Senkaku Islands Row: Japanese Companies in China Hide Their Logos, Display Banners "Diaoyu Islands Are Chinese Territory"

Japan is the perennial loser in a fight with bullies in the sand box.

Because they didn't want the destruction of their buildings, some Japanese companies in China, from a multinational clothing company to a small Japanese restaurant, decided to hide the names and logos that identify them as "Japanese", and displayed a banner that said "Diaoyu Islands are China's own territory". (Chinese call Senkaku Island "Diaoyu Islands".)

From Asahi Shinbun's English paper, Asia & Japan Watch (9/22/2012):

Precautions by Japanese companies in China anger consumers at home:

As recent anti-Japan protests turned violent, police and government officials in China advised Japanese companies to display pro-China messages or Chinese flags to avoid becoming targets of the protesters.

Now, questions of whether--and to what extent--those companies complied has caused a wave of confusion and anger among consumers in Japan.

The protests, which saw Japanese businesses and factories across China attacked, centered on the continuing dispute between the two countries over the uninhabited Senkaku Islands, called Diaoyu by China.

Japanese casual clothing store Uniqlo has faced particularly strong outcry over its apparent response to the protests.

On Sept. 15, a photo surfaced of one of its outlets in Shanghai displaying a sign which read, "We support the claim that the Diaoyu Islands are inherently China's territory."

The sign was posted in the display window of the store's fall fashion line, and remained there for about 40 minutes.

...

According to a company spokesperson, the Shanghai store did not obey instructions by local police to post a pro-China sign for its own safety. The official said the decision was based on company policy that a store "shall not take any political stance or voice opinions on diplomatic matters."

However, when anti-Japan demonstrations intensified on the morning of Sept. 15, the store was warned again that its "security would not be guaranteed," prompting the store manager to post the sign at the manager's own discretion, the company official said.

The sign was removed at around 12:40 p.m., once the protesters were gone.

(Full article at the link)

Uniqlo is saying it did what it did on its own volition, not because the threat from the local police. Wink, wink, you'd understand, right, Japanese consumers who buy our clothes? Don't you want cheap but chic and high-quality clothes made in our Chinese factory?

Uniqlo says it has received 1,400 calls and emails from Japanese customers protesting the company's action in China, but the CEO of the company says they were "misquoted".

On a separate piece of news from Osaka, washing machines made by the top Chinese maker Haier continue to emit smokes even after the recall and repair.

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