Japan - A whole lot more than raw fish!

Japundit

March 16th, 2005 at 12:01 am

Keeping the populace alarmed

H.L. Mencken once observed, “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was alive and writing about Japanese-Korean relations.

Shimane Prefecture Governor Nobuyoshi Sumita passed up his chance to be a statesman during a press conference today, the day before the prefecture assembly’s scheduled vote on a resolution to declare an official Takeshima Day. The coverage by Japanese newspapers on the web was amateurish—three different national dailies selected three different statements by the governor as the one they thought the most important to cover. It made no difference which one they selected, however. Any one of the three will just pour more gasoline on the fire.

Japan go home!In this Japanese language report, the Mainichi Shimbun chose to highlight the governor’s complaint about the Japanese government. Sumita thinks the Japanese response “has not been sufficient.” He went on to say that since taking office, he has sought with the assembly to “establish sovereignty and secure the safe operation of fishing vessels in the area. I want the government to speak frankly with South Korea.” He also wants Japan to take the Takeshima/Dokdo issue to the World Court, and wants South Korea to accept this solution.

Meanwhile, the Yomiuri Shimbun highlighted different remarks in this Japanese language article. They quote Sumita as declaring, “(The Takeshima/Dokdo resolution) is an extremely important issue, and I want to express my approval (of the resolution).” The newspaper notes this is Sumita’s first public statement supporting the resolution. (This resolution was sponsored by 35 of the 38 assembly members, so there is little question about the result of the vote on the 16th.)

They also reported Sumita’s comments about North Gyongsang Province’s threat to suspend its sister prefecture/province relationship with Shimane: “Territorial issues are territorial issues,” said the governor. “I want the exchange programs to be conducted from the approach of conducting exchange, and I want them to avoid ending the ties.” The governor said that if North Gyongsang did suspend ties, he would visit South Korea personally to explain his prefecture’s position.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun has a third take on Sumita’s statements. (That must have been one heck of a press conference.) They quote him as saying, “I didn’t think the problem would heat up to this extent, (but) it is important to make the assertions that should be made regarding territorial issues. . . both Japan and South Korea should discuss this calmly.”

On another front, the Shimane Prefecture fisheries cooperative held a regularly scheduled conference attended by 1,200 members. They adopted a special resolution calling for the establishment of territorial sovereignty over Takeshima/Dokdo. The cooperative includes this demand in their policy statement every year, but this is the first time they passed a special resolution. They also included demands to secure safe operation of fishing vessels in the area, to create a body in the national government to handle the issue, and to make Takeshima Day a national day rather than a prefectural day. The chairman of the cooperative did not mince words in his address, charging that Japanese diplomacy toward South Korea was the “ultimate in weakness. I hope for the establishment of sovereignty over Takeshima at the earliest possible date.”

My fellow ShimaneansThe Sanin-Chuo News, which ran this story, noted that Japan and South Korea have a provisional agreement to allow fishing vessels from both countries to operate in the waters near Takeshima/Dokdo, but the South Korean Coast Guard (not sure of their official English name) is permanently stationed in the area and allows only Korean vessels to fish there. (Has this been reported in Korean newspapers?)

While the day’s rhetorical firebombs came mostly from the Japanese, the South Koreans tossed a few of their own, too. The AP reported that five or so legislators from both the ruling Uri Party and opposition parties planned to take a helicopter trip to Takeshima/Dokdo on the 17th, weather permitting. Their stated reason for the trip was to protest the anticipated passage by the Shimane Prefecture Assembly of the Takeshima Day resolution, and “to underscore to the Japanese people that (the islets) were South Korean territory.”

One reader commenting on our previous post on Takeshima/Dokdo suggested that the Japanese people did not understand the depth of feeling on the Korean side. If I may make so bold, I would suggest that the Japanese people understand quite well. The picture of the Japanese ambassador’s photo being burned above appeared in the Mainichi Shimbun article. Everyone who follows the news in Japan knows about the people who cut off their little fingers. (The only people in Japan who cut off their fingers are the yakuza, so this particular sacrifice by the people involved may not have the desired impact in Japan.) Just yesterday, a daytime news/gossip/discussion program featured film clips of a demonstration with people burning a Japanese flag. One middle-aged Korean gentleman was so upset he tore up the Japanese flag with both hands and ate part of it.

