For this more sombre and serious edition of "Tops Tuesdays" I would like to share an article I have found on RocketNews24.com. Japanese author Haruki Murakami has written an passionate appeal to both Japanese and Chinese citizens for peace during the Senkaku Islands dispute. Currently both countries are waging a territorial war over the ownership of the Senkaku Islands which lie between the two nations. Racial tension between the two countries has been on the rise lately. Recently, a Chinese high school in Yokohama cancelled its Chinese celebrations and parade over fears of conflict with local Japanese residents. When Murakami--the author of such popular works as 1Q84 and Norwegian Wood--heard that books by Japanese authors were being removed from Chinese books stores, he wrote this plea. The team at RocketNews24 has translated Murakami's essay into English.
Below are a few excerpts from the essay of particular note:
"As a Japanese, as a writer, I fear that the dispute over the Senkaku islands, and even the recent troubles involving Takeshima, will do little but destroy the cultural world that we have all worked so hard to create over many years, and dig up the path that we have laid, brick by brick.
"...[I]f we show restraint, and, however quietly, that we value, respect and continue to love what it is that we have achieved over many long years of hard work, then it is we who undoubtedly reap the rewards in the end."
It saddens me to see and hear this type of thing happening. Just heard that Shinzo Abe has been elected as the new leader of the LDP, who look like winning the next election. He is an outspoken nationalist, so this type of dispute could escalate :(
ReplyDeleteIt seems so pointless to get so worked up about a couple of uninhabited rocks off the coast of Japan and China. Thanks for commenting!
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