Overseas Chinese in Japan voluntarily give away masks to the Japanese public near the Nagoya Station, Japan, reminding the public to pay attention to protecting against the coronavirus. Photo: cnsphoto

China is making progress in its fight against COVID-19, while the epidemic in Japan, South Korea and Italy is increasingly severe. Some have claimed that Chinese people have been discriminated against in Japan because of COVID-19, but there are no signs of an anti-China wave in Japan, according to the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Japan.

An official from the embassy told the Global Times that the embassy is not concerned about any discrimination against Chinese people in Japan, where the mainstream is friendly to China.

Since the outbreak, Japan has taken the initiative to donate protective materials to China, which moved all people. It can be said that both the Japanese government and the private sector are fully supporting China's fight against the outbreak of COVID-19, according to the embassy.

More than 850 people in Japan have been confirmed as being infected with COVID-19, Japanese media outlet NHK reported Tuesday.

Some Japanese netizens have taken out their anger on China, creating hashtags on social media such as "Chinese don't come to Japan," claiming that "Chinese spread the novel coronavirus in Japan" and "buy masks and other medical supplies in stores."

Some stores even put up "no Chinese allowed" signs. All these give the outside world a bad impression that Chinese people are discriminated against in Japan.

"I feel so sorry and would like to apologize for that," Honda, a Japanese man from Tokyo, told the Global Times.

It has nothing to do with the recent outbreak of COVID-19, and there are always some online comments smearing China. Such people are called the "net right wing," who have long been lurking online, he explained.

There are many Chinese living in Japan, and people don't care about nationality. Honda also has Chinese colleagues in his company. They are on good terms with each other and usually drink together.

He attended a seminar on relations between China and Japan, discussing how to promote mutual understanding between the two countries, which was attended by guests from both sides.

Ito, a Japanese man from Osaka, Japan, told the Global Times that he saw no Chinese being offended or discriminated against offline in his daily life.

He said there were indeed rumors on the internet that COVID-19 was coming from China, as well as comments such as "let the Chinese go home." However, when large numbers of Chinese tourists come to Japan, making a huge contribution to the economy, these comments disappear.

According to Chinese groups in Japan, although discriminatory comments can be seen on social media occasionally, discrimination toward Chinese people in Japan is rare. They say they have never been discriminated against or treated unfairly in their daily lives.

A Japanese man told the Global Times that Japan, which had been relatively optimistic about the outbreak, has been under strain as the number of confirmed cases has increased. However, even so, they do not believe that Chinese in Japan are discriminated against and have also never seen that in real life. 

Many Japanese netizens believe it is wrong to say such discriminatory words. In the face of material shortages in Japan, it is the Chinese in Japan who spontaneously gave away masks for free on streets, they said on social media.