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South Koreans react to World Baseball Classic loss

This year’s World Baseball Classic is underway, and (from a Japanese point of view) the whole thing just seems like a series of grudge matches between Japan and South Korea. Both teams had already secured positions in the semi-finals, but it still seemed like both countries had some national pride invested in the game played earlier today.

Japan ended up winning 6-2, so this evening’s Japanese TV news programs featured some South Korean reactions to the result:

In the first part of the clip, a Japanese reporter in Seoul tries to get some post game comments from people who had been watching the action, but he is met with anger from everyone he approaches. The second part of the clip shows two South Korean students who watched the game at an apartment in Tokyo. After the loss, one student uses his dictionary to look up the Japanese term for “complete defeat.”

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36 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - March 20, 2009 at 8:37 pm

Categories: Japanese TV Tags:

putang

i have been fed up with WBC, especialy Korea vs japan. borth korean & japanese media looks like rival lovers of f*g.
http://tokyoyakultswallows.wordpress.com/ Garrett

That surprises me quite a bit and makes me think there’s more than a little manipulation to get the story the reporters thought should be there instead of what’s actually going on.

I was at every inning of every game of Round 1 Pool A at the Tokyo Dome and found that, even after a humiliating 14-2 mercy rule loss in their first face-off, Korean fans reacted with friendly optimism and somewhat excessive flattery of the Japanese team. Likewise, although the sports dailies are carrying headlines like, “A Humbled Japan Goes to America,” fans who pay close attention didn’t seem so despondent after Japan’s loss to Korea.

I’m in South Florida now and watched last night’s win over Korea at a bar with a couple of Korean guys sent here by their employer. While they were disappointed, they were less upset than I would have been had Japan lost. Just like the Korean fans I talked to at the Tokyo Dome, these guys flattered Team Japan and were unreasonably pessimistic about their chances of beating Venezuela (IMO – no contest, Korea will whup Venezuela) or holding their own against Japan in the final.

There is certainly a lot of pride on the line, but last night’s game mattered for a reason ESPN here doesn’t like to bring up: the winner gets to play the US, which for both Japan and Korea is essentially a free pass to the final. This was the same situation in the last game of Round 1, which Korea won 1-0: winner played Mexico, loser played Cuba – big difference.

Cali

Why would it be a free pass to the final?

The Koreans are saying that they get to take a day off and then play their semi-final, rather than Japan, who has to go right into their next game, against a team in their home country.

Your analysis is wrong, here.

A win is a win, no matter what – you Americans should know that best.

http://degenerasian.blogspot.com Tracy

Koreans play Saturday.
Japanese play Sunday.

ponta

I watched a news report on NHK when Japan lost to Korea. It reported Japanese reactions and Korean reactions in Japan and in Korea in the same way that this news reports each. It also showed how Japanese fans were chagrined(kuyashigaru). But I don’t think the interviewer met with anger from every Japanese he approaches, ・・・so perhaps the reporter was impressed by the way some Korean reacted.

I am rather interested in the expats reactions.

Evil Wae Pirates 6, Korea 2
（The Marmot’s Hole)
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=9353

Korea takes down Japan 4-1 in World Baseball Classic Qualifier（Monster island)
・・・・・Msta also asks:

”I don’t really care if they plant their flag or not, but why lie that Japan did it too.”

That’s a good question. I guess it’s because some people get a real kick out of making things up or just having a little fun. So in the absence of evidence of a full-blown flag-planting by Japan, I hereby retract what I said about it and give Msta credit for bringing it to my attention.・・・・

http://kushibo.blogspot.com/2009/03/korea-takes-down-japan-4-1-in-world.html

Ichiro Hakubumi？
（Brian in Jeollanam-do)
http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/03/ichiro-hitobumi.html

Are these posts written independently of Korean sentiments of Korean society , or do they somehow, critically of not, reflect the Korean sentiments?–I am not sure,
I am looking for the posts by the expats in Japan about the same topic.
So far I’ve found none except this post on Japan Probe. Let me know if somebody finds the one.

Dr.Yu

Oh, those damn Koreans. They are really bad people. Only, if they were as civilized as the Japanese.
Japan is 30 years ahead of Korea in everything, only not in baseball, Hahaha !!!! Dae Han Min Guk !!!!
Now our friend Panda will tell everybody how rude koreans are.
Man this is baseball, just take it easy. Don’t turn this game into a new international dispute between Japan and Korea. The best will win, whether Japan or Korea. That’s it.
I hope that our rivalry will be confined within the arena this time.
See you P.

