The Dong-A Ilbo released Tuesday the result of a regular poll of attitudes in Korea, China and Japan concerning, well, one another. Some interesting results, not the least of which that perceptions of the Korean-Japanese and Sino-Japanese relationships recorded their worst results in 20 years. The pollsters conducted interviews with 1,500 Koreans, 1,781 Japanese and 2,160 Chinese, and the survey’s margin of error is 2.5 percent. The terminology of the questionnaires was agreed upon by the Dong-A Ilbo and Japan’s Asahi Shimbun, although the two did allow for some changes in terminology when the survey was given in Japan. The interviewing process, meanwhile, was entrusted to the Korea Research Center in Korea, the Asahi Shimbun’s opinion research section in Japan and Chinese Academy of Social Science’s opinion research center. Not that I put too much emphasis on poll data, but like I said, some of the results were noteworthy and worth considering along with the equally intriguing Japanese survey results posted over at Coming Anarchy.
Relations between the three countries
- 46 percent of Koreans and 63 percent of Chinese said issues involving past history such as the colonial period or Sino-Japanese War were extremely important in relations between Korea and Japan and China and Japan. Only 24 percent of Japanese thought so.
- In order to resolve historical issues, Chinese and Koreans said the most important thing was a “convincing apology” (perhaps Prime Minister Koizumi taking a knee?) In particular, more than half over the age of 60 in both countries — those who directly experienced Japan’s past deprivations — put priority on a Japanese apology. Conversely, Japanese placed importance on “broad exchanges” (29 percent) and “improvements in people’s thinking about Japan” (23 percent), while only 10.6 percent of Japanese over the age of 60 cited the need to apologize.
- About the need to pay compensation to colonial era victims, 38 percent of Japanese in their 50s and 35 percent of those in their 60s said the issue had already been resolved, much higher than the 30 percent average. 90 percent of Koreans across all age groups responded that the problem has yet to be resolved. In particular, 67 percent of Koreans said that in the future, the historical issues between the two countries would be impossible to resolve, revealing deeply rooted mistrust of Japan.
- 92 percent of Koreans and 91 percent of Chinese opposed Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro’s visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, whereas 54 percent of Japanese supported them. Among supporters of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, the number rose to 72 percent. About 60 percent of Koreans and Chinese think the Yasukuni Shrine is a “symbol of militarism,” while 66 percent of Japanese believe it to be purely a “place to remember the war dead.”
- Perception of the Korea-Japan relationship is the worst it’s been in 20 years. 94 percent of Koreans and 61 percent of Japanese believe the relationship isn’t going well. Only 6 percent of Koreans and 25 percent of Japanese responded that the relationship was going well. These were the lowest numbers recorded in seven polls taken since 1984.
- 63 percent of Koreans said they dislike Japan, while 22 percent of Japanese said they dislike Korea. For Koreans, the percentages grew with age. 76 percent of Koreans in their 60s and above said they dislike Japan. Among Koreans in their 20s, an age group accustomed to the latest in Japanese pop culture, 15 percent said they liked Japan. This was 3~7 percent higher than other age groups. In the case of Japanese in their 20s, 30s and 40s — those who have felt the influence of the “Korean Wave” — those who liked Korea outnumbered those who disliked it. Among those in their 50s and over, there were more who disliked Korea.
- Sino-Japanese ties were the same way. 75 percent of Chinese and 61 percent of Japanese responded that ties were not going well. 64 percent of Chinese said they disliked Japan, while 28 percent of Japanese said they disliked China. This were also the lowest numbers ever recorded in the poll. Only 10 percent of Japanese responded that they liked China, and only 8 percent of Chinese said they liked Japan.
- Conversely, 51 percent of Koreans and 82 percent of Chinese said Sino-Korean ties were going well. It appears that due to tensions with Japan, both nations are feeling a reflexive feeling of closeness. The fact that more Chinese than Koreans felt ties were good, however, is believed to be due to Chinese moves to distort the history of the ancient Korean kingdom of Koguryo.
Economic issues
- 78 percent of Chinese felt their nation’s economic situation was good. Only 16 percent of Japanese and 6 percent of Koreans (ouch!) could say the same about their national economies.
