The Japanese Attempt to Erase Korean Culture, History and Identity :: Japanese History Korea Japan Essays

Even though none of my relatives were killed or tortured by the Japanese, I am still afraid. I am afraid that my vicarious wounds still linger inside me, affecting everything I do. I know that they destroyed our cultural and spiritual circle that we maintained for five thousand years. They just had to leave a natural trace that actually became part of us. I don't know if I should hate them. It is ignorantly and unwittingly buried deeply in our unconsciousness. Natural hatred and attraction, like two inseparable sides of a coin, had confused me for so long. Because the scar still remains unhealed and too painful to ignore, and because I hesitate to hate what's part of me. Broken wings were all over the country. They were forced to tear their skin and delicate white feathers off, replacing them with acute and heavy pebbles that filled their lives with sharp pain and humiliation. It all came too naturally. My childhood desk was decorated with cute dolls in red kimonos, a gift from my father, and pictures that I took with Jini. Affectionately-spoken Japanese often filled my house, enabling me to learn some of the foreign words gradually. Kawai, kawai, Jae san wa kawai. I blinked my eyes and laughed a ticklish and bright child's laughter at what my grandma said to me. What does it mean, grandma? A calm, peach colored smile blossomed on grandmother's face. It means very, very, adorable. Another warm smile and a soft pat on my head. Kawai. I recited the word carefully while grandma and mom were having a short conversation in Japanese. In downtown Kyoto, Japan, there lies a small stone monument at the spot where the ears of Koreans taken to Japan during one of its invasions in 1592 were buried. Japan has invaded Korea numerous times in known history, but when it invaded in 1592, Japanese soldiers were known to have cut off the ears of Koreans they either killed or wished to humiliate. One Japanese scholar suggests that later Japanese regimes came to value noses over ears because, somehow, cutting off noses sounds more cruel" (Lee). Koreans love everything from Japan. On cafà © tables in Ap-Guh-Juhn-Dong, the Beverly Hills of Korea, Japanese fashion magazines lay arrogantly. Sony and PlayStation products are sold fiercely in electronics markets. Some Koreans even say that we should admire Japan for their economic success, technology, and lifestyle. Only when it comes to history do they go hysterical and anti-Japan, remembering repeated attempts at invasion until the Japanese finally succeeded in 1910.