In a followup to this post on Japanese and Korean views of each other, I now present you five screen captures from the Japanese television program “Mezamashi Doyoubi” (Wakeup Saturday), via a Japanese web site. It takes a look at what five countries in Asia think of Japan. As always, the usual caveats about opinion polls apply, but this is nonetheless quite an inside look at how the following five countries percieve Japan.
Translations courtesy. . . me!
Not surprisingly, a pretty unfavorable view of Japan. Actually, 20% is higher than I expected. Moving on:
The good citizens of the ROK feel even more negative towards Japan, even if their protests were somewhat tamer.
THERE we go — Japan is very popular in Taiwan. As noted on the program, Japanese culture is popular in Taiwan. (So much for Japan’s atrocious legacy of colonialism?) Similarly positive attitudes can be found in Singapore…
…and in Thailand.
Food for thought.
UPDATE: Finally, thank you Machimura! Here’s Japan’s Foreign Minister speaking earlier today:
From the perspective of a Japanese person, Chinese textbooks appear to teach that everything the Chinese government has done has been correct… There is a tendency toward this in any country, but the Chinese textbooks are extreme in they way they uniformly convey the ‘our country is correct’ perspective.
Also, while Chinese Premiere Hu said that Tokyo should back up its apology with action, the Yomiuri Shinbun had this to say in an editorial:
China should halt its nationalistic and anti-Japanese education with action… It is also starting to be pointed out in the US and Europe that history instruction in China is distorted to suit the convenience of the Communist Party.”Â?
Did you know the editors at the Yomiuri read this blog? Me neither.
Curzon wrote about the difference between Korean and Taiwanese views toward “Japan”: So much for Japan’s atrocious legacy of colonialism?
Korea and Taiwan had two very different experiences at the hands of, respectively, their military-run and civilian-run colonial governments. The fact that the bulk of the Comfort Women came from Korea and the atrocities of Nanjing and what-not occurred in Mainland China, while relatively very little happened in Taiwan or to Taiwanese, easily explains why the Koreans are up in arms about the Japanese government seeming to gloss over its past, while the Taiwanese are not.
And what exactly are these surveys purporting to measure? Like or dislike of the Japanese government (which would make sense) or “Japan” in general (which I’m not sure is accurately reflected), or something else (like future prospects for relationships between the survey subject’s country and Japan? I can’t tell from the screenshot what the kanji is tha they’re using (not that I could read it well anyway), but is it like/dislike or positive/negative.
(So much for Japan’s atrocious legacy of colonialism?)
Japan’s atrocious colonialism is definitely country specific. Taiwan was always viewed as the ‘good’ colony, especially when compared to Korea the ‘bad’ colony.
Don’t know enough about Singapore or Thailand to comment on their numbers.
Thailand of course was never a Japanese colony-or a colony of anyone else, actually the only country in the region that managed to resist.
Singapore was barely effected by Japan either. They were invaded, but it was a very short period and minor compared to China or Korea.
The third country that likes Japan today, Taiwan, was a colony, but unlike the mainland or the Korean penninsula was not the subject of fighting. Japan never invaded Taiwan, instead they won it from China when they won the Sino-Japanese war, a war which was fought at sea and on the Korean penninsula.
So while you say “So much for Japan’s atrocious legacy of colonialism?” it actually looks like the results of this opinion poll are highly correlated with the amount of violence inflicted on each country by Japan during their imperialist period.
Kushibo — the actual characters are 好ãÂ?Â?　and å«ŒãÂ?”ž. As to whether the poll is asking about Japan, the government, the people, etc is of course a good questions. Asking in three languages, the nature of the question probably differs, and as noted, the usual caveats about opinion polls apply. But we’re not quibbling over a difference of 10-15 percentage points — the viewpoint drastically differs between countries.
Plunge — that Taiwan was a “good” colony and Korea a “bad” colony is a modern revisionist view of the facts. When Chiang Kai-Shek fled to Taiwan he was revered as a liberator. It was only in retrospect that Japan was viewed favorably by the country at large, partially because of the comparison between Chiang’s incompetent and corrupt rule.
