I take things very literally, at face value. I'm a very in-the-box type person. Very not out-of-the-box. Peter's the creative one, the out-of-the-box thinker, not me. :) English class during High School was fun to an extent - I enjoyed reading most of the books, but I didn't like having to analyze them so much. I'm not good at in-depth analysis. Unfortunately, it's the same for me when I'm reading the Bible too. :/
There are some things about living in Japan that make it difficult for me as a Korean. They don't bother Jess and Peter so much though 'cause they're more Korean-American than they are Korean. I don't think the history between Korea and Japan bother current Korean teenagers as much either as there's so much pop culture being shared between countries. Also, most of their grandparents were born after the Japanese occupation. I think our generation might be one of the last who have grandparents who told us first hand accounts of things that happened and for who things in history books came alive through TV dramas and movies too.
Most of the time, history doesn't bother me too much. But then.. there are articles like this one titled "Yokohama recalls text describing 1923 "massacre" of Koreans". I remember how pleasantly surprised I was when I read the article about how Yokohama city was planning on updating their history textbooks. Instead of the text reading that Japanese authorities were responding to an uprising by Koreans, they were going to change it to properly reflect the unprovoked massacre that took place and correct the number of people killed. They made the change, distributed them, and now they're recalling the textbooks. :(
I've heard from so many people since I was a teenager, from both Koreans and Japanese, about how Japanese history textbooks do not portray the truth about its country's history during the first half of the 20th century. Most Japanese people don't even know that Japan occupied Korea from 1910-1945 and so have absolutely no idea of the atrocities that were committed before, during, and after that time. One of my best friends here actually said to me recently "Japan's such a nice country. It's never started a war with anybody." I was so shocked, I thought I must have heard wrong. She said it in English so I couldn't have misunderstood... She's born and bred in Hiroshima but spent time abroad as an adult so her English is pretty good. Does she really not know why the US dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima? Does she not know about Pearl Harbor? Or any of the invasions that happened all throughout Japan's history? Maybe history just wasn't her favorite subject...
Here's the story (as links don't last forever):
Yokohama recalls texts describing 1923 ‘massacre’ of Koreans
The stir caused by a textbook’s descriptions of the mass lynching of Koreans following the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake has prompted Yokohama’s board of education to order schools to collect the books from students.
In an unprecedented move, the board ordered municipal junior high schools to recall the 2012 edition of the book, a supplementary text, saying the use of the word “massacre” “can cause a misunderstanding.” The term has also been criticized by some historians.
Immediately after the Sept. 1, 1923, earthquake in the Kanto region, unconfirmed rumors spread that Koreans were rioting and committing acts of sabotage. Based on the rumors, the army, police and vigilantes killed many Koreans, as well as Chinese and Japanese mistaken for Koreans. It’s unclear because of the chaos how many were killed, but it’s thought the slayings topped 6,000 in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture alone.
Previous editions of the text, titled “Wakaru Yokohama” (“Understanding Yokohama”) and edited by the board, said “some members of the vigilante corps killed Koreans.” The book was first published in 2009.
However, the edition distributed in May 2012 states that “the military, the police and vigilante groups persecuted and massacred Koreans.” It also shows a picture of a cenotaph erected by Japanese as an expression of apology.
The revised entry made media headlines at home as well as in South Korea and China.
In July 2012, a municipal assembly member from the Liberal Democratic Party took up the issue during a session, saying: “It could affect historical concepts in our country and diplomatic relations. It is not a matter only for Yokohama.”
The board of education’s chairman at the time pledged to revise the edition and recall the books already distributed.
The board later reprimanded the person in charge of the revision, criticizing the decision-making process as inappropriate. The 2013 edition reinstated the description and a recall was begun of the 2012 version.
The board also twice instructed school principals to collect all the books and ask students who did not obey their reasons why.
On Wednesday, historians submitted a petition to Yokohama asking that the decision to recall the books be reversed.
If the link works, read the comments below the article. There's an interesting debate. How important is a word and the connotation behind it? How do you know that your understanding of the word is the same as that of someone else's? Which one is more accurate?
There are always lots of articles about Korea/Koreans/Korean history in Japanese newspapers. Koreans are the biggest minority population in Japan and we've probably been here the longest too. With our messy history and a nationalistic move on the rise here in Japan, living in Japan as a Korean isn't going to get any easier. If it does, it'll be a miracle. Miracles do happen...
