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Foreigners React to Senkaku Dispute News

A FTV program that asks a panel of Japanese-speaking foreigners to share their reaction to Japan’s cave-in to Chinese pressure of the detention of a Chinese trawler captain who rammed Japanese coast guard ships near the Senkaku Islands:

A very rough translation of some of the comments:

Russian: China is becoming so powerful economically that Japan really had no choice but to cave in to pressure.
Americans: This was done to stop the situation from escalating. / Japan showed itself to be far more mature than China.
NYT / Economist / Washington Post / Reuters: China’s victory in this case has ended up hurting itself in the long run by increasing worries about the aggressiveness of Chinese foreign policy.
Chinese: There should be more focus on building friendly relations between the Japanese and Chinese people. / The Chinese government has taken a very strong stance against Japan because it worries about the reaction of the masses. Dissatisfaction over foreign policy towards Japan could combine with domestic grievances and lead to anti-government protests.

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34 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - October 4, 2010 at 10:09 am

Categories: Foreigners in Japan, Politics Tags:

nate

I have to admit, the Chinese guy seems level headed, but if you think he’s right then China is saber rattling and threatening to disrupt regional and global economics because they can’t competently govern their populace. Why wouldn’t they eventually provoke a war to keep their people in line?
Eventually, that’s what it’s gonna take to preserve the fragile fiction that is “China”.

http://www.chirimotsumoreba.net Jordan

Of course! Is it a surprise that most Chinese people are as level-headed and intelligent as anyone else? Sure, the government is clearly belligerent and should not be trusted, but let’s not make the mistake of believing that the Chinese people are exactly like their government.

Mister M

Well… The whole world recognize that Japan is right regarding Senkaku Issues.
Mister M

The only country that doesnt recognize Senkaku as part of Japan is China.

moho

and Taiwan of course.

Kah Keong

Russia, some Africa countries, Taiwan, ethnic Chinese population in South East Asia, probably Korea recognize Diaoyutai as part of China. That is quite a substantial portion of human beings on planet Earth.

Mr. USA

Taiwan recognizes it as part of Taiwan. What makes you think Korea recognizes it as part of China? Doubting that the administering country has sovereignty over the islands would negatively affect their claim over Takeshima.

zhuge

actually, Taiwan recognizes it as part of the Republic of China,which still claims the mainland as part of its territory along with the island ,so Kah Keong is partly right lol.

Mr. USA

zhuge:

“The Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan, is a state in East Asia located off the east coast of mainland China.” -Wikipedia

Kah Keong was referring to the People’s Republic of China lol. So Kah Keong is completely wrong lol.
zhuge

but keyword here is China you see, so partly right heh heh~
Mr. USA

I guess so, he just missed the “Republic of” part heh heh~

Thai person

Not sure about the rest of SEA, but most Thai people in my area including ethnic Chinese recognize Senkaku Islands as part of Japan…

T-rock

Natural resources in this area have a lot to do with this
Oil and Natural gas in this area
Level headed educated thinking and all is needed here
Kah Keong

Japan probably thinks that the whole world in living in Japan and speaks Japanese.

japanobserver

Says the man from the Middle Kingdom. Is that what all you Chinese think?

stears

here’s my view on the issue.
http://ss9.sinaimg.cn/orignal/6bc9bb5dg91c4063dafc8&690.jpg
Piglet

Why would these people represent their countrymen’s view on this issue? The video is presented in a way implying that “foreigners” approve the Japanese government’s official stance.
As much as I also approve Japan’s behavior on this issue, I don’t pretend to represent anybody else than me.
This kind of program is deceptive because it does not explicitly take into account individual opinions and lumps them together.
IMO, this is not the role of TV (usually this kind of random interview on TV just follows an agenda, it is so easy to select only what you want people to hear). I would be much more interest in watching the interview of some Japanese people in favor of China (and vice versa), for example, or better: restrain from showing random interviews of unknown people if it doesn’t significantly improve the understanding of a news event.
I would rather see a debate with specialists and various opinions, then I would make my own opinion. I don’t want to see propaganda shows where I am shown why Japan or China is right. Not enough debate on Japanese TV.

ponta

“Why would these people represent their countrymen’s view on this issue? ”

Why do you think these people represent their countrymen’s view on this issue?

I hear nobody on the program say “I represent China” “she represents America”

George

Even if nobody is saying the small interviewed sample represents the countries, even if nobody is consciously thinking it, it’s a typical and completely expected conclusion that the interviews represent the countries.

The whole point of the news program was to sample people of different nationalities. The only unique and unifying aspect of these people are that they are from foreign countries. If the sample interviewees weren’t indicative of those countries’ viewpoints, that fact would be completely contradictory to the intended merit of the segment.