MF — Thailand never “resisted.” They were just good diplomats and a convenient buffer state, playing off the French and Brits against each other, and then allying with Japan the day after Pearl Harbor. To say that there was no resistance to Japanese rule in Taiwan is “not entirely correct.”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Taiwan#Japanese_Rule
But notice that most of the Taiwanese resistance, and most of the victims of Japanese soldiers in Taiwan, were the non-Chinese aboriginal tribes. These tribes make up about 2% of Taiwan’s population today and have generally been discriminated against by Chinese rulers of the island.
And read the rest of the entry on Taiwan-Taiwanese resistance also petered out by the mid-1930s, by which time Japan’s industrialisation of Taiwan was well under way. Plenty of Taiwanese were probably happy to have Japan out after the war, but Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT were not considered liberators for long. In the first couple of years of KMT rule they easily killed more Taiwanese than the Japanese ever had. They also seized a huge amount of private property, and almost completely replaced Taiwanese in government and other positions of authority.
Something else I should have mentioned. For decades the KMT ran a program of ‘Mandarinization’ in Taiwan. The use of the Taiwanese dialect was banned in all broadcast media and schools in favor of the mainland Mandarin dialect that most of the recent immigrants spoke. The KMT attitude towards Taiwanese culture was just as chauvanistic as that of the Japanese, and the effects of which are far more recent and persistent.
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Plunge””?that Taiwan was a “good”Â? colony and Korea a “bad”Â? colony is a modern revisionist view of the facts. When Chiang Kai-Shek fled to Taiwan he was revered as a liberator. It was only in retrospect that Japan was viewed favorably by the country at large, partially because of the comparison between Chiang’s incompetent and corrupt rule.
I’ll be the first to say that I haven’t studied that part of the colonization. What I do know of it is the comments from Japanese officials and their constant comparisons between their colony in Taiwan and Korea. The consistently comment on the ease of colonization in Taiwan compared to the recalcitrant Koreans.
For those of you who think Singapore didn’t have an ugly and nasty experience with Japan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Singapore
Or here:
“The Japanese Occupation is generally regarded as the darkest period of Singaporean history. The Japanese had claimed that they were liberating Southeast Asia from colonialism, but in reality they were far harsher rulers than the British ever were. Numerous atrocities were committed by Japanese troops, particularly the Kempeitai, the Japanese military’s secret police. For instance, the Sook Ching Massacre of ethnic Chinese, including civilians who had donated to charities to aid the war effort in China, claimed between 25,000 and 50,000 lives in Malaya and Singapore.”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Singapore#The_Battle_of_Singapore_and_the_Japanese_Occupation_.281942_-_1945.29
And yet somehow, Singapore has the moral strength, foresight, and maturity to not make this the biggest domestic political issue and continue to hate Japan. Much as India and Pakistan have by and large forgiven the British, the Vietnamese and Filipinos don’t make a fuss about the US, etc etc etc.
Firstly let me just say I’m quite a bit skeptical about about 94% or 96% opinion polls as they frankly they are a tad suspect. With that addressed, unlike Curzon’s idea about how so and so has “moral” strength or maturity, the impetus of popular opinion isn’t based neccessarily on historical grievances even though many may profess it but rather contemporary political issues. Thailand and Singapore are to be blunt, mid tier nobody states that have no geo-political aspirations of consequence. Their rivals and security concerns are localized in their vincinity e.g. Vietnam and Malaysia. Japanese opinion polls on Vietnam and Malaysia will be differ significantly than Thai or Singaporan ones and the reason for this is because of a) ignorance b) apathy. Taiwan likewise perceives Japan in a positive light because they feel that Japan’s presence somehow safeguards their de-facto autonomy (a delusional opinion but I won’t address that issue here). Independence elements are even more keen to promote Taiwan-Japan ties because they feel that Japan can be beneficial for their objectives. If Japan were to make an about face and start echoeing the One-China policy line and makeing very public pronouncements of such, expect a vault face in popular opinion polling to follow. For South Korea and even more so for China, the level of antagonism may be fuelled by historical grievances, but the spark is contemporary politics. South Korea is attempting to define its position in NE Asia all the while China is seeking regional expansion and influence, naturally this comes into friction with U.S. security concerns and more to the point Japanese concerns. A humbled conservative Japanese establishment that can no longer “Say No” to America but still retains enough self-confidence to thumb its nose at China. Chinese grievances against Japan will not be settled until the security situation in East Asia stabilizies as a whole, as of now it still remains in a state of contention and thus public anti-Japanese sentiment(As well as anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan that has been high since the 90′s let alone the recent spate of demonstrations) will remain until then.
