Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Yasukuni Shrine again, which has triggered a fresh new round of anti-Japan protests in China and Korea.
The other day, I was surprised to see some crazed South Korean guy on TV chewing on the Japanese flag. He and his fellow demonstrators presented a truly ugly spectacle. So ugly, in fact, that the first instinct was to reach for the remote and get all those screaming, yelling nuts off the TV set.
This got me to thinking. . . If the purpose of a demonstration is to let people know how you feel, what good is it if the very people you are trying to reach are so turned off by the demonstrators that they turn you off?
This is especially true in Japan, where approximately 90% of the GDP is devoted to the pursuit of cute.
After thinking it all over, I would like to suggest that China and South Korea rethink their protest strategies and try to come up with ways to make their demonstrations more interesting and appealing. Demonstrations that make people pay close attention, rather than turning away from the site of some flag muncher.
I guess what I am trying to say is, we need less of this.
And a whole lot more of this!
Above photo via Kimchi & Me
Flag chewing photo via Foreign Dispatches
we especially need more of this photo from other angles
Ah…
I happened to browse that image yesterday and I swore never to drop my eye
on them. I also heard some of them are sending their wastes and knives to
authorities.
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20051017-04048145-jijp-int.view-001
Why can people get so ugly on this issue? (I mean ‘their mind’).
Speaking about Korean, looks like they haven’t changed their tendency
for centuries.
They don’t care. They just hate Japan. Besides, two can play at the naked-women protest game.
I guess an Asian Union is not something we can look forward to in the near future.
Korean peoples’ Japan hate seems oddly placed when almost every grievance they have in regard to Japan, as well as others, can be applied to China (oppression, manipulation, bad history books) usually to a much larger degree and for much longer periods. However, they all hate Japan and love China. China does these things to deflect anger and interest in the corruption and cruel policies of their own government, and that is at least understandable. But what do the Koreans have to gain? It seems to me that being close to Japan offers Korea more power and security in the long run than China does.
Well, I guess Korea has decided to be close to China instead of Japan and the US, and we’ll see in the long term whether it was a good choice.
Why are these Koreans and Chinese protesting?
A) Their mother was forced to work as a “comfort woman”.
B) The 50+ year seperation from his family in North Korea caused by the Japanese colonization/50+ years of communist misery.
C) His ancestors raped and murdered by the Japanese.
D) The Japanese government’s unwillingness to apologize.
E) All of the above.
F)Childish victimism indulged by nationalist teachers.
I wrote about this in one of my blogs. Here is an excerpt:
As I have repeated tirelessly, Japan ought to be the leading nation in East Asia, but its politico-military role will always be subject to questions about past imperialism unless Japan’s society faces some unpleasant truths about its history.
Unlike Germany that went through a deep national soul-searching in 1970’s and 1980’s about Nazism, Japan never went through a similar process. So no matter how much Japan’s leaders apologize about its aggression and abuses before and during World War II, the people of surrounding nations will always remain wary of any assertiveness from Japan, simply because they believe — likely correctly — that most Japanese still see themselves as victims of World War II rather than perpetrators of some of the most heinous acts during the war.
Rather than continual expressions of “regret” for past misdeeds from Japanese politicians, what must happen for Japan to be able to “move on” regarding this issue is a nation-wide movement to re-examine its wartime history. That also means no more revisionist text books that portray Japanese imperialism as a benign movement to rid fellow Asians from European domination.
B) The 50+ year seperation from his family in North Korea caused by the Japanese colonization/50+ years of communist misery.
You’re an idiot. Quit pulling for straws.
“As I have repeated tirelessly”
“As I have repeated tirelessly”
“As I have repeated tirelessly”
You can say that again. On second thought, please don’t.
