Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Chonbuk]

At around noon today the North did another testing. I learnt about it at 1:30, and decided to tell my 2:00 class about the testing into the Sea of Japan- My mistake I should have said East Sea but I was recalling from the internet which said the Sea of Japan. One student heard Japan directly and said enthusiastically ASAHHH!! I was surprised that she said this, that she would applaud a missile hit directly upon Japan as a good thing. For personal reasons I try to keep all Japanese hatred talks quite low key, and will openly call and explain the term racism to any students who make anti-Japan comments. There is no place for racism in my classroom.
I had thought/hoped that things were getting better with relations for this younger generation but now I realize that things are still a far cry from this.
Will Koreans ever be able to move past this terrible sore spot in their history?
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this in the classroom?

Would love to hear your comments.

Cheers

Chonbuk

[denz]

the best way to knock the korean hatred for japanese is mathematics. simple formula/lesson plan to follow.

1. ask them why they hate the japanese.
the correct answer may take some time. answers vary from 'they stole the recipe for kimchi' to 'they spelt corea with a K so they would be first alphabetically'. to which you should always reply 'the English alphabet? i thought the japanese spoke japanese'. wae babo kachi kure? eventually some tolmori kid will remember the occupation.

2. ask them when the occupation was.
some will say "2003 - dae han min guk! jjak jjak jjakjjak jjak - piiighting!" when korea was beaten by the largish germans and the noble turks, but had a moral victory over the japanese. this too is incorrect. this wasnt world war 2. this was of course the korea japan world cup. which apparently was called the 'japan korea world cup" in japan. eventually some shotari will waddle in and say "1910 - 1945" ballpark.

3. ask them how long ago that was.
maths time. hands up everywhere. we're looking at almost 60 years here. make them round up for effect.

4. ask if any japanese man woman aged 55 or less would have been alive 60 years ago ( during the occupation).
this will take some time. the answer is no.

5. then say 'so, it would be impossible for any japanese person younger than 55 to have done anything bad to a korean during world war 2?"
the 'i think i am missing the point, sonsengnim' face should be clearly in place.

6. . so, you can't hate any japanese person under the age of 55!
angry barbs from the "they stole the recipe for kimchi" posse aside, you will meet some rebuttal in the form of "but they refuse to acknowledge past atrocities" bent. if you are in a well-informed uni class, i would bring up vietnam. if not, tell them politicians make those sort of decisions, not kids like us. hehehe.

7. then ask 'how old to you need to be to fight in the army?"
resounding "19-20" answer from the boys

8. and 'how old were the japanese soldiers who occupied korea?'
19 or 20 is a logical guess.

9. if you were 20, in 1945, what year were you born?
fast hands - 1925!

10. and if you were born in 1925, how old would you be now?
everyone should answer "78! a~sa!". by this point, one kid may have the "sh*t, sonsengnim is on to something" look on his face and will take over the class. if not...

11. so, if a japanese soldier had done terrible things to a korean person during world war 2, AND they had to be born in 1925 to at least fight in korea, well... you can't hate any japanese person under the age of 78. right? because everyone under the age of 78 was a kid during world war 2.
some students will begin to hate you. i had one girl turn her chair around and hum that baby vox song to the wall. you can't make this shtt up. if you're lucky, like i have been, some kept listening.

12. last few questions. who decides to fight wars. soldiers or politicians?
politicians

13. who decided that japan would come to korea and do terrible things to koreans during the occupation? japanese soldiers or japanese politicians?
erm... the emperor? politicians.


14. how old are politicians? generally?
older than dirt. let's say 50

15. if you were to be 50 in 1945, what year would you need to be born?
1895

16. if you were born in 1895. hold old would you be now?
hands up. 108

17. is anyone born in 1895 still alive?
no.
but maybe 1 or 2 says tolmori.

