From: ntetsuya@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Nishimura)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.china,soc.culture.hongkong,soc.culture.taiwan
Subject: Re: What do most of Japanese think of Korean (Re: An open letter..)
Date: 22 Aug 92 08:20:02 GMT
Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO  80523

In article <1992Aug21.192258.3227@ducvax.auburn.edu> kim@magneto.physics.auburn.edu (Han-jung Kim) writes:

[stuff deleted]
>
>However in my feeling and from the side news or whatever, most of Japanese
>have a bad feeling against Korean too. 

	As a Japanese, I doubt this.  But at the same time, I *know* there
	are people who have bad feelings toward the Korean.  Not "most" but 
	yes, there are more than some.

>
>This is the point I can not understand so far. Koreans did some harm to
>Japanese? or Japanese has found something they dislike in korean, such as 
>not well educated, filthy etc.

	Before you read, please remember that what you are about to read is 
	MY opinion based on MY observation and this has NOTHING to do with
	how mojority or many Japanese would think.

	Japan had been isolated from other countries for a long time until 
	she opened the country in late 1860's.  Not only was it because of
	the policies of the government at the time, e.g. Tokugawa Shogun Family,	but also because of physically isolated situation of the Japanese
	Islands.  This situation had made *almost* pure-like Japanese race.
	(I do not forget about the Ainu)  Or at least an imagination that the
	Japanese are constituted with one pure race of people.

	Now, what do you think would happen when people think that they are 
	*pure* race?

	Some Japanese seem to think that Asian people other than Japanese are 
	*inferior* because they are not pure.  (actually the fact is the 
	opposite)

			*********************************

	As many of the netters may know, Japan rapidly recovered and developed
	after WW II, while some of the Asian nations have long suffered from 
	the damage from WW II, some or many of which were caused by Imperial 
	Army.

	Now, what do you think would happen when one nation looks at another
	that is still struggling far behind them?

	Some Japanese seem to think that some Asian nations are *inferior*
	because they did not work hard enough to recover their countries 
	within the same amount of time in which Japan recovered.

			*********************************

>
>I have though that the koreans living in Japan may have some problems which
>the Japanese hate to see or to be with.( more crime rate, lazy, more lie ...)

	Above statement, I think, applies to some aged Japanese, especially
	among men.

	The case of the youth is a bit different.  The following statement 
	is based on my experience as a teacher at a high school.

	When I worked at a boys high school with 2800 students, I sometimes
	heard that some of the students sometimes had a quarrel or a small fight	with the students of a Korean School in the city.  When I heard that 
	some of my students had one, I asked why they had had the fight.

	What they said was that they hadn't fight but actually they had run.
	The reasons they gave me were that 1)the Korean students usually had 
	many companies, and 2)when they do it, they do it like a hell.
	So the truth was, they had not had a fight so often and if they had,
	they usually ran, and ended up with just speaking ill of them using
	the words similar to Jap, which I do not want to write here.

	They, of course, had some fights agaist other Japanese students from 
	different schools, too.

>
>Or Japanese has a kind of another prejudice against koreans in Japan.

	As I stated above, for young people, they do not necessarily hate or
	dislike the Koreans in Japan.  

	Some of my students at the time once asked me why there were Koreans
	living in the city.  They didn't know what had happened to their 
	ancestors until I told them what I had read and learned.
		"Most of them did not choose to come here."

	I am not sure what older people think about the issue.



>To tell the truth, I do not know why if this problem exsist in today's Japan.
> In my mind Japanese have no reason to dislike korean in Japan. 

	I agree.

	As far as I know and have experienced, many youths are just ignorant
	about the issue.  When they are given proper and enough information to 
	help them consider the situation, they can learn.  Of course there are
	and should be some people that will show explicit hate toward another
	group of people, just like we have experienced on this net and every-
	where.

	I just stated my personal opinion and observation without mentioning
	any possible solutions.

	Just for a reference.

>
>                        Hanjung Kim from Alabama.
>.

					Tetsuya Nishimura