Japanese businessmen living in southern China used to complain bitterly that the only bottled tea available was filled with sugar and thus too sweet for their sophisticated palates. Now all is right with the world. Since last year they have been able to buy sugar-free green and wheat tea in plastic bottles shipped from Shanghai by Japanese companies such as Kirin and Asahi.

That is not the only change. In Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, Japanese families can now send their children to a Japanese elementary school, shop at Japanese supermarkets and eat at high-quality Japanese restaurants, some of which fly in sashimi daily from Tokyo. Even hostess bars have adapted to Japanese tastes, bringing in the open-plan lounges and no-tipping policy that night-on-the-town Japanese salarymen prefer.