Korean Job Discussion Forums

Paji eh Wong · Joined: 03 Jun 2003

This is Asia. Nobody likes anybody. Hell, I don't think Korean's even like themselves.

Mosley · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

I can't really agree that outside China & the Koreas there is the same DEGREE of hatred towards Japan that you find in those three. In Taiwan, for example, there is a ready acceptance of Japanese pop culture and a grudging admission that Japan yanked the island into the 20th C. Moreover, in China & the two Koreas there has been a long concerted campaign fostered by GOVERNMENT(esp. via public education) to keep up the hate-on for Japan. It's also worth noting that in some countries(Indonesia, Burma, etc.) Japan's WWII victories against the West are seen to have paved the way for post-war independence. In some places, like Singapore, I get the impression that the attitude is "forgive but don't forget".

gypsyfish · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

I didn't see any evidence of any antipathy when I lived in Taiwan (for 13 months). In fact, I read an article in one of the papers that quoted some of the WW II era Taiwanese as saying that they liked the Japanese, thought the Japanese did a lot to help the island, and preferred to speak Japanese to Mandarin Chinese.

matthewwoodford · Joined: 01 Oct 2003 Location: Location, location, location.

Ask your parents' or grandparents' generation and you'll find a lot of hatred of Japan because of Pearl Harbor or their treatment of British PoWs or whatever. Also there used to be a lot of hatred in Continental countries toward Germans from those generations that remembered being occupied - probably not nowadays. I don't know any Brits old or young who hate Germans tho', probably cos they never treated Brit PoWs half so bad as Russians or others. Also Germans, unlike Japs, seem to have done everything possible to repudiate their past, as many have pointed out. On the other hand, I heard people in Eastern bloc countries complain about the arrogant attitude of East Germans on holiday, going about thinking they're the master race.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Germans are kind of modest and humbled by their past. But having been around Germans interacting with other Europeans or just any non-Germans.. they do get some flack at times from their past. Actually often.

Maybe thats whats makes them continuously so humbled around others as well though.. hard to say..

peemil · Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Location: Koowoompa

My grandfather hated the Japanese. But he fought them. My dad hated the Vietnamese. But he fought them. Some of my uncles aren't too fond of the Chinese or Koreans. They fought them too. I know my Nan and Pop weren't too keen on Germans. But they lived through two world wars in England. Pop lost his father at the Somme and he fought them in round two, while Nan was in London for the Blitz.

I have no grudges though. That's their wars. Not mine. I try to tell Koreans this but they say something along the likes of... "But you must carry it on for them." No I don't. Their hatred bred by war. That's hard to break. Very hard to break.

I don't need to carry it on. I can remember but, when was the last time I was in the jungle waiting for charlie to come over the hill? Or fighting the Germans across Europe? Or giving it to the Japanese in the S. Pacific. Never.

Koreans don't compute this though.

peemil · Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Location: Koowoompa

P.S. My uncles words before I left for Korea?

"Why do you want to go to that shit hole? They're dirty, smelly little fuckers. They smell like garlic and onion and that shit they eat... What's it called?"

Different time. Different place. Different situation. They still smell like Kimchi though... Smile

Dan · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Sunny Glendale, CA

I think crackers smell like armpits, and I wish I could smack crackers up and tell them "TAKE A GODDAMN SHOWER EVERY NOW AND THEN!"

But that's only in extreme cases of neglected hygiene.

peemil · Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Location: Koowoompa

Blah... Blah... Blah. Do I have to respond to that. I mean the point was... Oh to hell with it. Don't run around starting to call everyone a cracker. Christ. Fact is fact. Koreans do smell like kimchi and onion and garlic. But that's beside the point. You notice the little smiley face next to it... Very Happy

This one... Or this one Laughing

It's a laugh. A joke. People have them sometimes. When their not examine their own anuses. The point was the ideas that my Uncle just really hated Korea and Koreans at the end of it all. *beep* I'm too hungover...

Mind you... Where the bloody hell do you get off calling people a cracker? Like that... Maybe we should all start using words like, zipperhead, gook, nip huh? Jesus don't get me started on any other ones. It's a two way street my good man.