Venting Years of Rage at Japan

On Kuan-Yu “Cat” Chao’s talk show, “Rush Hour,” on the Chinese-language radio station KAZN-AM (1300), the topic was Japan, and that was enough to get listeners riled up.

“Buy a Jeep instead of a Japanese SUV,” one caller suggested. “Unite to resist Japanese products,” another concurred.

One of Chao’s in-studio guests, a political commentator, was hardly more charitable.

“Asian nations suffered greatly from the Japanese invasion,” said Po Kong Chen. “But the Japanese government never apologized for their aggression like Germany did. [Japan’s] apologies were just so vague and not as sincere.”

On the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, Sino-Japanese relations are at a low point. China’s economic boom has made many Chinese and Chinese Americans feel more comfortable expressing their bitterness over atrocities committed by the Japanese military more than half a century ago, observers say.

Across the Pacific, the anniversary has also prompted Chinese Americans to reexamine Japan, stirring old passions, especially among older generations.

The passion can be heard on talk radio, where speakers scorn Japan. And it was seen in April when hundreds of demonstrators marched to the Japanese Consulate in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo to protest both Japan’s aggression during World War II and the country’s current campaign to become a permanent member of the United Nations’ Security Council.

Earlier this month, two longtime foes in Los Angeles’ Chinatown -- supporters of China’s government and backers of the Taiwanese Nationalist Party -- joined together to commemorate the end of World War II and to call on the Japanese government to offer a more comprehensive apology.

In Northern California, a Cupertino group called the Global Alliance to Preserve the History of World War II presented the United Nations with millions of signatures -- about 500,000 from the U.S. -- demanding, among other things, that Japan sign an official apology into law and pay millions in reparations to Asian civilians and former American and British prisoners of war.

“I think this has reached critical mass,” said Ignatius Ding, a spokesman for the alliance, while reflecting on the amount of attention Japan has garnered in recent months. “I think Chinese people finally want to be heard.”

The anti-Japan ranting has gone little beyond talk, however. For all the bluster about boycotting Japanese products, there is no sign that anyone is actually doing so.

Even some of the loudest critics are quick to point out that their animosity is directed at the Japanese government, not Japanese Americans.

But the anniversary of World War II has offered Chinese Americans an opportunity to vent.

T.J. Pempel, director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at UC Berkeley, said the willingness of Chinese Americans to speak out underscores China’s rise as the leading economic power in Asia.

“Japan was the automatic leader of Asia beginning in 1960, and everyone assumed it would be the engine of Asian economic growth,” he said. “But suddenly, Japan’s economy went flat in 1990, and now China’s growth makes it appear that history is on China’s side. There’s a little bit of triumphalism by the Chinese, and it’s reflected in their willingness to heap scorn on Japan.”

Some Chinese Americans agree that they have been emboldened by events in China.

“There’s more Chinese pride today,” said Paul Li, a 66-year-old retired banker from Hong Kong and director of the China Unity Assn. of Greater Los Angeles. “In the past, China couldn’t do much. Now the economy has gone up and they can stand up to Japan. We need to teach our younger generation how the Japanese treated us.”

Contentious Issues

Sino-Japanese relations have soured this year over a series of spats, none more important than the dispute over how to acknowledge Japanese attacks on China during World War II.

The Chinese have criticized Japan for whitewashing details of the war in its school textbooks, a claim that has been lobbed back at the Chinese regarding their portrayal of their country’s history, particularly the actions of the Communist Party.

And many are angry that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has visited a shrine honoring his nation’s war dead, including those who have been classified as war criminals. The Japanese leader has not made the visit this year, however.

Other disputes over oil drilling rights, the perception that Japan supports Taiwan’s permanent independence from China and Japan’s desire to sit permanently on the U.N. Security Council have also heightened tensions. Widespread protests in China earlier this year turned violent in some instances when Japanese businesses were vandalized.

Nothing that serious has happened in the United States. In April, hundreds of demonstrators peacefully carried banners and shouted from bullhorns denouncing Japan outside the Japanese Consulate in Los Angeles. But the rally revealed a willingness among many Chinese Americans to openly display resentments toward Japan.

In a written statement, the consulate told The Times that “Japan is not at all hesitant to look honestly at the past and apologize to those who suffered tremendous damage and pain. In 1995, at the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama expressed a clear apology and he said, ‘I ... express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology.’ ”

The statement also defended Japan’s right to sit permanently on the U.N. Security Council, because it is a “peace-loving nation.” The statement argued that Japan had already paid reparations according to the provisions of the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty and that it is “absolutely untrue that Japan glorifies its past atrocities or tries to whitewash the history of war” in its textbooks.

Prime Minister Koizumi issued a statement earlier this week saying, “Japan caused huge damage and suffering to many countries, especially the people of Asia, with its colonization and aggression.”

Some Japanese Americans have sided with the Chinese community, believing the government of their ancestral homeland has not done enough to absolve itself for its past abuses.

“I think there are just as many Japanese Americans puzzled and angry that Japan hasn’t come to grips with what happened in World War II,” said Don Nakanishi, a Japanese American and director of the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA. “They haven’t come to grips with it the way Germany has with the atrocities they committed against Jews, Gypsies and others.”

Japan’s war history is not lost on an older segment of Chinese Americans.

On a recent weekend in Chinatown, community leaders led a symposium on Japan’s wartime atrocities, attracting most of the local Chinese press. Speakers were surrounded by posters detailing Japanese scientific experiments on live prisoners, the use of Chinese women as sex slaves and the slaughter of 100,000 to 300,000 Chinese civilians in 1937 in Nanking.

Shifting Attitudes

The event was organized by the China Unity Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, which supervised the raising of the first Chinese flag in Chinatown earlier this year. It was a symbol of how much attitudes have shifted in the historic neighborhood, which had long flown Nationalist flags representing the government that was overthrown by the Communists and fled to Taiwan.

The symposium commenced with the singing of both the American and Chinese national anthems. Taiwanese Americans sat side by side with mainland Chinese immigrants. A representative from the Chinese Consulate also sat at the head table, though a spokesperson from his office said the event had not been arranged by Chinese government officials.

Some have accused the Chinese government of fanning anti-Japanese sentiments for its own gain, using nationalism as a way of uniting the country. But many Chinese Americans say the angry rhetoric directed against Japan is deeply emotional and sincere.

“You cannot remove this pain from the Chinese people’s hearts,” said W.Y. Li, a reporter for the People’s Daily, a mainland Chinese newspaper, who was examining the black and white photographs of the Nanking Massacre at the Chinatown event.

Xiaomei Zhou, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Consulate, said she was heartened by the response.

“I’m amazed at the amount of enthusiasm,” Zhou said. “This part of history needs to be remembered. Only through remembrance can we avoid the same human tragedy from happening again.”

Felix Guo, the station manager at KAZN, said the animosity toward Japan was more prevalent among older generations of Chinese Americans, who still have a link to the war.

But this is not the case in China, he said. He has had younger friends there tell him not to eat in Japanese restaurants here. His response?

“I have to explain to them that this is America; most of the Japanese restaurants here are run by Koreans,” he said.