Home>News Center>Life
         
 

Japan-China friendship convention forced to switch venues
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-19 14:06

The Japan-China Friendship Association said Friday it will change the venue for this year's national convention from Awara, Fukui Prefecture, to Tokyo because rightwing groups are threatening to disrupt the meeting.

Mitsuharu Yazaki, managing director of the association, announced the move at a news conference in Fukui City.

The meeting was to have been held in Awara, Fukui Prefecture, in late May, but will instead be held in Tokyo in November.

According to the association, a man claiming to be a member of a rightwing group visited an inn that would have hosted the convention in mid-April and said his group "would take whatever are necessary measures" unless this year's convention was canceled.

The inn has received similar threats, by phone, from other rightwing groups reportedly angered by anti-Japanese protests in China, mainly in April.

"With campaign cars of rightwing groups expected to visit Awara, we cannot ensure the participants' safety at the convention, and their visit would cause the inn and local residents trouble," Yazaki said.

The association said its local branches have been getting bomb threats.

Among other activities, the association, established in 1950, offers cultural events such as Tai Chi, a traditional Chinese martial art, calligraphy and cooking to people interested in things Chinese.



Urbanisation slammed in avant-garde art
Sophie's breast-exposure steals the show at Cannes
Underwear fashion show in Shanghai
  Today's Top News     Top Life News
 

China slams US over textiles, denies yuan manipulation

 

   
 

Premier Wen: China to sustain rapid growth

 

   
 

Coal mine blast traps 51 miners underground

 

   
 

US expands curbs on clothing from China

 

   
 

US raising tensions over China's currency

 

   
 

Alleged Al-Zarqawi tape denounces Shiites

 

   
  Japan-China friendship convention forced to switch venues
   
  Japan-China trade center receives knife threat
   
  Japan's Princess Sayako to wed in November
   
  China pulls plug on gay Web site
   
  France hoping to break slump at home film festival
   
  1930s Shanghai diva Zhou Xuan reborn
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Feature  
  1/3 Chinese youth condone premarital sex  
Advertisement