The problem (if any exists) is not that Japanese people do not understand Korean emotions. If a problem exists, it is more likely to be that the Japanese will see these images, roll their eyes, and tune out the Koreans altogether. When I first came to Japan more than 20 years ago, the Japanese were in the process of learning the hard way that behavior, explanations, or excuses that had been perfectly acceptable within Japan for centuries were not going to fly at all when dealing the world at large. This was a difficult lesson for the Japanese to learn, but they seem to have learned it. In the same way, regardless of the impact that eating flags and cutting off fingers may have within Korean society, it is unlikely to travel well.

Just today, I spoke to a Japanese woman who I’ve known my entire 21 years in the country about Japanese-Korean relations. She is an interpreter who earned a Master’s degree at an American university some years ago and works as an interpreter now. She has traveled throughout the world as part of her job. As a result, her perspective is about as broad as that of a professional diplomat. She fears that the situation between the two countries is going to get much worse before it gets better.

Once again, H.L. Mencken may have had the most pertinent observation. He wrote, “The third-rate man, though he may wear the false whiskers of a first-rate man, may always be detected by his inability to keep his head in the face of an appeal to his emotions.” For those who would like to see good relations between Japan and South Korea, it is regrettable that are too many folks wearing false whiskers on both sides of the Korean Strait.

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  • 1

    I agree with your friend, things are going to get much worse before they get better. Neither side seems willing to back down, in fact each side keeps pumping up the rhetoric.

    Throw a few more pronouncements from North Korea into the mix and this could get really nasty.

    Plunge on March 16th, 2005
  • 2

    I should have also said great post! Very informative, allowing us to see what is happening on both sides of the issue! kudos!

    Plunge on March 16th, 2005
  • 3

    […] don’t like it, screw ‘em. Let them print a stamp. Ampontan over at Japundit continues his great work from the oth […]

  • 4

    Asia by Blog

    Asia by Blog is a regular feature providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Previous editions can be found here. **Notes: 1. The new Daily Linklets posts will also contain links to interesting China, Asia an…

    Simon World on March 16th, 2005
  • 5

    “The problem (if any exists) is not that Japanese people do not understand Korean emotions.”

    I think that most of Japanese don’t know about Hwabyung (king of anger syndrome) which is Koreans’ genetic disease.

    Today, a Korean man came from Seoul arrested at the Shimane council for pulling a knife.
    This extreme anger is a symptom of Hwabyung.

    kesaeng on March 16th, 2005
  • 6

    Ummm… hwabyung is a disorder caused by the internalizing of one’s anger. It leads to depression and the normal symptoms of depression. It is rare and it is not a genetic disorder. It also is not associated with irrational outbursts of extreme anger. In fact, part of the diagnosis is knowing a person, in the past, expressed greats amount of anger and is no longer doing so.

    People keep saying that Japanese aren’t taught to hate Koreans and yet, the opinions expressed by many here show a basic lack of knowledge of Korea as well as nearly slanderous misunderstandings of their culture. The truly ridiculous statements made about Korea and Koreans in general is astounding to say the least.

    Korea and Koreans have their many problems, overreaction to the current situation highlighting them. I would think that would be enough to comment on. But, reading some of the comments here and on other blogs and message boards has been educational in the deep rooted prejudices still held by some Japanese.

    Plunge on March 17th, 2005
  • 7

    It is sad to see a renewed tensions between Japan and Korean. All it will do is remind Koreans of the not-too distant memories of Japan’s atrocities and give Japanese right-wingers “proof” that Koreans are “inherently illogical and emotionally reactive.” You cannot right past wrongs by burying under the rug. If Japan had made sincere, genuine efforts at offering regret and repentance over past heinous crimes against humanity, especially against the Koreans, the Koreans would have at least had a decent chance to find road to recovery. Japan’s recent actions are just reminders to the other Asian nations that Japan’s reign of terror began with a claim over “dokto” one hundred years ago.

    catherine on March 17th, 2005
  • 8

    It is sad that 45% of Japanese picked Korea as favorite country in January and now they see wave of Koreans screaming hate toward Japanese on TV.
    When Korea issued dokto stamps last year, Japanese reaction was very calm, no violence.
    This really contrast ment ality of Japanese and Koreans.

