PRC TOURISTS

With the opening of the floodgate and the power of the RMB Chinese tourists have become a main source of revenues to nations that count tourism as a contributor. Japan is no exception, despite the tension between her and China due to the latter's declaration, only 2 days ago, of the ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone). The territorial disputes over the Diaoyu Islands, known as Senkakas here is the bedrock and it does not seem the issues are going away anytime soon.

I saw this awkward display in front of a telecom company at Ikebukuro. 'We have Chinese staff' in Chinese but translated as 'We have sales clerk who speaks English'. I do not think it bodes well with what the Hong Kong community labels as 'compatriots from our strong nation' which, with a certain unfairness, typifies them as loud, arrogant, and rude in the worst possible nouveau-riche ways. We seem to have forgotten that back in the 80s and even early 90s when Hong Kong was at a high our behavior was probably viewed in more or less the same context in China those days. I ran into Chinese tourists here, Putonghua speaking and loaded with wads of Yens, but I did not see the same behavior. They must know their place. They seem less loud, less arrogant, and less in-your-face in part due to language, but more so because they are no longer in Hong Kong, I think. Tokyo, as capital of Japan, is not the same as us, a minor player, an ex-Colony that used to, and still, behave like a spoiled brat despite the change of sovereignty. To be honest, we asked for it, our compatriots should not take all the blame.