Rude Korean tourists: Part 2

Before you blame anything toward Koreans. Take a step behind. Look at Geographical and Historical factor. Tsushima is closer to Korean peninsula. Korean do contribute to Tsushima island economy for example ( Tsushima people rather shop in Pusan than any other cities in Japan. Why? Tshushim is closer to Korea rather than Japan. ) The main tourist that visits, eats, and shops atTsushima island are Koreans. Historically, Yes Tsushima Island belonged to Korean peninsual. ( Thier is enough information and evidence etc).

Before you point the gun tigger your gun look at were your fingers are pointing. Its pointing at you!!! ( Korean proverb)

by BostonKing

BostonKing:

Are you saying that the Korean tourists in question have a right to be rude or violate the law simply because Tsushima is geographically closer to Korea than it is to Japan?

Also, Tsushima has been Japanese since at least the 6th century. It seems that the fact that Tsushima has been considered a Japanese province for 1400 years is enough to justify Japan’s territorial claim to the island. Get a grip on reality.

But really if you think about it – you say that It has been regarded as Japanese for 1400 years, but who told you that – the Japanese, or someone who was told by a Japanese person? What I mean is the only people who are gonna care or have any claim are the Koreans and Japanese so surely any age-old claims can only really be from them. To be honest I see it being Japanese though otherwise it could get nastier and I don’t think that it’s worth it. However, Great Britain went to war over the Falkland Islands with Argentina – and Britain won even though it is clearly no where near Britain. I am a British and I think that it was a stupid war. Really this is just another thing for Japs and Koreans to fight over. I am half Korean btw.

Dokdo and Tsushima (Daema-do) are politically contentious issues in Korea. In fact one Korean city claims jurisdiction over Tsushima, so it
shouldn’t be surprising that Korean tours show a different perspective.
As for Kimchee, Koreans eat it with every dish. Any restaurant serving
Korean tourists should have good enough sense to offer it. And if they
don’t, of course expect Koreans to bring it with them. The trash on the beach and disrespect for Japanese law is unexcusable – Koreans do the same thing here in Korea – bad habits. I think everyone should have the experience of being a foreigner somewhere for a while – and learn not to be so jingoistic!

It’s true. Koreans do eat kimchee with every meal, often in multiple varieties. Koreans are more straitforward on average, which can be off-putting to the Japanese sense of Tatemae.

I just finished visiting Japan after living in Korea for over a year and there is a huge difference in etiquette. In Korea people do often throw their trash everywhere. While I did notice some litter in Japan there were never these enourmous piles of garbage rotting in the street like you will often see in Korea. In Japan people getting on a subway car will stand aside and allow everyone to exit before getting on and drivers also give the right of way. In Korea walking and driving is just chaotic. Old women will push their way into a packed subway car instead of waiting for it to clear and there are cars constantly running red lights(through crowded crosswalks), parking/driving on the sidewalk, driving in two lanes(or on the wrong side of the street), mopeds almost running you over on the sidewalk, and people constantly bumping into you or cutting in front of you without saying excuse me. Actually, after a year here I’ve only ever heard one person say excuse me and it wash when she was asking for directions. I do know the korean word for excuse me but these people just don’t say anything when they do these things. In Japan people actually make an attempt to obey traffic laws and I was constantly hearing people say excuse me if they would try to get by me. Japanese were very quiet and considerate on the subway but in korea there’s often someone having a very loud conversation whether it’s on their cell phone or in person or even some people just singing at the top of their lungs with no consideration for others. Though Koreans are incredibly rude at an impersonal level they are equally kind and generous in 1 on 1 situations. People will offer you food if they are snacking on some or the taxi drivers will actually stop the meter to check their gps(my japanese driver didnt do this, he even stopped and got out to ask for directions while my fare was just rolling on past $10 for what should have been a 3 min ride)I know the Koreans don’t mean to be rude, that’s just how their society operates. But honestly, after visiting Japan I’m finding Korea unbearable. People spitting everywhere or pissing in the streets or just how unkept everything is. Japan really seemed to exemplify “excellence in all we do” and the contrast to Korea’s apparent “whatever, it’s good enough” attitude is pretty sharp.

Koreans are certainly very nationalistic people, and most don’t own up to their own weaknesses. I find it kind of ridiculous, because it certainly stems from an inferiority complex. As a nation, Korea (when they were united) accomplished little compared to China and Japan, and they really aren’t accomplishing much now either. All they have is what we historians like to call “soft” power. In other words, the Korean Wave. Korean TV dramas became popular sometime in 2002-2003, and since then the country has finally achieved some form of international recognition.

The fact of the matter is, Korea isn’t very industrialized. Yes, big cities like Seoul are, but we are forgetting that for every city like Seoul, there are alot more small farming communities, and how are these people going to learn manners?

However, I argue that this isn’t an excuse. Look at the United States. They have a whole section of area in the middle called the “Midwest,” basically the country’s breadbasket. Filled with small farming communities. I’ve traveled and lived in the Midwest for a number of years, and the people are polite, kind, and helpful.

Could it be that there are people who are assholes everywhere? Assholes who are Korean, assholes who are Japanese, assholes who are Chinese, Polish, Danish, American, Greek, Italian, Brazilian, Israeli?

As a foreign resident of Korea who has travelled widely, including to Japan, I can say with total honesty that Koreans in my experience are some of the kindest, most warmhearted, welcoming people I have ever encountered anywhere in the wide wide world. Are some of them assholes? Sure. Do some of them travel as tourists to other countries and make fools of themselves? Sure. But such statements are true of ANY nationality — all of which have their flaws, foibles, and frustrations; and all of which have their upsides.

Different cultures — even ones next door to one another — do things differently. Japan is known for an extremely high level of politeness and rigid social decorum, which while likewise observed in Korea as a very Confucian nation happens to be a little bit different.

The upshot of such a post is that it reads like hatespeech or agitprop, however you couch it. It seizes on single instances of bad behavior out of a population of what it admitted in the program to be 40,000-some visitors every year, and presents them as universal. This continued enmity between two neighbors whose culture is SO similar is beyond pointless.