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Japanese beauty firm under fire over CEO comments on Koreans

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By Noam Galai

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Disgusting man. But people like Yoshida make careers of being abrasive and trampling over others to get to the top.

Hopefully, after a long and sustained boycott of his products, he'll cop himself on.

One day all th eethnic groups will be so intermixed that humans will become boring to look at.

Not a fan of miscegenation, then?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Racially bigoted CEOs will drag their corporate empires into bankruptcy. Consumers should mail their receipts to these CEOs and ask for a refund.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Discrimination against Koreans in Japan goes back decades

Japan remains a fairly homogeneous country, and mixed-race children can often face prejudice

Some honesty in these words from Japan. Something we ALL know all too well.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Hiroto Hasegawa

Japanese traditionally tend to honestly accept the fact that they racially and culturally have roots in China

Japanese do not have roots in China; the very fact that Japanese language is totally unrelated to Sinitic languages is the proof of this.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

SandyBeachHeavenDec. 17  04:49 pm JST

One day all th eethnic groups will be so intermixed that humans will become boring to look at.

We all were, once. The Bible, Quran, etc. all indicate this. As mankind spread out to diverse environments, they evolved into diverse racial and ethnic strains to adapt to these environments. We all have the same common ancesters, science and true religions prove it.

This sort of pathetic “Calling Out” is exactly why Americans are looked at as the WHINERS of the world.. I thought the FritoBandito was cool, in fact, seeing stuff like that as a kid is likely half the reason I took Spanish in Jr High...I loved it.

Look at the name - BANDIT. Frito Bandito was always stealing, an ugly stereotype about Hispanic people. That's one Trump blurted out in 2016, and see the results of that nonsense and hatred. Calling all Latino/a people bandits like that is derogatory, unfunny, uncouth and more than a little stupid. and it encourages violence because it portrays people as being less than human. Again, look at America during the ugly Trump era.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Didn't DHC use a transvestite (not to be confused with transgendered) in some of their TV ads a few years back? I might be mistaken. Come on Suntory. The ball's in your court now.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

OK, I will never buy from DHC again. But keep in mind that the vast majority of Japanese young people have no discrimination attitude toward Koreans. We love K-Pop and Korean TV dramas. Just go to Korea Town in Shin-Okubo, Shinjuku, and see the crowds of youth buying everything Korean, including delicious food. We are different from that guy's generation.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

cleoToday  05:11 pm JST

 pretty much all Japanese I have spoken to believe they are descended from a sun god

I have never met a single Japanese person who actually believes that. Some trot it out as a myth, in much the same vein as the English might talk of Merlin the greatest wizard of all, or Italians might refer to the founder of Rome being raised by a wolf, or modern Egyptians describe the sun as being pushed across the sky by a scarab beetle.

Compare and contrast with the 40% of US adults who claim to believe that God created mankind in their present form some time in the past 10,000 years.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/261680/americans-believe-creationism.aspx

Well said cleo. But saying the truth here only results in downvotes. No Japanese person I have ever known actually believes that Amaterasu stuff as factual history.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Some members of my family took the DNA tests that are popular in The States right now. The results were a little surprising, in that some of us have DNA that is associated with parts of the world that we were not expecting.

The point is that for people living in the Far East, and Asia in general, it would not be surprising if DNA tests revealed the results of travel in the area over the last few hundred, or last few thousand, years. While I do not have any direct information on the subject, I suspect that the idea of "pure (fill in the blank)" is a fallacy.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Japanese traditionally tend to honestly accept the fact that they racially and culturally have roots in China but be reluctant to accept the fact that the part of their racial and cultural origin is also from Korean peninsula.

It's said that the latter tendency has started since Meiji restoration.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"As a father of a son who was born here but has mixed race parents, these idiots are an embarrassment."

Tokyo Joe should not have to feel like this, but sadly he does, and it's been a long-standing problem. A late Japanese friend with a mixed race son would never take him back to Japan for exactly the same reason. Yet as myself and others have often experienced in their own families and observed in others, mixed race children can add fresh faces and combined cultural approaches to society.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

 pretty much all Japanese I have spoken to believe they are descended from a sun god

I have never met a single Japanese person who actually believes that. Some trot it out as a myth, in much the same vein as the English might talk of Merlin the greatest wizard of all, or Italians might refer to the founder of Rome being raised by a wolf, or modern Egyptians describe the sun as being pushed across the sky by a scarab beetle.

