black_jack comments

Of course not. Korea was China's vassal state for thousands of years. They cannot criticise their former master, even though they contributed to the division of Korean peninsula. I bet most Koreans don't even know that the Americans were successful in pushing North Koreans up to north and recovering the majority of Korean peninsula until China sent People's Liberation Army. Instead of asking for apology and organising mass anti-Chinese demonstration, the country led by Moon is kowtowing to China, as if they want to become their vassal state again.

For those who think that Koreans will stop whining if Japan abolishes the rising sun flag, you are so naive! Next they will try to seek something else to criticise Japan. Shall we also ban the national flag too? At the end the Japanese military marched through territories they occupied with that flag too. Oh what about Union Jack, French Tri-color, US’s Stars and Stripes etc.? Koreans’ logic does not make any sense at all. They were not even at war with Japan

Koreans should focus their energy into the real issues the country is facing such as: North Korea, high unemployment rate among the youth, corruption in the government etc. It is sad that they cannot see how ridiculous they look to other people by throwing tantrum over a flag that historically doesn’t have to do anything with them (remember, Korea was not at war with Japan)

Koreans should also stop acting like they are the representative of the whole Asians by saying “this is offensive in Asia”, “this flag is the symbol of Japanese imperialism to Asians” blah, blah, when it’s only Koreans are complaining about it. Not to mention that they just started to complain about it recently based on some opportunistic motives.

Rising sun flag is the symbol of Japan whether you like it or not! Based on Koreans’ logic, many countries will need to ban their flags such as UK, France , US China etc.

More Japan-bashing rhetoric coming on the way to distract people's attention.

To me, it was shocking to find out that S Korea was in the White List in the 1st place. Japan has been very naive to put a country with anti-Japanese agenda in the list of trusted nations. It would be like US putting Cuba or Iran in their white list. It is a bit thick for Koreans to demand that Japan put them back in the list when the whole country from the government, media to common citizens have been enthusiastically trying to spread anti-Japanese propaganda and their hatred against Japan to other nations.

It is really sad to see the the issue created by Moon to cover his own incompetence and scandals and divert people attentions is affecting this kind of people who could play a big role in bridging Japan and S. Korea and improving the relation between the 2 countries.

Don’t Koreans have more serious issues to tackle, rather than crying over something that has nothing to do with them?

As expected the anti-South Korea crowd is out in force again.

Like others have said if the flag isn't political why is it sprawled over every single rightists' black van?

It should have been burned in the streets of Tokyo while they were incinerating all of those documents at the end of WW2.

The Japanese right wingers also use the national flag. It is common for any right wing group to use flags and symbols of the country. I live in the UK, and I saw a right wing group called English Defence League marching with the Union Jack. Does that make the Union Jack a political flag? White supremacists in the US march with the US flag. Does that make the flag of Stars and Stripes political and symbol of white supremacy?

AkieToday  07:44 am JST

black_jack, you are not a movie fun, are you ? There are at least thousand movies out there about Pacific war, and the image of the rising sun flag isn't pretty, to be honest.

Education is the best food for wisdom.

Lol. What is your point? Are you saying that Japan needs to ban this flag because it appears many in WWII movies? Does not make any sense.

AkieToday  07:12 am JST

Unfortunately, the image was damaged badly by the Imperialistic Army.

Only in the of mind of you and Koreans. Rising Sun flag is the symbol of Japan and will remain the symbol of Japan regardless of its history, just like the Union Flag being the symbol of UK despite its dark past as a colonial empire.

I pity Koreans for not realising how ridiculous they look to the outer world by constantly crying over some Japanese flag totally based on emotion without any basic logic and harassing anyone who uses this flag. This reminds me of the movement to change the name of "Sea of Japan", some 10 years ago. To me, it seems that Koreans are constantly trying to seek anything related to Japan and make it offensive. Then, many other Koreans believe this without any critical mind and follow this movement through group hysteria. As they lack any kind of critical thinking, especially when it comes to Japan, they think that they are the right ones and entitled to force the world their views. They send spam e-mails and threats to celebrities (the lates victim is Sean Lennon), Youtubers, businesses harassing them.I would not be surprised if someone in Korea start complaining about the national flag of Japan saying that it was also the national flag of the Japanese Empire (and hence need to be banned), followed by the same group hysteria we are witnessing now.

