Interview with Mr. M

"For me, discrimination from companies directly isn’t really the problem. But when I do livestream sales outside, I do run into unfriendly behavior. Let’s say there’s a store with only two discounted items left. My stream brings in a rush of Chinese buyers, and within minutes, both are gone. Of course Japanese shoppers get frustrated — they wanted the same deals, but we cleared them out. It’s the same logic behind why some Japanese mothers dislike Chinese buyers snapping up baby diapers, or why in Australia people resented Chinese buyers hoarding infant formula. Conflicts like this are unavoidable.

I try to be careful. If I see Japanese shoppers already browsing, I’ll step aside and let them pick first. I even tell my team to keep their voices down when streaming. But not everyone acts this way. Some streamers just grab everything in front of locals, ignoring them completely. I always warn my own streamers: avoid conflict, avoid unpleasantness. But this industry has no entry barrier. Unlike making microchips, which requires skill and investment, anyone can start reselling. That means the quality of people in this business is mixed — some are decent, some are not — and problems are inevitable.

Right now, anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan is very strong. Why? First, there are simply too many Chinese people here. The bar to enter Japan is lower than before, and with a bigger crowd, you get all kinds of behavior, some of it disruptive to Japanese order. Second, Chinese people often carry that hyper-competitive habit — the “卷” mindset. In China, everything is already maxed out with competition, so people come here and continue the same way. Imagine: a Japanese company sells something for 100 yen and makes a profit. A Chinese seller comes in, undercuts everyone, and sells it for 5 yen. Of course Japanese businesses hate that.

The Japanese way of doing business is to leave room for everyone in the chain to earn something — manufacturers, distributors, retailers. That way the whole system works in a balanced cycle. In China, the instinct is to wipe out the middlemen and let just a few people take all the profit. That might enrich a few, but it breaks the balance. In Japan, people say: “I’ll make some big money, but I’ll also let the small fish survive and sip the soup.” In China, it’s more like: “Kill the middleman, leave nothing behind.” So when Chinese sellers come in with ultra-low prices, Japanese businesses can’t survive. For them, it feels infuriating — their profit margins, their livelihoods, are being wiped out.

Housing is another sore point. Chinese buyers have pushed up property prices in Japan. In the past, a Japanese white-collar worker could afford a modest home. Now, with so many foreign buyers — especially Chinese — prices have surged. Japan doesn’t have restrictions like Singapore, where foreigners can only buy designated properties and must pay a 40% tax. In Japan, anyone can buy, no strings attached. So Chinese groups — like the famous Wenzhou “housing speculation groups” back home — come in and drive prices up. The result is a housing bubble where ordinary Japanese families feel priced out.

And then there’s the issue of taxes. Many Chinese here don’t pay fully. They look for loopholes, avoid taxes, and cut corners. Meanwhile, Japanese society is built on everyone following the rules, lining up, paying their dues. If a large group shows up and refuses to follow those rules, of course the locals get angry. To them, it feels the same as how Chinese people in China complain about certain African immigrants — “dirty, doing bad things, not respecting order.” The logic is the same: if you don’t follow our country’s rules, you don’t deserve to stay here.

That’s why anti-Chinese sentiment has grown so strong. It’s not mainly about history anymore. It’s about everyday life and fairness.

And here’s something worth reflecting on: why do we hear about anti-Chinese sentiment, but not “anti-Indian,” “anti-Vietnamese,” “anti-American,” or “anti-European” sentiment in Japan? India is also a developing country. Vietnam and Myanmar are poorer than China. Yet Chinese people, despite having the world’s second-largest GDP, are the ones rejected most often. Shouldn’t wealth and consumption power bring respect? Apparently not.

Culture also plays a role. Honestly, Chinese culture is deeper and older than Japan’s. Many Japanese traditions — even Obon, their biggest summer holiday — came from China. Yet today, we’ve lost much of our own cultural inheritance. The old Confucian traditions, poetry, classical learning — they’ve faded. Japan preserved and adapted them, while modern China often let them go. That creates another gap in perception.

Of course, history matters too. Some Japanese elders still remember when China was poor and backward, and they can’t adjust to seeing China suddenly rise so fast. But young Japanese don’t pay much attention to politics; they’ve grown up in 30 years of stagnation and “lying flat.” They’re not hostile in the same way. What really fuels resentment is the sudden flood of Chinese people, and the ways they disrupt local life — housing, taxes, markets. And online, Japanese people voice this openly. In daily life they’re polite and restrained, but on the internet you see their true feelings.

I think the real conflict comes down to this: Chinese actions, sometimes intentional, sometimes careless, have stepped on Japanese people’s interests. Whether it’s cheap dumping, housing bubbles, or rule-breaking, locals feel their way of life is under threat. Add in foreign media coverage that emphasizes China’s negatives, and you have the conditions for strong anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan today."