indier99 comments

Ready? Yeah. But that's not how it works.

I'm looking forward to see Japan purchase American cruise missile systems in the near future. I have witnessed the consequences that followed my country's decision to adopt US missile defense (THAAD) and some long-range radar systems: spiking anti-Korean sentiment in China, sudden drought of in-bound Chinese tourists, and an all-out effort to ban Korean imports by the Chinese government and business communities. I think the Japanese need to see for themselves whether they are really willing to endure the economic damages that entail such a new defense policy stance because, believe me, quite a lot of tough-talking South Koreans around me are now having second thought about the decision made five years ago.

I personally think it's a brilliant move from the Japanese right-wingers to slip 14 war criminals' enshrine tokens with those of more innocent ones. By doing so, they can always honor "criminals" hidden in a huge crowd of other non-political visitors of the Yasukuni shrine. They really know how to "move on" from the past.

Yeah. People tend to support other countries' democratic movements as long as they happen in distant lands and that democracies don't hurt their own sentiments once fully bloomed :)

People tend to point out that apologies were made in the past by different Japanese politicians. Sure they did. But countries, like individuals, can always turn to the position of "I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry" or "I was sorry, but I'm no more". And to my knowledge that's not an apology at all.

Koreans do not demand a reminder that Japanese especially their government feel sorry for that past wrongdoings just to feel good about themselves. Koreans want to make sure Japanese have learned their lessons from the imperial past/the War, and are ready to build a democracy of peace and bilateral respect. :)

So they decided to have people run all across the country for four month while thousands of other are dying around the world?! I am looking forward to this torch(virus) relay :(

Where's her mask?

I never knew the Japanese politicians were so into "Mission Impossible" :)

Wow. So many comments about what consumers in another country should spend their money on. Some of you reminds me of a grumpy old lady shop-owner hurling insults on my way out without buying anything. What a really mature business woman she was! Last time I checked, that shop shut down. :)

So exports fell y-on-y, more so for imports, which tells us slumping growth in the coming months. And yet most papers chose a mere increase of a bump in trade surplus? What is going on Japanese media?

I really want to see an Empress ascending to the thrown. And all the old generation Japanese male getting confused about whether they should bow or not. That would be epic. :)

I remember back in the days when the head of our nation was reported to have been involved in corruption cases over and over again, and yet got away with them. That was under the military dictatorship before the 1980s. These kinds of news bring back some old memories :)

Good !!, defend together from China demons !!..

You do know the Chinese Minister was also present holding hands with others, don't you?

Where's South Korea ?

JT strangely chose to post a picture showing only 2/3 of the ministers that attended the meeting.

Great news for the Japanese BaseBaseball! :)

@Meiyouwenti

It’s amazing that Koreans were still buying 588,000-yen worth of beer from Japan last month.

But there are 24,000 Japanese residents/students and 3,000,000 tourists (annual) in South Korea. So...

Banzai to the new emperor and the old PM :)

I have to admire the Japan's trick of enshrining the war criminals with other more innocent victims so that they can always say "sorry but not-sorry", or secretly honor their heroes/criminals and get away with it. Disgusting but clever, I should say.

@Madden

Who cares, close off all the stores if they're so upset about it, revenue in new countries will more than make up for it. I assume Korea is like other countries where Uniqlo is considered cool and reasonably priced and therefore popular, so all of the customers will soon realize the error of their ways as now their only option is to import the products at a premium price. Be careful what you wish for!

You obviously don't have work experience in international sales or marketing. Nothing is given in that part of the world. But as you have said: who cares? :)

He seems like an 8th-grader telling every adult he come across what they should do. :)

@Hillclimber

Wrong hill again

No it's not. The South Korean media are doing their best to cast the non-preferential export processing treatment as a direct disciplinary action to the court ruling. No, Japan removed South Korea from its preferred (trusted) export partner white list because of 156 re-export violations by South Korea to North Korea which Japan requested more information about and South Korea ignored over a 3 year period.

If it's not about dishonesty as you say, why is South Korea not coming forward witht he requested information?

Answer: it will open the door to more South Korean flaunting of sactions against North Korea.

FYI, South Korean media are not the only ones questioning Japanese claim.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-16/japan-korea-trade-war-history-and-colonialism/11492558

https://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/d00509/a-new-phase-in-japanese-south-korean-relations-as-trade-becomes-weapon-in-political-row.html

I'm tired of repeating but the 156 cases of violation are not illegal exports from SK to North Korea. Get your facts straight old man.

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3018360/south-korea-demands-proof-japan-over-accusation-it-violated-un

@Hillclimer

You are climbing a wrong hill here.

