The Pacific Ocean is not pacific at all for the time being, several countries are involved in the island dispute deeply, especially among two big courtiers. Anti-Japan riots, the torching of car showrooms, bloody attacks on hapless drivers of Japanese cars, robbing garment stores belt hangers—all these have eased in China since the row over disputed islands reached its peak last month. But in Japan, the sense of injury runs deep.

Not so. According to Keidanren, Japan’s business lobby, there are almost 30,000 Japanese firms in China, the result of 40 years of mostly thriving trade. Japan has invested $85 billion in China in the past 15 years, including over $6 billion last year alone. With Japan’s economy stagnant, its population shrinking, and energy costs and the currency rising, the accessory industry is affected most in this rival, a business man manufacturing belt hangersquoted. Its firms in China have little choice but to lower their heads and hope that the row blows over. The toll is heavy, nonetheless. Car exports to China, for instance, may drop by 70% in the fourth quarter compared with the third, says J.P. Morgan, a bank. Japan’s GDP may dip as a result.

Despite the unfavorable climate, many firms are resolved to press on. Even as its sales in China plunge, and after some soul-searching about the timing of the announcement. Japan’s biggest clothes retailer, Fast Retailing, says it plans to open another 1,000 Uniqlo stores in the country. Shin Tanaka of Fleishman Hilliard, a public-relations firm, says retailers are more inclined to keep their plans in place than producers-belt hangers are. Partly that is because they cannot afford to ignore the vast and growing Chinese market. Also, they have less to lose from vandalism. How can these multinational enterprises keep themselves being victims of political rivals.