Japanese Celebrity tries her luck in Korea, is driven away by anti-Japanese sentiment
Former Miss Japan Kanto, Megumi Kanto, traveled to South Korea in 2004 in an attempt to become a big celebrity there. She has since returned to Japan, and her experience can be summed up by the title of her new book, “I was hated by Korea”. Apparently a few things she wrote really angered Korean fans:
Her problems, she says, all started with a “misunderstanding” over something she wrote about kimchi, the Korean national dish of pickled cabbage and other vegetables. The offending comment was printed in her own column, titled “Kankoku Tsushin (Korean Correspondence),” which was carried in a Japanese tabloid.
“I wrote, ‘Japanese people refrain from eating kimchi from three days before they return home because the smell easily remains in their bodies.’ That seems to have been interpreted as a slight, that kimchi smells bad,” Kaneko says.
Another perceived insult was her printed comment that “there are many ‘plastic-surgery beauties’ in South Korea.”
Both comments were picked up by a Web site of a major South Korean newspaper, and reaction from readers was fast and extremely furious.
In a single day, more than 20,000 angry comments flooded the site.
Kaneko was the subject of all manner of barbs, from being accused of being a porn actress to a prime example herself of the wonders of plastic surgery. Some of the readers even threatened to attack her physically should they ever spot her in the street.
While the popularity of plastic surgery in South Korea and the effect kimchi has on body odor are well-established facts, when a Japanese person says them it is clearly an insult to Korea. It didn’t help that her “insults” came at a time when South Korea was in the midst of a ridiculous anti-Japanese frenzy over the Dokdo / Takeshima issue.
The porn actress accusation is an interesting one. When looking for additional information on this topic, I googled Megumi Kaneko’s name in Japanese. Sure enough, one of the results was an adult video (not work safe). But is the Megumi Kaneko in the adult movie the same person?
Here we have the 2 Megumi’s side-by-side. Maybe it’s just me, but they don’t appear to be the same person. I also find it highly questionable that somebody who won the Miss Nippon Kanto tournament would be making low budget amateur porn films. I’m guessing that a few over zealous Korean netizens ran a google search, and upon seeing that somebody with the same name had starred in a porn film, declared an innocent celebrity to be an adult film actress. (Because no two people in Japan have the same name, obviously.)
Anyway, read the full story over at Occidentalism.
Full RSS Feed
If Japanese celebrities are going to look to Korea to further their fame and fortune, they’re going to have to learn something America has been learning for quite some time, the language of political correctness.
When there is animosity between cultures or people of differing ethnic ancestry, it’s impossible not to offend unless one takes great care when one speaks of the other. Given the history between Japan and Korea, Japanese celebrities can either learn to speak with excessive consideration and forethought or give up on courting Koreans as future consumers of their pop culture.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
First of all, what the hell do you mean by “well-established facts?” The smell of kimchi is subjective rather than analytical and cannot be subject to such universal statements. To some, the smell of kimchi may be welcomed, perhaps even bringing a sense of nostalgia to Korean expats around the world.
Don’t think you can get away with justifying what this woman has said by asserting that they are true and by putting the word “insult” in parenthesis. If you truly cannot understand why Korean netizens would be angered at such statements, please visit your nearest JR station and jump in front of an oncoming train. You’re a fuckin moron. What the bitch said was impolite. You are a white boy trying to play the yellow man’s game.
She’s also a whore. They both look alike and she was in two AVs, not one. You’re in denial. For future reference, please wipe the cum off your face next time you compare two people, you will see better.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Oh, I masturbate, how I love your comments:
You mention that the smell of kimchi is subjective, and then you go on to state that its odor is nostalgic to Korean expats around the world. That’s great, but she wasn’t making those comments to Korean expats, she was making those remarks in a Japanese publication, mentioning how Japanese people notice her body odor if she has eaten a lot of kimchi. She mentioned how she avoids eating kimchi prior to trips back to Japan because people in Japan would find her body odor different. It seems pretty clear that she wasn’t insulting Korea by making such a comment; it appears to be a simple anecdote about how a certain Korean food can effect her body odor. People often say that eating curry effects one’s body odor, and I don’t see Indian netizens declaring such comments as a horrible insult to their nation.
Maybe they both look alike to you, but that doesn’t constitute proof of Miss Kanto Japan being a porno actress. Clearly, in your pro-Korean rage you really really hope she is a whore.
Keep up the good work: I love reading your angry comments.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Orchird:
I agree with your comments: Japanese celebrities who want to work in Korea will definately have to practice “excessive” consideration(Excessive: “Exceeding a normal, usual, reasonable, or proper limit.”).
However, even if a Japanese celebrity were to agree to every single claim Koreans made, and apologize for every historical issue Koreans brought up, I’m sure that Korean fans would destory he/she at any moment he/she made a comment that depicted Korea in a less-than-great manner. The anti-Japanese sentiment is Korea appears to have reached such a level that reconciliation between the two nations seems almost impossible to me. Koizumi’s visit to Yasukuni next week isn’t going to help matters either.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I’M KOREAN AND THIS POST MAKES ME ANGRY!!! DIE IN A FIRE JAMES!!! RAAAAGE
Rate this comment:
0 
0
“Sharp or spicy odors often come from ingredients present in people’s diets that are secreted through glands. In the same way, someone who is fond of kimchi will sometimes retain the scent of garlic because the ingredients of kimchi, when eaten regularly, continue to be secreted from the body.”
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2006031309018
How it smells is obviously subjective, but the fact that eating a lot of kimchi effects one’s body odor is acknowledged by this Korean newspaper.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Why people like I Masturbate and Rip even visit this blog is beyond me. It seems that they are battered by an inferiority complex with a hint of unhealthy obsession. “You are a white boy trying to play the yellow man’s game”? Fuck off. It’s because of people like him that racism exists.
Not to take anyone’s side here, but the AV Megumi does resemble the actress Megumi. I thought it’s common practice for AV models to become beauty pageants in Japan?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
You barely see any Japanese entertainers making it in Korea but you see so many Koreans making it big in Japan. So what does it say about Japanese and Korean’s entertainment industry?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I do not know if this is true or not but i have heard that many japanese media companies are actually run by koreans so that could indicate why koreans can become popular in japan but not the other way around
Rate this comment:
0 
0