Chinese protests over disputed islands lead to violent attacks on Toyota, Honda dealerships, and other Japanese companies in China. Panasonic, Canon shutter some operations through Tuesday.
Workers at a Japanese restaurant cover up the shop front with Chinese national flags and red clothes in Beijing Monday, Sept. 17, 2012, ahead of major protests expected on Tuesday, Chinese weekend protests over disputed islands damaged Japanese shops and factories operating in at least five cities in China, causing some to close in anticipation over more protests. Tuesday is the anniversary of Japan's 1931 occupation of China.
Ng Han Guan/AP
EnlargeMajor Japanese firms have shut factories in China and urged expatriate workers on Monday to stay indoors ahead of what could be more angry protests over a territorial dispute that threatens to hurt trade ties between Asia's two biggest economies.
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China's worst outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment in decades led to weekend demonstrations and violent attacks on well-known Japanese businesses such as car-makers Toyota and Honda, forcing frightened Japanese into hiding and prompting Chinese state media to warn that trade relations could now be in jeopardy.
"I'm not going out today and I've asked my Chinese boyfriend to be with me all day tomorrow," said Sayo Morimoto, a 29-year-old Japanese graduate student at a university in Shenzhen.
Japanese housewife and mother Kayo Kubo, who lives in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou, said her young family and other Japanese expats were also staying home after being terrified by the scale and mood of the weekend protests in dozens of cities.
"There were so many people and I've never seen anything like it. It was very scary," she said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the government would protect Japanese firms and citizens and called for protesters to obey the law.
"The gravely destructive consequences of Japan's illegal purchase of the Diaoyu Islands are steadily emerging, and the responsibility for this should be borne by Japan," he told a daily news briefing. The islands are called the Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China.
"The course of developments will depend on whether or not Japan faces up to China's solemn stance and whether or not it faces up to the calls for justice from the Chinese people and adopts a correct attitude and approach."
China and Japan, which generated two-way trade of $345 billion last year, are arguing over a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, a long-standing dispute that erupted last week when the Japanese government decided to buy some of them from a private Japanese owner.
The move, which infuriated Beijing, was intended by Japan's government to fend off what it feared would be seen as an even more provocative plan by the nationalist governor of Tokyo to buy and build facilities on the islands.
In response, China sent six surveillance ships to the area, which contains potentially large gas reserves. On Monday, a flotilla of around 1,000 Chinese fishing boats was sailing for the islands and was due to reach them later in the day, the state-owned People's Daily said on its microblog.
The weekend protests mainly targeted Japanese diplomatic missions but also shops, restaurants and car dealerships in at least five cities. Toyota and Honda said arsonists had badly damaged their stores in the eastern port city of Qingdao at the weekend.
However, Toyota said its factories and offices were operating as normal on Monday and that it had not ordered home its Japanese employees in China.
Fast Retailing Co, Asia's largest apparel retailer, said it had closed some of its Uniqlo outlets in China and may close yet more, while Aeon Co Ltd,, Japan's number two retailer, is prohibiting China business trips for its Japan-based staff.
Japanese electronics group Panasonic said one of its plants had been sabotaged by Chinese workers and would remain closed through Tuesday -- the anniversary of Japan's 1931 occupation of parts of mainland China, a date that Tokyo fears could trigger another outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment.
Japan warned its citizens about large-scale protests in China on Tuesday. Many Japanese schools across China, including in Beijing and Shanghai, have cancelled classes this week.
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