Daily linklets 19th October
The Donald comes to China edition… Rummy questions China’s intentions and is upset about China’s secret budgets for its military. It’s not like the USA hides some of its military and intelligence budget, is it? Annoyed you missed Arirang, North Ko…
Asianist, “deep soul-searching” is a meaningless tokenism, and Germany still gets shat on by the rest of Europe for its history anyway. china and Korea will never be happy because what they really want is for Japan to disappear. I think jealousy plays a part too. After all, Japan is freer than either of the other countries. China outlaws dissent and Korea forces its men into the military.
Have you realized the flag muncher is always on the news? It seems that you can make living for doing this…
http://imgnews.naver.com/image/001/2005/01/21/kp1_2050121o1513.jpg (Sep-05)
http://image.blog.livedoor.jp/mumur/imgs/3/7/3771160f.jpg (Jun-05)
http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/img/user/74/81/31097481/24.jpg (Mar-05)
http://image.space.rakuten.co.jp/lg01/57/0000012857/60/imgc16505c2c8y9kg.jpeg (2005)
Chinese, and to a lesser degreee, Koreans have a great deal of trouble in the concept of free speech, and assume that the government here controls testbooks as they do there.
It is ironic that they demand the government return to its pre-war dictatorial ways to ban “offensive” textbooks, in order to atone for its past, which was brought about by a dictatorial government that banned textbooks.
But then, I suppose people who express themselves by eating flags don’t have a greatly honed sense of irony, or humor.
A Democracy of Victims
Jodi’s boyfriend and my wife agree, so much on South Korean TV is “stupid”. he’s describing the weather reports, but it works for the news, too. When not used for background noise, most TV programming other than the dramas and…
You sound pretty tired writing “as I have repeated tirelessly.”
As for ancestors getting screwed over by the Japanese, does anyone notice how young all these protestors are? Check out point five here
.
Hey, you can publish what you like I guess, but I seriously can’t read your site at work if you PUT NUDE PHOTOS ON THE FRONT PAGE!!!!
I suppose I should have expected this though, since this site is a pretty even mix of politics, perverts and pornography!
i think u’ve completely missed the point here. demonstration is precisely about making u uncomfortable. i mean, if it’s all nice and dandy, it’ll be a show, and will charge u for tickets.
for those that wonder why koreans like communist china better than japan, well, exactly, why? there must be something disgusting about japan that’s so repugnant that they rather cozy up to people that supported n. korea in invading them! isn’t this obvious?
I don’t response to Anonymous, but I’d like some people
here to have some idea about how dangerous ultra nationalistic
right wing Japanese might think. I traveled many countries
by now. Currently I’m living in US.
> 6. Why are these Koreans and Chinese protesting?
> A) Their mother was forced to work as a ?comfort woman?.
I’m against ‘comfort woman’, too!
It’s ‘prostitute’ created by military needs. Record and
westerner witness say they were paid more than Japanese
soldiers, though I do think they could be under unfair
condition. For some of them, there could be no job other
than that. You know, there were real slaves before bloody
insane Japanese put their small butt on the peninsula(Some
says 40% of the population were.) And of course, there
weren’t significant economic activities there.
More than sixty years later, even in 2004, 70% of working
women in entire South Korea belong to sex industry. It’s
how evil Japanese are.
You think “How disgusting hig is! It’s trying to justify
’sex slaves’!” ?
Ca-lm down. I’m against any kind of prostitute. I didn’t
want to research about these. Unfortunately I was born in
one of Japanese islands.
If you are living in Korea, better go near American military
base and try to get laid. If you are living in Japan, go near
Okinawa military base and try to get laid. If you are living in
Philippine, go near military base and go to get laid. IT’S VERY
VERY VERY EASY AND CHEAP (literally, it’s f**cking easy.). And
these activities are in “you can call them as” modern democratic
countries which promise each human right. They are in the
world we are living in. It’s sad. But, boy, it’s on going.
You can get mad now. I recommend you to research how Japanese,
American, German, British, Russian, and French army satisfied
this need 60 years ago.
