It was the kind of story editors dream about, a lurid scandal involving sex, money and politics, and the headlines made the most of it: 'Hotel Orgy By Japanese Upsets Chinese Hosts,' wrote the London Independent; 'Chinese Media Fury Over Orgy,' said the BBC; 'Japanese Orgy In Zhuhai Hotel Sparks Chinese Fury!' exclaimed the China Daily.
The details were the same: 400 Japanese men had enjoyed a two-day romp with up to 500 Chinese prostitutes at the five-star Zhuhai International Convention Centre, paying 1,200 yuan to 1,800 yuan (HK$1,128 to HK$1,693) each to a local broker for the privilege. First broken by New Express Daily News of Guangzhou, details of the incident spread like wildfire on Chinese web portals such as Sohu.com and generated enormous heat and anger, coming as it did on the anniversary of Japan's 1931 invasion of northeast China. The timing was deliberate, said many - an attempt to 'humiliate' the Chinese on this most sensitive of dates. Threats to boycott Japanese products, to kill Japanese tourists and blow up the Zhuhai hotel sprinkled the angry electronic chatter.
The implications of the orgy story for bilateral relations worried the Japanese government enough to promise an 'investigation'. In Japan you might expect the company whose employees' holiday trip had generated all this fury to close its doors and go on holiday to avoid the media scrum, but you would be wrong. It was business as usual last week at the offices of Kouki Limited, a midsize construction and remodelling firm, with not a reporter in sight outside its Osaka premises. Telephone inquiries were answered with a one-page fax stating that 288 of its staff had indeed gone on a company tour to Zhuhai on the dates mentioned, a venue chosen for its 'safety and convenient location close to Hong Kong and Macau'. After claiming the purpose of the trip had been to reward its staff, not purchase prostitutes, the fax admitted 'companions' were sought to 'make a party go better'. It then blamed the press for blowing the matter out of proportion.
The obvious questions that leap to mind, why would such a large group of men tour together without any female staff? Did they know 'companions' were available before they went? Were all answered with a curt 'no comment'? The Japanese press pack, however, decided it was hardly worth the bother. Most newspapers relegated the orgy incident to inside pages and focused not on the guilt or innocence of Kouki Limited, which was not named in reports, but on the impact of the incident on Chinese public opinion. The left-leaning Asahi newspaper said Chinese media had reported a group of Japanese had engaged in an orgy, while the liberal Mainichi headlined its story: '380 Japanese Men In Group Orgy?'
The top-selling Yomiuri gave the incident the smallest coverage of all, focusing in later additions on the arrest of a Chinese suspect, before dropping the story altogether. The English-language press fared little better: the Japan Times led its page two story with a denial by the Osaka firm (again unnamed) that it had been involved in 'systematic prostitute-buying', and said the incident highlighted how the internet in China could be used to whip up hysteria.
Why the difference in coverage? Although the foreign ministry has belatedly announced it will investigate the matter, Japanese editors cite boredom with sex-tour stories, which have been going on for years, and distrust of Chinese news sources. Mainichi's Hong Kong correspondent, Kenichi Narusawa, said he believed the entertainment provided at the Zhuhai hotel was 'not uncommon'. What distinguished this story was the 'size of the group involved', not the incident itself. Many editors in Tokyo, like those at Yomiuri's international desk, questioned whether the story was 'factually correct', and decided to play it down rather than find out more. Few believed the firm timed the trip to coincide with the sensitive anniversary. 'Most Japanese aren't even aware of the date,' Narusawa said.