- Big differences in how Korea and Japan view Chinese economic growth. 31 percent of Koreans said China could become the world’s biggest economy within 10 years, and 36 percent said it could happen within 25 years. Only 12 percent of Japanese said China would become the world’s largest economy in 10 years, and 52 percent said it would never happen, period. 21 percent of Chinese, meanwhile, said it would take over 50 years, while 25 percent said their country would never become the world’s largest economy, revealing that Chinese weren’t particularly optimistic about their nation’s economic future.
- 57 percent of Koreans felt Chinese economic growth would negatively influence Korea, while Japanese who felt Chinese economic growth would be good for Japan (46 percent) outnumbered those who felt it would have a negative influence (32 percent). As for why Koreans felt Chinese growth would have a negative influence, they citied the negative influence from sudden changes in the Chinese economy and exchange rate and growing Chinese political influence. Japanese, on the other hand, cited the spread of environmental damage to surrounding countries and concerns about China’s growth into a military Great Power.
- As for which nations they considered economically important, Koreans and Japanese chose China and the United States, while Chinese chose the United States, EU and Southeast Asia.
- 63 percent of Koreans said Sino-Japanese economic ties had deepened. 81 percent of Chinese said Korean-Japanese economic ties had deepened, and 57 percent of Japanese said Sino-Korean economic ties had deepened.
- All three nations expressed interest in environment problems resulting from economic activity. 76~85 percent of respondents in all three nations felt global environmental phenomenon were “their problem.” 90 percent of Koreans said they were ready to limit their use of electricity and cars.
Cultural exchanges
- 33 percent of Japanese said they watch Korean films or dramas (7 percent said “frequently,” and 26 percent “sometimes”). Those in their 20s and 30s were in the main, and more women than men watched them.
- 69 percent of Japanese who had come into contact with Korean pop culture said their feeling of closeness with Korea had increased. Women (71 percent) outnumbered men (66 percent) in this regard.
- As for which news and information related to Korea interested Japanese the most, 29 percent said politics and diplomacy, and 23 percent said food and health. 22 percent said entertainment and sports news. Compared to information related to China, in which Japanese were interested in politics and diplomacy (32 percent), business (28 percent) and history and culture (27 percent), a higher percent of Japanese were interested in Korean pop culture.
- 24 percent of Koreans watched Japanese dramas or films (3 percent said “frequently,” while 21 percent said “sometimes”), revealing that fewer Koreans watch Japanese programs than vice versa. Even among those who had watched Japanese programs, 58 percent said they did not grow fonder of Japan. This appears to be because of increased anti-Japanese feelings as a result of the Dokdo issue and history textbook distortions. 63 percent of Koreans did say, however, that opening the country to Japanese pop culture was a good thing, an improvement over the 2000 poll, in which only 57 percent said it was a good thing.
- Chinese, meanwhile, were asked what Korea-related activity have they increased the most over the last five years. 57 percent said “watching Korean films or dramas.” 19 percent said “buying Korean goods” and 12 percent said “meeting Koreans.”
More interesting poll data from the Dong-A here, including attitudes toward North Korea. The translation will have to come later, as I’m sleepy.
50 Comments
Things aren’t as bad as it seems to me. Of course, this is coming from me, whose paternal grandfather was one of the first in his village to eagerly change the family surname to a Japanese one. There are a lot of Korean people who have rather favorable view towards the Japanese, but they keep their mouths shut. Wouldn’t you, if a pack of wild hanchongryun kids might hold a picket around your house?
Thank you, this looks far more reliable (and legimiate) than the stuff I posted, which was just pulp content from a Japanese morning TV show. Thanks as always for being the #1 source of detailed English language news on Korea.
“63 percent of Koreans said they dislike Japan, while 22 percent of Japanese said they dislike Korea” and 78 percent of Japanese said they didn’t give a shit about Koreans
44% of all statistics are made up on the spot…
I’d like to see these kinds of polls broken down specifically:
Do you like Japanese as people? Yes or No
Do you like Japanese culture? Yes or No
Do you like Japanese products? Yes or No
Do you have favorable view of Japan’s WWII apologies? Yes or No
I wonder how the results would look compared to what I think is much too general “do you like Japan” questions.
poll for Korean companies and leaders:
Do you steal Japanese technology? Yes or No
Do you copy Japanese financial practice? Yes or No
Do you exagerrate Japanese love for Yonsama? Yes or No
Do you blame Japanese for your own problems? Yes or No
Do you lie about your ancestor collaborate with Japanese colonials? Yes or No
Studies like this one are a major cause of statistics.
