Dancers in step to thank Japanese people

A video thanking Japan for its support in the coronavirus fight and offering best wishes for its anti-virus efforts has been made by the Shanghai People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and Shanghai Dance Theater.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi was the first foreign minister to call China and offer support, according to the association. Yasuo Fukuda, Yukio Hatoyama and Tomiichi Murayama, former Japanese prime ministers, and Japanese from all walks of life had also delivered speeches, made videos or sent emails to support China and the measures it has taken.

The association alone has received messages and donations from more than 20 organizations and individuals. These include a video made by 96-year-old Murayama in which he wrote: “Go China! Go Wuhan! Go Shanghai!”

Banners with words of support for China and Wuhan are everywhere in Japan and words written in Chinese accompanying their donations, such as: “Although we are in different places, we are under the same sky,” have gone viral on Chinese social media.

According to the Chinese Embassy in Japan, Japan’s central and regional governments had donated more than 2,856,000 million masks, 385,600 protective outfits, 156,500 pairs of latex gloves and 82,700 goggles as of February 18. Japanese enterprises, friendly organizations and individuals have also donated more than 3,212,00 face masks, three CT and X-ray machines, 379,000 pairs of latex gloves, 99,000 protective outfits and about 43.96 million yuan in funds.

As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased in Japan, the association invited the dance theater to make a video to express the Shanghai people’s solidarity with Japanese people and confidence in their victory in the battle.

It’s also a response to an earlier video by the Japanese Matsuyama Ballet Company in which its husband-and-wife heads Tetsutaro Shimizu and Yoko Morishita led the troupe in chanting the Chinese national anthem and shouting “I love China! We love China! Go Wuhan! Go China! Go humanity!”

The Shanghai video includes clips of donations made by Japan to China during the epidemic and the theater's previous performances of “Crested Ibis” in Japan.

The dance drama is about environmental protection and harmony in nature and the crested ibis is Japan’s state bird. It has been staged more than 200 times, including over 80 times in Japan with audiences totalling more than 150,000 people.

In the video, the theater’s principal dancer Zhu Jiejing says: “Although we are in different places, we are under the same sky. The friendship between China and Japan lasts forever. When China is fighting the novel coronavirus epidemic, the Matsuyama Ballet Company and other Japanese friends have given us a lot of help and greetings. Now, as the virus is spreading in Japan, we would like to extend our best wishes to the Japanese too. We wish this can bring them warmth and confidence. We will overcome the epidemic together.”

Wang Jiajun, the premier dancer, says: “The epidemic has stuck us at home, but bonded our hearts together. The sincerity of Matsuyama Ballet Company has brought us warmth and the generous aid from Japanese friends from all walks of life has passed strength to us. Our gratitude to them is beyond words but is deep in our heart. This is an epidemic that Chinese and Japanese people have to face together. Let’s fight together, encourage each other and help each other. There is a Chinese poem that says ‘thousands of boasts pass by the sunken ship, tens of thousands of saplings shoot up in front of the withered tree.’ I believe we will win the battle against the virus. The sky will be clear soon with crested ibises flying high again.”

All the dancers of the troupe say: “Keep fighting, Japan” at the end of the video.