A Study in Diplomacy
Chinese, Japanese Friendship
Offers Glimpse Into Difficulty
Nations Face Getting Along
By SEBASTIAN MOFFETT in Tokyo and JAMES T. AREDDY in Shanghai
March 21, 2006; Page B1
Growing up in Japan, Asayo Iizuka was fascinated by China. So the 22-year-old jumped at the opportunity to study at Shanghai's Fudan University, hoping to expand her knowledge and make Chinese friends.
There she met Chen Li, a 20-year-old economics student at Fudan, who hated Japan. When she was growing up, Ms. Chen's family had told her the Imperial Japanese Army had killed her great-grandfather.
So, at first, a friendship didn't seem possible. "I don't really like the Japanese," she informed Ms. Iizuka early on.
Yet the two women have stayed in touch and each continues to try to change the other's point of view. In the process, they confronted, on a personal level, some of the major issues threatening relations between Asia's two economic giants at a time when slow-growth Japan is finding opportunities in fast-expanding China.
"For 4,000 years China was the top country in Asia, but in the past 150 years, Japan has been more powerful," Ms. Iizuka says. "Now they are equal, but they don't know each other well enough to acknowledge each other."
Asayo Iizuka in Tokyo
Even as old wounds linger, China, including Hong Kong, has become Japan's biggest trading partner. About 99,000 Japanese live in China, more than any other country besides the U.S. Both governments are working to nurture better relations among the younger generation. Japan plans this year to set up a fund of 10 billion yen ($86 million) to pay for 1,100 Chinese high-school students to study in Japan annually for about 10 days and an additional 150 for several months to a year. A current government-affiliated study program enrolls 100 Chinese students in Japanese high schools each year.
"The economic relationship is robust and growing," said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University Japan. "But I don't think that can continue indefinitely while government relations are in the deep freeze."
In China, memories are still strong of the Sino-Japanese war from 1937 to 1945, when the Imperial Army killed at least 10 million Chinese, according to standard estimates. The Chinese complain that Japanese school textbooks skim over the war and object to visits by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in central Tokyo that is dedicated to the 2.5 million people who died fighting for Japan, most of them during Japan's war with China and World War II.
In protest, Beijing has refused to schedule formal summit meetings with Mr. Koizumi and is opposing Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Thousands of Chinese participated in anti-Japanese demonstrations last spring.
Ms. Iizuka's fascination with China began when she studied the Chinese language in high school. She loved China's ethnic variety and thousands of years of history, and knew the language would help her career. While studying law and politics at a Tokyo university, she went in 2003 to spend a year at Fudan -- the top university in Shanghai.
That winter, a South Korean friend introduced the two women. The students exchanged phone numbers. But Ms. Chen talked little with Ms. Iizuka.
Ms. Chen had disliked Japan since she was a child growing up mostly near Shanghai. From age 7, schoolteachers took her class to see patriotic films; some were about heroic Chinese children risking their lives to resist evil Japanese soldiers during Japan's World War II occupation of China.
Chen Li in Shanghai
In high school, Ms. Chen took part in day-long hunger strikes against Japan. Now, she boycotts Japanese goods, and two years ago bought a digital camera made by a South Korean manufacturer. Buying Japanese products is "a bit like losing face," she said. "We were beaten by them, but now we have to accept their products?"
Ms. Chen bumped into Ms. Iizuka on campus after a winter break. Ms. Chen noticed that Ms. Iizuka seemed different from Japanese students who stuck together and dressed fashionably. Ms. Iizuka dressed down and wore floppy hats, a casual look Ms. Chen found approachable. "She was nice," Ms. Chen recalled. "I thought maybe I should be more open."
The two women found they had plenty in common. They both liked the late Hong Kong movie star Leslie Cheung. Ms. Iizuka treated Ms. Chen to her first Japanese meal, laughing when Ms. Chen flinched at the taste of miso -- bean paste -- soup.
Ms. Chen was beginning to have doubts about the accuracy of some of the information she had about Japan. Ms. Iizuka, meanwhile, felt a special mission to talk about China-Japan relations. In 2002, before her year at Fudan, she had taken a crowded evening train in Manchuria, a former Japanese colony in northeastern China. Fearing for her safety, she told fellow passengers she was Korean.
