A visit to Japan is fruitful in many ways, it is a beautiful country, with all kinds of wonders to behold. But from the point of view of international relations, it is one of the best places to understand China. Geography has made these two countries proximate to each other, but the lessons of history have been mixed since the Sino-Japanese war of 1894.

Their contemporary relations are rife with tension, with bitter grievances stated and unstated. Currently they are focused on a couple of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea called the Senkaku Islands by Japan and Diayou by China.