Anti-Japanese behavior by Chinese soccer fans during the Asian Cup tournament in August stirred strong resentment among the Japanese public. Man questioned whether China was qualified to host the 2008 Olympics. Others criticized the Japanese government's lukewarm protests against the incidents. I feel, however, that many Japanese have overreacted somewhat. Allow me to tell of a personal experience:
An international conference that I attended some years ago took up the issue of history textbooks used in Japanese schools. I pointed out that recent textbooks included some anti-U.S. passages, but to my surprise, American participants were not disturbed at all. One official said unkind remarks about the United States were made every day around the world. All sides laughed and agreed. I felt that the Japanese were no match for Americans when it came to broad-mindedness.
Half a century ago, while studying in Britain, I found a quiz in the satire magazine Punch. In those days, radio-quiz programs were the rage, as most homes did not have television sets and mass entertainment was not yet developed.