FOCUS: Idea for Chinatown in Ikebukuro draws negative reaction

TOKYO, Nov. 16 Kyodo - A plan by some Chinese store and restaurant owners to create a community named
''Tokyo Chinatown Ikebukuro'' to promote interaction with their local Japanese
neighbors is getting a negative reaction.

About 60 Chinese responded to a call by 46-year-old Hu Yifei and joined the
newly established ''Sokushinkai,'' a group to develop contacts with their
Japanese counterparts in Ikebukuro, one of Tokyo's most popular districts.
Hu said the group does not intend to set up a Chinese community in one area
like those seen in Yokohama and Kobe but is designed to bring Chinese owners of
eateries and stores in Ikebukuro together to hold such events as Chinese
cooking and language classes, and open a website to showcase Chinese
restaurants.
Mitsuru Miyake, leader of an association of 20 shopkeepers on the western side
of Ikebukuro railway station, said he is baffled by the name ''Tokyo Chinatown
Ikebukuro,'' and that some Japanese may be led to think Ikebukuro is a Chinese
community.
Chinese students began living in apartments in places around Ikebukuro in
Toshima Ward in the 1980s because rents were relatively low and a number of
Japanese language schools were in the vicinity.
The increase in the number of student residents opened the way for the
establishment of Chinese restaurants offering them food with real home cooked
flavor, supermarkets selling Chinese foods, Chinese video rental stores and
bookstores. Ikebukuro now has about 200 Chinese shops.
Hu, who came to Japan about 20 years ago and has worked for an advertising
company, said there is no other area in Japan except for Ikebukuro with so many
Chinese stores and restaurants. He launched a preparatory committee in April
last year for the creation of the community to mingle with Japanese
shopkeepers.
There has been trouble between Japanese and Chinese businesspeople over
problems such as garbage disposal due to differences in lifestyle and language.
Since the establishment of the preparatory committee, Chinese managers
voluntarily collected waste material on several occasions around Ikebukuro
railway station.
The possibility of criminal groups including the Chinese mafia coming to
Ikebukuro is a source of concern for some Japanese.
The committee and the local shopkeepers association have had two meetings thus
far.
Miyake, 63, said, ''We have no intention of excluding them by any means but
they should first of all try to establish a mutual relationship of trust.''
''The bulk of shopkeepers are decent people,'' Hu said. ''It will take time for
Japanese to understand them. We'd like to talk to them without haste.''
==Kyodo