Bloomberg News, September 16, 2012

A Panasonic Corp. factory and a Toyota Motor Corp. dealership in China were damaged by fire as demonstrations over a territorial dispute with Japan widened, prompting Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to urge the Chinese government to ensure the safety of its citizens.

Smoke and flames were reported as coming from Panasonic’s electronic-parts plant in eastern Shandong province’s Qingdao city, said Atsushi Hinoki, a Tokyo-based Panasonic spokesman. Keisuke Kirimoto, a Toyota spokesman, said an auto dealership in the same port city was damaged, and the company was checking for losses in other cities.

Tensions between Asia’s two largest economies escalated after Noda’s government said last week his country would purchase disputed islands in the East China Sea from their private Japanese owner, prompting China to dispatch government vessels near the islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese [....]

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Chinese protesters clash with police outside Japanese embassy (+video)
By Didi Tang, Associated Press, September 15, 2012

Protests against Japan over its control of disputed islands spread across more than two dozen cities in China and turned violent at times Saturday, with protesters burning Japanese flags and clashing with Chinese paramilitary police at the Japanese Embassy before order was restored.

Thousands of protesters gathered in front of the embassy in Beijing. Hundreds tried to storm a metal barricade backed by riot police armed with shields, helmets and batons. Many threw rocks, bottles, eggs and traffic cones at the embassy.

The embassy said protesters around the country set fire to Japanese factories, sabotaged assembly lines, looted department stores and illegally entered Japanese businesses [....]