Like tempestuous lovers, China and Japan have sparred for centuries but have remained interdependent in each other's economy, politics, culture, language and arts.
However, in light of Japan's ongoing diplomatic tussle with China over the Senkaku Islands and the government's failure to put World War II atrocities behind it once and for all, it's often forgotten that the country's largest number of foreign visa holders are from China.
Chinese citizens accounted for 648,980, or almost 30 percent, of all foreign nationals living in Japan in 2013, a number that includes those working and studying in Japan. More than 150,000 Chinese nationals live in Tokyo, three times the number who reside in surrounding areas that include Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures, as well as the city of Osaka.
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