Japanese man, woman say they were duped by anti-Korean blog

A man in his 30s and a woman in their 50s aren't duped. Don't blame others for your own belief systems. It's beyond disingenuous.

Part of the problem stems from many Japanese to adequately process information in a balanced way and come to logical conclusions.

Considering the rampant ignorance and the number of conspiracy theories embraced by people all over the globe in recent years, I don't think this is exclusive to Japan. I've taught college composition for more than 20 years (here and elsewhere) and the percentage of young people here who can distinguish between reliable sources and sheer wingnuttery never fails to amaze me. You mean this peer-reviewed article and Joe Bob's flat earth website aren't equivalent!?

This article sums up exactly what has happened with the right wing on the internet in America.

Actually the far left too.

Why are the people's names kept secret? Protecting them only perpetuates the problem.

"The blog, kept by an unidentified person..."

Coward

I think all public funding of private schools should be stopped, as such payments are illegal under article 89 of the constitution.

No doubt some will run away with this story as 'proof' that all Japanese are racist xenophobes,

But in actuality, if you cared to read and understand what happened, the motivations for these two Japanese people were not because of some blind hatred of all ethnic Koreans, but simply because they were upset by the concept of public funding for schools affiliated with North Korea, a country that has demonized Japan and lobbed multiple missiles towards them. Schools that proudly display pictures of the leaders of North Korea and follow their demagogue.

I don't see how anyone from any country can be happy, if they had schools in their country that were affiliated with rogue and terrorist nations and preached the death and destruction of the host country.

While I don't deny there is vile anti-Korean racism and sentiment in Japan, this is not an example of such.

They weren't brainwashed. You can't be brainwashed by a blog, it was just confirming their own prejudices.

Part of the problem stems from many Japanese to adequately process information in a balanced way and come to logical conclusions.

Also, foreigners are seen as a soft and vulnerable target;those lawyers that aided the Koreans were also targeted showing ignorance of the Japanese law (by the blog readers) that allows subsidies for educational establishments.

Instead of using the internet to gather various information for a balanced view,it was used to form and promote extremism, the antithesis of what the net actually can be....

History proves Japan demonized Korea - back to school for you.

Is Kim Jung University accepting new applicants already?

I always love to see how you try to play North Korea as some kind of a victim, when they are only a victim of their despotic leadership.

Even by Kyodo standards this is a bizarre article. A man in his 30s and a woman in her 50s "brainwashed" by a far-right hate site. What? Is Kyodo seriously contending that these people were pure and innocent until they read the blog, whereupon they became part of a baying online mob that sent 130,000 complaints to 21 local bar associations across Japan in a year?

It's beyond disingenuous.

Endless spin, endless whitewash.

I'm assuming that when the lawyers started to fight back they must have gotten a nice legal letter from them, then all of a sudden they "realized" that they had been duped and of course didn't understand what they were doing, they aren't really racist!

@AgentXToday 11:27 am JST

The schools do have pictures of their leaders and teach the history of North Korea. But that is no different to Japanese private schools in other countries having pictures of Abe or the Emperor hanging up and teaching their own language and history. Which they do.

Except, AgentXToday, they are teaching North Korean history in Japan, instead of Japanese history in Japan. Which leads to the problem of why Japanese should pay to have a bunch of Koreans teach North Korean history in Japan instead of Japanese history.

As for whether it is "hate education", I don't have such great sources either. What IS known, however, is that even in South Korea, education quickly gains an "anti-Japanese slant"

http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2009/11/you-die-pervasiveness-of-anti-japanese.html

(The link includes some of those infamous pictures drawn by South Korean children several years back, which if I remember correctly were blamed on a North Korean affiliated school or somesuch).

So prima facie, I don't find such a claim that unreasonable.

Don't they read the news? America is now enjoying a yuuuuuge, beautiful relationship with Kim's Korea.

I proved my point, thank you all.

Hardly anyone commenting on here mentions anything at all about these pro-North Korea affiliated schools. Schools that proudly post pictures of Kim Il-Sung and toe the North Korean party line. A country that has lobbed missiles several times towards Japan and has demonized the Japanese nation in its rhetoric. Last time I checked, the Japanese government wasn't lobbying rockets and bombs towards North Korea, nor promising to rain fire and fury upon the peninsula.

The only thing these narrow minded folk on here see is, oh my gosh, Japanese people engaging in a campaign to punish Japanese lawyers who support funding these radicalized pro-North Korean schools, why, they must be racists! Yet, these same people would absolutely get bent out of shape if there was a school located in their native country that preached hatred and destruction of the native country, and was funded by their local and national government (and students and families affiliated with the school sent money back to the regime). Double standards and hypocrisy as always.

I have in fact spoken out against anti-Korean acts of racism in Japan, on this very website. Like I said, this incident is nowhere remotely close to true anti-Korean racism. Anyone with common sense would understand that.

oldman_13 wrote: No doubt some will run away with this story as 'proof' that all Japanese are racist xenophobes...

On the contrary, while I don't agree with their actions, this doesn't seem to be hatred based on race, but instead based on opposition to a dictatorship regime. (There's lots of blame to go around for the cause of the regime. Maybe Japan deserves the brunt of it; I don't know.)

However, the blog itself sounds like fear mongering, very likely with the intention of brainwashing. The two people mentioned in the article eventually admitted and apologized for their mistake.

However, in comparison, this same fear mongering is spewed by Trump on a near-daily basis, and a large portion of one party in the U.S. has been likewise brainwashed.