Bravo, Marmot, for translating and posting this! Didn’t mean to be cynical in previous post.
Love your site it’s awesome.(y)
Is it me, or does the Korean nation suffer from bipolar disorder? It seems to me that these poll results fluctuate wildly over the course of a few years.
they are closely related to current news trends.
I think the poll results would have likely been significantly different just a few months before and will likely be significantly different six months from now, though people in Korea and China are probably never going to view Japan very favorably.
Anyway, perhaps not too much credence should be given to polls like this. Remember that poll a few years indicating that the vast majority of Americans believe in angels?
the numbers for japan are based on the fact korean and chinese folk have never really done anything to the japanese except give them their cultural underpinnings.
jyc - Are you trying to say there are no such things as angels?
These angels are OK with me.
The Japanese male is the most popular foreign spouse amongst Korean females. For a long time the American male was the number one choice as a foreign spouse. It’s a transition period from anti-American men who bang “our women”, to anti-Japanese men who bang “our women”. Dokdo/textbooks is just a cock-block aimed at Japanese men.
I’m just interested to know whether Shinto came to Japan from China through Korea, or just through Korea.
Sorry, that comment was in response to noofus. Shinto is the cultural underpinning of Japanese society.
Another great thing about Japan is that they make mo secret of how Japan developed great ceramic art with the help of Koreans. THe japanese kidnapped Koreans the same way that koreans kidnapped each oth
Koreans seem to belive that Japanese dont know about how korean artisans are part of Japanese history in making beautiful art. A big difference i suppose is that Korean are totally unaware of how little they developed, on their own, and how much other nations contributed to korean development.
The Koreans who potted in Kyushu
By ROBERT YELLIN
Japan has long been fascinated with outside influences, and voraciously absorbs them in order to create something totally unique. This can be found in almost all aspects of Japanese industry and culture — and it is nowhere more apparent than in the pottery born in Kyushu. Of course, ancient kilns dating back to the dawn of Japanese civilization are to be found on Kyushu, yet it wasn’t until the late 1590s with the influx of Korean potters — in the “Pottery Wars” — that the island’s pottery really matured.
Imari ware underglaze blue landscape
Those Korean potters — many of whom became Japanese citizens — brought with them new kiln designs, the ability to create porcelain, and ash glazes that have delighted ceramic enthusiasts ever since. The glory of Kyushu’s ceramic art from the Edo Period (1603-1867) to the early Showa Era is now on display in Tokyo at the Nihon Mingeikan (Japan Folk Crafts Museum) until June 26 in an exhibition titled “Ceramics in Kyushu.”
Those who have not yet been to the Mingeikan, are missing one of Japan’s most charming museums. Its intimate and timeless atmosphere is the perfect place to discover the beauty of folk arts, and it’s a pilgrimage any lover of Japanese art should make no matter what exhibition they have on offer. Anyone with an interest in traditional ceramic art will be captivated by this exhibition that introduces visitors to the many styles of pottery fired in Kyushu, including Imari and Karatsu from Saga, Hasami from Nagasaki, Koishiwara from Fukuoka, Onta from Oita, Shodai from Kumamoto, and Naeshirogawa and Tanegashima from Kagoshima.
There are two basic kinds of ceramics in antique Kyushu — pottery fired by part-time farmers/part-time potters creating vessels for daily life, and Tea pottery fired originally for daimyo, with the style that best represents the latter category being Karatsu-yaki.
E-garatsu saltcellar mizusahi saga
Karatsu is a port city in Saga Prefecture which is very close to Korea. In eastern Japan, the generic term to describe pottery is setomono, the Kyushu equivalent is karatsumono, showing just how important this potting center was, and, of course, still is.