Compare and contrast with the 40% of US adults who claim to believe that God created mankind in their present form some time in the past 10,000 years.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/261680/americans-believe-creationism.aspx

-5 ( +7 / -12 )

So why do the Japanese have this belief in ‘purity’ of race?

The answer to this may explain why this issue keeps returning again and again to the news.

Well, the creationist myth put forward by the state in the Shinto religion finds its origins with Amaterasu the sun god.

Definitely agree, pretty much all Japanese I have spoken to believe they are descended from a sun god, absolute lunacy. A few centuries behind the rest of us

8 ( +12 / -4 )

One day all th eethnic groups will be so intermixed that humans will become boring to look at.

-15 ( +1 / -16 )

There's been offensive stereotypes in American ads thruout history. Remember Frito Bandito? Or that obnoxious 'French policeman'

This sort of pathetic “Calling Out” is exactly why Americans are looked at as the WHINERS of the world.. I thought the FritoBandito was cool, in fact, seeing stuff like that as a kid is likely half the reason I took Spanish in Jr High...I loved it.

I was also in love with my Spanish Teacher.

-20 ( +2 / -22 )

Either the board of directors should oust the CEO

What I'm sure will happen is the CEO will step down and be relocated to another position in the company. I'm sure it's rare that someone higher up will actually be fired. As a result, not too much will change since that guy will still be in the company. To fire someone who has been in the company for a long time will be expensive for the company.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

This is extra abhorrent because the company is originally a translation company Daigaku Hon'yaku Center. These remarks are from a company that deals with communication with foreigners.

If I remember correctly, the reason DHC is now known for other things is that they got a contract with convenience stores to supply vitamin tablets, just before the rules relaxed and convenience stores became permitted to see low level pharmaceuticals. Vitamin tablets in a country where people pay 800 yen for a dozen aspirins (30 yen for generics in the UK) are a license to print money, and putting them in small sachets for conbini type retail just makes it even tastier. From there it's a short jump into the huge markup snake oil of cosmetics.

As Alfie says, boycott DHC.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

There are many things to like about Japanese culture, but their petty and childish racism is not one of them.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

So why do the Japanese have this belief in ‘purity’ of race?

The answer to this may explain why this issue keeps returning again and again to the news.

Well, the creationist myth put forward by the state in the Shinto religion finds its origins with Amaterasu the sun god.

Also, the fact that Japan was closed for hundreds of years allowed a unique culture to flourish which is unfortunately, acutely discriminatory.

And unfortunately, once again are the less intellectual gifted who find some vestige of belief in the above.

There is also the education which does not like the question ‘why’ as it is inconsistent with mass testing but not explanations...

13 ( +14 / -1 )

What a pillock

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The fact that no one is shocked or surprised by this nasty xenophobia speaks volumes about those in positions of power in this country.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Ego Sum Lux MundiToday 11:43 am JST

East Asians (Chinese Han, Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, etc.) are the most ethno-centric people on Earth, and they all view their countries as virtual ethno-states that exist to serve and protect the interests of their tribe. Modern liberal Westerners have no idea just how much their "race doesn't define nationality!" mantra is rejected in this part of the world.

There exists no universality in East Asia. Each countries around here can't deal with other countries beyond their own national interest.

-7 ( +4 / -11 )

There's been offensive stereotypes in American ads thruout history. Remember Frito Bandito? Or that obnoxious 'French policeman' who briefly was a mascot for McDonald's ads in 1982 (man, he was SO irritating!).?

-13 ( +1 / -14 )

Anti-Korea sentiment in Japan is definitely getting worse than anti-Japan sentiment in Korea.

Can someone teach me how to turn this tide back to 80-90s?

Thank you.

-14 ( +1 / -15 )

I applaud JT for writing out the offending word for us readers, so we can all see why it's offensive and shouldn't be used in everyday common speech. In the 5th grade one of my teachers wrote several anti-black, anti-white, anti-everything words for us and explained why they are bad. She didn't try to sugar coat it with PC talk.

