On the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (RED), a post titled 'Japanese people are too cold! I was shocked!' drew a significant response.

The poster, in an effort to attract attention, titled the post 'Too cold!', but in reality, they seemed to have witnessed the opposite. The uploaded photo showed a young man and woman helping an elderly woman up the stairs by holding her hand at JR Nippori Station. According to the poster, the elderly woman was originally alone, and the man and woman extended a helping hand after seeing that she appeared to have difficulty with her legs.

The poster, deliberately feigning ignorance, questioned, 'Weren't Japanese people supposed to be cold-hearted? What's going on?' They then explained, 'I've seen elderly people fall several times in Japan, and each time, 4 or 5 people immediately gathered to help them up, pick up things they dropped, and some even called an ambulance for them.'

They continued, 'Are Japanese people really cold-hearted? A sense of distance (between people) and being cold-hearted are two different things. If a stranger is in trouble, they will always lend a hand.'

Chinese netizens commented with remarks like, 'It's not that they're cold; it's just that their interpersonal distance is wide,' 'They're not cold; they just don't intrude excessively on others. It means not bothering other people,' 'Japanese people will help if help is needed. If not, they leave you alone. They just don't fuss unnecessarily like Chinese people do,' and 'Japanese people are never cold-hearted. If a tourist asks for help, most Japanese people will kindly assist them. Japanese society tends to have a relatively wide interpersonal distance, which makes it easy to misunderstand, but the two are completely different concepts.'

Other comments included, 'That's because [Japanese people] have never encountered a 'professional faker' (ataribeya) before,' 'China is the coldest. The cost of being kind to others is too high (Note: There are frequent cases where people who help a fallen person are accused of being the culprit),' 'Chinese people often confuse closeness in distance with kindness and don't recognize it as a lack of manners or etiquette,' 'I don't know how much higher the individual character of Japanese people is than ours,' and 'A normal society is like this. Everyone has a high level of education, maintains a distance, and values rationality. They might appear cold, but their sense of responsibility is strong. The opposite is precisely this environment where everyone speaks Chinese (China).'

Furthermore, personal anecdotes were posted, such as: 'When I took the wrong train in Japan, a Japanese person helped me lift my suitcase on and off. I was truly grateful,' 'When I went to a rather remote area in Kyoto over a decade ago, the only person around was an old man with a cane, so I had no choice but to ask him for directions. He not only explained it very carefully but even offered to guide me part of the way. I was truly surprised by his kindness,' 'A few days ago, when I got lost in Nakameguro, a Japanese woman helped me with directions. She said she liked China and was studying Chinese, which truly moved me,' and 'When I was eating yakiniku in Tokyo, the restaurant was full of smoke, and I felt dizzy. I lay down on a bench in a nearby park, and a woman with a dog approached me with a worried expression and asked, 'Are you okay?' I was truly happy.'

In addition to these, similar comments were continuously posted, such as: 'The last time I went to Japan, a woman on the train seemed to get dizzy and suddenly collapsed. Her friend, who was with her, supported her and asked, 'Are you okay?', and surrounding passengers went to inform the crew or helped carry the woman's bag. So, only those who have actually been to Japan understand that Japanese people are not as cold as we think,' 'Japanese people are not cold-hearted. When my father came here (to Japan) and lived for a while, he fell while cycling for shopping. Then, several Japanese people came and helped him up,' and 'When I was carrying a suitcase up the stairs, it suddenly felt lighter. When I looked back, a Japanese woman was supporting my suitcase. The moment I saw that, I thought this world was wonderful.' (Translation/Editing by Kitada)