Why This Topic Landed in Japan
Territorial and historical disputes produce their sharpest reaction in Japan when they attach to a commercial entry into the market. The shape readers find easiest to argue about is a side associated with anti-Japanese statements now earning money in Japan, and NMIXX's December debut, announced officially, sat exactly in it: the group had previously performed "Dokdo Is Our Territory", and a petition against the debut was reported to have reached 50,000 signatures. The Japanese activity is going ahead as officially announced. A past performance does not by itself establish any member's personal political position.
The second story does not involve Japan as a party. Chinese internet users were reported to have called Thai people and the Thai monarchy "monkeys". The original posts, and who wrote them, remain unidentified. It was read in Japan through the lens of insults Japanese readers consider familiar from the same direction, which is how two unrelated events ended up under one heading. The two have little in common beyond landing on the same day.
Key Reaction Themes
- Market and message don't match — The refusal is aimed at the posture of earning in a country you have criticised.
- Doubt about the actual audience — If the controversy is the only thing anyone knows them for, several asked, what is the debut for.
- Personal belief or a production choice — A small number held back, allowing that the group may simply have been told to sing it.
- Watching the insults from outside — On the China-Thailand exchange the tone is analytical rather than partisan, since Japan is not the target.
- History as a rebuttal — Colonisation and wartime alliances were brought in to dismantle the premise of the insult itself.
What Japanese Netizens Are Saying
NMIXX's Japanese debut and the "Dokdo Is Our Territory" performance
The objection centred on earning money in a market you have spent years disparaging.
竹島ソング歌ってたNMIXXが日本に擦り寄ってくるのきしょすぎる🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
【速報】NMIXX、12月に待望の日本デビュー決定（公式発表）
Sources: livedoor News
Comments:
- "Fifty thousand signatures is probably more than the number of fans."
- "'Long-awaited' (wishful thinking). Keep at it forever, lol"
- "Not just this one — being anti-Japanese and still coming to Japan is gross."
- "Apart from the past controversy I don't get the sense they have any name recognition or popularity in Japan at all, so why debut here? Even if they're coming to make money, they won't sell."
- "Maybe they were just made to sing it (blind faith)."
- "Ah, I know this group! The artists who were hugely popular in Japan before their Japanese debut, right, lol"
- "They probably have no convictions to speak of, but isn't it embarrassing to want money from people of a country you've been running down?"
- "It's called yong-il, isn't it — they're not cosying up, they're graciously making use of us, with that hollow air of looking down on you." [Translator's note: yong-il (用日) is a Korean coinage meaning "using Japan", presented as the opposite of currying favour with it.]
- "If you hate us, then please don't come... What is with these people, I genuinely can't understand them."
- "Let's hold up 'Give Takeshima back' placards and towels."
Chinese posts calling Thai people and the Thai monarchy "monkeys"
From a position outside the quarrel, the commentary went after the structure of the insult.
タイ人vs中国人のバトル、中国人側がやってはいけない一線を超えた。 王家への明らかな侮辱は、冗談でもやってはいけないこと。 昔の中国人は、日本の皇室には絶対に触れない分別があったけど、今の中国人はダメだね。相手が猿なら自分は猿以下。
ここ最近、タイ人と中国人がXでバッチバチにバトルってるけど、中国人は議論以前に人の話を聞くことすらできないから、相手をサルだとか犬だとかカエルとかで見下すことしかできない。 世界中にケンカ売っては敵に回す中国人の破滅っぷりは一周まわってすごいわ(褒めてない
Sources: 2ch
Comments:
- "Just swap Xi Jinping for Winnie the Pooh and it's fine."
- "Does China want a war or something?"
- "What are they saying that to a country for, when along with Japan it was never once colonised?"
- "Well, the Japanese army surrounded them and forced them into an offensive and defensive alliance, so they were on the losing side, mind you."
- "Thailand? Hanuman, obviously." [Translator's note: Hanuman, the monkey deity of the Ramayana, is a prominent figure in Thai culture.]
- "Thailand has a lot of overseas Chinese. China is weak against the northern nomads and keeps getting pushed south, but it's strong against Southeast Asia."
- "Conducting yourself with decorum requires a corresponding level of intelligence."
- "Chinese people, who have no freedom, connect through a VPN and that's what they write..."
- "Chinese people come at anyone they consider beneath them from extremely high up, don't they. Is that just the culture?"
- "Thailand is pushing to decouple from China right now, after all."
