Hang out on Usenet and the comment sections of Internet sites and blogs, and you might wonder if Japanese and Koreans are at each other’s throats every time they meet. Both sides seem to go out of their way to anger the other: some Koreans want to rename the Sea of Japan the East Sea and change the Romanized spelling of their country to Corea. They insisted on a design change for the Japan-Korean World Cup posters to prevent the outline of the soccer pitch in the background from resembling the first kanji in the name of Japan.

For their part, the Japanese never pass up a chance to ignore Korean complaints about their colonization of their country, the forced prostitution of young Korean women for the Imperial Japanese Army during the war, and the failure to inform young Japanese about the dark side of the country’s recent history.

That’s why the official ceremonies kicking off Japan-South Korean Friendship Year 2005, commemorating 40 years of normalized relations, are a welcome relief from the childishness and ignorance. The two countries will sponsor 40 cultural, art, and sports events to symbolize today’s good relations and promote better relations in the future.

But some of the events make me wonder if Tokyo and Seoul are behind the curve. Politicians will make speeches, give plaques to each other and to celebrities, and create media coverage. There will be joruri and pansori performances for the highbrows and Chemistry and Lee Jung-hyun concerts for everyone else. While this is all for the good, it’s a lagging indicator of the ties between the countries that already exist.

Some events will do more for true person-to-person interaction than watching Japanese and Korean rappers share a stage. Here’s a description of one in the Chosun Ilbo. Private citizens from Japan and South Korea will sponsor a recreation of Chosun Dynasty goodwill delegations parading down Japanese streets wearing hanbok. Korea sent 12 of the goodwill missions to Japan from 1607 to 1811.

The Japanese love parades in costume, so this will delight the people watching on the street. Working together also will create real goodwill among the event’s organizers in both countries.

But I think the people of southern Korea and Kyushu are already beyond this. All of Kyushu is closer to Seoul than Tokyo. Traffic and exchange have been constant for centuries between these two regions. One example is their favorite alcoholic beverages. The native Japanese beverage of choice for Kyushu folks is not sake, but shochu, a liquor distilled from grains and resembling vodka or gin. Anyone familiar with Korea hearing the word shochu will instantly think of soju, the Korean version of the same drink.

Some Koreans think the Japanese fail to recognize their contributions to Korean culture, but they’ve never been to Arita, the traditional ceramics production center of Japan. There, Korean ceramist Lee Sam-pyung discovered rich deposits of clay for ceramics and started Japanese domestic porcelain production. His spirit is enshrined as a tutelary deity in a local Shinto shrine—in the same way Hideki Tojo is enshrined at Yasukuni—and a festival held in his honor every year. Just last week, another annual festival was held in Miyazaki Prefecture honoring the Paekche king who fled there when he lost his kingdom centuries ago on the Korean Peninsula.

The Chosun Dynasty delegation will parade down the streets of Shimonoseki, a port city in Yamaguchi Prefecture, considered part of Kyushu. This hub for Korean-Japanese trade is an apt choice. The Korean LCD television industry depends on Japanese manufacturing equipment, all of which comes through Shimonoseki, which is also the primary port of entry for cut chrysanthemums exported from Korea to Japan.

Ride a municipal bus in Fukuoka, Kyushu’s largest city, and you’ll see bus stop signs written in Hangul and hear on-board announcements in Korean. Two companies operate high-speed hydrofoil ferries between the city and Busan, and travelers can—and do—eat breakfast in one city and lunch in the other. Korean golfers regularly use them for Kyushu golfing vacations.

Korean students fill Kyushu universities in the same way that American students study for a year abroad in Europe, and more come every year. I knew one female Korean student who worked at several part-time jobs to make extra money and practice Japanese. Discrimination for her and her fellow students isn’t even an issue.

It’s nice that politicians and pop stars will get their chance to promote good relations between the countries, but everyday people in the coastal areas on both sides of the Korean Strait may be a little blasé about the official events. They’ve been doing it for centuries.