As a Japanese person, I was not even aware of the so called list of white countries until this issue started to emerge. To think that S. Korea was originally included in that list is outrageous considering the anti-Japanese doctrine and propaganda that dominates the whole nation from the government, media to the general public. S. Korean kids are taught to hate Japan, and when they grow up and move abroad to study/work etc. they try to spread their hate to their host countries. I live in the UK and I have heard many stories where Korean students where harassing some businesses such as sushi/bento restaurants for using rising sun flag. One of my mates also told me that his Korean flatmate was constantly telling him how Japan is such a bad and evil country etc.

Japan has been too nice to S. Korea, however that country took that kindness for granted and as a sign of weakness and appeasement, and that encouraged them to keep spitting on Japan's face. Japan should learn from China on how to treat S. Korea. S. Korea was a tributary state of China for more than 1,000 years (and it looks like they are wishing to restore that status now without realising), and China treats S. Korea as such. China has inflicted more misery to Korea than any other countries in modern Korean history. If the Chinese had not participated in Korean war supporting North Korea, there would be no North Korea, and the whole peninsula would have been unified under the S. Korean government.

The fact that Koreans only complain about the naval flag but not the national flag lacks logic as it was the national flag that could be more associated with the Japanese occupation and colonisation of Korea as this was the flag that was flying over many places in Korea during Japanese era. Koreans have nothing to do with the naval flag as they were not fighting against Japan. In fact, many Korean men volunteered for the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy.

If Japan had to change its flags due to its past, then many countries that had imperialistic history have to change their flags too. And don't forget that the Germans still use Iron Cross on their military aircrafts and tanks etc. and no other countries that were invaded by Nazi Germany complain about it as they clearly understand that Iron Cross was adopted way before Nazism and does not represent Nazi ideology, unlike the Nazi Swastika. The situation of the Rising Sun Flag is much closer to that of the Iron Cross than Nazi Swastika, but Koreans just ignore that fact that German military still uses Iron cross and no other countries complain, simply because it does not suit their anti-Japanese campaign.

South Koreans will always try to find some opportunities to criticise Japan and they will never stop. Let's say if Japan decides to abolish the Rising Sun Flag, then next they will complain about the national flag saying that it reminds them of Japanese occupation etc., since it was also the national flag of the Empire of Japan.

The fact that Koreans only complain about the naval flag but not the national flag lacks logic as it was the national flag that could be more associated with the Japanese occupation and colonisation of Korea as this was the flag that was flying over many places in Korea during Japanese era. Koreans have nothing to do with the naval flag as they were not fighting against Japan. In fact, as someone already said, many Korean men volunteered for the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy.

If Japan had to change its flags due to its past, then many countries that had imperialistic history have to change their flags. And don't forget that the Germans still use Iron Cross on their military aircrafts and tanks etc. and no other countries that were invaded by Nazi Germany complain about it as they clearly understand that Iron Cross was adopted way before nazism and does not represent Nazi ideology, unlike the Nazi Swastika.

South Koreans will always try to find some excuses to criticise Japan and they will never stop. Let's say if Japan decides to abolish the Rising Sun Flag, then next they will complain about the national flag saying that it reminds them of Japanese occupation etc.

You guys must be very naive if you really think that China is just seeking justice and everything will be solved once Japan apologize "appropriately". As already some people said, China is using this historic issue as a political tool to divert people's attention from internal problems (such as disparity between the rich and the poor, independence movements, pollution, corruption) as well as to cover its imperialistic expansionism in South and East China Sea .