    Koreans have said that they would get over Japan since 80’s.
    But it seems they still struggle with grudge control.
    As long as Korean kids receive Anti Japan education, there will be no progress.
    If Koreans repeatedly accuse Japanese who were not even born in 60 years ago of colonization, Japanese will be siick of them.
    So I think these 2 countries do not need close relationship.

    octopi on March 17th, 2005
  • 9

    I wish some Japanese would explain just what they mean by anti-Japanese education. As far as I can tell, the students are taught their history, including the colonization period. Are they asking that Korea stop teaching about what Japan did?

    Plunge on March 18th, 2005
  • 10

    Although I can see that the author and many of the people who posted messages are trying somewhat to be impartial, it is very obvious that you guys are leaning extremely towards sympathizing with Japan. But then again, it is expected of Japanese I guess. Koreans are not overreacting to anything. The Japanese people always make it seem like the things they did in the past are of no big deal and that they really didn’t commit any crimes. This can be noticed by the way Japanese pay tribute to the WWII war criminals of Japan. Do you see any Germans doing that with Hitler? The reason so many asian countries still gripe about the Japanese occupation period is the way Japan handles these issues. They never sincecerely appolized nor did they ever admit their war crimes. This is the reason why China, Korea, and few other asian countries are furious when it comes to Japan. And this ill-founded claim to Dokdo just poured oil in to the fire.

    Joo on March 20th, 2005
  • 11

    Japanese are probably apathetic towards issues like this because of their lack of WWII education in their history class and because of incorrect truth they teach in their education.

    Joo on March 20th, 2005
  • 12

    Joo:

    First, there’s plenty of information in Japan and what it did in WWII. It’s there for the people who are interested. As for history classes, do Korean high schools talk about all the Koreans who collaborated with the Japanese at that time?

    Second, it’s not just Japan, but the rest of the world who don’t pay much attention to Korean hysteria. The world got its first exposure to this in the 88 Olympics when the Koreans showed their sportsmanship by throwing chairs and turning out the lights when a boxing match didn’t go their way. Most people in the world aren’t impressed. Americans just laughed and forgot about it when the Korean scored the goal in the World Cup and pretended to be a skater or an airplane, or whatever that was. If your method of communicating means that people ignore your message, it’s time to try a new method of communicating instead of doing the same thing harder.

    Finally, as they pointed out here, the Shimane business started when the Korean fishing industry broke its promises. A deal is a deal, right? Or does something that happened in 1930 mean Koreans can cheat on fishing deals today all they want? Sounds like something Kim Jong Il would do.

    Since Korean newspapers don’t report why the Shimane fisherman got angry, you don’t know much about it, which means you really don’t have a basis for talking about it.

    Maybe the people in Shimane are overreacting about territorial claims, but if you don’t like what happened, blame the Korean fisherman. They started it. I’m pretty sure if it was the other way around, Japan would be keeping its promise and let the Koreans fish. That’s probably why they want the islands.

    Snakefish on March 20th, 2005
  • 13

    First, there’s plenty of information in Japan and what it did in WWII. It’s there for the people who are interested. As for history classes, do Korean high schools talk about all the Koreans who collaborated with the Japanese at that time?

    First, there is a lot of misinformation in Japan about WWII along with any accurate information that is available. Don’t you think it is important for Japanese students to learn of the horrors committed by their nation in order to insure it doesn’t happen again? Germany does a damn fine job of it.

    As far as collaborators goes, that is such a non-issue when taken in context of what is being discussed as to be laughable.

    Next, you claim that Korea broke a promise with fishing rights. That might be true, I don’t know, but the only thing I can find is this.

    It is not hard to see why Shimane wants this bill passed. An agreement between Japan and South Korea recognizes a wide area of the Sea of Japan as “provisional waters” under joint administration, where fishermen of both countries are allowed to operate unencumbered by the dispute over sovereignty. This area does not include the 12- nautical-mile zone around the island, which South Korea claims as part of its territorial waters.

