China–home of the protest

Break out the tissues, STAT!Someone better break out the tissues, as China’s starting to get teary. The Dalai Lama is stopping in Japan on his way to the United States for a whole 24 hours. That’s apparently 25 too many for China, as they’ve begun to complain to Japan about this very act. Why, of all the nerve. Can you believe it? Young Lamas these days, with their Nobel Peace Prizes and their vague plans to maybe hold a news conference or get some lunch on Japanese soil, right next to their rightful jerk-face usurpers! Japan, while not without their own history of boo-boos, has decided to remain close to mum about the situation.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, asked on Tuesday by reporters to comment on the planned stopover, gave a measured response.

“‘The Dalai Lama has visited Japan many times in the past and each time we have dealt with the situation appropriately,’ he said. ‘We’ll continue to do so from now on as well.'”

As relations between the two countries over the past hundred years have been about as sturdy and dependable as a coke-head in the 80s, the Prime Minister, in response to China’s insistence that they’ll hate Japan’s guts forever and ever for “harboring” the Lama, was that it’s probably good to think before they say anything about the situation, by which time the big guy will be safely out of the country. Ah, diplomacy, how I lust for thee.