Left Flank

Japan Probe's James capsulizes recent stories surrounding Japan-ROK (well, South Korean) disputes over Liancourt Rocks Tsushima(?)! And, there's a history of this lunacy?

I also found a Robert Neff piece about Tsushima which, while also mentioning assorted South Korean nuisances, points out the positive side of Japan-ROK economic diplomacy.

The relationship between Korea and Tsushima literally goes back hundreds of years.

Homer B. Hulbert, one of the early Western missionaries to Korea, claimed that Tsushima was dependent on the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla. «It is important to notice that the island of Tsushima, whether actually conquered by Silla or not, became a dependency of that kingdom,» because of its poor soil and inability to feed its own inhabitants and was annually aided by the Silla government.

Later, after the Imjin War, the Lords of Tsushima were the only ones allowed to conduct trade between Korea and Japan until just prior to Korea's opening to the West. Envoys sent to Japan also passed through Tsushima on their way to the Japanese capital.

This close relationship has led to the establishment of the annual Arirang Festival -- an event that involves the island's residents dressing up in Korean traditional clothing and hosting a parade attended by large numbers of Koreans. I was surprised several years ago to see Korean and Japanese flags prominently displayed and shown the same respect at the island's airport.

Many of the residents do speak a little Korean. In fact the last time I visited the island I noticed that most of the public servants studied some Korean. However, even though I speak Korean fairly well, most of the residents would not speak Korean with me. Considering almost no one speaks English -- including at the tourist hotel -- it made communication very difficult.

See! There's a Japan-ROK tradition of ESL illiteracy through which a lasting diplomatic alliance is possible! As Ampontan chides ROK Ambassador to Japan Kwon Chul-hyun for his provocative rants against his Japanese fantasy, it's not the Japanese antagonizing the South Koreans that's the reality at all

I had to piece the story of the ambassador together out of three different reports. One I read this morning in today’s edition of the Nishinippon Shimbun.

Their account of the story was curious. They mentioned that Mr. Kwon called Japan an island country※which they said was a subtle Korean insult※but left out the part about the inherent Japanese desire to invade the continent.

Surely they knew about it and snipped it on purpose. Why? To prevent a heated reaction from their readers and avoid creating a bad impression of Koreans, obviously.

Remember that the next time you read a rant from a Western journalist, or a disaffected foreigner writing in the English-language press in Japan, or some blog, that would have you believe the press in this country often whips the insular, narrow-minded populace into a nationalist fervor.

Baloney. It just doesn’t happen, and anyone who spends any amount of time here and is intellectually honest knows that.

It does happen in other East Asian countries, however. But none of them is an island.

The Fukuda administration is just as beset with political trials as the Lee administration in Seoul, so where does the onus lie for this flagrant outburst of febrile macho nationalism?