Koreans in the city of Busan, Jung-gu district, are outraged at the prospect of establishing a “Japanese Street” for the purpose of attracting foreign tourism. One striking comment on the Jung-gu district’s governmental website apparently stated, “I have never heard of an invaded country naming a street after its invader.”
Meanwhile in Okinawa, residents of Ginowan City are suing the Japanese government and the commander of the U.S. Marine air base in the Futenma area over noise pollution from flybys. Stated one plaintiff, 69-year-old Chuuji Chinen:
“I’m an optimist. Before the reversion to Japanese rule, we thought that would take 100 years, but we struggled on steadily and it only took 27 years. Other Asian countries managed to get rid of their colonial rulers. We are still like that, but we believe someday we will achieve the removal of all bases from Okinawa. And after that, they will be gone from all of Japan.”
Original comments from BlogKomm
There’s a really great German expression — actually just one really long compound word — which came about after WWII which means “the act of coming to terms with what we did”. The Japanese haven’t been as good about doing this as the Germans. Most of my Korean friends are willing to give individual Japanese a chance … but in the end I don’t think a single Korean I know has a Japanese friend. They’re capable of working relationships, but pretty much nothing more. The Japanese are who they are and the Koreans too. I don’t begrudge either of them. But I can certainly sympathize with strong Korean anti-Japanese sentiment.
der Matt[@][H], 03.29.2004, 10:16 am
Oh, certainly. And I can understand Japanese animosity towards the U.S., although the latter makes me somewhat uncomfortable–I suppose because I’m American.
Heather[@][H], 04.03.2004, 7:25 am