The noborigama (chambered climbing kiln) was introduced from Korea to Japan — via Karatsu — in the 17th century and forever changed the ceramic landscape. It allowed various glazed wares such as madara-garatsu (speckled straw-ash glaze), chosen-garatsu (Korean-style, two-tone glazing), e-garatsu (painted) or kuro-garatsu (black) to be created on these shores.
Karatsu became important in the tea world with many tea-ceremony devotees considering it one of the top four styles along with Raku, Ido and Hagi. An unassuming e-garatsu jar in the exhibition aptly illustrates the philosophy of the “unknown craftsman,” made famous by mingei founder Yanagi Soetsu (1889-1961) — its fully rounded tranquil form and spontaneous iron-brush rendition of reeds are the epitome of Japanese folk pottery. Originally it was used as a salt-cellar, yet is now more commonly used as a mizusashi (fresh water jar) in a Way of Tea gathering.
Burial urn, Tataro ware
One of the outstanding pieces in the exhibition is a large 18th-century Shodai-yaki tea jar. Shodai-yaki takes its name from Mount Shodai (Arao City, Kumamoto Prefecture) where the clay has a high iron-content and is perfect for sturdy pottery.
Over the iron-rich clay, a dark-brown iron glaze is applied, and then a rice-straw ash-glaze is either ladled or dramatically dripped on, here creating an unintentional abstract rendering of birdlike figures.
Representative of Kyushu forms is a large spouted vessel called an unsuke of which there are a few outstanding examples on show. One was made at Koishiwara and has a wild white-and-yellow splash glazing over the base iron glaze; it was originally used to hold soy sauce, vinegar, or sake. Another unsuke has a magical overlapping of a green glaze with tinges of blue over the iron glaze. It’s almost impossible to find potters able to create this effect today due to changes in materials and methods of firing.
Unsuke were commonly used in Kyushu households until the early Showa Era, mini-versions of them called a karakara are still used for pouring shochu throughout Kyushu.
World-famous Imari porcelains are more than adequately represented here. There are several large subdued underglaze blue landscape bowls — one of which is a masterpiece in terms of design, color and the balance of the two — and also the more colorful underglaze blue with overglaze enamel paintings.
Korean potter Ri Sampei (1579-1655) located a cache of suitable porcelain clay in the early 1600s in Northern Kyushu and Japan, and, finally, was able to produce porcelain. The neighboring port town of Imari was where many 17th-century Dutch merchants loaded up their ships with Arita-made porcelain, so the term Imari and Arita wares are often interchangeable.
No one piece in the exhibition is as haunting as a 17th-century Tataro-yaki burial urn from Saga. It’s crudely formed with a somber dark brown body and has a maze-like coil motif; giving the whole a gothic feel.
The Japan Times: April 20, 2005
shinto, geisha, samurai, all from korea.
Noolji, if you put it that way,
Korean religion, literature, cuisine… all from China.
And my god man… let’s keep hush hush about the origins of those Gisengs.
Noolji, if you put it that way,
Korean religion, literature, cuisine?€? all from China.
Actually, not all from China. Some of it came from India, even some from the Middle East. And then there’s that pesky Catholicism that no one knows the origins of; it may have come from the Portuguese.
However…
The significance of the issue is not that Japan got so much of its stuff from Korea while Korea produced everything on its own (especially since the latter is definitely not true). The significance of the issue is that some in Japanese academia and officialdom are so driven by disdain toward Korea that they strip away or water down the important historical and cultural connections.
It would be like telling American history without mentioning the Irish (imagine talking about how the railroads were built without talking about the Irish or the Chinese).
I visited the National Museum of Natural History (?) in Ueno Park about ten years ago, and there was a display on the origins of the Japanese people. It stated in English that many scientists agree that “Korea exerted great genetic influence on the Japanese people.” Apparently it said something similar in Japanese. The curators/academics who run the place couldn’t bring themselves to just say directly: lots of Japanese came from Korea; there’s a lot of Korean blood in the Japanese people.
I wonder if that display is still there like that.
Hell Noolji,
Koreans can’t even make kimchi without foreign influence.
Red peppers came to you from Mexico on European trading ships headed for Japan.