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Mutant Frog,
What do you know about Taiwan history. I am Taiwanese, our family lived in Taiwan for hundreds of years. My great grandfather’s family went back to mainland during the Japanese occupation. The Japanese controlled people by boiling and skining Taiwanese rebels alive and murdered the whole village in southern Taiwan.
Liang Liang, That’s definitely true, but from what I’ve read I get the impression that that majority of Japan’s victims in Taiwan were members of Taiwanese aboriginal tribes, that the Chinese governors couldn’t care less about themselves. Is it incorrect to say that the KMT killed more Taiwanese than the Japanese, and also more recently? I didn’t say that the Japanese didn’t do awful things in Taiwan, only that they did more and worse things in Korea and mainland China.
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I was born in Taiwan, and my notion of the Japanese was that they helped Taiwan build a basic infrastracture on the island, from Railroads to a modern postal/telephone system. Coupled with the proximity Taiwan enjoys with Japan, I think that’s why Taiwan favors Japan so much.
I only spend 3 months in Taiwan, but here’s my summarization of the feelings of the people of the time:
During the Japanese occupation it was a pretty strong anti-Japanese feelings, that’s normal, expected towards your oppressor. Even those that benifited directly (ie, going to the BEST university in asia at the time and still today for free) still didn’t like the idea of being ruled by Japan any better then they did being ruled by China. Even though Japan built railroads and industrialized the nation, it wasn’t for the benefit of Taiwan, but for Japan.
After WW2: they’re gone, WEE!!! I think the people of Japan are pretty well able to distinguish the difference from their Japanese oppressors, most of which have died, from the current Japanese. Unfortunately, all the Korean and Chinese people are conditioned to think is Japan = little devil out to kill me.
The first nation to modernize after WW2 was definitely Taiwan. They didn’t have China keeping them down, and Japan left all the goodies after they left.
But that’s not to say there aren’t people that are still very much against Japan.
“while relatively very little happened in Taiwan or to Taiwanese”
try telling that to these women http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/03/12/2003245895
“And what exactly are these surveys purporting to measure? Like or dislike of the Japanese government (which would make sense) or “Japan”Â? in general (which I’m not sure is accurately reflected), or something else (like future prospects for relationships between the survey subject’s country and Japan? I can’t tell from the screenshot what the kanji is tha they’re using (not that I could read it well anyway), but is it like/dislike or positive/negative.”
it doesn’t matter what it’s supposed to measure, but what it shows is that when Korean and Chinese people hear/see anything at all slightly related to Japan, all they can think is how much they hate it. The fact that the details we’re given are so few, actually shows how little the people of Korea and China need to make the decision that anything Japan = the devil.
I am a South Korean studying in Japan now. When I came to
Japan at the first time, I became to know and be friends with
some Taiwanese people here. I was very surprised at their
amaiable attitudes toward Japan. For Taiwanese, Japan was
“Modernization” while it was “exploitation” for Korean people.
It is based on the different styles of colonial governance as
indicated above, of course. Generally, upper-class and highly-
educated Japanese soldiers were dispatched to Taiwan as
there was not hard resistence. On the contrast, lower and
poor Japanese soldiers full of anger and complaints to their own status were dispatched to the Korean peninsula.
Accordingly, the lower-class Japanese soldiers massacred and
exploited, and these memories gave anger to Korean people.
Second, nationality and one’s own identity are very strong
compared with Taiwanese people who had just immigrated
at the colonization period.
Lastly, the Japanese invasion (not war, pre-attack by Japan)
was not the first time (1907-1945). It happened from the
15th centuries. These severe memories gave distrust on
Japan till now, and that is why Korean people cannot regard
Japan as “modernization”.
Memories tell the present.
Roh told a good tale form the Korean perspective, which had been largely ignored (or unnoticed) by western scholars.
Japan had been invading Korea (also eastern China) since 16th century (all the pirates first, then with army).
