Japanese media reports on Korea-Japan relations: subtitled in English! (Video)

YouTube channel of user oniazuma, who was responsible for the previous video featured here on the DNA of the Japanese people, has posted a wide variety of videos related to politics and crime in Asia. Of particular interest are his translations of Japanese media reports on tensions between South Korea in Japan. Most of these videos have been floating around the net in their original untranslated form for a while now and have been very popular with Japanese netizens, but oniazuma’s have now made the contents of these videos accessable to a much wider audience. Here are a few of oniazuma’s videos:

Asian Social Issues: South Korean Anti Japanese Education

Many of you may have seen the anti-Japanese hate drawings made by South Korean elementary schoolers shown in this video. The Japanese media digs a little deeper into the reason why South Korean schools would make their students draw such hateful pictures, and reveals that official curriculum calls for positive portrayals of North Korea and negative portrayals of America/Japan. As a disclaimer, oniazuma states in the video description:

Every Japanese person I know that has ever been to South Korea, though, has told me that the people there are very kind. Such as older Koreans giving directions in Japanese, even walking Japanese ppl all the way to their destination. They tell me that when they are there, they wonder if there really is anti-japanese sentiment.

Asian Political Issues: Korea and Japan

A report about an professor of economics at Seoul University who publically questioned the reasoning behind anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea and challenged widely held views about Japanese imperialism and the comfort women issue. According to the report, the professor did not suffer a major backlash for his remarks because his remarks may have been viewed as a criticism of the unpopular Roh administration. While one commentator states he believes that Nanking and the comfort women issues are real but should be dropped in favor of more future-minded approaches, another Japanese commentator closes the video by questioning the testimonies of comfort women and mentions a lack of objective evidence supporting South Korean claims about the issue.

Asian Social Issues: Japanese Takeshima, South Korean Dokdo

A news report focusing on the Takeshima/Dokdo dispute, with special focus on last year’s tensions caused by a Japanese ocean surveying ship. According to the report the South Korean government broke and agreement it made with Japan regarding the issue. A man they interview ridicules South Korea’s democracy and the questions the trustworthiness of their government. South Korean claims on the islets are questioned through the mention of an alteration of a historical map at the Dokdo Museum. The report ends with a statement that South Korea doesn’t believe in keeping promises and that they will try anything to get ahead. Ouch.

Asian Political Issues: Korean Claims against China

The same Japanese TV program that ran the report on the Takeshima/Dokdo dispute does a feature on South Korean nationalists claiming that Confucious and Kanji are actually Korean in origin. The reporter also states that South Koreans are also stating that Chinese medicine is Korean in origin. The issue is placed in the greater context of South Korean’s about the Korean-ness of a region of Northeast China. At the end of the video, one Japanese commentator states that “We, the Chinese and Japanese, must at times slap them like a child.” The other commentators seem less stand-offish, though, and as oniazuma states:

Yes, I know that the guy in the brown jacket sort of takes the debate at the end. And yes, judging from this and his other comments he seems to be a very pro mainland china japanese commentator.
I think maybe the other guys were supposed to back Korea but the brown jacket guy just kind of over rode them.

Breaking News from North Korea!

Japanese TV makes fun of a cheezy North Korean video that claims mankind originated in North Korea. Quite hilarious.

These are only a small portion of the videos oniazuka has uploaded. If you’re interested in seeing more, go here!