CALGARY — Calgarians are outraged over a sign at a karaoke bar saying Japanese patrons won’t be served, calling the notice sick and racist.

The sign references an ongoing dispute between Japan and China over the ownership of a cluster of islands, known in Japan as Senkaku and in China as Diaoyu.

Written in bright Chinese characters, the sign translates to: “Diaoyu Islands belong to China. Temporarily not serving Japanese people.”

But a manager at the Beltline business said the sign was written as a drunken prank and not meant to exclude or offend anyone.

First-time patron Thomas, who did not want his last name published, said he snapped a photo of the sign Saturday around 10 p.m. at Lips KTV and Club karaoke at 1130 10th Ave. S.W.

He and a group of friends headed to the karaoke club after a birthday dinner. It was their first visit, said the 20-year-old Calgarian. Upon seeing the sign at the front desk, the group promptly left in disgust.

“This is racism and discrimination,” he added. “To see something happen like this in Calgary is completely wrong.”

The photo later surfaced on online forum Reddit, generating comments from horrified users who raised human rights concerns.

On Lips karaoke’s Facebook profile on Wednesday was written “see above,” referring to a similarly discriminatory comment by another user. The post was captured in a screen shot and ended up on Twitter. The Facebook posts were later removed.

Rocky Oishi, past-president of the Calgary Japanese Community Association, said he was surprised to hear about the sign.

Discrimination against Japanese people was prevalent after the Second World War, but in his own personal experience, such incidents have been rare, he said.

“It’s the owner’s loss. If they don’t admit certain customers, it’s their loss because the patrons will go elsewhere,” Oishi said.

Tensions have been mounting between Japan and China as the fight continues over ownership of the islands, sparking mass protests, according to international media reports.

But Ken Lee, president of the Calgary Chinese Merchants Association, said this is the first he’s heard of the land dispute brought up as an issue in Calgary.

“It’s a hard topic in Asia. I’m surprised to hear that they have a sign like that, especially from a business point of view,” Lee said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate.”

He said he worries about what tourists would think if they walked into a business displaying such messages.

“We want to show them Calgary is a very diverse, multicultural place.”

One karaoke club employee, Andy Wang, said he first thought the sign might have been doctored on Photoshop and posted online. Another employee, JJ Yang, confirmed the message existed, possibly scrawled by patrons when no one was looking, adding it was eventually erased by staff.

But a manager, who didn’t want her name published for security reasons, said she wrote the sign as a joke while singing, off duty, with some Japanese customers.

She said she was drunk when she jotted down the message but forgot to erase it. Nobody reported the sign to staff, she said, adding most of the customers are regulars who don’t usually pay attention to the notice board.

“We are so sorry about that. This is an accident,” she said. “I didn’t mean it.”

She said the business regularly welcomes Japanese customers, and that they would never turn anyone away based on ethnicity.

She denied knowing anything about the deleted Facebook message. But she said she may take to the social media site to offer an explanation and issue an apology.

cho@calgaryherald.com