"Wake wakaranai!"

I don't get it at all!

Well, the Olympics are finally over. The competitors did beautifully and it was good to watch.

Except. I have come to the conclusion that Mainland Chinese really, really, REALLY hate the Japanese. In volleyball, the (mostly Chinese) spectators booed every time the Japanese scored. In soccer, every time the Japanese team got possession of the ball, the (mostly Chinese) spectators booed heavily, and cheered madly every time the opposing team got it back. When you think of how the game of soccer is played, that means that the spectators were booing about half the duration of the game, or 45 minutes total. That’s a lot of booing.

The most convincing argument has got to be badminton. Every time the Chinese pair hit the shuttle into the Japanese side of the court, the spectators would shout “Sha!” which means “kill”. In badminton, of all sports. Wrestling, I could understand, but badminton?

Yes, I know, Nanking Massacre and all that, but isn’t that like me shouting at Americans “this is for what you did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki!!!” at the end of the softball final? (I think, the historical/ political perspective of the average American regarding the atomic bombs is rather one-sided and unrealistic, no thanks to the Smithsonian Institution, but it’s got nothing to do with Yukiko Ueno or Crystl Bustos) Yes, World War II was awful but I didn’t start it. I didn’t fight in it. My father was six years old when it ended. My mother, then an infant, nearly died of fever on the evacuee ship traveling back to Japan from Shanghai. My paternal grandfather failed his draft physical. I suspect my maternal grandfather bribed his way out of it. The average Olympic competitor is probably younger than me by about a decade, so they are even less responsible than I am. It’s really disheartening to hear the Chinese throw back their heads and howl “NANKING MASSACRE” every time something happens that they don’t like, and that this includes when Japanese competitors do well in sporting events. Sheesh. For centuries, China was the most civilized country on the planet. So far, the 21st century is NOT one of those centuries.

(Disclaimer: I don’t hate the Chinese, it’s just, that, well, you try pouring foreign aid into a country while your own country is in its second decade of recession, and have the favor returned by being booed every time your country gets the ball. I really, really want to like the Mainland Chinese, partly because there are so many of them to like, but what am I supposed to do if they don’t like me because of a war neither of my grandfathers fought in? I couldn’t find any non-Japanese commentary on this topic, so I wanted to get some English about it online.)