Some background: if you’ve scanned news headlines over the past few weeks, you’ve probably come across mentions of a spat between China and Japan over some islands in the East China Sea. The territorial controversy isn’t new, as both countries have claimed ownership of the group of uninhabited islands – which the Chinese call Diaoyu and the Japanese call Senkaku – for a while. The tension has been climbing recently, however, because the owner of the islands sold them to Japan, after which various groups of Chinese and Japanese nationals have been alternately heading to the islands and planting their country’s flag, each incident provoking a more vocal response. Funk Flex