Protests staged in Tokyo over 'right-wing' hotel chain

More than 300 Chinese in Japan staged a protest in Tokyo on Sunday against the APA chain of hotels, which placed books in hotel rooms that openly deny the Nanjing Massacre and the existence of "comfort women," while a group of right-wing activists interfered.

Protesters gathered in Shinjuku Central Park, holding banners that read, "Boycott APA, safeguard national dignity," and "Free speech requires conscience," Xiao Jie (pseudonym), one of the co-organizers, told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that 150 Tokyo police officers were assigned to maintain order during the protest.

"Although police placed barricades, right-wing activists kept rushing over and tried to snatch our banners," Xiao Jie said.

A 22-year-old Chinese student in Tokyo, surnamed Fang, who attended theprotest, told the Global Times that "right-wing activists called us 'Shina pigs' and asked us to 'get out of Japan.' They also shouted, 'Nanjing Massacre does not exist,' asking us to 'learn history harder.'"

Right-wing forces outnumbered the Chinese protesters when they passed an APA hotel, and many right-wing activists waved the "rising sun" Japanese flag, which is considered a symbol of Japanese militarism, Fang said.

"Despite their provocation, we calmly voiced out sentiments, which is the aim of our protest," Tang, another co-organizer of the protest, told the Global Times.

Fang said she decided to join the protest as she was upset by what APA Group CEO Toshio Motoya said at a conference last month.

Motoya, who wrote the book, The Real History of Japan - Theoretical Modern History, refused at the conference to remove the books and said the controversy was premeditated. He also said that Chinese tourists only make up 5 percent of the APA chain's customers, and that he did not expect the row to affect business.

"People will forget the whole thing after a few months and will only remember our hotel name. We could benefit from this issue," Motoya said.

Motoya is also the deputy director of a support group for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and the organization's "right-wing" orientation has been exposed on Japanese social media.

Takashi Kawamura, mayor of the Japanese city Nagoya, agrees with Motoya, saying "There was no killing of civilians in Nanjing," Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported. "If that [Nanjing Massacre] is true, then all Japanese people shall go to Nanjing and kneel," he said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Kawamura should keep to his word to kneel and apologize, noting that whoever distorts history and hurts Chinese feelings is intolerable and must pay for it.

The Chinese Olympic Committee urged organizers of the 8th Asian Winter Games in Sapporo to solve the "APA hotel problem" swiftly and properly, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

To save on costs, no athletes' village was built for the event. Instead, two local hotels, including the APA Hotel & Resort in Sapporo, were chosen as hotels for those who will take part in the Asian Games, CRI Online reported Wednesday.

Organizers will provide Chinese athletes to the games with alternative accommodations, according to the report.

South Korea's top sports body also demanded that Japan change the hotel for its athletes, said another Xinhua report on Wednesday.

'Don't play dumb'

Many Chinese netizens showed their support for the protest and slammed right-wing Japanese on social media.

"Do not play dumb! Dare you pay a visit to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders?" Sina Weibo user "gaimei lvxing" said.

However, others worried about the protest's effectiveness.

"Right-wingers are crazy people. They might make use of the protest," Wang, a 26-year-old Chinese resident who has lived in Tokyo for seven years, told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that "I wish that one day, they can be transmitted to when the massacre happened and see it with their own eyes."