Fuji

Funny, you say it’s just a game but you sound so passionate to put down Koreans. You don’t make any sense so just do all of us a favor and shut up
Dr.Yu

Fuji,
As I said before as long as our rivalry is confined within the arena its good being passionate.
Good luck for both teams.
ponta

Japan is 30 years ahead of Korea in everything, only not in baseball, Hahaha !!!! Dae Han Min Guk !!!!
Now our friend Panda will tell everybody how rude koreans are.
Man this is baseball, just take it easy.

Dr Yu.
I don’t watch the baseball game, but I just hope that both team will do their best.

Dr.Yu

Its funny that instead of celebrating Japan’s victory this post prefers to focus on Koreans reactions. Probably there is not much Japanese celebration at sight.
Anyway this is more than just a game for both countries.

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

“Anyway this is more than just a game for both countries.”

It’s a pissing contest with fancy uniforms.

eyessdeeeff

WBC really needs a rule facelift… Because let’s face it. The past two competitions have been nothing but a Korea vs Japan showdown in baseball. Last WBC I rooted for Japan but even I admit their victory was a little undeserved.

Either way, good luck to both teams. Maybe they can meet each other in the final hahaha.
BottomBurglar

Koreans don’t seem to have a lot to be proud of, do they.

logic

…says someone called the bottom burglar. you sound like a real winner with much to be proud of.

Sk1

It’s just a rivalry. I enjoy rivalries… in hockey, football, american football.. it’s just an exciting part of the game. But.. i know that some fans can take a rivalry and turn it into hatred (i’ve seen friends from Philadelphia fight other friends from Pittsburgh because of rivalries in sports) I hope that Japan and Korea continue a “healthy” rivalry and don’t lose sportsmanship or grow seriously prejudice of one another because of it. The two best teams in a conference (in this case Asia) are inevitably going to clash.

GG Korea. GANBARE NIHON!!

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Yeah, “GANBARE NIHON” – You’re going to have to.

http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090321&content_id=4044586&vkey=wbc&team=kor

PILSEUNG KOREA!

marc

Koreans seem to have an incredibly big chip on their shoulder with respect to anything Japanese.

They are hard to figure out as any little – seemingly trivial – comments seems to set them off. It’s very much like the “is dis ‘cos I is black? I think you’re being racialist!” parody by Ali-G ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpDyJObCKOY ) When Ichiro made a comments indicating the Korean team had “larger bodies”, it was immediately interpreted as “racist” …

The flag on the mound stuff was probably the weirdest … somehow figuring out that the rest of the world might see their planting of the Korean flag on the pitcher’s mound somewhat extremist, a photostopped fake of the Japanese Hinomaru flag was created in order to claim that the Japanese had done the same thing.

And, now there seems to be an Internet tizzy over Japanese figure skaters intimidating a favored Korean skater during pre-game warm-up’s. Stalkerish and obesessive.

While there is certainly a rabid 2ch community, what probably ticks off the Koreans the most is that the majority of Japanese chose to insult them in the worst imaginable way possible. They ignore them.

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Don’t assume that Japanese ignore Koreans – A lot of Japanese simply have a very narrow world. As one lovely woman remarked to me last week, “Oh, you lived in Korea for a few years? Xie xie!” and when I pointed out her mistake, she didn’t really know the difference between China and Korea. (!) To be fair, I live in the boonies of Japan.

I’ve asked many of my adult students what they think of the Takeshima/Dokdo dispute to which they reply, “Where’s Takeshima?”

marc

Well, also “not giving a shit” and indifference on the part of the Japanese is about the same as ignoring the Koreans. And, whichever one it is – it definitely seems to infuriate them even more.

Lt. Col. Frank Slade: [Randy brings Frank a glass of whiskey] Thank you Randy. You still with Snowqueen Sugar?
Randy: Snowflake. How come you always get that wrong?
Lt. Col. Frank Slade: Because it’s not important for me to get it right.

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

I think you missed my point – It’s neither indifference nor “not giving a shit”, but just plain, old-fashioned ignorance. You can’t ignore what you don’t know in the first place.

