Osaka Castle (大阪城)
Osaka Castle
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Anti-Japanese sentiment in Asia
Chungjangsa Shrine sign
I always knew of the continuing tensions between Japan and other Asian people, but I never realized the extent of the seemingly never-ending animosity until I actually went to China and Korea. I quickly learned to stop telling people I met in China and Korea that I had lived in Japan for three years and could speak Japanese as I could tell it tainted me in their eyes.
Signs in English in Korea are few and far between, which is fine since it’s Korea. I shouldn’t expect things in English while in Korea. However, it seemed like when I did see a rare sign in English at a museum, shrine, or monument it was mostly anti-Japanese in nature. Words like enemies, invaders, and other harsh terms were the norm rather than the exception when it came to describing the Japanese. Now if these signs were put in place in the 1940s or 1950s I could understand, but they were all quite recent. I’m guessing the history textbooks written in Korean are just as bad if not worse. I’m not saying that they should whitewash history; however, history can be written honestly without instilling anti-Japanese propaganda.
Will the Chinese and Korean people reach a point where they can forgive and move on? I mean it’s been more than 60 years! The vast majority of currently living Japanese weren’t alive during the occupation.
For those of you living in the USA, imagine if everything in the U.S. describing any country who had done us wrong in the past was extremely negative. Imagine if when we talked about Britain, Germany, Japan, Italy, and every other country we’ve been at war with in our past we referred to them as the enemy or used similar terms?
Engrish
Most Engrish still makes sense if you think about it long enough. Not this one. If you want to know what you get in the Cake Set you better learn to read Japanese because the Japanese are the only words on this menu that make any sense.
Ryoanji (龍安寺)
Ryōan-ji (龍安寺) – Kyoto, Japan
There is something unzenlike in a place like this when it is crowded with tourists, especially talking tourists. That said, I had always been underwhelmed by photos of Ryoanji, but I found actually being there to be quite amazing. Maybe it was just because it was humid, a million degrees, and one can view the rock garden from the shade. In any event, photos don’t do it justice, but try to get there when you can be alone (like I was able to at Ninnaji) if you can for best results.