She later regretted telling a lie and vowed to be more open with the Chinese she met. She had heard about anti-Japanese feeling before she visited China and felt she needed to make a stronger effort to understand Japan's past wrongs. She also felt some Chinese anti-Japan sentiment came from skewed information. For instance, Japan is China's top foreign-aid donor, but China's state-controlled press rarely reports about the financial assistance.
Yet both women held on tightly to certain beliefs. Ms. Iizuka and Ms. Chen had fiery discussions, both in person and over email, over Mr. Koizumi's recent visits to the Yasukuni war shrine. Though the prime minister has apologized for Japan's invasion of China and said his visits are to pray for the souls of regular soldiers, these apologies ring hollow in China because the shrine honors 14 Class A war criminals -- those tried for "crimes against peace," because they led Japan's war in Asia.
Ms. Chen said she was offended by Mr. Koizumi's annual visits. Ms. Iizuka responded that visitors honor relatives killed in action. "They're thinking of their own families," she recalled saying. Mr. Koizumi prays for peace, not for war criminals, she added. Ms. Chen argued that visits by a prime minister are different because "he stands for the country's opinion."
Ms. Chen retained her core feelings about Japan. When anti-Japanese sentiment bubbled up last spring, she joined one of the demonstrations in China. Ms. Iizuka said she was disappointed that her friend had participated, and she wished the Chinese wouldn't blame her generation for past problems. "It's natural for them to criticize Japan's past," she said. "But I can't accept it when they throw this at the Japanese of today. The Japanese of today have done nothing wrong."
Despite the differences in opinion, the two women have remained close. Last fall, Ms. Iizuka visited Shanghai, and they chatted like old friends over lunch in a rooftop restaurant, recalling their past arguments. Ms. Iizuka, who will soon start a job as a wire-service reporter, dreams of working in China one day. Ms. Chen said conversations with Ms. Iizuka have made her less radical. "If I dislike Japan," she said, "it doesn't mean I dislike all Japanese people."
中日女生面对面
2006年03月21日15:37
22岁的日本女孩Asayo Iizuka迷上了中国，于是她来到上海复旦大学求学，希望在此能够加深对中国的了解，并结识中国朋友。
