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{ 2005 01 01 }

2005 Year of Korea-Japan Friendship

Chosun Ilbo Image This year is the 100th anniversary of Korea becoming a Japanese protectorate (it was fully annexed/colonized in 1910). Apparently the two governments are declaring this a year of friendship between them, which is probably a good first preemptive strike in the war of date symbolism. I found interesting the image that a Chosun Ilbo article used to symbolize friendship between the two. In the background, you can see the popular (if somewhat dated) Japanese cartoon character “totoro” and the Korean actor “Yon-sama” (Bae Yong-joon) who has become a demigod in Japan.

Posted by Muninn on Saturday, January 1, 2005, at 12:52. Filed under Current Events, Japan, Korea. Follow any responses to this post with its comments RSS feed. You can post a comment, but trackbacks are closed.

{ 7 } Comments

  1. Matt | 2005.1.3 at 19:05 | Permalink

    That is interesting, isn’t it? Is Totoro as popular in (South) Korea as Yong-sama is over here?

  2. Muninn | 2005.1.3 at 21:23 | Permalink

    Good question…I don’t know. But I would guess that there were plenty of other more famous movies/actors…

  3. tianan | 2005.1.3 at 23:46 | Permalink

    I guess Totoro is a relatively well-known character in Korea. Of course, not for middle-aged women, though.

  4. tianan | 2005.1.3 at 23:51 | Permalink

    I guess Totoro is a quite famous character whose nationality is also well-known to Koreans. Of course, not middle-aged women though.

  5. tianan | 2005.1.4 at 0:51 | Permalink

    Sorry for making the same comments. Anyway, it’s pretty interesting to see how Koreans take the recent “Hanryu(韓流)” in Japan and traslate all the discourses on it. Interestingly, some historians take them as one more proof that shows the superiority of the Korean “pen” culture over Japan’s “sword” one by suggesting that “Yonsama” is a contemporary version of 朝鮮通信使 in the Edo period. Isn’t it so funny?

  6. Chan | 2005.10.11 at 2:15 | Permalink

    This year is the 100th anniversary of Korea becoming a Japanese protectorate (it was fully annexed/colonized in 1910).

    I’m not sure where you got the idea that Korea is Japan’s protectorate, but if you’ve been schooled in Japan, I hope you do realize that Japanese textbooks are pro-imperialistic and simply incorrect when it comes to stating matters such as colonization. No need to put annexed/colonized, really. Korea was colonized by Japan by force during World War II.

    I’m really shocked to see these types of comments being said as if they are actual truth.

  7. Muninn | 2005.10.11 at 10:44 | Permalink

    Hi Chan, of course, I did not imply that Korea is still Japan’s protectorate. It was only a protectorate from 1905-1910 and then annexed. It was colonized from 1910-1945. It was definitely NOT colonized during World War II, which started decades later.

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