I realize you think Koreans are the super race, invented oxygen, and never needed anyone’s help for anything throughout the 5,000 years since they first descended to earth from the mother ship, but whatever you got in that bong, it’s time to go out and get some fresh air.
This all I find really weird. As a Filipino, I can’t imagine people protesting with such rage vs Japan over something that happened 60 years ago. And the Japanese did much worse in my country than they ever did to Korea. I suppose that even per-capita the Chinese have more cause for complaint than the Filipinos, but thats very uncertain. I don’t hear about any such complaining in Malaysia and Singapore either, and they have had plenty of WWII suffering at Japanese hands.
And everybody did get their revenge, one way or another, subcontracted to the Americans. The Japanese were bombed, burned and starved comprehensively. That should be enough for anyone.
I can’t help thinking that there is an episode of mass insanity going on.
If shinto is Korean, why did Koreans destroy all the Shinto shrines in Korea after the Japanese defeat and withdrawal from Korea?
“I can’t help thinking that there is an episode of mass insanity going on.” That’s Korea in a NUTshell.
dogbert,
didn’t modern shinto during the occupation require worship of the emperor? that would be a big reason to get rid of them. plus the christians were not happy about praying to other gods. ten commandments and all.
I honestly have no idea, but I am intrigued by the idea that what is arguably an extremely Japan-centric religion was actually introduced to Japan by Korea. I wonder too if that means that Shinto (or some version of it) was practiced in Korea at the time it was taken to Japan.
This is a largely irrelevant factoid, but I had long thought that the system in Japan - where you had a hereditary religious leader (the emperor) with no real power, and a military leader that really ran things (the shogun) was unique.
However, much of the Abbassid period in Baghdad was run under a similar system with a hereditary and essentially powerless religious ruler (the caliph), and a military ruler (the sultan) that really ran things.
As far as Shinto itself, I doubt it has anything specifically “Korean” at all, people worship trees, rocks, and mountains all over the world.
As far as Shinto itself, I doubt it has anything specifically ?€œKorean?€? at all, people worship trees, rocks, and mountains all over the world.
i see the tree, rock, and mountain council has gotten to you, too.
I dig trees, rock, and mountains. Beats Korean church any day.
“Shinto is an ancient Japanese religion. Starting about 500 BCE (or earlier) it was originally “an amorphous mix of nature worship, fertility cults, divination techniques, hero worship, and shamanism.” 4 Its name was derived from the Chinese words “shin tao” (”The Way of the Gods”) in the 8th Century CE.”
http://www.religioustolerance.org/shinto.htm
Fertility..that rings a bell. I heard the Japanese women go and rub a gigantic stone shaped like a male organ.
and nothing like that happens in korea, huh, baduk?
I’ll reiterate, I’d rather rub a thousand giant stones than sit through a single Presbyterian sermon.
Baduk, the stone man with the funny hat you see all over cheju island is a fertility thang too. Haven’t seen women rubbing it though.
When I visited Korea I thought that the shamanistic shrines with those old style totem pole things and the big rock mounds and all that looked a lot like some of the simpler Shinto shrines in Japan. I bet 2000 years ago the shamanistic religion in both countries was pretty similar, but it developed more in Japan and in Korea pretty much stagnated in favor of Buddhism and Confucianism (and now Christianity). Some of the Korean shrines even have the same kind of ropes and folded paper.
Kushibo, I know what you mean, but I expect a higher level from Koreans, because, well, being a Korean, I care more about “my people”. If Korean people want to point out the wrong doings of the Japanese, it makes more sense that they hold themselves to better scholarship, objectivity, etc etc.
People like Gerry exist because there are just too many clueless Koreans who hate the Japanese merely on propaganda. This severely discredits legitimate grievances, and it drives me crazy.
For example, lots of Korean kids i know say, “Japan is bad, because Hideyoshi attacked our country.” How many Koreans do you know who say, “I hate the Mongols, because Genghis Khan ruined our country” or “I hate the Chinese, because of the Tang invasion.” But it’s like Japanese occupation somehow made Hideyoshi’s invasion worse! I mean, if the Japanese discriminates against the Zainichi, and the Koreans treats Bangladeshi guest workers the same way, how come they just point fingers at the Japanese? The common response I hear from my fellow Koreans about the Hwagyo pogroms is that, “oh those Chinese are very good at business and there are too many of them. If we let them own land, Korea would disappear.” Sounds exactly like what the nazis said about the Jews. Of course there is parallelism in Japan. But again, I expect Koreans to a higher standard, because ultimately this type of provincial thinking hurts Koreans. I mean, how many Koreans say, “I hate the Russians, because they persecuted us.”