SJToday  06:43 am JST

Archaeologists and anthropologists agree that the pure Japanese were Ainu, i.e., the Hokkaido Jomon people. The Jomon people were later mixed with the Yayoi people who crossed the Korea Strait.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/in-search-of-japanese-roots

I agree completely here. Nearly every land has its original indigenous people and outsiders came in and mixed with the native population. So what is 'purely Japanese'? Since Japan does have people of Korean ancestry, 'Japanese' practically means whoever is there of every ancestry - Ainu, Yayoi, people from later migrations, and that includes the ones who migrated from Korea later on. To say otherwise is ethnocentric and xenophobic, and using a slur is a rotten way to sell a product.

Just like the United States of America is - a racial and ethnic mixture. A lot of people here in America don't even know that the one billionn people in China is a mixture of several ethnicities too.

-11 ( +3 / -14 )

DHC supports cruelty against animals in the form of animal testing anyways (=they sell in mainland China, which means the products are tested on animals), so this racist slur is just another reason why people shouldn't even look to the direction of DHC products.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

i@nToday  12:46 pm JST

Your wife has no say about it?

Not on my account, no. If she want's them that badly she can set up her own account and pay for them!

That's fair I guess.

I just hope that the sentiment of the ceo is not a reason some customers buy the products

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Well said @zurcronium.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Racism is a fundamental aspect of human culture, there are very few places I have been that have a minimal amount of it. Perhaps Hawaii is one such example. But Japan and the rest of the USA are not. The current President of the USA based his 2016 and 2020 campaign on overt racism and the proposition that whites are the superior people over people of color. And he was elected once, the racists think twice. Many posts above reflect the white supremacist belief which is pure racism, leading to them to claim that it is whites who suffer racism in the USA. Just crazy stuff. Japan racism is deeply embedded in a fabric of delusion about purity which is total joke from a genetic scientific perspective. Racism is illogical, not supported by science but is very, very human. We collectively have various weaknesses and racism is one of them. The anti-Korean attitudes in Japan are a sad example. If I used DHC products I would dump them today. Another company run by an overt racist in Japan is the CEO Toshio Motoya of APA Hotels.

-9 ( +5 / -14 )

Your wife has no say about it?

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

The problem behind is simply, although we all may probably stem from Koreans , DshengisKhan, Africa or apes or even more earlier from very big tree rats, we just don’t want to see or be reminded of that or being showed daily masses of apes or rats overrepresented, wether in TV commercials nor anywhere else, or does anybody of you really do? lol

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

@ Wolfpack

I don’t buy the idea of pure Japanese unless you exclude the fact that there has been a lot of immigrants from the Korean peninsula over the past few millennia.

I keep saying that this is a country with a made-up history, very little has any bearing to reality....and by god !! Do they abuse the lies !!!

@ Ego lux

".. are the most ethno-centric people on Earth, and they all view their countries as virtual ethno-states that exist to serve and protect the interests of their tribe. Modern liberal Westerners"

Most of the " countries " are just geographical expressions. They were vastly preceded by the groups that inhabit them today, who themselves might have moved a myriad times, exchanging dna with various groups before settling in the present " country".

1 ( +3 / -2 )

@expat, "Scratch a penny..." and, ?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Ego Sum Lux Mundi

East Asians (Chinese Han, Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, etc.) are the most ethno-centric people on Earth, and they all view their countries as virtual ethno-states that exist to serve and protect the interests of their tribe. Modern liberal Westerners have no idea just how much their "race doesn't define nationality!" mantra is rejected in this part of the world.

The problem: Confucianism

And East Asians are not even aware that motivation of their tribalism / dispute shares the same roots or source of belief system.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

East Asians (Chinese Han, Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, etc.) are the most ethno-centric people on Earth, and they all view their countries as virtual ethno-states that exist to serve and protect the interests of their tribe. Modern liberal Westerners have no idea just how much their "race doesn't define nationality!" mantra is rejected in this part of the world.

-7 ( +5 / -12 )

DHC beauty products are great and I will continue to buy from DHC!

-6 ( +6 / -12 )

I've already switched over most of my supplements from DHC to Asahi/Dear Natura. But, it looks like I will switch the remaining one or two, forthwith.

