He is one of tens of thousands of intellectuals, investors and other Chinese who have relocated to Japan in recent years, part of a larger exodus of people from China.
Tens of thousands of Chinese were arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border over the past year, and Chinese students have been grilled at customs as trade frictions fan suspicions of possible industrial espionage.
“On one hand, we hope to find inspiration and direction in history,” Li said of himself and like-minded Chinese in Japan.
For intellectuals like Li and Jia, Japan offers greater freedoms than under Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s increasingly repressive rule.
But for others, such as wealthy investors and business people, Japan offers something else: property protections.

For many investors and intellectuals leaving China, it's Japan — not the US — that's the bigger draw