that’s very cheap and crass entertainment for the blue collar hard-working folks. They need to be entertained in this climate of economic uncertainty and slowing economic growth.

“That fact, we are still persisting on this matter, especially in such a ridiculing fashion serve as a reflection of the general populace’s acceptance and approval for the existing hatred.”

I agree there is hate towards Japan however where is the evidence to your claim that show a general acceptance and approval of such hate if the first comments voiced their disapproval of the act while others denounced it as shameless promotion. Hatred of Japan is not uniform nor universal across china.

Nazi appear in more hollywood films than can be easily counted, often in ways that are not totally serious and/or historically accurate (Indiana Jones, Hellboy, etc…)

A little google-fu shows me that Nazi have been used as a marketing ploy before:
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolNa_52/5330_52.htm

So with all these references and whatnot, does it mean people hate Nazi? Well, I don’t think people LIKE Nazi (except for some…), but people don’t seem to feel as strongly about it as time goes on because all this pop-culture stuff kind of strips away the seriousness of the original history. It’s almost like they’re cartoon villians now.

So, I don’t know if this “Japanese Invaders” marketing ploy is a sign of deep hatred. I’d say quite the opposite. With the passing of the people who experienced this part of history first hand, some people are beginning to take this stuff less seriously. Hence someone thinks it’s okay to use it to sell donkey meat.

Of course, the people who reacted strongly clearly still take it seriously. I don’t think that’s all bad – after all, “those who forget history are doomed to repeat it”.

Japanese officials still refuse to acknowledge attrocities happened, and that some of their “war heroes” are actually war criminals. It’s bad and hateful when people take it out on regular Japanese citizens who are just kept in the dark about this, it’s bad and hateful to escalate to violence, but it’s not bad and hateful to remember history.

Then is the hatred not perpetual and active?

Would any vendor in Tel Viv have locals dressed up as Schutzstaffels to promote his Matzah ball soups?

It was a time a sadness and paramount degradation, nobody wants to be be constantly tormented by continuing harassment of bringing up the subject over and over again especially in a manner of jest.

That fact, we are still persisting on this matter, especially in such a ridiculing fashion serve as a reflection of the general populace’s acceptance and approval for the existing hatred.

“..but why did you think they choose to wear those uniforms to begin with? simply because they know they can capitalize on the general hatred for Japan as a marketing device. I don’t doubt the atrocities, but some rural entrepreneur decided to use this act so effectively should says something about the general atmosphere.”

The WWII military uniforms provoke a general atmosphere of hatred specific to past war atrocities committed by Japan, that general hatred however does not mean it is an explicit indicator nor can it be used as an implicit correlation to represent today’s general attitude towards Japan.

i know aye, they should totally unban the nazi flag so i may fly it with pride on my in front of my house. goddamn government

If I saw this on the street I’d just assume someone is making a movie with really crappy production values. The ad for donkey meat would go completely ignored.

Seems like an awfully dangerous thing to do, though I guess even those who’d be inclined to get violent would be too struck by the WTF-ness of it all to do anything until the parade is far off into the distance.

I don’t think all-consuming rage is good either, but it’s also oversimplifying to brush Chinese anger off as merely Chinese government manipulation, considering Japan does not officially acknowledge WWII atrocities, unlike Germany, which has things like museums dedicated to the holocaust. The US bombed Hiroshima, but at least this not-so-proud history is not omitted from American textbooks like it never happened. (Would people be telling the Japanese to just get over it if the US was covering up the bombings in their history books? Would Jewish people have to just get over it if Germany wants to pretend the whole holocaust thing never happened? And if they exhalt their war criminals as war heroes, to boot?)

There are nationalistic extremists anywhere in the world, but Germany’s skinheads do not have the same power in their country’s government that Japan’s rightwing extremists do. Official remorse and rememberance by the invading party puts a bit of closure on things, and that never happened in Japan WRT China, so the closure just isn’t there. If there was at least some closure, it’d be harder for WWII history to still be used to manipulate people.

Plenty of other countries also invaded China in the past, why is Japan hated with so much more intensity than the others? On the one hand, the Chinese government fans the flames and many Chinese don’t realise it, and on the other hand, the Japanese government fans the flames and many Japanese don’t realise it. It’s not all on one side.