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Asia/ One-time friend of Japan turned activist over Yasukuni issue
02/22/2006
By KAZUTO TSUKAMOTO
The Asahi Shimbun
BEIJING--For many Chinese, Feng Jinhua is a valiant crusader who helped spearhead the anti-Japanese movement here.
But in reality, Feng, 35, who spent eight years in Japan, is ambivalent about the antagonism of his countrymen toward the country he grew to love.
A native of Shanxi province in inland China, Feng came to Japan in 1994. He first attended a Japanese-language school and took a part-time job at a printing factory. He became fluent in Japanese and went on to study law at university. After graduation, he got a job at an international telephone company in Tokyo.
Feng made Japanese friends at his schools and jobs. He enjoyed going out to drink with them, yet he sometimes felt uncomfortable when few of them showed any interest in atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army against Chinese people before and during World War II. He learned to keep quiet about the war so as not to offend his friends.
His attitude began to shift in August 2001, when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A war criminals along with Japan's war dead. The visit incensed many Chinese, but in Japan, Web sites were flooded with justifications for the visit. Feng felt betrayed. He thought: "Why don't they understand the feelings of Chinese people?"
Feng grew up in the era after 1972, when Japan and China normalized diplomatic relations. The two countries had been on friendly terms, and because of that, Feng had felt warm toward Japan since his childhood. That changed as the Yasukuni issue gathered momentum.
Soon after Koizumi's Yasukuni visit in 2001, Feng went to the Shinto shrine and sprayed red paint on one of the ornaments. The graffiti read, Shine (You should die).
Feng was later convicted of property damage. His visa extension was denied, and Feng left Japan for China in 2002.
When Feng returned to his country, people praised him for his courage. Many of those who supported Feng were elderly people who had suffered at the hands of the Japanese military during the war. Feng promised himself at the time: "I must convey the feelings of these people to the Japanese."
Back in Beijing Feng found work at an advertising agency. He now shares a condominium with his wife, 34, and 4-year-old daughter in the city's suburbs.
In 2004, Feng's name spread across China when he was arrested by the Okinawa prefectural police for landing on a disputed island located in the prefecture's south. The Uotsurijima island is part of the Senkaku group of islands over which Tokyo, Beijing and Taipei have claimed sovereignty. Feng was arrested for violating the Immigration Control Law.
As head of a group called Chinese patriots alliance, Feng is now trying to get assistance to residents of Heilongjiang province in northeastern China who were injured or sickened after being exposed to toxic liquids that leaked from chemical weapons abandoned by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. He is busy collecting donations for the victims.
In China, even ordinary citizens are calling on the government to take hard-line measures against Japan. Stoked by Koizumi's intransigence over the Yasukuni issue and soaring nationalism at home, anti-Japanese sentiment has reached fever pitch.
In 2004, when Japan defeated China in the final round of the 2004 Asian Cup in Beijing, Chinese soccer fans rioted. In April last year, a wave of anti-Japanese violence spread across Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities, with protesters calling for boycotts on Japanese businesses. The demonstrations were sparked by anger over a Japanese school textbook that critics say whitewashes Japan's militarist past.
Tong Zeng, 49, president of the Chinese civilian association for safeguarding the Senakaku islands, known as Diaoyu islands in China, said: "As long as the Chinese government doesn't bring the public under control, anti-Japanese demonstrations will continue to take place."
The image Chinese people have of Japan is shaped by what they pick up from the media--the coverage is seldom flattering--and by TV dramas depicting the sufferings of Chinese during the Japanese occupation of the 1930s and 40s. The Internet is also a hotbed of anti-Japanese feeling.
Many regard Feng as one of the key activists responsible for stirring up hostility toward Japan. During the anti-Japanese demonstrations last year, Chinese security authorities, fearing the influence he has, especially with the young generation, ordered Feng to stay in his apartment and kept him under surveillance.
But there is a gap between how people perceive Feng and how he really feels. He is discomfited by the extreme hostility he sees toward Japan.
"I spent my younger days in Japan. For such a person, it is impossible to hate Japan and Japanese people," he said.
Feng admitted that he had felt some participants in last year's demonstrations in Beijing acted too violently. He even thought about trying to calm them down.
Now, Feng is planning to use his group's Web site to run stories about ordinary Japanese people to try to dislodge some of the prevailing stereotypes. He will also offer information for promoting exchanges of young people of both countries.
Mutual understanding is essential for better Japan-China relations, Feng said. At the same time, he thinks it is important to make Japan understand how Chinese people feel.
