Many believe that the Chinese and Japanese hate each other, mainly due to the terrible events during World War II and even other historical events that caused hatred. It is not difficult to find Chinese who hate Japanese, just as it is not difficult to find Westerners who hate Orientals and vice versa. Unfortunately, hatred or racism is entrenched in our world. Many end up generating hate without any valid reason or due to social and media pressure.
I think most people know that there were several wars and invasions by Japan in countries like China and Korea, and during these events there were rapes, deaths, torture and other atrocities. During these wars the Japanese ignored all international laws, being sometimes even worse than the Germans. What most generates this rivalry between China is the fact that Japan kind of hides these atrocities from its history books, as if it had not regretted its actions. The Chinese and Korean Governments also end up increasing this hatred and tension through political events and shows that resemble such events in the Wars.
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Are there reasons to hate the Japanese?
Among Asian nations, China is the one that views Japan least favorably, followed by South Korea. The opposite happened, Japan is the Asian country that views China less favorably. This does not affect the relationship between the countries, as more than 5 million Chinese travel to Japan every year.
The Japanese did many bad things, so it is understandable to see that some relatives or people harmed by the war may have hatred towards the Japanese. The ignorance of human beings begins when one wants to blame an entire nation of innocent people for something that happened decades ago due to a few monsters. And unfortunately, I see this happening not only among Asians but even Westerners want to jump on this wave of racism and hatred just because they end up reading a generalized news story about the slaughter of baleias or golfinhos.
People who allow hate to be generated tend to have no opinion of their own and are controlled by the media. Fortunately most of the young nation nowadays do not care about these past events and have overcome the hatred towards each other. Of course, there will always be a rivalry between races, no matter what happens. China encourages and uses advertisements that make its people hate Japan. This was not supposed to happen because China encourages hatred of Japan's far-right military system and not the country itself. China does not ban Japanese products or sever international relations over a past feud.
Do the Japanese hate Chinese and Koreans?
The hatred that some Japanese people have for other people is not usually linked to nationality. Only grumpy old men tend to be nationalists and traditionalists who end up excluding themselves or mumbling against foreigners, be they Westerners, Chinese or Koreans. Sometimes I even see Westerners complaining about Chinese people in Japan so it is quite common for Japanese people to end up complaining about Chinese people in their country. All this because the culture of the Chinese and Japanese are very different, the Chinese end up having some bad habits and customs different from Japan. Another factor is that some Japanese still feel threatened by China.
Although many surveys say that both China and Japan think they are bad influences, this does not stop the large Chinese community present in the country. Hate need not transcend generations. There are ignorant and spiteful people in any country. Hate is seen, that's because the more ignorant the person is, the more he seeks to announce it! Most people just want to be friendly and live in peace. Unfortunately it is because of politics, patriotism and greed that our world ends up becoming a great disgrace.