"Demonization" of Chinese in Japan

More on the "demonization" of Chinese in Japan that I was talking about in yesterday's entry.

According to Apichai Shipper, Japanese police associated foreigners with criminals and instilled fear of foreigners among the Japanese public.

In 2000, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police apparently distributed posters picturing a young man wearing a worn-out suit and dirty shoes, and crouching down while picking a lock. It also pictures a woman making a phone call.

The poster's caption read: "Apartment break-ins occur frequently. If you think (the person) is Chinese, call (the police at) 110. If you hear them speaking Chinese ... call 110."

Apichai wrote: "By focusing on the Chinese, the poster implies that it is mostly Chinese who break into apartments. Although burglaries involving Chinese have increased, about 97 per cent of the cases in 2000 still involved Japanese"

But after protests from human rights groups, the 700 already distributed posters were withdrawn.

Might as well declare that speaking Chinese is a crime!