At some point, I expect Korean people to take constructive criticisms better instead of just going into the “us” versus “them” mode. People who stay long time in Korea, I notice, a lot of the expats and Japanese people too, seem to develope this mentality if they stay long in Korea. Like, “All Koreans are this way, all Japanese are that way, blah blah blah”. They start to think like Koreans! They start to believe in the myth of the “One People”. I see that troller, “Hanminjoke” and see the irony to be especially comical in a tragic way.
What I’m trying to say is that Korea has been screwed by many outsiders. But if they keep blaming other people for problems which they caused themselves, then Korean people will not be able to even identify the cause of their suffering. How then can they fix it? I say these things to hopefully calm down the Korean jingoists.
I expect Korea to become a leader and set an example for the Japanese, instead of just pointing fingers and fuming.
Um… my shinto comment was intended to be a sarcastic retort to Noofus, who claimed everything Japanese was originally Korean.
Obviously not true, given that the underpinning of Japanese society, shinto, has no equivalent elsewhere in Asia.
A quick look at Ise Shrine will show that even architectually, Japan is very different from Korea and China.
But I still don’t get this “We Koreans hate Japan, and by the way, the Emperor is really Korean, Japanese have Korean blood, and their society is all Korean” argument.
Have any of these Japan-bashers read Kim Nine’s autobiography - the part where he says Japanese were equal victims of the military junta? Have they read stuff by Yeo Unhyeong or Seo Jaepil, who said the same thing? Why is it that the people who were tortured by the Japanese had less hatred for Japan than the kids who are skipping around with Totoro dangling from their cell phones?
OK I’m not really an expert, but why would Shinto, as a shamanist/animist religion have no equivalent elsewhere in Asia?
virtual wonderer wondered:
Kushibo, I know what you mean, but I expect a higher level from Koreans, because, well, being a Korean, I care more about ?€œmy people?€?.
Hey, I care, too!
What I said was only addressed what is going wrong in Japan, which should NOT be taken to mean that nothing is going wrong in Korea.
If Korean people want to point out the wrong doings of the Japanese, it makes more sense that they hold themselves to better scholarship, objectivity, etc etc.
I totally agree. And despite all the static, there really are people who are doing this. There really are!
People like Gerry exist because there are just too many clueless Koreans who hate the Japanese merely on propaganda.
Well, from what I’ve read of Gerry, he seems driven by contradicting ANYthing that Koreans collectively hold dear. He seems almost to believe that if it’s accepted as truth in Korea, then it must automatically be false. That’s the impression I get, and if I’m wrong, Gerry, I apologize. But such an extreme attitude in the opposite direction (whether Gerry has it or not) doesn’t have to come out of a reaction to “Korean cluelessness” automatically or by necessity. That’s a choice, and one that seems a bit disingenuous: if you can recognize that a bunch of people are regurgitating propaganda they learned, why do you have to fight that by regurgitating propaganda from the other side. Aren’t you doing the same thing you are accused of? (Okay, I’m talking about people other than Gerry.)
This severely discredits legitimate grievances, and it drives me crazy.
I totally agree. Me, too.
For example, lots of Korean kids i know say, ?€œJapan is bad, because Hideyoshi attacked our country.?€? How many Koreans do you know who say, ?€œI hate the Mongols, because Genghis Khan ruined our country?€? or ?€œI hate the Chinese, because of the Tang invasion.?€? But it?€™s like Japanese occupation somehow made Hideyoshi?€™s invasion worse!
Because the Japanese occupation was far more recent and especially because it is fresh in the minds of people who lived it (and who pass along stories to their kids and grandkids), it is easier to whip up anti-Japanese sentiment to fit an agenda than anti-Chinese or anti-Mongolian sentiment.
