Japanese residents have begun to suffer injuries in the anti-Japanese unrest in China. To begin with, conduct that encourages attacks on an embassy could reasonably be called a kind of act of war.
China seems to have various complaints, including the issue of textbook screening, but of course, unlike in China, such things can naturally occur in Japan, where freedom of speech is guaranteed(*1). Indeed, it would be strange if they did not.(*2)
It is said that the Chinese government’s aim is to direct attention abroad because the recently widening gap between rich and poor is creating friction at home. It is a standard tactic. In China, where the media are controlled and accurate information about Japan does not reach the public, people will readily succumb to agitation. This can also be seen in the fact that riots occurred in Shenzhen but not in Hong Kong, where more information is available.
What can Japan do in response? I gave it some thought.
(1) The present riots have not been reported at all within China. Distribute this footage widely on the internet, free to copy. Naturally, provide commentary in Chinese, English, French, Spanish, and German.
(2) Record Japan’s current situation in video and text and distribute that widely on the internet as well. Naturally, it should be in Chinese. (It would also be better to have English and other languages.) This, too, should be free to copy.
(3) Present the contents of Chinese and South Korean history textbooks in Japanese, English, and other languages, and point out their distortions.
(4) Properly explain Japanese history in English and Chinese as well.
It is important that all of this material be free to copy. If it is distributed from a specific website, it can easily be filtered at the gateway so that it cannot be received in China, or the site can be rendered unavailable through a DoS attack.
Once information is widely available, people become less susceptible to agitation. Public-information efforts are extremely important in creating such conditions. I think the government should take this area more seriously.
(*1) China has recently tightened its restrictions on the mass media even further.
(*2) China and South Korea, both of which protest Japan’s textbook screening, have only a single type of state-designated textbook. Their textbooks are used as important instruments of propaganda. In contrast, private publishers in Japan may publish textbooks freely, and screening merely checks that they do not contain excessively egregious falsehoods. The attitude of China and South Korea—failing to understand this and judging another country by the standards of their own—is a typical form of colonialism. Their attitude of lodging state protests over another country’s domestic affairs, thereby interfering in its internal affairs, is also thoroughly premodern and can be said to illustrate the current state of both countries well.
＜Useful Links＞
・The Truth about Asia
・A Company President’s Candid Diary