Ever since Russia began to attack Ukraine, people’s aversion towards the bigger country is becoming stronger. It is reported that such aversion is extended to Some Russian shops and restaurants in Japan. They are told to “go home” anonymously on SNS and are receiving unreasonably low ratings and malicious comments on the evaluation platform on the Internet. There is even an owner of a Russian grocery shop who had their signboard destroyed by someone unknown.

I believe that this “Russian-hate” trend is unreasonable.

Firstly, not all “Russian” shops and restaurants here are operated by Russians. In many cases, they are run by people from neighboring countries (including Ukrainians) or co-owned by a Russian and people from other countries. There are even some cases where owners of those shops and restaurants are Japanese. So it is pointless to attack them for being “Russian.”

Furthermore, even if those shops and restaurants are owned by Russians, it is still insensible to attack them. It is true that we should protest against what is happening in Ukraine, but it is not Russia’s citizens that should be blamed. In fact, in and outside Russia, many of them are showing their objections to their leader’s decision. What we should do is to criticize the vicious acts of the individual who triggered the war, together with those conscience Russians.

Therefore, I would say it is nonsense to attack anything “Russian,” either directly or on the Internet. It would just increase anxiety among people, and further, would not contribute to world peace at all.