"By tearing down the wall between Japan and China, I would like my country to interact with Japan without ill feelings," he said.(IHT/Asahi: February 22,2006)
02/22/2006
By KAZUTO TSUKAMOTO
The Asahi Shimbun
BEIJING--For many Chinese, Feng Jinhua is a valiant crusader who helped spearhead the anti-Japanese movement here.
But in reality, Feng, 35, who spent eight years in Japan, is ambivalent about the antagonism of his countrymen toward the country he grew to love.
A native of Shanxi province in inland China, Feng came to Japan in 1994. He first attended a Japanese-language school and took a part-time job at a printing factory. He became fluent in Japanese and went on to study law at university. After graduation, he got a job at an international telephone company in Tokyo.
Feng made Japanese friends at his schools and jobs. He enjoyed going out to drink with them, yet he sometimes felt uncomfortable when few of them showed any interest in atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army against Chinese people before and during World War II. He learned to keep quiet about the war so as not to offend his friends.
His attitude began to shift in August 2001, when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A war criminals along with Japan's war dead. The visit incensed many Chinese, but in Japan, Web sites were flooded with justifications for the visit. Feng felt betrayed. He thought: "Why don't they understand the feelings of Chinese people?"
Feng grew up in the era after 1972, when Japan and China normalized diplomatic relations. The two countries had been on friendly terms, and because of that, Feng had felt warm toward Japan since his childhood. That changed as the Yasukuni issue gathered momentum.
Soon after Koizumi's Yasukuni visit in 2001, Feng went to the Shinto shrine and sprayed red paint on one of the ornaments. The graffiti read, Shine (You should die).
Feng was later convicted of property damage. His visa extension was denied, and Feng left Japan for China in 2002.
When Feng returned to his country, people praised him for his courage. Many of those who supported Feng were elderly people who had suffered at the hands of the Japanese military during the war. Feng promised himself at the time: "I must convey the feelings of these people to the Japanese."
Back in Beijing Feng found work at an advertising agency. He now shares a condominium with his wife, 34, and 4-year-old daughter in the city's suburbs.
In 2004, Feng's name spread across China when he was arrested by the Okinawa prefectural police for landing on a disputed island located in the prefecture's south. The Uotsurijima island is part of the Senkaku group of islands over which Tokyo, Beijing and Taipei have claimed sovereignty. Feng was arrested for violating the Immigration Control Law.
As head of a group called Chinese patriots alliance, Feng is now trying to get assistance to residents of Heilongjiang province in northeastern China who were injured or sickened after being exposed to toxic liquids that leaked from chemical weapons abandoned by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. He is busy collecting donations for the victims.
In China, even ordinary citizens are calling on the government to take hard-line measures against Japan. Stoked by Koizumi's intransigence over the Yasukuni issue and soaring nationalism at home, anti-Japanese sentiment has reached fever pitch.
In 2004, when Japan defeated China in the final round of the 2004 Asian Cup in Beijing, Chinese soccer fans rioted. In April last year, a wave of anti-Japanese violence spread across Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities, with protesters calling for boycotts on Japanese businesses. The demonstrations were sparked by anger over a Japanese school textbook that critics say whitewashes Japan's militarist past.
Tong Zeng, 49, president of the Chinese civilian association for safeguarding the Senakaku islands, known as Diaoyu islands in China, said: "As long as the Chinese government doesn't bring the public under control, anti-Japanese demonstrations will continue to take place."
The image Chinese people have of Japan is shaped by what they pick up from the media--the coverage is seldom flattering--and by TV dramas depicting the sufferings of Chinese during the Japanese occupation of the 1930s and 40s. The Internet is also a hotbed of anti-Japanese feeling.
Many regard Feng as one of the key activists responsible for stirring up hostility toward Japan. During the anti-Japanese demonstrations last year, Chinese security authorities, fearing the influence he has, especially with the young generation, ordered Feng to stay in his apartment and kept him under surveillance.
But there is a gap between how people perceive Feng and how he really feels. He is discomfited by the extreme hostility he sees toward Japan.
"I spent my younger days in Japan. For such a person, it is impossible to hate Japan and Japanese people," he said.
Feng admitted that he had felt some participants in last year's demonstrations in Beijing acted too violently. He even thought about trying to calm them down.
Now, Feng is planning to use his group's Web site to run stories about ordinary Japanese people to try to dislodge some of the prevailing stereotypes. He will also offer information for promoting exchanges of young people of both countries.
Mutual understanding is essential for better Japan-China relations, Feng said. At the same time, he thinks it is important to make Japan understand how Chinese people feel.
"By tearing down the wall between Japan and China, I would like my country to interact with Japan without ill feelings," he said.(IHT/Asahi: February 22,2006)
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