The Ish Strikes Again!

by Robert Koehler on April 17, 2009

According to Japan’s Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro said at a press conference yesterday that he heard from late Korean President Park that Japanese rule in Korea was fair compared to European rule of their Asian colonies.

Disturbingly, I can actually imagine Park saying something like that. Also somewhat disturbingly, I almost agree… although I’d prefer to say that European colonial rule was just as shitty as its Japanese counterpart, even if, taken as a whole, it left behind better architecture.

The Ish also said he heard directly that Japan’s rule over Korea was very gentle and fair.

{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Linkd April 17, 2009 at 1:51 pm: You’re like a kid poking a broomstick at a wasp nest sometimes, Marmot.
2 iheartblueballs April 17, 2009 at 2:23 pm: There’s the bell, next come the salivating dogs.
3 roboseyo April 17, 2009 at 2:42 pm: I blame unqualified English teachers and Kyopos.
There. Now EVERYONE will be here to grind their axe.
4 tinyflowers April 17, 2009 at 3:20 pm: Calm down people. His statement isn’t nearly as controversial as you’re making it out to be.
5 Linkd April 17, 2009 at 3:30 pm: Are you nearly as much of a ******* as you make yourself out to be?
6 tinyflowers April 17, 2009 at 3:47 pm: I guess my statement was extremely offensive to you for some reason.
/shrug
7 Linkd April 17, 2009 at 4:13 pm: Please don’t presume that your low-double-digit IQ can possibly comprehend what goes on in my head.
8 tinyflowers April 17, 2009 at 4:30 pm: Linkd,
I am really, truly sorry about that… thing.
9 kimchi2000 April 17, 2009 at 9:45 pm: I agree with President Park. I would also like to add that the American concentration camp was far more gentle and fair than the one in Europe.
10 BigJung April 17, 2009 at 10:21 pm: Robert, I guess Japanese colonial rule also left great architecture for the Philippines, and China? You are only taking into account the rule after some years of stabilization. How can you not consider what the Japanese did to get to that point? What are you going to say next? Treatment of Chinese in Nanking was far better than the Jews in Warsaw?
11 Robert Koehler April 17, 2009 at 10:41 pm: I’m not sure you have understood what I was trying to say.
12 JW April 17, 2009 at 10:51 pm: Alright, I’ll forgive these two japanese.

http://www.donga.com/fbin/output?n=200904170335&top20=1
13 t_song April 17, 2009 at 11:52 pm: @Robo
Why throw the kyopos in there?
14 seouldout April 18, 2009 at 1:15 am: What’s up with y’all diffusing the situation!?

I was looking forward to seeing everyone getting wound up. It’s the weekend fer crissakes!

@ t_song – The kyopos are thrown in there ‘cuz no one trusts ‘em.
15 WangKon936 April 18, 2009 at 3:20 am: roboseyo,

Why do you say just “unqualified” English teachers and essentially ALL gyopos? Why!? Why!?

Do you mean that some gyopos are unqualified to discuss or that some qualified English teachers are totally qualified to discuss and that their opinions matter more? Does Gbevers fall into the qualified or unqualifed camp, huh?
16 WangKon936 April 18, 2009 at 3:47 am: Oh, I forgot the
17 WangKon936 April 18, 2009 at 3:53 am: # 14,

I’m guessing that you are a fan of NatGeo’s Shark Week, huh?

Throw in some bloody tuna parts and see the sharks go into a feeding frenzy, huh?
18 Charles Tilly April 18, 2009 at 4:34 am: How is it even remotely noteworthy that an ultra-nationalist like the “Ish” said that he once heard Pres. Park say that Japanese colonial rule was beneficial for Korea?

C’mon. All that shit’s old hat.
19 t_song April 18, 2009 at 4:34 am: If gyopos are so untrustworthy, why do they dominate all the high-paying English teaching jobs in Korea?
20 DLBarch April 18, 2009 at 5:21 am: If Ish had said “Even Takaki Masao praised Japan’s occupation,” then THAT would have been kinda cool, in a far out, crazy Japanese Right Wing sort of way.

DLB
21 gbevers April 18, 2009 at 11:28 am: Robert wrote:

Disturbingly, I can actually imagine Park saying something like that. Also somewhat disturbingly, I almost agree… although I’d prefer to say that European colonial rule was just as shitty as its Japanese counterpart, even if, taken as a whole, it left behind better architecture.

So, you are saying, “disturbingly,” that “European colonial rule was just as shitty as its Japanese counterpart”? That is probably the shortest limb I have ever seen anyone go out on.

That’s what I call a chickenshit opinion. You might as well not even comment or, at least, leave out the word “disturbingly.”

“Disturbingly,” I think the Marmot is too chickenshit to give a “real” opinion on what are considered taboo issues in Korea.
22 Robert Koehler April 18, 2009 at 2:47 pm: Another bad day at the office, Gerry?
23 Uri Onara April 18, 2009 at 11:14 pm: I recall reading the interview of Ishihara in Playboy magazine (Playboy, Vol. 37, No. 10 [Oct. 1990], p. 63) in which he set forth his concerns about the Nanking Massacre: “People say that the Japanese made a holocaust but that is not true. It is a story made up by the Chinese. It has tarnished the image of Japan, but it is a lie.” So conclude what you may from his view of history and controversial memories.
24 Koreansentry April 20, 2009 at 9:12 am: Well, Japanese treatment of POWs during WW2 says it all. Europeans were like kid compared to what Japanese did to Korea. Forced labor, child sexslave, live human testing, child labor, destruction of cultural heritage & artifacts, human bullet shields, forced removal of local population in order to house wealthy Japanese immigrants, etc..
25 WangKon936 April 21, 2009 at 3:02 am: Ummm… Koreansentry… please do some due diligence before you talk about how European POWs were treated during WWII. A lot of so-called “Japanese” prison guards doing all that mistreating were actually ethnic Koreans. Some Koreans were convicted as class B and C war criminals.

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/196269.html