One day I had a discussion about ‘Comfort woman issue’ with
Korean women. Of course discussion heated up. We talked about
it until many of their face turn red. It turns out, they all
didn’t attend history class in any school but they all managed
to know about how inhuman Japanese are in general. After a
month later, one of them actually researched about it. And
told me the issue has been solved on paper years ago. The
money are paid for these worker (Because of the Japan’s
defeat, some of them didn’t get paid. Then they became famous
comfort women.) The announcement was on tiny advertisement
boxes on major newspapers. Nobody knows where enormous money
has gone which Japanese government paid to Korean government.
No wonder millions of Koreans still have anger inside to get
their money back.
> B) The 50+ year seperation from his family in North Korea caused by the
> Japanese colonization/50+ years of communist misery.
Yes.
I watched plenty Korean war related movies with English
subtitles. Beautiful soldiers and beautiful stories acted
by beautiful Koreans. So many Korean soldiers collide in
bloodless battlefield for love. But I also noticed NONE
of the movies had even single American solder on screen.
Does anybody know how many Koreans fought for South Korea?
And how many Korean are killed in the Korean war?
How many deadly Japanese are involved in the Korean war?
If you are American, you can ask any angry Korean how many
American and Korean fought in Korean war.
If possible, please compare it with about 40 years Japanese
governing.
> C) His ancestors raped and murdered by the Japanese.
Hmm. I do believe it could happen 60 years ago. I hope
Korean government takes this issue to United Nation. But
I guess they can’t since even they are not sure about
where, how, how many, when. Interestingly, all of these
issues are brought from Japanese articles written by
Japanese. And most of them have admitted they are bogus.
I know, huge pressure from scary organization could force
them to admit. So, instead of them, you can research about
it for justice. Don’t let yourself believe in baseless claim.
> D) The Japanese government?s unwillingness to apologize.
> E) All of the above.
I hate it, too. In my experience, so many Japanese and British
and Australian and Malaysian misunderstand Japanese government
has not only apologized more than 18 times to Korean and China,
but also paid huge amount of money. So wrong.
Well it’s not like the Japanese aren’t at fault here. But if we’re going to dig up old affronts about who failed to apologize to whom and who’s national pride is insulted.. we’re rolling the clock back to about 1914 again. You could find these kind of grievances all over the world (I happen to know for a fact the Russians aren’t too apologetic about gobbling up the Baltics and then half of Europe for example), but nobody else seems to wanna get as hysterical about it. This is purely a case of governments stoking the fire for political ends.
I suppose I should have expected this though, since this site is a pretty even mix of politics, perverts and pornography!
…and I would not have it any other way.
I seriously can’t read your site at work
So don’t.
this site is a pretty even mix of politics, perverts and pornography
As opposted to an equisite blend of bloviation, boredom, and banality?
“More than sixty years later, even in 2004, 70% of working
women in entire South Korea belong to sex industry. It’s
how evil Japanese are.”
Where the h*** did you get that wacky statistic?
I’m trying to be sarcastic :(.
It’s just because too few women are working there.
> Where the h*** did you get that wacky statistic?
JoongAng Ilbo. From last years article. I can’t show the
url since url is moved frequently. It was just before
president Roh made action to clean up the problem around
prostitute in Korea. They were raising these information
to make people understood. So, call newspaper JoongAng Ilbo.
“70% of working
women in entire South Korea belong to sex industry”
That is just so patently wrong, but then I would have to kow the definition of “working women.”
In any case, prostitution in Korea is supported mainly by Korean men.
It may be worth pointing out an earlier post here about Korean sex tourists in Japan, just to keep perspective.
> That is just so patently wrong, but then I would have to know the
> definition of ?working women.?
Yeah, I knew it is obviously wrong. I read it on Korean newspaper
last year. They had very interesting articles about sex industry
in Korea during their reform. But poor me. I now noticed there is
no way to find the article on Joongang Ilbo web site. I must retract
this. I was wrong.
