Video Games Almost Blamed As Anti-Japanese Vandal Gets Just Deserts

Last year, Sin0-Japanese relations hit an all-time low. Protests that bordered on the brink of riots broke out in China over China and Japan’s tug-o-war over a little speckle of islands, called Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan. During the worst of these protests, vandals and misguided people took advantage of the situation to wreak havoc upon regular people. Now, one of the most recognizable faces of this protest gone bad has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

China and Japan have been having an on-going conflict over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands. This little uninhabited island chain set off a wave of protests and riotslast August that lasted about a month. Last week, a group of 12 protesters, who since then have been sentenced to prison, took it too far — they attacked owners of Japanese cars. They attacked Chinese people who owned Japanese cars.

https://lastchance.cc/ok-tensions-between-china-and-japan-are-getting-seriou-30782412%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

The most high-profile criminal of the 12, Cai Yang, reached infamy when photos of him shirtless smashing a Toyota with a bicycle lock surfaced online. At around 1pm on September 15, Cai came across a Toyota on the street. Cai picked up a bicycle U-lock and smashed the car’s windshield. The owner got out of the car and tried to defend himself and his vehicle, hitting Cai on the head with a brick. Cai subsequently smashed the car owner’s head with his U-lock. Seeing the owner crumple down, Cai ran away from the scene. He caused thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to the car.

Despite the fact that Cai and some of his compatriots are being sentenced for doing terrible things, Chinese media seems to be pulling a fast one on video games. Similarly to the early reports of the Newtown shootings last year, Chinese media is trying to throw the buck of Cai’s antics on to video games.

https://lastchance.cc/mob-blames-mass-effect-for-school-shooting-is-embarras-5968683%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Xinhua, China’s central news source, reports that Cai was an avid gamer. Xinhua says that Cai spent a lot of time playing Cross Fire, a first-person shooter, holding a record of 4824 kills and 7997 deaths. He has a rank of corporal. Xinhua reports that after the attack on the Toyota driver, Cai wrote online saying that he felt he was “so cool” and that he said his actions were “patriotic”.

[砸日系车车主者获刑10年 平日喜玩枪战游戏] [People’s Daily]

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Eric is Beijing based writer and all around FAT man. You can contact him @[email protected] or follow him on Twitter @FatAsianTechie