    That says nothing about broken promises, just that the fishermen in the area are annoyed because Tokdo is Korean territory which keeps them from fishing in the area around it.

    Plunge on March 20th, 2005
  • 14

    How do you know about the information is in Japan? If all you know is what’s in Korean newspapers, you can’t talk to us about misinformation.

    The point about collaboration is that if Koreans want honest textbooks, they can start with their own.

    Read your own quote. Japanese fisherman do not have permission to fish inside the 12 mile limit. They have the right to fish outside that limit in the Sea of Japan, in what Koreans could claim as their Economic Exclusionary Zone. The agreement gives the Japanese the right, but the Koreans aren’t living up to the deal and are stopping them.

    Even dictatorships with a biased press would report that Shimane is mad because of fishing rights. Then they would attack the claim and say it is baseless. Since you don’t know this, that means the Koreans aren’t reporting the Shimane claim. To me, that means the Korean press doesn’t want to give their people the full information. To me, that means that Shimane has a beef.

    It is the “Japan-Republic of Korea Agreement on Fisheries of 28 November 1998, entered into force Jan. 22, 1999; revised March 17, 1999.” This is from a professor at the University of Hawaii. It says, “In 1998, Japan and Korea entered into a new fisheries agreement designed to accommodate their continuing dispute over the area around Tok-Do, which introduced two “provisional zones” or “intermediate zones” in disputed areas, where fishing vessels from each country can operate, and also included a commitment by both countries to reduce their overall catch.”

    http://www.hawaii.edu/elp/publications/faculty/TheRepublicofKorea.doc

    This is the deal that the Koreans are breaking and not telling their people about. They aren’t letting the Japanese fish in the provisional zones and they aren’t reducing their catch.

    Snakefish on March 20th, 2005
  • 15

    First, information on what is available in Japan for WWII education is widely available in news articles from a variety of countries. So, no, my information did not come from Korean sources.

    Next, you once again conveniently ignore the question. So, I guess we assume that you do not feel Japanese students should be taught proper history. They certainly aren’t too young. I was taught in great detail the horrors of the holocaust in grade school. Certainly, the youth of Japan deserve to know the ignoble crimes of the recent past. Or should they rely on popular pulp dreck? Your efforts to bring a non-issue like collaborators notwithstanding.

    To the fishing issue. From what I’m reading, Korea has just redefined what Tokdo is as far as it relates to maritime law, thereby giving them the 12 mile exclusion zone.

    While this might annoy Japan, it doesn’t seem to be a breach of agreement at least from the document you provided. More like a redefining of the Tokdo issue.

    Plunge on March 20th, 2005
  • 16

    Plunge, you really seem to be going out of your way to misunderstand.

    Korea always had a 12 mile zone around Takeshima off limits to the Japanese. It still does. It is the 35 mile shared area around that area that the Koreans are preventing Japanese from using. Shared area means shared area.

    So the Koreans decided all by themselves to “redefine” an agreement, did they? Then they shouldn’t wet their pants when the people in Shimane don’t like it. If that’s how they conduct foreign affairs, their stomachs better get used to digesting a lot of flags.

    Redefining agreements on their own sounds like a Kim Jung Il stunt. Why don’t they just hand the keys over to him and get it over with?

    Your lack of a basic understanding of the issue tells me that Koreans haven’t got a clue about the Shimane action. It looks like the Korean government and media are stirring up popular hysteria for their own reasons, whatever they are. And here I thought the Uri Party was supposed to be progressive. They and the media are responsible for people cutting off their fingers. And you defend them?

    Even if it is Dokto instead of Takeshima, their behavior is inexcusable.

    Snakefish on March 20th, 2005
  • 17

    snakefish: Please show me where it says Koreans are keeping the Japanese fishermen from using the area 35 miles out. The Japanese press, at least as shown here, is saying 12 miles. There is no mention of 35 miles!

    Next, you keep ignoring the question of education. Why is that?

    Finally, I’m not Korean. I think the degree to which the Korean people have taken this, such as cutting off a finger, is counterproductive. But, in general, I blame Japan for escalating the issue. The government of Japan could have ended it by denouncing the prefectures actions or even by having the ambassador denounce them. Their failure to do so shows a tacit agreement.