> It may be worth pointing out an earlier post here about Korean sex
> tourists in Japan, just to keep perspective.
I know. Japanese sex tourists definitely have been helping it,
too. I can’t forget when I found women catalog in business class
Korean Hotel. I was a kid at a time. Here, I wanted someone to
think about relationship between military and prostitute. It’s
so common around us yet it seems taboo to point out.
Thursday Reading
A small posting bottleneck: my wireless router is down and Mrs. C is monopolizing the one connected computer to write a paper for school. So here I am in the middle of the night with a few links instead of…
France Orders Positive Spin on Colonialism
Well looks like i was wrong about the rest of the world…
Just when everything’s going fine you can always count on somebody to come around and mess it up again!
The Joongang Ilbo..(or Korean media for that matter) not exactly the best source of news, or one that I’d want to be quoting from. According to them, the Korean wave has swept the world, and least we forget the dexterity article.
Here is another reason I’m not too fond of Korea:
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=5146
Ok, first, every argument against Korea about “Childish Victimism” and “South Korean men likes prostitution” is ad hominem; none of them are relevant to what Japan has done to South Korea.
Second, if you’re going to accuse the Koreans of being ‘brainwashed’ by nationalist teachers, then you also have to answer to the fact that Japanese are also being ‘brainwashed’ as well through education, while the prime ministers worship the war criminals. As for ‘paying’ the comfort brigade justification, that’s same as giving $100 to the girl you just raped. Not quite… justified.
Third, you’re missing the point about the ‘meaningless apologies’. As long as the majority of the Japanese people believe the empire’s actions in WWII were justified and beneficial, it doesn’t matter how many times the Prime Minister apologizes. Considering the political system of Japan, PM doesn’t really have that much political power anyway.
Fourth, to me, denying that the atrocities and massacres had happened sounds just like some ultracons in Europe denying that Holocaust had never happened. It’s abusing the fogs of history to cloud the truth.
Fifth, how do you think Israel would react if German people never truly began to regret for their crimes in WWII? What would they do if Germany taught their children that holocaust never happened, and that Hitler, Himmler, and Goebbel were great nationa hero who should be praised for improving the European continent? Wouldn’t they react… something like that picture above?
S. Korea should move on from its anti-Japan stance, yes. Economically, Japan is an invaluable ally. There are billions of yens pouring into Korea as we speak, and we have to recognize that. The “Korean Wave” which most of you comment negatively of, is actually an effort by group of celebrities to ease the tensions between the two nations through culture. And it’s Japanese who’s watching those shows. No one’s forcing them.
However, in order for Korea (and China) to do that, it must trust Japan. And unfortunately, Japan isn’t exactly being cooperative with that particular department, what with its “Takeshima Day” and worshipping war criminals. Because without that cooperation, all you’re telling us is that you want to invade us all over again (especially now that you can legally declare offensive war), and that’s NOT cool with us.
Any comments, send it to bumfromkorea@hotmail.com
Paul linked a Cato article that said this:
But the South continues to rely on Washington for a defense arrangement that is expensive for America, unpopular in Korea, and unnecessary for both countries.
This is an article about diplomatic “welfare queens.” Well, Korea spends 2.5% of its GDP on the military, more than most U.S. allies, and almost all Korean men spend two years of their young lives doing harsh military service.
The U.S. military presence per se is not what’s unpopular but rather what is sometimes perceived to be Washington’s patronizing attitude, plus a few logistical problems that are mostly getting addressed now. Most Koreans want the U.S. military presence to remain, but with a smaller footprint (which is happening now).
The defense arrangement IS necessary for South Korea, and it’s good for America’s economic and political interests in Asia, the promotion of democracy, and preserving defense commitments in Japan and elsewhere, Cato’s isolationist rhetoric notwithstanding. The costs of NOT doing it would end up being far greater than what is spent now.
:shock::mrgreen::twisted: