Anyway, as I said, I’d think that the whole issue of “food acculturation” is a fairly obvious one, and that it would be easy to grasp, even in an extremely trivial post like my first one. It may not have been amusing to you, but then my humor tends to be a bit obscure. Then again, I don’t see how anyone could’ve interpreted it as a serious post about the non-serious issue of kimchi in Japan. However, I’ll grant that some topics that seem trivial to me don’t seem that way to others. Are only utterly serious posts allowed in the Marmot Hole?

Anyway, I’d hope that you haven’t taken any offense, as none was intended (well, maybe not oo much…).

The only uptight post I see around here is your second one. Your first one was incomprehensible, based on what you say you were trying to tell us.

“My post was supposed to be lightly amusing”

If you have to tell us that it was lightly amusing, it wasn’t.

“I had perfectly good “Korean-style” kimchi in Japan.”

Maybe you should have told us that to start with.

The point of that small, insignificant post, as if it really needs explaining, was to point out how perfectly the kimchi I ate had been “acculturated.” It looked _exactly_ like Korean kimchi, but tasted _exactly_ like Japanese pickles. The point of my post was the point of your response.

Be that as it may, it is commonplace for the foods of one country to get modified to one extent or another to please the palates of those in another country. Happens everywhere. Most Italians wouldn’t recognize some of the pizza variations they sell in the US, not to mention some of the more outre creations in Japan with corn and potato salad.

And before we get all purist gourmet about Japanese kimchi, I’ll point out that many people think the sushi sold in the U.S. at restaurants operated by Koreans doesn’t quite measure up to the original, so that’s a two-way street. (c.f., the sushi sold in one section of the restaurant caddy-cornered from Penn Station in NYC.)

As for the rising Japanese interest in Korea, this has been building up steam since the very late 80s, early 90s. I think what we’re seeing is a move to the next level (and about dang time).

One sign–since the World Cup, newspapers and TV stations in Japan more frequently cover South Korean news, and are much more likely to run photos and images of signs and other things, written in Korean, as well as clips of television programs from both North and South.

In fact, I think everyone in Japan gets a kick out of the announcing style of the newsreaders on NK TV!