These people weren't brainwashed by the blog. They were brainwashed starting from many years...

This could very well be true It would be interesting to see what's written in, e.g., a standard Japanese high-school history textbook. Could be very revealing. The media doesn't seem anything like Fox News bias to me, however, though perhaps I'm watching the wrong channel. I do see a lot of vanity-based propaganda (e.g., Cool Japan).

@thepersoniamnow

I toadily agree with whoever says that there should be no public funding of private education, and vice versa.

Lol now I want someone else to pay for my silly and offensive views because another person duped me, because I lack critical thinking and morals....

AgentX. Argumented and objective ideas are not considered or understood well.

Even mote when people lack political knowledge.

Those 2 idiots should be fired anyway for practicing politics during their service for sure.

I'm not sure how you can be duped into being a bigot but OK...

@ Kazuaki

I fail to see how my or your tax money has anything to do with what people are teaching in schools. I don’t care tha they are teaching Korean history in an Korean school.

So, let me get this straight. These right-wing raciest idiots followed a blog for other right-wing raciest idiots and realised the right-wing raciest idiots were not telling the truth? Now, these right-wing raciest idiots want to sue the other right-wing raciest idiots for being right-wing raciest idiots. Am I right?

@AgentX

I see diplomacy is not strong in this one...

My comment was not made about the article, but at the person I was quoting. But thanks for making assumptions.

How do you know that the schools "preached hatred and destruction of [Japan]"?

The schools do have pictures of their leaders and teach the history of North Korea.

You mean the fabricated history that makes North Korea out to be a victim that needs to destroy the West? Yeah, that's ok... Or do you actually believe that a pro-Pyongyang school are actually teaching real history?

Regardless of the actions of these two, a school financed by and in support of a dictatorial regime that openly wants the country the school resides in to be destroyed should not receive government financing.

I agree with strange land. Let's remember though that the left and the right are both wings of the same bird. If you go so far around the spectrum the difference is minimal

@ oldman_13 with North Korea, a country that has demonized Japan and lobbed multiple missiles towards them.

History proves Japan demonized Korea - back to school for you.

Or do you actually believe that a pro-Pyongyang school are actually teaching real history?

No less than a pro-Japanese school teaches their long history of being 'the victim that was just trying to help'...

Regardless of the actions of these two, a school financed by and in support of a dictatorial regime that openly wants the country the school resides in to be destroyed should not receive government financing.

The last I heard, NK held successful peace talks with the US, and stated that they were willing to also have talks with Japan IF Japan lifted the heavy sanctions that were placed on them are lifted (those sanctions include the assets of some 103 being frozen along with natural resources).

For a relevant comparison, shall we remember what Japan did the last time such heavy sanctions were placed on them?

Your sound-bite about NK 'destroying' other nations, which was a reactive slur in the context of the actions of US, Korea and Japan, is now outdated and somewhat irrelevant. Trump made similar remarks, and by and large, has done a lot more to provoke anyone into war than NK.

If people can refrain from being vindictive and opportunistic - we have a good chance at peace in this region... Sadly, Japan is run by out of touch, privileged man-children.

Lastly, the schools are not involved in the politics of all this anymore than the Japanese schools that put up newspaper cutouts of the evil leader of NK and scaremonger the children into a hatred that manifests later - such as the very story in this article.

These people weren't brainwashed by the blog. They were brainwashed starting from many years before by their educational system and daily media. That's where the seeds were sewn.

The blog only helped to bring those prejudices out of them to where they thought was a safe place. The sentiment they espoused is under the surface with many Japanese. It's just a fact that you pick up on over time. It exists whether one can admit it or not.

...if there was a school located in their native country that preached hatred and destruction of the native country...

How do you know that the schools "preached hatred and destruction of [Japan]"? I don't recall anything in the media about the schools having done that. If so, please link to such an article.

The schools do have pictures of their leaders and teach the history of North Korea. But that is no different to Japanese private schools in other countries having pictures of Abe or the Emperor hanging up and teaching their own language and history. Which they do.

The only thing these narrow minded folk on here see is, oh my gosh, Japanese people engaging in a campaign to punish Japanese lawyers who support funding these radicalized pro-North Korean schools...

As that (the illegal hate-speech inspired actions of a few) is what this article is actually about, the rest of your post is 'off-topic'.

I always love to see how you try to play North Korea as some kind of a victim, when they are only a victim of their despotic leadership.

I see diplomacy is not strong in this one...

A public servant has admitted to being "brainwashed" by a blog that claims Korean residents of Japan and some of Japan's opposition parties are trying to destroy the country.

A PUBLIC SERVANT, people! The next you face systematic discrimination - remember that these people who basically pull the levers in Japan are so easily incited into racist rhetoric.

"A society where adults can be easily incited by the internet and be a party to discrimination is perilous," Ikeda said. "If this problem is left unattended, we might see something similar to the Korean massacre at the time of the (1923) Great Kanto Earthquake at any time."

Yep. Very much so. In fact, because the domestic government of Japan is creating such a warm mess for its citizens now, we could very much see something like this happen again in our generation. Just one little spark at the right time and place is all it would take - as is evident.

Now that the authorities have the names and identities of these far-right maniacs, surely they will be brought to the court under the hate-speech laws, no? Oh, I almost forgot - they ARE the authorities...

More spinning by the usual crew regarding japans historic barbarity. Only positive from this is the realization of their crass stupidity. I'd bet the blogs managed by a government employee. Every dystopian regime needs a boogeyman.