Japan stores shut citywide

Many of the capital's Japanese stores as well as some stores selling Japanese products announced Monday that they will be closed Tuesday, as protests continue outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing over the Diaoyu Islands.

Japanese companies such as Jusco and Ito Yokado officially announced their temporary closure Monday, but when the Global Times called, the companies said that it was because of electrical maintenance.

Tuesday is the 81st anniversary of the "September 18 Incident" when Japanese invaders laid siege to Shenyang and began the military occupation of northeast China.

Wukesong Camera City, a photographic equipment market in Haidian district, also announced its closure on its website Sunday. A female employee, surnamed Li, said the market would close on the 18th out of safety concerns for the products, but she added that staff would be paid during the shutdown. Two other staff members said the market's closure was because of electrical maintenance.

The Japanese School of Beijing, Chaoyang district, the largest Japanese school in the city, also announced they would be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

An employee, surnamed Wang, from the school's administration office said that the closure is to do with the September 18 Incident anniversary and the recent protests.

"We closed under the suggestion of the municipal public security bureau," Wang said.

Xie Qingqing, an office worker at an online company said she had not heard about the closing of Japanese stores in Beijing yet, but often uses stores like 7-Eleven. She understands why they would want to close, she told the Global Times.

"But I don't think there will be any effect of the boycott of Japanese products anyway," she said.

A staff member from a 7-Eleven branch in Huashi Zaoyuan, Dongcheng district, said that all branches of the store in Beijing had closed from Monday afternoon.

7-Eleven was founded in the US, but now the franchise operation's majority shareholder is Japanese.

Another local resident, surnamed Wu, said that a tire on her boyfriend's Toyota was slashed Sunday night.

"I often go to Japanese stores and Japanese restaurants," she said, adding that she understands the closure is to protect their property.

"I wouldn't go to the Japanese stores now because I'm afraid for my safety and my property," she said.