who took to the streets. The resulting vandalization of Japanese premises was visible to all: Shattered glass surrounded the embassy in Beijing and the consulate in Shanghai, and Japanese restaurants, convenience stores, and cars. At the Shanghai consulate alone, more than 5,000 plastic bottles were thrown, along with rocks, eggs, tomatoes, and waste. Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro, who had stirred up emotions with his repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, was burned in effigy, along with the Japanese national flag. Banners on the street screamed, “Face up to History!”; “Beat Japanese Militarism!”; and “Boycott Japanese Goods!”