I mean, if the Japanese discriminates against the Zainichi, and the Koreans treats Bangladeshi guest workers the same way, how come they just point fingers at the Japanese?
You’re absolutely right, although there are lots and lots of people who are working for the rights and comfort of the so-called “3-D laborers.” Church groups, NGOs, some government officials, etc. In fact, I challenge some of the bloggers here with some free time to go to the churches and help out with the volunteer efforts. The Myongdong Cathedral, Chongdong Church, etc.
The common response I hear from my fellow Koreans about the Hwagyo pogroms is that, ?€œoh those Chinese are very good at business and there are too many of them. If we let them own land, Korea would disappear.?€?
I agree that that’s a self-serving bit of logic, but to be fair, the prohibition of foreigners owning land applied to ALL foreign nationals, not just hwagyo (not that that makes it any better, but it wasn’t targeted especially against them; the prohibition was borne from a real situation in the past where Koreans really did lose control of their country, not that that justifies it today). It’s only recently that that changed… unless right now hwagyo are STILL not allowed to own land. Is this STILL the case?
Sounds exactly like what the nazis said about the Jews. Of course there is parallelism in Japan. But again, I expect Koreans to a higher standard, because ultimately this type of provincial thinking hurts Koreans. I mean, how many Koreans say, ?€œI hate the Russians, because they persecuted us.?€?
You are absolutely right. This kind of thinking hurts KOREANS. Fortunately, more and more Koreans realize this.
At some point, I expect Korean people to take constructive criticisms better instead of just going into the ?€œus?€? versus ?€œthem?€? mode.
Many do. Their voices are not always as loud as the people screaming at the top of their lungs, but there are many out there.
People who stay long time in Korea, I notice, a lot of the expats and Japanese people too, seem to develope this mentality if they stay long in Korea. Like, ?€œAll Koreans are this way, all Japanese are that way, blah blah blah?€?. They start to think like Koreans!
Come on. You don’t think that for the most part they came in with a propensity to stereotype. It’s not like this doesn’t exist outside Korea. Go to my website and do a word search for “ching chong” and see what I mean.
They start to believe in the myth of the ?€œOne People?€?. I see that troller, ?€œHanminjoke?€? and see the irony to be especially comical in a tragic way.
“One people” is, arguably, a concept developed because Koreans didn’t think of themselves as one people. Most Koreans know they have Mongolian blood and probably Japanese blood. There are many people with 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1/16 Japanese blood from recent times running around, with fudged hojok that will hide the fact.
What I?€™m trying to say is that Korea has been screwed by many outsiders. But if they keep blaming other people for problems which they caused themselves, then Korean people will not be able to even identify the cause of their suffering.
I remember Angela Oh back during the L.A. riots. The Blacks in South Central were on TV with Angela Oh and were complaining about being oppressed by the Whites and now by the Koreans. Angela Oh responded, but don’t you know that we have also been oppressed for thousands of years?
I almost threw my coffee at the TV.
Unfortunately such people are often the voice and the face of Koreans because they speak up first or loudest. The vocal minority gets TV time, but that doesn’t mean they will win in the end.
How then can they fix it? I say these things to hopefully calm down the Korean jingoists.
The jingoists will, for the most part, not change their ways. But there is a large Korean middle that is more easily swayed.
I expect Korea to become a leader and set an example for the Japanese, instead of just pointing fingers and fuming.
I totally agree. I hope that happens.
Luisalegria said:
As a Filipino, I can?€™t imagine people protesting with such rage vs Japan over something that happened 60 years ago. And the Japanese did much worse in my country than they ever did to Korea.
A few years back I traveled to the Filipino island of Boracay, and at a cultural museum there was befriended by the caretaker, who was a very old man. The first thing he said to me was, “When I was young, if a foreigner like you were walking alone on a trail [like I had done to get there] he’d be killed for his clothes.”
Then he told me about his memories of the Japanese occupation. He said the soldiers would come in to a village, round up all the men, take them to a bridge, force them to hang their heads off the side, then decapitate them one by one.
After asking about me, and learning that I resided in Korea, his eyes widened. He said that the Koreans were the most brutal soldiers in the Japanese Army - he said they tossed babies up in the air to catch them on their bayonets.