If there's one (or two) things I hate, it's racism and nationalism, which in Japan, are basically the same thing.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Chinese tourists like to see 'Made in Japan' on goods they buy when visiting Japan, as an example.

Beyond Mr Yoshida's racist views, even as he puts the derogatory boot into rival Suntory, he is probably looking more practically at sales prospects to people who make decisions based upon such things.

As they say, 'Pride comes before a fall.'

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The firm, which operates in South Korea,

I think they'll have to change that to the past tense pretty soon.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Racist attitudes towards Koreans, Chinese, and other Asians in Japan is undeniable but it's worse for those with African or Afro-American backgrounds like Ariana Miyamoto and Naomi Osaka in Japan. When skin color and some facial features are different, racism in Japan becomes amplified. And yet most Japanese will tell you that racism doesn't exist in Japan. They deny it, don't want to talk about it, get angered by the notion, or simply ignore it. Major media never even broach the subject. How many Japanese youth are even aware of it.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

"Chon" is a derogatory term for Koreans in Japan, widely regarded as discriminatory.

Yes and no. While some Japanese (more colloquial levels) words which end "chon" hold a derogatory implication, there are also many other words containing "chon" as a syllable but having nothing to do with racism. People should be more reasonable, should not be misled with wild assumptions/groundless accusations and excessive political-corrected witch-hunting.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Source please,because your last part of your comment is innacurate.

Japanese,Chinese and Koreans,the genetic difference between any of the three groups is less than 1% of their total genetic diversity, which is much smaller than that between any of the groups and a European population 10%

And this is a written fact.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Japan remains a fairly homogeneous country, and mixed-race children can often face prejudice, although attitudes among younger generations are changing.

Many and the increasing number of ethnic Korean living in Japan are already Japanese nationals. Younger generations were born in Japan, speak Japanese like natives, behave like locals, are accultured and bicultural.

I've been suggesting that the term "Zainichi" be replaced with Korean Japanese in reference to one of the largest ethnic minorities in Japan. Though it literally means "expatriates in Japan", the term Zainichi carries negative connotations.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

foreignbrotherhoodarmyToday  07:49 am JST

Just tell him that Japanese people came from Korean and Chinese people. Then watch his fat face go red.

That's really not true. That the Yaoi people crossed over from the Korean Peninsula is true. But genetically Japanese have been found to be be closer to Nepal than China.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

I would boycott DHC..... but I'm pretty sure I don't use anything made by DHC.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

NihonviewToday  08:26 am JST

Just tell him that Japanese people came from Korean and Chinese people. Then watch his fat face go red.

and go tell the Korean and Chinese people came from Africa.

And again you contradict yourself,it seems that human evolution is not your field.

Japanese being part of the homo sapiens sapiens specie also come from Africa,because believe it or not we’re the same specie.

And actually they found out that sapiens that lived in Europe and Asia interbreed with the other last homo specie that was around until 30.000 to 40.000 years ago.

The homo nehandertalensis.

So all these racist comments come just from deep ignorance and fear to acknowledge facts.

The nihonjonro narrative is pure crap.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

When you have a “Trade Partner” like South Korea, that continually links everything from a half century ago, as a reason to rip off major companies (Japanese) of today, what do you expect?

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

I have to agree with Marx. The Marx here that is.

Most Japanese, under not even that thick layer of lacquer will agree with the DHC Ceo. Of course his comments are not surprising as Mr Noakes points out.

I guess the Koreans will intensify their boycott, which in itself i find childish and immature because of the reasons for it, but Japan sales will pick up

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

It strikes me that Mr. Yoshida should only open his mouth to change feet.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

There are some minor genetic differences among East Asians. If these minor differences are considered consequential enough to make some people feel they are “pure” something or other - who cares? Differences are mostly cultural and linguistic. These differences make the world more interesting. Some seem to think that multi-cultural is preferable. I disagree. After a certain period of time in which people become more and more multicultural you will end up with a mono-culture. That is what I call boring.

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

This CEO is the microcosm of how many salary man and salaried workers in company think.

