Open Thread #130

jeffereyhodges did you really get to my inbox or are you just teasing?
if you are just teasing then you’re too cruel…i don’t know what i linked to anymore. it looks like it goes to my inbox, but that’s just because it’s on mine.
it’s my come uppance from being to schadenfroh last week.

ok. at the risk of being pelted to death with hyaku en coins, i don’t understand this.
forced labour? they went, some forced, some of their own accord, because they were promised money but they didn’t get it. so why would they say such things as “give me back my youth” etc?
why do they want money now? what more did they lose compared to all the other people under the occupation at the time?
it seems to belittle the sex slaves who were under actual dire straits, or rather, it makes me question the motives of these grandmas too. i cannot feel sympathetic towards these grandmas, who just seems to perpetuate the korean stereotype- “beat the ground and cry till to get what you want”.

thekorean, thanks for trying, it’s ok – i know where you are coming from because i come from the same-

and i understand the anger at what they do now, if i imagine some japanese official sniggering “why not? they think we owe them money we’ll give them exactly what we owe” in some local government office – it isn’t exactly laudable behaviour either, however, that’s shit on them.

nonetheless these grannies who are beating the ground – it’s like they are demeaning the actual people who were really persecuted, and the freedom fighters(that some people here call terrorists) with their incessant demand for some sort of compensation. why should i respect them for such behaviour? because they are old? because they are koreans? because they cry the loudest?

and compensation for what? they were drafted labourers during an occupation. they didn’t get their wages? tough shit, people were tortured and put to death..

my grandma was born in tokyo and came to korea when she was 20. she’s never been back but as far as i know she doesn’t feel like they owe her anything. no one shunned her in korea because she “came from japan”. she doesn’t seem to be bitter.

my other (late) grandpa went tokyo university during the time, and i don’t think there was much ill-will from him either. same could be said for my late korean music teacher and his wife – i don’t think this is because i only know the chinilpa sort of old people.

i think we should really separate the issues which we ought to feel angry about from the ones which are useless, (my russian music teacher used to say, hot heart but cold head)and not waste away the precious energy. when i read the korean article on this, it just bundles a whole lot of recent japan-korea issues together at the end , e.g. bringing up 독도 in the text book etc. it almost feels like the someone’s looking at the calendar saying – “well, it’s about time that koreans felt angry towards the japanese again” and bringing out the blender of *here we go again*. i think i’ve run out of anger for the japanese for now. i have some left for the koreans though, i hope to use it up soon.

ok i will go and read your post, so let me know when you have it up.

I haven’t really seen a reference to court anywhere other than that English Joong’ang article.

so the court ruling goes back to 2007 when they lost in the Nagoya High Court ruling which admitted to the wrong-doing and causing suffering but still did not rule for “compensation payout” – sweeping it under the broad 1965 agreement (or whenever it was) between Korea and Japan.
so, points of interest are : 1.근로정신대 are distinct from 위안부, although at one point it was used interchangeably due to various factors. 2. looks like it was the idea of an ex japanese history teacher in japan to actually get the process started and there has been more awareness/support in japan for this than in korea, at least initially.. (which is another upsetting point for the victims)

the point is when people have devoted their whole lives to a cause or not letting go, it can be upsetting, but as koreans we rely too much on emotions and 생shows to deal with these things in an effective manner.

#107 which always made me wonder, maybe slapstick entertainment industry with hot girls and parliament fisticuffs by politicians who are unintentional comedians are two sides of the same coin.