While diplomatic tensions between the two countries are not new, both have little to gain from the current dispute subsiding.

China and Japan are two of Asia’s most powerful nations and the region’s biggest trading partners. Yet centuries of intense rivalry mean their economic embrace can never be taken for granted.

As China-Japan diplomatic row ripples into entertainment, over 30 Japanese performances have been abruptly cancelled, leaving millions of fans of Japanese culture in China worried about a potential broader cultural ban.

Japan is threatening China militarily which is "completely unacceptable", Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his German counterpart, after Japan said that Chinese fighter jets had aimed their radar at Japanese military aircraft.

Diplomatic crises often change the stakes for each, and for the Japanese, the consequences of this crisis are multifaceted. Japan’s new prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, was the initial focal point. As the Washington Post editorial board aptly noted,

No end in sight to spat between Japan and China over Taiwan, as neither Tokyo nor Beijing shows signs of backing down.

Denryu Lin, who runs about 80 vacation rentals in central Osaka, is watching his business evaporate since late November as tensions between Tokyo and Beijing escalate.