I didn't like believing this for awhile, but Japan has a true racist problem of the heart and pleads ignorance when it is convenient and bully often, with malice. Their protectionist souls are a detriment to open mindedness and the need for flexibility to be transparent and understanding of one's own self. The stubborn and often downright bad behavior of salaryman in Japan can be appalling, but it happens daily and they know their jobs rely on being homogenous, which is what the boss thinks.

7 ( +11 / -4 )

JJ Jetplane: Giving opportunities to an oppressed and underrepresented group isn't discrimination.

It can be discriminatory if the “underrepresented group” is given an opportunity based in any part on the fact that they are a person from an underrepresented group. Discrimination is discrimination. Holding an individual responsible for discrimination unrelated to their own actions is textbook discrimination.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

DHC sales will now take off, since most Japanese agree with this CEO.

I don’t know about most, but there will be quite a few takers. There is a lot of hated of Koreans here.

Many Japanese women I know tell me that they envy Korean women’s skin.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

The firm, which operates in South Korea, the U.S., Taiwan and the UK, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

If this firm is so, "pure Japanese" why does it have to operate 3 other countries? Logically a homogenous society should be self-sufficient.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

DHC sales will now take off, since most Japanese agree with this CEO.

7 ( +14 / -7 )

If you look deep into any manufacturers in Japan, you will find that several of their raw materials and parts are either imported from China, Korea, or Taiwan including DHC and Suntory, all he needed to do is just look in the mirror.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

There is nothing pure about importing 80% of all your essentials.

10 ( +13 / -3 )

@Meiyouwenti

The CEO merely pointed out the fact that there are people who use a derogatory term when they refer to Suntory. I’d keep buying their health supplements

No. His comments are literally pointing out that there is superiority in one group due to race. Furthermore, pointing something out does not warrant one repeating the racial slur.

11 ( +15 / -4 )

As I said before, when you live on an island and you speak only one language you see the world with a very narrow lens.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

@Hachidori

By the looks of it, both companies (DHC and Suntory) are led by xenophobes who openly practice discrimination.

You seriously are lacking understanding of discrimination. Giving opportunities to an oppressed and underrepresented group isn't discrimination. If 1 out of 10 employers is giving you an opportunity that is not discrimination. In this case, one group qualifies for both companies while the other group only qualifies for one of the two companies.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

As a black man from Baltimore I'd love to educate the guy (and East Asians in general) how we all come from common ancestors from ... Mother Africa.

Hakuna Matata ya'll

3 ( +15 / -12 )

Why is anyone surprised?

Yoshida is a notorious historical-revisionist racist bigot who has run a history-denying, Yasukuni-licking channel on YouTube for years. It's common knowledge, like the Nazi-sympathiser Dr. Takasu, the self-promoting plastic surgeon who's always on TV. Boycott DHC.

9 ( +16 / -7 )

Just tell him that Japanese people came from Korean and Chinese people. Then watch his fat face go red.

and go tell the Korean and Chinese people came from Africa.

-9 ( +9 / -18 )

The CEO merely pointed out the fact that there are people who use a derogatory term when they refer to Suntory. I’d keep buying their health supplements.

The problem is he went on to write that his company only use "pure Japanese" models. This means he thinks other models are interior to the pure Japanese ones.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

What an embarrassment to the nation of Japan he is.

3 ( +12 / -9 )

As a father of a son who was born here but has mixed race parents, these idiots are an embarrassment. Unfortunately my son will grow up with the children of idiots like him. I will teach him that this small close minded attitude is sad and pathetic. He will travel all over the world with me as he's growing up, he will see all different types of people and understand that he is a more interesting person because of the different cultures he has not a lesser person.

16 ( +21 / -5 )

Japan remains a fairly homogeneous country, and mixed-race children can often face prejudice, although attitudes among younger generations are changing.

Good to hear that attitudes are changing towards mixed-race children, but prejudice should never have existed in the first place.

As for the term "pure Japanese", I don't believe that there is any such thing.

10 ( +16 / -6 )

Unreal...but very typical of this generation. The idea of being "pure Japanese"? Give me a break.

Yeah...keep it pure Yamato Yoshida-kun (or something like that).