在这里，她碰到了20岁的李琛（音），一名讨厌日本的复旦大学经济系学生。李琛的父母告诉她，她的曾祖父就是被日本军队杀害的。
因此，最开始时两个人看上去是不可能成为朋友的。李琛在交往初期就告诉Iizuka，她对日本人没有任何好感。
不过，两人还是保持著联系，并都试图改变对方的观点。在一些影响中日两国关系的重大问题上，两个人各执己见，互不相让。眼下，中国经济的高速增长为步履蹒跚的日本提供了发展的契机。
Iizuka表示，中国在过去4,000年中一直是亚洲的头号强国，但近150年间，日本的国力则超越了中国。两国现在的实力不相上下，但问题在于双方对彼此的实力都没有足够充分的了解。
尽管中国人对日本带来的伤害难以释怀，但中国（包括香港在内）已成为日本最大的贸易伙伴却是不争的事实。而且，目前约有9.9万日本人生活在中国，仅次于在美国生活的日本人数量。两国政府也正在年轻一代中灌输中日友好的观点。日本今年准备拨款100亿日圆（8,600万美元），用于资助1,100名中国高中生每年花上10天的时间在日本学习，以及资助150名中国高中生每年在日本学习几个月到一年的时间。此外，一个由日本政府资助的研究项目每年还邀请100名中国学生来日本高中就学。
Temple University Japan的亚洲研究主管金斯顿(Jeff Kingston)表示，中日两国的经贸往来密切，而且还在继续深化。但是，在两国政治关系如此紧张的情况下，“政冷经热”的局面不可能无限期地持续下去。
中国人对1937年-1945年日本的侵华罪行依然义愤填膺，标准的统计数字认为，日本军队侵华期间至少杀害了1,000万中国人。中国政府谴责日本在教科书中美化侵华战争罪行，并反对日本首相小泉纯一郎(Junichiro Koizumi)参拜供奉著250万军人灵位的靖国神社。这些军人大多死于日本侵华战争及第二次世界大战期间的其他战场。
为了表示对日本的不满，北京取消了计划中的两国首脑峰会，并反对日本出任联合国常任理事国。去年春季，中国爆发了成千上万人组成的反日示威游行。
Iizuka对中国的痴迷始于她在高中学习汉语之际。她喜欢中国各民族相互融合的特色及悠久的历史，而且她知道掌握汉语对将来找工作也有好处。于是，她于2003年以东京某大学法律及政治系学生的身份来到复旦大学开始一年的学业生涯。
那年冬天，在一名韩国学生的引荐下，Iizuka和李琛初次见面了。两人交换了电话号码，但当时两个人的交流并不多。
李琛从小就不喜欢日本。从7岁时，学校就经常组织学生去看爱国主义题材的影片。其中一些电影描写的是英勇无畏的中国儿童如何冒著生命危险反抗邪恶的日本侵略者。
高中时，李琛参加了一场持续一天的反日绝食抗议。现在，她用抵制日货来表达自己的立场。两年前她买了一个韩国品牌的数码相机。她觉得买日本货丢人，她说，日本侵略过我们，我们为什么还要购买日货？
寒假后的一天，李琛在校园中偶遇到Iizuka。李琛当时觉得Iizuka与那些喜欢扎堆、穿著时尚的日本女生有些不同。Iizuka的休闲服饰一下子博得了李琛的好感。她回忆道，Iizuka给她留下了不错的印象，她自己也应放开些。
两人随后发现，双方有不少共同之处。她们都喜欢香港影星张国荣(Leslie Cheung)。Iizuka请李琛首次尝试日本料理，当时李琛望著日本的豆面酱汤犹豫不决的样子让Iizuka忍俊不禁。
此后，李琛对一些关于日本的信息的准确性开始产生怀疑。与此同时，Iizuka也觉得在谈及中日关系时肩负著特殊的使命。2002年，在来复旦大学求学之前，她在曾经是日本殖民地的中国东北乘坐过一次夜班列车。出于安全方面的担心，她对身旁的乘客说她是韩国人。
她后来后悔当时不该撒谎，并发誓今后再遇到中国人时会开诚布公。她在来中国之前已经听说了中国有反日情绪，并觉得有必要更加深刻地了解日本过去对中国犯下的错误。但她也觉得，一些中国人的反日情绪与信息披露的不全面有关。举例来说，日本是中国最大的经济援助国，但中国媒体却很少提及日本的经济援助。
但在一些问题上，Iizuka和李琛都坚持自己的信念。两人曾在交谈和电子邮件中对小泉纯一郎屡次参拜靖国神社进行过激烈的争论。尽管小泉曾对日本的侵华罪行做出过道歉，而且表示参拜靖国神社只是为了抚慰普通士兵的亡魂，但在中国看来，小泉的道歉并不真诚，因为靖国神社里面供奉著14名甲级战犯，他们破坏了和平，发动了日本对亚洲国家的侵略战争。
李琛说，小泉纯一郎每年都参拜靖国神社伤害了她的感情。Iizuka表示，参拜者只是为了怀念死去的亲人。她说，参拜者是用这种方式来表达对逝者的追思。她认为，小泉的参拜是为了祈求和平，而不是祭奠战犯。但李琛认为，小泉参拜靖国神社的意义非同一般，因为他代表著一个国家的立场。
李琛的反日情绪并没有随著和Iizuka成为朋友而有所淡化。去年春季反日情绪在中国大爆发之际，李琛也加入到了示威游行活动之中。Iizuka称，她对李琛参加反日活动感到失望，她希望中国人不要把日本过去战争罪行的指责强加到她这一代日本人身上。她表示，中国人批判日本过去的错误是理所应当的，但她不能接受中国人把批评的矛头指向当代的日本人。她说，当代的日本人没有对中国人做过坏事。
尽管政治立场不一，但这并不妨碍两人保持著密切的关系。去年秋天Iizuka来上海时，两个人像老朋友一样在饭店边吃边聊，回忆起过去的那些争论。即将成为记者的Iizuka希望有一天能来中国工作。李琛说，与Iizuka的交往使她不再像以前那样激进了。她说，我虽然讨厌日本，但并不讨厌所有的日本人。
