Korean Job Discussion Forums

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

I know I'm beating a dead horse (or is it dog?) but I just got my hands on MS-MapPoint 2002 and it says "Sea of Japan (East Sea)". I guess Microsoft doesn't want to piss off the potentially lucrative Korean market and/or deal with hordes of angry Korean hackers?

lonestar · Joined: 20 Aug 2003

Calling it the "East Sea" is akin to the US or Canada renaming the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans the "West" and "East" Oceans. In my old neighborhood in Pusan there were several "West Sea" (known to the rest of the world as the Yellow Sea) restaurants; yes, Virginia, Korea is the center of the universe.

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

And one more thing- I just noticed that MapPoint uses the old Romanization...
Hello Inch'on my old friend,
I've come to speak with you again...
-Kim & Garfunkel, from the album "Bridge Over Troubled Imjin"

ulsanchris · Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Location: take a wild guess

A couple of months ago I was looking up historical maps of korea on the net and came across one that had the sea of Japan Labled as the Sea of Corea. The map was a few hundred years old.

Tancred · Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2003 5:43 pm Post subject:

what's the story with all that anyway? Should it be the East Sea or Sea of Japan? Who "discovered" it...what's the deal? Why do koreans insist on calling it the east sea other than the fact that they hate the japanesse? Does anyone know?

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

well, i imagine its predominantly known as the Sea of Japan because Japan was more open to the western world, so the western map makes named it what the japanese called it.

I guess the Chinese would also refer to it as the East Sea, but who really knows

Zyzyfer · Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2003 5:59 pm Post subject:

I took a better look at a Korean road map today, and noticed that the "west" sea was called HwangHae, which means Yellow Sea, don't it?

FierceInvalid · Joined: 16 Mar 2003

I see the bracketed (East Sea) fairly often these days. Does anyone know for sure if the Japanese call it "Sea of Japan" in Japanese? Paging matko....

matko · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: in a world of hurt!

They call it Nihon-Kai which means "Sea of Japan"

The general term for sea is "umi" but when referring to a specific body of water they use "kai"

In a previous thread about this topic someone mentioned renaming it "Blue Sea"

I think that's a good idea.

BTW, anyone know what the Russians call it?

Son Deureo! · Joined: 30 Apr 2003

Walter Mitty · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Location: Tokyo! ^.^

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

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

Not at all like the debate over whether to call a chunk of land Israel or Palestine

I probably have more examples, but my friend John Daniels is preventing me from thinking about them.

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

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

You sir, have to go watch Scent of a Woman right now.