Note: The use of "kun" relates to his cognitive ability and not his age

12 ( +15 / -3 )

The CEO merely pointed out the fact that there are people who use a derogatory term when they refer to Suntory. I’d keep buying their health supplements.

And then talks about DHC being “pure Japanese”. That’s a superiority complex and in this case because we are talking about ethnicity and nothing else, it is racist.

17 ( +22 / -5 )

Yoshida was 4 when Japan surrendered. He obviously never got over it.

14 ( +20 / -6 )

So, I take it that the Suntory models are more beautiful?

8 ( +13 / -5 )

 the models hired for Suntory's commercials are almost all Korean-Japanese.

I think I know the reason. A Japanese modeling agency director was once asked why so many of the fashion models used in Japan were foreigners. He replied there is technical global criterion for models relating to body size and shape, and said that about around 1 in 100 in the world meet it -- tall height, long legs, small face, etc. He said that among Japanese people, however, the ratio is much, much lower, the lowest in the world in fact, due to their short legs/long intestines caused by eating so much rice throughout their lives.

Korean women definitely do have longer legs and more proportioned bodies than their Japanese counterparts. So no surprise that Sapporo was using them in their PR.

6 ( +17 / -11 )

Just tell him that Japanese people came from Korean and Chinese people. Then watch his fat face go red.

25 ( +33 / -8 )

Again this japanese race purity conversation?

Someone wake this people to reality, we are in the 21st Century.

Stop living in a dream, or go ahead and close the country again for 200 years to understand how important other nations are to Japan.

18 ( +23 / -5 )

The CEO merely pointed out the fact that there are people who use a derogatory term when they refer to Suntory. I’d keep buying their health supplements.

-23 ( +8 / -31 )

More conclusive is the evidence that Nara was, in essence, a Korean colony. Excavation of burial mounds found throughout the prefecture has revealed earthenware artifacts virtually identical to those found in similar burial mounds on the Korean Peninsula. And nobody challenges the notion that Buddhism first entered Nara from there. The word “nara” itself means “motherland” in Korean.

There are also political implications involved, because a thorough investigation of all of Nara’s burial mounds could uncover the evidence to prove what many Japanese rightwingers and royalists most fear: that the current Imperial family really is descended from a Korean imperial family.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2003/07/06/general/buried-treasure-the-mysteries-and-majesty-of-nara/

8 ( +17 / -9 )

Technically, "Chon" includes the Japanese Royal family.

Looking ahead at a year when the two countries will co-host the World Cup finals, Akihito said he felt personal attachment to Korea because of the blood ties of his ancestors.

"I, on my part, feel a certain kinship with Korea, given the fact that it is recorded in the Chronicles of Japan that the mother of Emperor Kammu was of the line of King Muryong of Paekche," he told reporters.

Kammu, reigned Japan from 781 to 806 AD, while Muryong ruled the Paekche Kingdom in Korea from 501 to 523 AD.

Although he was quoting historical records, it is the first time that an emperor has publicly lauded the Korean blood in the imperial line.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/28/japan.worlddispatch

21 ( +28 / -7 )

Either the board of directors should oust the CEO, or the public should refrain from buying DHC products, which sadly would put a lot of “pure” Japanese out of work.

18 ( +24 / -6 )

"For some reason, the models hired for Suntory's commercials are almost all Korean-Japanese. So that's why it seems they're mocked on the Internet as 'Chontory,'" he wrote.

By the looks of it, both companies (DHC and Suntory) are led by xenophobes who openly practice discrimination.

There's no sides to choose.

-14 ( +11 / -25 )

Discrimination against Koreans in Japan goes back decades, against a backdrop of tense ties between Seoul and Tokyo over issues related to wartime history.

The enmity is mutual and it goes back much longer than mere decades.

Yoshida went on to write that DHC's employees by comparison were all "pure Japanese."

I don’t buy the idea of pure Japanese unless you exclude the fact that there has been a lot of immigrants from the Korean peninsula over the past few millennia.

21 ( +25 / -4 )

Archaeologists and anthropologists agree that the pure Japanese were Ainu, i.e., the Hokkaido Jomon people. The Jomon people were later mixed with the Yayoi people who crossed the Korea Strait.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/in-search-of-japanese-roots

35 ( +46 / -11 )

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