Secondly many people blame Abe for the deterioration of Sino-Japanese relation. The relation deteriorated when ironically Japan was under the rule of pro-Chinese and anti-American Democratic Party. The Senkaku issues escalated then when China sent a fishing boat to intrude Japanese water and ram into a Japanese Coast Guard ship. So China had the opportunity to improve Sino-Japanese relationship when Japan was under the rule of Yukio Hatoyama and his successor Naoto Kan who were "the opposite" of Shinzo Abe, yet they used this opportunity to provoke Japan instead. You show kindness to China and they will take it as a weakness.

@smithinjapan

You mean like you're doing here? Or like Japan over the abductions? Or is that suddenly relevant and something that needs to be addressed?

The abduction issue is an ongoing issue that is still happening right now. North Korea has not returned most of them yet.

To me it looks like the Koreans love to complain about Japan at the slightest opportunity. It is how they keep their identity. Let's not forget that Koreans were Japanese citizens back then and many Japanese citizens (including Japanese and Taiwanese) were drafted for forded labor at the end of the war. Not only Koreans as they love to portray. You don't see Taiwanese people still crying and complaining about it.

Is there anything that Koreans don't whine about?

Those who are blaming Abe for these despicable killings are the living proof for ISIS that their cruel tactics are effective to make the public feel hostile toward the government. You don't realize that you are just acting the way that those terrorists want you to act, and thus you are naively supporting them. One of their objectives is to instill fear into public's mind and make them put pressure on the government. Those two guys were already kidnapped before Abe publisized Japanese contribution against ISIS. Did ISIS try to release them? No? Would they ever have released them, even if Japan had not taken part in this fight against terrorism. Of course not. They would have killed them sooner or later. They were just looking for timing.

Some people have a really simple brain that prevent them from rational-thinking. They cannot even distinguish between Kamikaze pilots who were in their 20's targeting military targets with Hitler or jihadists.

Again and again. You cannot compare Kamikaze pilots who were trying to defend their own country targeting military ships with jihadists who are targeting innocent civilians.

Would a memo written and signed by a Nazi pen-pusher, authorizing the death of camp prisoners, be registered in order to show the value of world peace?

You cannot compare Kamikaze pilots who were targeting military targets with Nazi officials who were responsible of massacring civil citizens based on their race religion etc.

To me, the only explanation for Koreans' zealous lobby to change the name of the sea of Japan is their inferiority complex against Japan. You don't see British people crying over the name of Irish sea, or Americans complaining about the name of gulf of Mexico as both nations achieved many great things in their respective history, and people don't care about such little things. The sad thing is that those Koreans don't realize how ridiculous they look to the rest of the world.

I recommend this video of an interview of a Korean professor explaining about the truth of the so-called comfort women / war prostitutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU5GerTx8

Sorry. The link above doesn't work. Try this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjQNeO_rxxM

I recommend this video of an interview of a Korean professor explaining about the truth of the so-called comfort women / war prostitutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU5G_e_rTx8

There is no evidence that those women were kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery by the imperial army. Even the US military reported that those women were paid prostitutes serving soldiers. Many of those Korean comfort women/ war prostitutes were hired by local (Korean) brokers or sold even by their own parents. And lets not forget that there were many Korean men who joined the imperial army voluntarily, which means that some of them probably used sexual services offered by those prostitutes. So Korean side is not innocent in this issue either.

To Peaceasia,

First of all, WWII has nothing to do with this issue which was created and escalated by China. Just because Japan invaded China 70 years ago does not give the comunist China the right to behave like a typical selfish bully in the school court yard intimidating its smaller neigbors.

Secondly, it is China that has to learn from the mitakes of WWII-Germany, not Japan. China is acting like Nazi-Germany by trying to steal lands from its neighbors just like Germany did before and during WWII.

And lastly, what do you mean by that Japan should return those islands to China? When you use the term "return", make sure that China had a direct administration over those islands in the light of international law. The fact that China claimed those islands for the first time in history in early 70's after the UN reoprt indicating the area to have a huge reserve of oil and gas proves that China did not consider those islands to be her territory. In fact even some state Chinese-media in the 50's published map of east asia showing that those islands were part of Japan.