PabstHooligan said:
Why is it that the people who were tortured by the Japanese had less hatred for Japan than the kids who are skipping around with Totoro dangling from their cell phones?
Because hatred is good for self-esteem?
Kids are 100% about self-esteem.
Kushibo, ahh.. you are right, sometimes when I go web surfin’ I “blow my gasket” as some people accuse me of doing.
btw, i couldn’t finish reading that transcript on your website, because I was again, “blowing my gasket”. I could’t help but start thinking about the infamous HOT 97 episode with the Tsunami song parody. The crazy part about that incident was that when I did a simple google news search, most of the headlines said more-or-less “HOT 97 makes fun of Tsunami victims.” Only ONE news source said anything about racism against asians in it’s title–and to my horror, that paper was the New York Post. I was saddened at the New York Times that day. Even in the article, only the Post really played up that angle. The basic message is that it’s not ok to make fun of scandinadian back packers, but it’s ok to make fun of the natives. Grrr~~~~
I remember when I was arguing with a poster here named “Norin Nae” who claimed that Rex Reed’s OB review wasn’t racist, because of some crazy reasons. But I think it’s pretty clear that to a lot of Americans, things are not racist, if it’s meant to be funny.
That’s funny…it was certainly clear to me from the reports I read and saw about the tsunami song incident was that it was racist against Asians. The angle was played up in the media because, among other reasons, an Asian-American DJ at the station spoke out against it at the time on air. So I believe you are off-base with your “Scandinavian backpacker” comparison. By the way, I just did a Google search for “tsunami/song/racist” and pulled up 40000+ pages.
Virtual Wonderer,
I was here in Korea when the song controversy came out, and I heard and read people (in the States) bashing it for both its incredible insensitivity AND its racism. Each compounded the other. I don’t think the headline always tells the story (although it points you in the direction where it’s going).
The song was dumb, and I really cannot grasp how someone thought that was funny.
About the radio station article on my blog, I don’t get that either. You’re right: some people think it’s NOT racist if you’re just trying to be funny.
And why was Rex Reed reviewing beers?
Dogbert,
I pulled my search on Google News only few days after the incident, and I am referring to the title of the news, not the content. But even within the content, the articles were mostly talking about the utter insensitivity of ridiculing Tsunami victims, not so much as the inherent racism in the HOT 97 show. It appears that a lot of asian american groups that spoke out against it, but if you look at your own google search a bit closer, a lot of those links are to forums/blogs like this one talking about it, some news publish few days after the fact, etc etc.
Dogbert, crazy number of people in Asia die each year. This Tsunami disaster is like a drop in the bucket in human-disaster. I mean, one can only imagine the number of Asians who die of preventable tropical diseases like malaria. Right after the disaster, I felt really bad and went to the Doctor’s Without Borders to make a *ahem* *ahem* a generous donation (Yay me) and found on their website, essentially saying that they received more than enough for Tsunami victims for the time being, but they were urgently needing resources for these other issues.
So why are we sending a bucket load of cash to Sri Lanka instead of say Sudan? These tragedies mean more to us when it’s in a context we can understand–the context of our fellow tourists who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. So my Korean ancestor says the Crabs take the Lobster’s side. I hope you don’t misunderstand me, and I am not merely poking fingers at the “evil white men” who are so insensitive to the world–because we ALL do this regardless of color. But the fact remains we do, do this. And it simply is my opinion, IMHO, that the problems of HOT 97 news coverage is simply an extension of this deplorable human tendency to empathise with people who we share some sort of bond with. Right after HOT 97 incident, I saw a zillion one “Norin Nae” clones, who were arguing that that show wasn’t racist at all–because I guess, it’s funny, or maybe Asians cann’t be discriminated against. I don’t know. But you can click on your own google search links and read them yourself. I’ll stop my speech at this point and say, well maybe you are right. Maybe I’m an overly sensitive guy.
i am the one of the 63 percent of chinese who hate japanese.
why my img can’t see?
why my img can?€™t see?
Um, you’re a vampire?
The Admiral has spoken.
IMG tags are disabled by default in WordPress IIRC
I despise the goddamn japs