While koreans are not happy with the Chinese empire either, at least all the Chinese emperor wanted not much more than useless symbolic rights. the Ming and Qing emperors view Korea as a protectorate, it didnt not commit the crime against the Korea people like the Japanese did. Occasionally it actually helped to defend Korea upon request by the Korea kings.
(but sui/tang invaded korea in 7th century, chinese textbooks called them ‘invasion war’, and the war led to the collapse of sui dynasty)
another interesting observation from the Chinese internet sites: almost all of the netizen (incl many CCP apologists), while still proud of fighting the US in the Korean war, were ashame of having popped up the DPRK regime.
typical comment i saw, “while those who died in the Korean War should be honored as heros, looking at the famine and mess in DPRK today, we do not know how we could face the (South) Korean people”
Roh Jiehyun,
I’m wondering where you learned about the socioeconomic differences between Japanese soldiers sent to Taiwan and to Korea.
I heard from one Japanese history professor after I came
to Japan. Before that, I had ever read Korean documents
discussed the theme.
I am not sure whether the Japanese professor
had written about the theme in publications or not.
(I am sorry for that)
According to his explanations, graduates of navy or class
of intelligence (æµ·è»Â?士官å¦校唡ºèº«ï¼”°were dispatched to Taiwan
in the early 20th century, but poor males from northern parts
and Kyushu regions who did not have any chance
to succeed in Japan at that time were dispatched to Korea
and mainland China, full of resistence and conflicts.
There is another characterstics in Japanese colonial
govenance in the Korean peninsula (1907-1945).
Japanese headquarters in Korea, which was called as
“Chosun Chong-dok-bu(æœÂ?鮮總çÂ?£åºœ)”, was not supervised by
Japan governments.
That is, it was independent from the Japanese emperor and
Japanese Diet or any governance. This is very different from
the Taiwanese colonial governance.
Taiwan colonial office was controlled and supervised by
Japanese governance.
(I can give many history books related with these ones, but
I am worrying whether Sonagi sang can read Korean or not)
In the end, dispatched Japanese colonial soldiers had
relatively a lot of autonomy to rule out the Korean peninsula,
and sometimes it led to brutality and uncontrolled power.
I guess that might influence different recognition on Japanese
colonial period.
If there are any biased or misunderstanding ideas in
my writing, I hope others’ good comments or oppositions.
I would like to hear others’ opinions or TRUTH.
Roh JieHyun-ssi,
I can read Korean, but I’ll take your word for it. Koreans have some beliefs about Japan’s colonial rule that seem doubtful to foreigners. One example is the Korea/Corea debate. If the information comes from both Korean and Japanese sources, then it is credible.
i guess there is statistical (hence systematic) difference/biase as roh said, since it is harsher for colonists in korea. but there is probably no official policy of sending whom to where.
also, roh was right about the difference in administrative treatment between korea and taiwan in the early half of last century.
for the case of taiwan, the corrupted KMT who arrived in 1945 behaved much worse than the Japanese. that is also an important factor.
You’re right. Opinion polls often do not have a feather to fly with.
Perhaps the pollsters might have obtained a better gauge if they had asked:
1. I admire/do not admire Japan for her colourful traditions and modern hi-tech inventions. (Mostly yes)
2. I admire/do not admire Imperial Japan for her crimes of war during WW2, such as forcing girls as young as 12 into prostitution, bombing civilians, conducting biological experiments on humans, and general mistreatment of people and prisoners-of-war. (Mostly no)
3. Japan should bravely confront its wartime past with honesty, as a tenet for future engagements in the fast-changing neighbourhood (Yes? No?)
No 1 and 2+3 are separate issues. However people who do not understand them tend to crudely paint things as `ethnic hatred’ of Japan or `communist indoctrination’.
Feelings about Japan are probably more akin to a broad prejudice,not unlike the longstanding dislike of the British and French for each other.
It will vary in each Asian country, according to exposure to history.
It also tends to be more acute because events are more recent, and because of recurrent Japanese attempts to re-visit and rewrite that particular history.
The illwill can only become more entrenched, if Koizumi’s heirs remain as intransigent, and dismissive, of popular feelings abroad.
But then his brilliant new FM, the forward-thinking Mr Aso, has declared that Japan is not afraid of splendid isolation, as long as the poodle remains safely ensconced in the master’s embrace.