    Finally, answer the education question. Do you believe Japanese students should be taught an accurate history of the atrocities committed by their country in the recent past?

    Your ability to ignore the difficult questions is truly amazing. A sign of character or lack thereof maybe?

    Plunge on March 20th, 2005
  • 18

    There is a hysteria because of Japan’s rediculous claim to soverignty over Dokto. You claim to make it sound like its just another maritime dispute. But the fact of the matter is, the Japanese government is claiming that the island itself is theirs and rightfully theirs. This is the most ridiculous thing that any country can do. Japan registered Dokdo as their own right before the Korean occupation when they forcefully declared it theirs. And Korean government at the time had no knowledge of this action until a year later. It is not just a maritime dispute. Why can’t the Japanese come out and dispute just over the body of water instead of the island itself? So just because Japan doesn’t agree with Korea’s redefinition of agreement, now they claim an island that is not theirs as their own???? Where is the logic in that? What’s inexcusable is the Japanese ambassador to Korea claiming that Dokdo is Japan’s, not Koreans going hysteric over Japan’s ridiculous claim. You make it seem like Koreans are naturally hysterical. Well again, Japanese media does a good job twisting the issue into just another maritime dispute instead of Japanese politicians trying to steal another country’s land.

    You claim how rest of the world doesn’t pay attention to Korea’s hysteria. But this is true of all issues concerning all nations. No other country would care about other country unless they are somehow involved in that issue. And also because of sporting events, you make it seems like Korea is just a country full of rage and anger. The rage is usually towards inexcusable actions of Japanese. You can’t stereotype all Koreans to be that way towards everything. And the rage towards Japanese is because of the 30 odd years of Japanese occupation they suffered. And yes in Korea they do teach about the people who collaborated with the Japanese to overthrow Chosun. This is the same reason why China had a rage over a simple Asian cup soccer match. There would be less rage if the Japanese would admit their wrong doings instead of trying to justify that Japanese imperialism is what was needed so that Asia can be independt of foreign influence and how great Japan was in advancement of Asia. Japan should focus little more on why so many people around the Asian continent has hatred towards Japan and try to resolve this instead of totally avoiding it or making it seem like it never happened. Germans did a fine job in their post war efforts. At least you don’t see German politician honoring Hitler, even though what he did to the Jews were comparatively mild compared to what Japanese did to Chinese and Koreans.

    Joo on March 20th, 2005
  • 19

    At least you don’t see German politician honoring Hitler, even though what he did to the Jews were comparatively mild compared to what Japanese did to Chinese and Koreans.

    Mild? MILD? Joo, learn some history. Here is a good place to start.

    http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/holocaust.htm

    Plunge on March 21st, 2005
  • 20

    Plung eats korean poop all day and tries to convince other that korean poop is caviar.

    Dude on March 21st, 2005
  • 21

    Yeah I know what the german did. I know enough history to know that. But the Japanese genocide of Korean and Chinese were much worse and severe both in quantity and quality wise (human experimentation, gas chamber, etc… just to name a few). Learn your history. All Chinese and koreans know this. Only the Japanese would like to avoid this and pretend like it never happened, whenever both countries bring this up.

    Joo on March 21st, 2005
  • 22

    Oh and read carefully. I didn’t say “mild” I said “comparatively mild” there is a huge difference between the two.

    Joo on March 21st, 2005
  • 23

    I don’t think it is even comparatively mild. 6,000,000 dead in a short time span, their own medical experiments, ovens, gas chambers, you name it. It was horrific.

    Plunge on March 21st, 2005
  • 24

    Dude,

    Marmot bans you so now you come here with your racist hatemongering?

    Get a life.