Calling the Japanese revisionists without mentioning how the South Korean government squandered the money given to them by Japan on infrastructure instead of compensating individuals like they should have done?

That's exactly why the SK government proposed a 1+1+@ with Korean companies and the public money putting their share in the fund.

Why leave that out. It would put the last piece in the puzzle as to why Japan grew tired of South Korea's dishonesty after the wartime labour court ruling awarding individuals with compensation, when the South Korean government took the money intended for that purpose in the first place.

It's like revisionism by deceit, isn't it?

You got tired? Well that makes two of us. Koreans are equally tired of Japanese lethargy in electing a more peace-embracing and economic-growth-driven politicians in power. And the court ruling is not a matter of dishonesty, it is one of interpretation. In case you missed it, we live in the 21st century. :)

Admitting that there were some wrongdoings in the past and showing a little more of political will to engage in bilateral talks would have prevented all the fiasco of today. Japan was gaining more in trade with South Korea, more Koreans visited and were planning to visit Japan. They were enjoying a variety of consumer products Japan has to offer despite the Japanese's resistance to buy their neighbor's (electronics and cars among others). Of course there might be some level of competition. But it was suppose to be based on mutual goodwill and understanding.

But no. The Japanese Revisionists in power choose to have a fight with South Korea. For what? To tell South Korea that the honoring of the 1965 agreement, which is viewed by many Koreans as a symbol of military oppression of the late Park Jeong Hee dictatorship and an insult to human rights and democratic principles, is a matter of "trust"? I feel some part of the Japanese society failed to graduate from the Kamikaze mentality of the past. Sometimes their decision-making doesn't make any sense. :)

Why does he keep making empty pledges after pledges when his party will stay in power in the next elections anyway?

It seems many products and services that has long lost they luster in their home countries or around the world are doing pretty well in Japan. They tend to be really loyal to things.

Japan wants to boycott South Korean products, but it doesn't use much in the first place.

I guess one way to do it is to boycott any electronics using Korean-made chips and display panels. You know.. IPhone.. maybe?

@Park Lee-kim

Honestly I used to think that it was just the South Korean government that was the problem, fueled by their own political agendas and chinese "investment". This boycott is displaying through the extremeness of their knee-jerk reactions how much of the Korean population has been brainwashed. Its so sad to see Korean friends of mine who have never expressed any Japan negativity, some of which who even have Japanese blood flowing through their veins, suddenly do a 180 and start trashing Japan. The worst part is, through Korean media, they are all completely misinformed on the facts of what actually happened!

"Knee-jerk" is the word I would use to describe the reactions of a majority of Japanese and expats posting on JT on every single piece of reporting on anything related to South Korea :)

And I don't think Koreans are really misinformed: reading this site and Yahoo informed me more about the general Japanese sentiments on Koreans than all the so-called anti-Japanese history textbooks did.

@Alexandre

How come SK students or young guys have to follow this extreme anti-Japan government? It sounds like people there has strong tendency to convert political matters to social matters. It seems like a word in Japan 自粛 jishuku, to voluntarily refrain to the society against the real willing. Asians have more that feeling some similarity that westerners not easy to understand.

Oh. Really?

Americans have elected Trump as their president and still follows his extreme anti-Chinese government. The British have an extreme anti-EU government. And of course Japan has its extreme anti-South Korea administration. To each its own, I guess. :)

FYI here's a SK national poll conducted by REALMETER(http://www.realmeter.net/) on the boycott of Japanese products from last month (Aug 7).

Age slot / Participating in the Boycott (%)

20s / 57.6

30s / 64.4

40s / 77.1

50s / 63.5

over 60 / 48.2

indier99Today  08:02 am JST

@Oldman

With a name like Joori Roh, I wouldn't expect anything less than to mention dispute over compensation of forced labor as a 'factor' in the decision of Japan to remove South Korea from the white list. Indeed, no mention of the **156 **cases of export violations by South Korea companies of high tech materials, and of course no mention of the South Korean government thumbing their nose at Japanese officials and repeatedly ignoring their request to resolve the issue long before this 'trade row.'

Those 156 cases were exposed and penalize by the South Korean authorities. The items in question were all reclaimed and discarded. Get your facts straight old man :)

Thank you in advance for providing source for that

A couple of sources for you ;)

http://www.motie.go.kr/motie/ne/presse/press2/bbs/bbsView.do?bbs_seq_n=161887&bbs_cd_n=81&currentPage=1&search_key_n=&cate_n=&dept_v=&search_val_v=

and

https://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20190712005003