Last Saturday it was Nagano’s turn to play host to this year’s controversial Olympic Torch Relay. For the preceding weeks the event had been anticipated with much trepidation. This has mainly been due the city’s famous buddhist temple, Zenkoji, opting to withdraw from festivities on the basis of security and the worsening situation in Tibet. Since temple officials refused to host the relay as a starting point it has been the target of phone calls, vandalism and even death threats. This, plus reports of chinese exchange students organising large scale gatherings in the city, has helped helped ferment a sour preamble to the event. Fearing possible clashes 3000 police had been sent to provide security.
On arriving in the city as the relay set off from its starting point, the station was already thronging with supporters and protesters. But overwhelmingly it was the red flag that was most prominent as the chinese supporters arrived in large groups of Chinese students and ex-pats alike. Many of the supporters where grasping huge bed-sheet sized flags that towered over the groups of people headed for the park. It seemed the Chinese had come well equipped with an array of stickers, banners, flags and t-shirts, some being handed out freely to other supporters. The pro- Tibetan supporters on the other, with the exception of organisations such as Reporters Without Borders seemed mostly to come quite independently and in much smaller groups. As oppose to the Chinese students most Pro- Tibetan protesters came with home-made signs and flags, as many handed out Tibetan flag decorated paper cranes to passers by.
Emboldened by their sheer numbers, many of the Chinese I spoke to (most of whom spoke fairly decent Japanese) were in a boisterous and jovial mood. “We’ve come to support China and promote peace”, a young man told me, “I’m very excited to be here” . The less celebratory, pro-Tibetan protesters in contrast seemed quite passive. This was until I came across a group of roughly one hundred angered protesters marching towards Wakasato park from the station. Though they hadn’t all necessarily come with a completely united purpose, the particular group I came across contained a small but rather vocal contingent of hardline nationalists who openly voiced their resentment to the large Chinese presence in the city. One protester even carried a sign that said in English, “Divide China” followed by “Get Out!” in Japanese. The majority of pro-Tibetan protesters however emphasized the importance of civility.
I approach one middle aged man from Tokyo carrying a sign with a gruesome picture of a bloodied prostate figure reading, in Japanese, “Get out of Tibet!, China is a nation that slaughters it people”. I asked him what his feelings were about the supporters who came and he told me, “We are furious, we have only come here in groups of four or five but all of these Chinese exchange students that have come here in large groups organised by the Chinese embassy. This is Japan. We are enraged. But”, he was quick to add, “there is to be no violence, this is not about violence”. Shortly afterwards, a van full of chinese supporters (waving flags out of there windows) pulled up next to them, chanting in chinese, “China, China, China!”. The man I had been speaking to then engaged the van pointing and shouting into the window followed by other angry protesters. However, uniformed police in dark suits were close on hand to quell the situation and ordered the van to move on. Later as I followed the group towards the park I saw a few scuffles, as a man swathed in the Hinomaru (the flag of Japan) had a push-and-shove scuffle with a group of young Chinese students. Compared to Nagano station, the area approaching the park was heavily guarded, so few encounters were allowed to develop into full blown confrontations. Nearer the station however, an anxious policeman informed me, the fights had come to more serious blows. He seemed slightly nervous.
As I arrived back at Wakasato Park I spoke to a young women, an onlooker from Niigata Prefecture. She told me about her discomfort concerning the large groups of Chinese protesters. “I’m not sure”, she said, “Why do they need to come here in these big groups if not to cause a disturbance?”. Chinese supporters had almost doubled their numbers since earlier that morning as they held the central part of the park, surrounding the stage where the flame was to be lit. The Pro-Tibetan protesters on the other hand had been herded by the police into the southern corner of the park shouting, “Free Tibet!” in English.
As the Chinese crowd in the center became larger, they became louder. This seemed to represent both a rally of support and a nationalist protest. I could not help but notice how rare it was to glimpse a supporter holding an olympic flag. It was clear that the flag of the People’s Republic was holding prominence as portable stereos blared out the Chinese national anthem. The feelings of many people seemed to be summed up as I approached a rain-soaked pro-Tibetan protester departing from the area after the ceremony. “It’ s interesting” he said, “ that the Japanese police kept us Japanese people out and only Chinese people with Chinese flags could get into the centre to see the ceremony. The Japanese people with Tibetan flags couldn’t get close enough to see the flame or the ceremony. I just don’t understand. They seem to think the Olympics are only for the Chinese. I care about the Olympics but I also care the Tibetan people”. As the protesters walked away from the empty park they no longer seemed angry, just saddened.