It’s like Manzai and Japan is “the funny one” and Korea is the “straight one who continues to masochistically hang around the funny one regardless of the outcome”.

Japan does at least one thing much, much better than Korea – Japan knows how to manage it’s PR. (이미지 관리)
parcivale

I don’t see the difference. You call it ignorance and marc calls it a complete lack of interest. Don’t they feed of each other?
The ignorance of many Japanese about South Korea is caused by their lack of interest in South Korea. And because they ignore South Korea they don’t bother to learn anything about the place.

And wasn’t there some Korean boom in Japan a few years back? Bae Yon Jun and “Winter Sonata’ and all that? I remember hearing about women fainting after standing in line for hours at Roppongi Hills to get signed copies of his photo book.

As far as I remember Japanese TV shows and movies and music are still banned in South Korea.
http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

“As far as I remember Japanese TV shows and movies and music are still banned in South Korea.”

Yeah, if this was still 1998. There is no ban on Japanese media in SK anymore, and even before the ban it was still widely available.

http://web-japan.org/trends98/honbun/ntj981207.html
logic

what the hell.. that comment wasn’t even meant to be posted under here but whatever, it was meant for the guy at the bottom saying “koreans are too involved and obsessive(?) about japanese people” or some garbage like that.

but to enter this debate..

lol.. there is a huge difference between ignorance and the lacking of interest. one doesn’t feed into the other.. not being interested is having knowledge about something and not caring. ignorance, however, is much more blind and careless. and unfortunately, blind ignorance can only breed blind ignorance. which is probably the reason why you can’t connect the two.

logic

lol now that’s just not true. koreans are very nationalistic. and japanese people are guilty of the same kind of nationalism. what you are saying is pure hypocrisy.

the planting of the flag is symbolic. think of what happened in that game. it was a low scoring game where pitching dominated all throughout the game. korea’s pitcher against japan with less and 1 era going again yu darvish who is considered a japanese pitching phenom. im not saying darvish isn’t good because WOW, he has talent. but who won that game?

the gesture was symbolic of the dominance of pitching in that game for that game. and yeah, it does represent some feelings about the previous WBC. even if japan never mounted the flag, korea was still ROBBED of their opportunity to go to the finals. and any japanese baseball fan who claims otherwise is just lying to themselves. korea was the farrrrrrrr better team the previous year with a 6-1 record and japan finished what 5-3? with two losses coming from the team they beat once to get into the finals. that was pathetic.

and last, korea does not have much to “prove” this wbc? do you see the way they are playing? without pressure, with swagger, with confidence. they went undefeated 9-0 in the beijing olympics. if any team has something to prove, it’s japan. the japan players aren’t playing like the korean players. they are feeling pressured, they don’t have swagger, they don’t play with confidence. well, except the pitchers. if you don’t agree with me, go look at your “star” player bitchiro and tell me that’s a world class caliber ball player.

fail.

so please, take a look at some facts before climbing up to your ivory tower where you believe you are too good for logical reasoning.

Dr.Yu

Korea haters Japanese and japanophiles says they don’t care about Korea but they bother to waste their time to proclaim to the world their “indifference” to Korea 10 times per day here and other anti-korean sites.
Keep crying because you represent a minority in Japan, and because of your “patriotic effort” to promote the “wonderful Japan” you are promoting the ugly Japan.

The Overthinker

And yet it’s always the Koreans on these sites that get petty and childish.

JpopKpopFan

I’m an American-Japanese that has been studying Koran culture for about a year starting my interest from the Korean wave in media.

I don’t believe the Koreans are being petty, crude or childish to any special degree given the circumstance; Their team lost a second time so there is a great deal of sadness and disappointment. I think its wrong of my fellow Japanese to “Rub it in” That is what brings out anger and pettiness.

One can argue there is more than just rivalry. There is clear hatred of Japan on the part of many Koreans making any reasonable discussion impossible. I’ve found this true sometimes but there is a reason for this. For those who don’t know, Japan Invaded Korea in 1592, After six years of failure, they went home leaving a devastated Korea. Did the Koreans retaliate? No. Later in 1910, Japan occupies Korea for 40 years and tries to eliminate Korean Language, History and culture(That’s crazy!, why did we do that?). Did the Koreans retaliate? No.

