Japanese nationalist view of islands dispute with China lacks ‘emotional intelligence’
Posted by Terry Boardman on Sep 19, 2012 in blog | 0 comments
A summary of Japanese arguments for why China has no claim to the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. Note the use (or rather, abuse) of music by Anton Bruckner!
You’ll see here why nationalistically-minded Japanese are trying to use uncontextualised legalistic arguments, based on what I would call an outdated, legalistic way of thinking, arguing about point and not periphery (context). They ignore the whole context of Sino-Japanese relations over the past 150 years. Such arguments show no emotional intelligence with regard to China’s nearly two centuries of humiliation at the hands of foreigners or the need for sensitivity over this. Their argument is not based on justice or morality but only on logic and documents; this is something the Japanese call ‘rikkutsu’ and something Japanese actually tend to scorn when dealing with each other.