Viewers not trained in sample biases and statistics will see the small group of opinions divided by nationality, and assign them as default national “opinions” without thinking. The news station *may* have chosen pro-Senkaku opinions out of the interviews they did for many reasons, but I’m not saying they had bad motives. Maybe the station really did choose representative opinions. But Piglet’s point stands–this is not reliable data.

ponta

“Viewers not trained in sample biases and statistics will see the small group of opinions divided by nationality, and assign them as default national “opinions” without thinking. ”

Did you actually watch the video?

How about two Chinese women?

One woman says that this issue on the government level might influence the relations on the people’s level and suggests that despite this, people of two nations should build friendly relations.

Another woman says there are too many social problems in China, if not dealt with properly, the complains of people might turn into the anti-government protests and that the Chinese government’s hard reactions might have been the result of that fear.

How do you think the viewers assume they represent Chinese people?

And as for the guy from reuters, there was no mention about his nationality.

”
The whole point of the news program was to sample people of different nationalities. The only unique and unifying aspect of these people are that they are from foreign countries. If the sample interviewees weren’t indicative of those countries’ viewpoints, that fact would be completely contradictory to the intended merit of the segment.”

If anything, the point of this program, methinks, was to present the viewpoints from the third party for one thing and also the insider perspectives from Chinese people in Japan for another:
Piglet

If these people were indeed selected because they are “foreign” (let’s put aside the offensiveness of such an idea), this necessarily means that their “foreign” status is of some interest or might influence their opinion, if not represent the opinion of “foreign” people.
This is in contradiction with the modern democratic idea that you only represent yourself and that you shouldn’t be judged on your ethnic background, citizenship, etc…
Even if it wasn’t offensive, it would be manipulative and worthless, as there is absolutely no interest in knowing the opinion of random people if they don’t have anything interesting to say.
Most of the Japanese TV programs I watched about this just tried to confirm the official stance of the government. I personally agree with it (I indeed think China is playing a dangerous and counterproductive game) but I strongly disapprove this kind of propaganda.
As I wrote above, it would be so much more interesting to see a good debate with specialists of the field (not random people or “talento”), which would argue for one hour or two on the various aspects of this story, and contradict each other.
On a tangent, I watched French TV the other day and there was an interesting program about the new assertiveness of China. For those who understand French, here is the link:
http://www.pluzz.fr/ce-soir-ou-jamais-2010-09-30-22h50.html
http://www.japanprobe.com James

it would be so much more interesting to see a good debate with specialists of the field (not random people or “talento”), which would argue for one hour or two on the various aspects of this story, and contradict each other.

It was a Saturday morning entertainment show, not a serious news program. It’s ridiculous to expect it to conform to your idea of an intellectual news debate.
stears

Its exactly these kind of entertainment show, wide show,etc that are perfect for inserting propaganda, because the audience will be far more vulnerable to messages that are casually introduced than they would be to the more serious forms of shows such as an intellectual news debate.
http://www.japanprobe.com James

Stears:

Oh yes, the TV network is obviously feeding them propaganda. They probably got a fax from their right wing bosses telling them to air only clips of foreigners who support Japan. The foreigners might even be reading from a script handed to them by the Japanese foreign ministry…

Those poor Japanese sheeple who lack our critical thinking skills. They just soak up everything they see on TV like a sponge. They watched a couple Japanese-speaking foreigners say something on TV and now think that the whole world supports the Japanese government’s position on the Senkakus. How easily they are fooled.

We must save these simple people: Television shows that don’t have serious intellectual debate should not mention current events!

Or maybe it’s just an entertainment program, and it’s entertaining to see how people from totally different countries might react to news stories. Maybe, just maybe, Japanese people have the cognitive ability to tell that some exchange students talking on TV do not represent the views of the international community or their respective governments.
Piglet

You’re grossly simplifying my post. I never said or implied “Those poor Japanese sheeple who lack our critical thinking skills”.
However, I agree with one point of your post: I don’t believe we should give any value to any sensitive news reported in entertainment shows, whether it is in Japan, France,US or anywhere else in the world.

What I call “propaganda” is simply the fact that TV channels will distort the news in order to fit their agenda. It it very obvious in US with Fox News Channel but it can be more subtle, for example by mixing political messages with meaningless entertainment. In Japan, it is well known that Asahi TV will have a left-wing agenda than Nihon Terebi which is strongly conservative and close to LDP.

So, I will confirm my earlier comment: interviews of random strangers are worthless, especially if presented as “entertainment”. Most TV channels (and Japan is no exception) have a political bend and I think this is deceptive to present entertainment news as politically neutral when it is obviously not.
ponta

““foreign” (let’s put aside the offensiveness of such an idea”

Is the idea ” people from oversea” such an offensive idea to you? Hmmm.

”
This is in contradiction with the modern democratic idea that you only represent yourself ”

In one sense democracy means someone represents your opinions;that is what election is for.
But that is not the point here because nobody is representing any country in this sense.

“you shouldn’t be judged on your ethnic background, citizenship, etc”
Then EU is not democratic, isn’t it?

”
there is absolutely no interest in knowing the opinion of random people if they don’t have anything interesting to say.”