    Plunge on March 21st, 2005
  • 25

    The reason I constantly mention Germans is because of the similarities to the Japanese during the WWII. However, unlike Germans, Japan has never owned up to its astrocities. This is the reason for the widespread mistrust/hatred/misunderstanding of the Japanese people. Any issue between Japan, Korea, China will ultimately shift back to this constantly reoccuring theme of WWII astrocities simply because of Japan’s actions and reactions in the post WWII era and today. Simply put, they never owned up to any of their inhumane cruelty during the Korean occupation and WWII era. And the Japanese general public never really understands why there is so much rage in Korea and China because they were never educated in their own historical wrong doings. So therefore, general public of Japan doesn’t even know the horrific astrocities caused onto the people of Southeast Asia (i.e “maruta” human experimentation). What message does it send to the pacific asians when the highest Japanese politician pays tribute to the WWII criminals? The same criminals that ordered so many thousands of asians into genocide? What message does it send to other people when Japan still teach its children how past victims should be thankful for receiving “civilization” from Japan?This is just to name a few. Japanese might say that “oh it was all in the past” or “we are different now.” But to alot of these people, its really hard to trust any of that and that is the reason for the lingering hatred even until today. You might also argue that “Dokdo/Takeshima” issue is irrelevent to this. But like I explained before, it ultimately boils down to the same problem all the time. If Japan truly wants co-prosperity amongst other asian countries, them owning up to their crime is essential. This should be the first problem they should tackle before they bring in such nonsense as sovereignty of Dokdo (However, I do agree withh you about the breach of contract by the South Koreans). And naturally, english documentaries and documentations rarely bring this out of the light because America (I know this because I am from US) in general are uninterested in asian affairs unless their own national security is at risk or there is a profit to be made. And this is the same for rest of the world.

    Joo on March 21st, 2005
  • 26

    Oh one more thing. One of the reason why I say “comparitively mild” about German genocide is because of both the cruely and longevity compared to the Japanese. Japan occupied Korea for over 30 years and then the WWII. And the people suffered similar or worse astrocities than the Jews did in Germany. The sheer number of Chinese and Koreans who suffered is multiple times that of Jews, including the number of death. Human experimentation and biological programs, sex slaves, forced recruiting into military, forced name changes, forced language changes, etc. These are just to name a few.

    Joo on March 21st, 2005
  • 27

    Oh and one more thing. Koreans are still reminded of the Japanese astrocities frequently because of the long metal stakes they find and dig up from their mountains. This is the metal stakes that the Japanese put on Korean mountains and hills to “cut the flow of energy” so that Korean culture and race would die out. This has nothing to do with rather you believe this or not, but the fact that Japanese actually wanted to dry up Koreans from the roots is pure horror. Japanese dug up past Korean ancestors burials (kings, queens), took historical aritifacts, and proudly displayed the sword that killed the last korean empress in a museum. And again, this is just to name a few. People always talk about genocide of Jews. This is because of lack of knowledge and interest of the West. I know this because I am from US. You can just about go ask any asians in China and Korea and they will tell you exactly what the Japanese government doesn’t want to teach to their children.

    Joo on March 21st, 2005
  • 28

    Plunge: If Korean newspapers are saying it is about the 12 mile limit, you need to read a new newspaper. Shimane Prefecture says it is about the shared zones outside the limit, and they should know what they’re complaining about. Yellow journalism–alive and well in Korea.

    As for education: You learned about the Holocaust in grade school? I managed to get through high school in the US without hearing a word about the Holocaust, and I have as much general knowledge about it as anyone. (And more than Joo.) It’s a waste of time to talk about stuff like this in school. I said it before: the information is available all over the place in Japan for anyone who wants it.

    Another problem is who teaches it. The Japanese used to teach their students about the dangerous Americans with their finger on the nuclear trigger, but never bothered to tell their students about the Soviets with their finger on the nuclear trigger. The students figured it out when they got to be adults.

    Maybe you read too many man bites dog articles in newspapers about how Japanese hide things. There was a book written by an American a long time ago that said Hirohito was a war criminal and took an active part in the war. It was translated, sold, and discussed in Japan.

    Sometimes you read articles in Western countries about how Japanese kids can’t use chopsticks. Not in the Japan on the Planet Earth. I read an article lately about how more Korean kids don’t know a lot about kimchi. Suuuure they don’t.

    They could have Koreans teach history in Japanese high schools and it wouldn’t change a thing. They have Black Americans teach American history and slavery in American schools. Expect reparations any time soon?

    Snakefish on March 21st, 2005
  • 29

    Racist hatemongering? plung you are the biggest anti-japanese racist around. Listen plung, I am just pointing out facts that you eat korean poop and try and get others to agree with you that it tastes good. But face it plung poop tastes like poop.