Can everyone just get over it and move on? Jeez, it was 60 years ago …
Not a student of history?
Mr/Miss Argleblaster.
As I said, I do not hate or stick to Japan itself.
If I were, why am I here in Japan to learn advantages of
Japan and other Asian countries?
I love Japanese drama, animation, and good friends here.
I sometimes want to adopt good Japanese systems
to my country in the future.
Most of all, we Koreans want to forget bitter memories.
However, if some Japanese right-wing politicians lead
to bad directions….it makes more massed.
Most of Japanese friends in the 20s have not been
educated about their history in the 20th century, so
if Ishihara Shintaro, a Tokyo governor, says
Comfort Women were prostitues and hookers,
a lot of youngsters believe that. Then, they are blaming
old grandmothers who could not marry and could not be
pragnant, then demonstrate in front of Japanese Embassy
in Seoul every Wednesday till now.
I do not believe one’s government cannot publish
history textbooks which depicts one’s history as bad.
I think it would be impossible to write bad things on Japan
in Japanese high school textbooks.
It is the same in South Korea textbooks.
I was not educated that some Korean soldiers dispatched
during the Vietnam War did very brutal behaviors in Vietnam.
I also do not want to believe, and South Korea government
do not want such comments in history textbooks.
Throughout mass media, I saw it, and I and my friends
just want not to forget our bad behaviors to Vietnam citizens.
(Sorry to talk about stories unrelated with Japan)
After Japanese invasion in the late 15th century,
Koreans believed there would be no war anymore,
then Japan invaded again in the early 16th century.
At that time, the Chosun dynasty reopend its relations
with Japan again.
Then, Japan came back again as colonists in the 19th.
Most of all, victims want to forget the memory.
However, offenders forgot quickly, and they extort it.
I hope there would be no more circulation of history.
Is It? Is it?
Hey, Jie Hyun, check out the New Allies thread. Chinese poster Sunbin is looking for Koreans to join the discussion.
“Here’s an interesting post about freedom of skiing in Korea under Japanese rule.”:http://yellowpeep.blogspot.com/2005/12/harsh-colonial-rule-with-freedom-of.html
Roh:
“Sorry to talk about stories unrelated with Japan” No I think you’re right on the money, and at least I for one welcome the comparison. It’s very easy to point the finger, especially when it covers up your own imperfections. It shouldn’t matter if there are flaws in Korea’s textbooks when talking about flaws in Japanese textbooks, but everyone is going to look to Korea and say, “what makes you so perfect?” regardless. Both sides need to acknowledge mistakes and then work to correct them, not just one side.
You said that your Japanese classmates seemingly knew nothing of the events that took place, but that is exactly the opposite of my experiences in Japanese schools. What area are you in in Japan? I have been in schools in Chiba and am currently in school in Okinawa (will be returning to the Tokyo area again for the next academic year), and it seems as though everyone here knows about it much better then Americans for example know about their own crimes.
Roh, your opinion is one sided. Here’s another aspect of WWII.
In WWII, Koreans were known as the most brutal follower of Japan, harshly abusing prisoners. In other words, Koreans must apologize to Asian countries as well if Japan must.
The reason why Koreans are so desperate to accuse Japan is that they don’t want to be brought to justice. They want the world to look Korea as a pity victim of Imperial Japan.
You know the truth, right? There are almost no rebellions in Korean peninsula against Japan just before 1945. That means Japan ruled Korea peacefully. There were many volunteers increasing still at the end of the war in Korea.
Korean must think that it was a part of Japan, not being a colony. They ought to confess their crimes of willingly abusing Australian prisoners before blaming all crimes to Japan.
Pop33,
March 1 is a national holiday in Korea. It commemorates a large pro-independence demonstration that took place on that date in 1919 in Pagoda Park in downtown Seoul. Among the leaders was a 17-year-old girl, Yoo Kwan Sun, who was tortured and executed by the Japanese for her role in the pro-indepedence movement.
Did you wander over here from the Occidentalist?
moral strength, foresight, and maturity… ??? Er, I think its just ignorance..
Singaporean
people of all the world “dislike Korean.”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX-JbBYkiZ8