To me a Chinese woman in Japan had a very interesting message; people should build a friendly relations despite the problem between the two governments.
As a Chinese living in Japan, perhaps she felt the need to tell it to the Japanese people.

And I find it interesting to read random comments on JP;though, some of them are just clueless.

“it would be so much more interesting to see a good debate with specialists of the field (not random people or “talento”), which would argue for one hour or two on the various aspects of this story, and contradict each other.”

I agree.
You know, I personally prefer Rashomon type of the film than Disney type of the film. But sometimes it is fun to watch the latter type of the film.

Keep in mind this is not the only program in Japan.
http://www.japanprobe.com James

Piglet:

I was mainly responding to stears’ comments about the “vulnerable” and “passive” viewers.

interviews of random strangers are worthless, especially if presented as “entertainment”.

I would say that they do have worth: as entertainment.

I’ve spent hundreds of hours watching news programs from the major news networks in Japan. If one were to judge from the political stances of the parent newspapers, one might guess that a network like Fuji TV would spit out right-wing stuff. However, I haven’t found it to be so, at least not with the evening news and morning entertainment shows that I spend the most time watching.

I would rate NTV as mildly conservative and Asahi TV as mildly liberal, but Fuji TV isn’t as easily pinned down. Of course, all of the private networks love to jump on sensational news stories, probably because celebrities, corpses, and controversy keep the ratings up.
ponta

”
In Japan, it is well known that Asahi TV will have a left-wing agenda than Nihon Terebi which is strongly conservative and close to LDP.”

Right it is well known;many people are aware of the fact that it is biased and not just in Japan but in the U.S. too.

“Americans losing trust in mainstream media – NYC says why

Published 03 October, 2010, 12:22
Edited 04 October, 2010″

http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-10-03/us-media-lack-trust.html

” I think this is deceptive to present entertainment news as politically neutral when it is obviously not.”

And only you are aware of the fact that it is not neutral?
Piglet

I am obviously not alone but some people persist to pretend entertainment shows are politically neutral when they are not.

stears

indeed, there’s no one state that. but thats what the program implies and how those “passive audience” would receipt

Rob A

My Foreigner’s Japanese Opinion:

中国はとても子供らし。。。
Mark in Yayoi

If there’s one name I can’t stand to see applied to these islands, it’s the Pinyin “Diaoyu”. Even if the islands were to be Taiwanese — something that I already disagree with entirely — the spelling would be in Wade-Giles romanization, and would be Tiao-yu. (In Pinyin, the romanization of the PRC, they use a d for an unaspirated [t]; in Wade, they mark the aspirated one instead and put a left apostrophe after it.)

Using a Pinyin spelling implies some kind of two-stage thing in which the islands are owned by Taiwan and then Taiwan is owned by mainland China.

So in using this spelling, PRC loyalists are revealing a quite odious assumption that underlies their arguments. The least they could do would be to use the spelling that Taiwan would use.

Personally I’d like to see them have an Okinawan name. I don’t know how to say “pinnacle” (senkaku) locally, but “fishing” in most of the languages of the Yaeyamas is iyu-tui or some variation thereof.

And I think that suggestion would go over a lot better with Japanese people than it does with China, which shows how much more reasonable the Japanese are about this.

http://tepido.org/ LB

Romanization would be (should be?) used to allow those who cannot read the Chinese characters the ability to correctly pronounce the words/names in question. If the name was written “Tiao-yu”, everyone would be pronouncing the first letter as a “T”, not a “D”. Case in point, ask pretty much any English speaker what the capital of Taiwan is, and assuming they know (and are not a China expert) they will answer “Taipei” (with a “p”). The correct answer is “Taibei”, with a “b”, which is how it would be pronounced in both China and Taiwan amongst anyone speaking the official dialect. There shouldn’t be anything political about it – Wade-Giles is a horrible system. It only ever made sense when it was used by linguists and scholars who knew what the apostrophes were for and could understand why a “k” was a “j” and a “k’” was a “k” – and even then, since it never standardized on a given spelling for a given character we ended up with “Suchow” and “Hangchou” for “Suzhou” and “Hangzhou” (the final character is the same in both place names).

Pinyin is a vastly superior system. It still requires someone to learn the differences between “xi” and “shi”, “qi” and “chi”, “ji” and “zhi” but by and large most people reading Pinyin out loud for the first time are going to be in the ballpark with pronunciation.

T-rock

Someone needs to be clearly taught the proper history lessons for real!
For example if a farmer owns his land, then why Farmer A should ever have an argument with Farmer B next to him? This whole Senkaku issue sounds like an argument over say an Apple tree that grows on the boundary line between the two properties and who has the ownership of that tree? If the branches and apples fall onto the next guys property what? get all p-oed off like China!

It’s your land, no trespassing! You have your land China, you are way big enough as it is lol Again seriously it’s so about resources you all are so bent up about? Otherwise, you wouldn’t care about these rocks on the water lol
Maybe there’s natural gas and oil down there

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