Should we criticize 'cherry tourism' because of Abe?
By Lun Ping (Chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2015-04-07 14:58And Chinese tourists have played a role in helping the Japanese economy, not least through their crazy consumption of products from rice to toilet seats. It is estimated that each Chinese tourist contributes about 8,000 yuan ($1,298) to Japan's retail sector.
That's one of the reasons why many netizens accuse these relatively well-off Chinese tourists of being "unpatriotic" and "heartless".
However, we should distinguish the Japanese people from Japanese government. In 1978, when China and Japan negotiated the signing of their peace and friendship treaty, then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping said Chinese people suffered huge catastrophes, but Japanese people also paid a heavy price.
While some Japanese politicians have raised concerns among the international community with their rightwing words and deeds, they have also faced heavy criticism from the Japanese public. About half of Japanese voters oppose the Japanese government's intention to revise Japan's peace Constitution, and many are pressing Abe to stick to the "Murayama Statement" of 1995, in which former Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama apologized for the "tremendous damage and suffering" Japan caused to the Asian people on the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII.
Murayama has reported received an invitation to attend the memorial events in China marking the 70th anniversary of the victory of anti-Japanese war in September.
It is vital that the Japanese public voices its opposition to the revisionist antics of their rightwing politicians.
Meanwhile, the increasing number of Chinese tourists to Japan not only affect Japan's economy, but also bring more chances for the two peoples to interact, which may improve the perceptions of the two peoples toward each other.
Those rightwing politicians should stop their provocation actions, or they may eventually harm Japanese people's well-being and lose votes.
The author is a writer with China Daily.
I’ve lived in China for quite a considerable time including my graduate school years, travelled and worked in a few cities and still choose my destination taking into consideration the density of smog or PM2.5 particulate matter in the region.