Instead we have a few million young Korean boys writing angry things in forums and calling us “Japs”. Is this such a big deal? If the shoes were reversed, We Japanese would not be so peaceful. We Japanese are pretty mean – not only to others but to ourselves. What other country has words like “Ijiwarui”, “Ijimeru”, “Sukebe”, “Ibaru” etc..

Given Korea has some inferiority complex it has to work through in order for real healing between the nations to occur, We Japanese have to lose this Superiority complex and apologize not begrudgingly by the government but wholeheartedly by the People of Japan for the passed evils our forefathers committed. The Germans did it , so can we.

Then and only then will things get better.

Kitaro

It’s funny when Koreans try to imitate Japanese and Japanese Americans to sock puppet themselves on blogs since it’s so painfully obvious.

JpopKpopFan

I am Japanese. Born in Nagasaki Japan, moved to California at the age of three. I’m proud of being Japanese. And I have no problems with Koreans or any other race.

Aceface

“What other country has words like “Ijiwarui”, “Ijimeru”, “Sukebe”, “Ibaru” etc..”

Pretty much in any country on this planet I guess.

“We Japanese have to lose this Superiority complex and apologize not begrudgingly by the government but wholeheartedly by the People of Japan for the passed evils our forefathers committed. The Germans did it , so can we.”

And clearly winning in WBC games didnt contribute in that direction….

I have an idea.
If Koreans want us to “behave” like Germans,thay too have to start acting like Europeans.I mean,by this time the whole world all knows that we Japanese are morally handicapped and certainly needs help from outside.I takes two to tango.
JpopKpopFan

We also invented “Bukkake” and “Shomen Shawa” That’s us, we get 100% credit for these.

The actual game was fair so I don’t think it hurt race relations. No ones contesting the actual final game. Its all the other stuff being said in forums and other media that is going to create lasting bitterness on each side.

Yes it takes two to Tango and in any dance, one person must lead. I’m saying we should take the lead because we started it all. Before 1500, there was no frictions between our nations.

I don’t think we Japanese are morally handicapped yet. I think we are just too proud to admit to our shortcomings and we keep losing our center. We keep importing culture all the while dumping our own. We use “Green” instead of “Midori”, “Taste” instead of “Aji”. Japan is now a sea of blond hair instead of black. We tear up 100 year old “Nihon Teien” so that we can have a cheap imitation “Garden”.

Beyond the Korean thing, we need to shape up if only for our own sakes and become the proud, wise and benevolent powerhouse of Asia that are ancestors would want us to be.

SweetWater

Your comments filled with false statements and distorted notions won’t help Japan and South Korea establish a better relationship. Don’t be so shallow if you want to discuss history and culture, and stop using “we Japanese” when you express your own views.

ponta

I think he is just disugised as a Japanese.
This often happens when someone is really upset and want to paint Japan badly by commenting a trash as a idiot Japanese.
Let’s see.

JpopKpopFan^-san. Please respond in Japanese.
omaisan, nihonjinka? nihonjinnara,tyottonihongodekotaetemoraitaindaga, omaesannnokomentonosyusihananda?
sono”bukkake”tokaiunohanihonjinnosukebeyarounihaamarininkiganakutekaigaideuketeiruerobideonokotokai?
nandematasonnahanashiwodasitekitanda? “morallyhandicapped”tokananntoka,ttesorewakimuranooniisannankagakankokuwotokutyoudukerutokinitukaudoutokunoyuuiseinosyutyoutteyatsuniniteirugaorenokinoseika?
sukunakutomo,omaesannnokomento,nihongonishitemitekureyo.soushitaraomaesangasonokotobadenaniwoiitaikasukoshiwakarutoomouyo.
tyottowaruiganihongodekotaekure.

yoroshiku.

ponta

Ops he was writing another comment I didn’t notice. It’s obvious that he is trying to imitate Japanese.
Have you ever heard Japanese American who moved to California at the age of 3 say “we Japanese”?.
SweetWater

No, I have never heard any native speakers of English saying “we Japanese.” This person smells very fishy or, if I may say…, smells kimchy.

Aceface

“We need to shape up if only for our own sakes and become the proud,wide and benevolent powerhouse of asia that are ancestors would want us to be”.

Well,I’d say inventing “Bukkake” and “Shomen Shawa” and present them to the global arena had already made our ancestors proud and jolly…..

South Koreans react to World Baseball Classic loss

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