17. so you really can't hate any japanese (with the exception of 1 or 2), unless they are between the age of 80 - 108. right? and you really can't hate anyone younger than 80, right? because anyone under that age was too young to fight or hadn't been born during ww2.

if you pull this off (and i did - dont know how) you will have a class full of very silent (and one humming) children. one girl, amy, came up to me and said "i am sure my parents wont agree with you, but that made a lot of sense'. love it. it's mathematically inconceivable for them to hate the japanese. so run with it.

godspeed

denz

ps - aiyoh~! unfortunately, this scenario will not work when arguing against the possibility of 'fan death'. tried and shotdown.

[denz]

chonbuk,

maybe you should edit the subject title if you want more constructive help. people might pass over this thread thinking it's just another case of andanoia.

denz

[phil]

good except soldiers committed alot of atrocities. no politicians can order a person man to slaughter and torture civilians if they don't want. ever heard of the rape of nanking?
amongst other atrocities... japanese brutality in korea.

[denz]

phil,

i agree.

denz


edit: on 2nd thought, it was worded badly. i was highlighting the political decision/motives for japan being in korea in the first place, phil. i was in no way suggesting that the japanese soldiers were without blame. my bad.

i did my major research paper at uni on the failure of international law to protect the comfort women in korea. believe me, i know only too well the atrocities committed by the japanese. that said, it's been edited.

i don't often admit to making mistakes.

cheers.

denz mach ii

[bucheon bum]

I like it Denz. Unfortunately my students are mainly elementary students, with some middle school students. That kind of discussion would zoom over their heads .

Anyway, Korea based its development program following the Korean War on the Japanese. For instance the chaebol are based on similar companies in Japan (such as Mitsubushi). Many leaders of South Korea following the Korean war were educated in Japan as well. You might want to throw that in the discussion as well. If it weren't for the Japanese model, perhaps South Korea's economy would be closer to North Korea than Taiwan.

[matko]

The Sea of Japan/East Sea debate.

I think the name should be changed but not to the East Sea.
East of what? East of Korea.
Any ideas on a new name?
What do the Russians call it?

I vote for: Kim Jong Il's missile graveyard

[yodanole]

I prefer to choose my battles. Anti-Japanese sentiment and "fan death" are not battles I would choose to fight. Any takers on the "English word for kimbap is sushi" discussion?

[Chonbuk]

Denz:

My students are tourism English students. Their English language skills are not that bad, I'll try your suggestions and see what happens but I imagine I'll get a lot of glossy faces staring back at me.

This winter I was in Laos touring around, and kept meeting up with French people recalling their colonial past. They would walk around the buildings and say ahhh- French design, so lovely.......
Could you imagine a Japanese person coming to Korea, doing the same thing. Ah- look at the roads, the schools, ahhh just like back home-

Colonialism happened it is a part of the history of the world, but now it's time to move on.

If only they could understand this.

Matko-

like the sea name-

Personally I think Northeast Asian Sea should become the official name.

[The Lemon]

[The Bobster]

Matko :

[Zyzyfer]

We should just call it Sea.

I don't care what it's called, just so long as I don't have to hear people bug me about it. It's water!

[matko]

The Matko Sea!!

I like it!


I may be IN Japan, but I am not Japanese.

By your logic, when I lived in Korea I sided with Korean's on every topic.

BTW, how did I side with Japan on this on?

I hope you were being sarcastic.

[The Bobster]

It was the appearance of favoritism I was concerned about ... no intention of questioning your integrity, though I think we all know where you stand on the kimbab / sushi, who-stole-what-from-whom question.(Sniff)

Um, yes, I was being sarcastic.

[denz]

fear not, gents. these were young children, but of advanced english ability (special ones).

that said, thelemon is dead on. who wants to hear that?



it's akin to us rejecting anda's truths <wook!>

well, how about us christians ignoring the fact that jesus actually looked like this:

he was short, had a hunchback and his real name was yoshua ben yosef. sounds a lot more like usama ben laden than it does george bush.

these are the facts people ;)

denz