As small as a hug is, it may still warm up the tension between China and Japan, a belief that has motivated six Japanese students studying in Beijing to initiate a hugging activity.

Watanabe Kohei, a Japanese student studying international relations at Peking University, together with five Japanese classmates, took a walk on Wangfujing Street on April 10 and in Yuyuantan Park on April 13 and tried giving passing pedestrians a hug.

They held a big board that said, "Hug to promote friendship between China and Japan".