    Dude on March 22nd, 2005
  • 30

    Snakefish: You need to re-read what I said, it came from the Japanese media, not Korean. As far as education goes, I feel strongly about what should be taught, especially the atrocities. It will help keep it from happening again. But, that is just my opinion.

    Plunge on March 22nd, 2005
  • 31

    Dude: I pity you, I really do. You’ve been banned from Marmots for your racebaiting, anti-social tactics. Now you’ve brought those same type of comments here.

    You have no facts, no information and add nothing to the discussion. You’re a distraction, like a bothersome mosquito.

    I think you need some serious help; I hope you can get it someday. Either that or your medication needs to be adjusted.

    Take care of yourself, really.

    Plunge on March 22nd, 2005
  • 32

    “The Japanese press, at least as shown here, is saying 12 miles.”

    As shown where? Links? Not in the Japanese press I see.

    Snakefish on March 22nd, 2005
  • 33

    Got it here at Japundit.

    http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200503120135.html

    The only territorial dispute mentioned is the 12 mile limit.

    Would love to read other articles in English if available though!

    Plunge on March 22nd, 2005
  • 34

    Read it closer:

    “An agreement between Japan and South Korea recognizes a wide area of the Sea of Japan as “provisional waters” under joint administration, where fishermen of both countries are allowed to operate unencumbered by the dispute over sovereignty. This area does not include the 12- nautical-mile zone around the island, which South Korea claims as part of its territorial waters.”

    The problem is the provisional waters, not the 12 mile zone. Nowhere does it say here the Japanese want to fish in the 12-mile zone.

    I figured the Korean press didn’t have much to say about this.

    Snakefish on March 22nd, 2005
  • 35

    Plung, quit trolling and quit beating your children.

    More Korean kindness. This is what “civilized” koreans do. Not wild youth, but adults wearing suits. This is the cream of civilized korea.

    http://cathartidae.blog-city.com/read/1138932.htm

    Look for yourself. Korean walking on the japanese flag. Why, because a shitty little prefecture in japan wanted to make a bulshit “takeshima day” big-GD-deal.

    Now you can count on little worms like plung to show a link to a japanese soldier killing somebody in WWII.. worms like him cant ever change.

    Dude on March 22nd, 2005
  • 36

    Snakefish: I’m trying to find where it says they have been blocked from fishing in the provisional waters.

    It says they are annoyed with how Koreans are fishing in those waters, but I can’t find where it says they are banned from fishing there.

    Plunge on March 22nd, 2005
  • 37

    Dude: Like I said, why don’t you get your medicine checked and then post a comment that adds something to the discussion?

    Plunge on March 22nd, 2005
  • 38





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      • Edward Chmura: You are right about the U.S. comment, kaminoge. Normally I catch them, but the one you are referring...

      • kaminoge: While there is a lot to criticize Debito Aridou about, the venom he seems to generate from some people is a...

      • bakalolo: Debito is a chump who has pretty much gone unchallenged in this arena allowing him to continue with his...

      • tornadoes28: I agree. I don’t excuse any discrimination in Japan but I feel that the type of discrimination is...

    • Poor Michelle’s “Oh, hell” moment (8)
      • Mr. Pink: 10 Good Reasons Why Not… http://blogs.golf.com/lighters ide/2008/07/and-away-wie-go.ht ml

    • Earthquake!!! (17)
      • Edward Chmura: Thanks, Carlos. Fortunately the Japundit Media Complex weathered the quake without incident. Though my...

      • carlosguzman: Hello Mr. Chmura. Well, I really hope everything is ok now! I’m the guy from Costa Rica who is...

      • tornadoes28: Where is it located?

    • Mm, Seafood Paste (5)
      • remora: ..and come to think of it, there’s this little number - probably has more of a direct concern to...

    • Selling Sex in a Glass* (5)
      • bamboo: I thought this was pretty interesting. Brought back a lot of happy memories.

    • A Japanese whopper (8)
      • pinkrubberband: oh i had a sasebo burger in sasebo before. it was freaking huge. daniel radcliff, emma watson, and...






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