In China, December 13th marked the 87th anniversary of the Nanjing Incident, and a memorial ceremony was held at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province. Meanwhile, the Japanese school in the area took measures such as closing the school for the day as a “sensitive day” due to incidents such as the stabbing death of a Japanese boy. In addition, the Japanese embassy in China issued a warning, saying that “anti-Japanese sentiment is likely to rise”.
In this context, it was learned that on December 22 at the Nanjing Zhongshan Botanical Garden in Nanjing City, a young woman appeared wearing a Japanese kimono, set up a tripod and was taking photos with a camera when a group of elderly men nearby approached her shouting, “This is Nanjing. Why are you wearing something like that? We’re going to make you take it off!”
The woman managed to escape from the situation by putting a coat over her kimono, but in China there have been incidents in the past where Japanese anime fans have been taken away by the police for wearing kimono, showing an overreaction to Japanese kimono. The Hong Kong newspaper ‘Sing Tao Daily’ reported on the incident.
When a group of elderly people were verbally abusing a Chinese woman wearing a kimono, a bystander filmed the scene on video and uploaded it to the internet, where it quickly spread and caused a huge stir.
At first, the woman in the kimono responded to the elderly people’s criticism by saying, “I like kimonos. They’re beautiful, so I came here (to the botanical garden) to take some photos of myself in a kimono.”
However, the elderly people shouted at her in anger, saying things like “This is Nanjing. Japanese kimonos are not appropriate here. We’ll call the police and have you arrested.” The woman pleaded with them, saying, “Go ahead and call the police, but is it really wrong to take photos in kimonos? Please stop attacking me and stop insulting me,” and they reluctantly stopped taking photos and left the area, putting on their coats.
On December 23rd, the day after the incident, staff at the Nanjing Zhongshan Botanical Garden reportedly told the media that “the incident was the personal action of a tourist, and we were not aware that she was wearing a kimono when she entered the park, and it seems that she changed into a kimono after entering the park.”
The incident occurred on the 22nd, which was nine days after the 87th anniversary of the Nanking Incident, and this seems to have provoked the group of elderly people.
In China, there have been a number of incidents in the past where people dressed in Japanese-style kimonos have been questioned by members of the public.
