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Both Korea and Japan are different from China. An East Asian who bow to you is most likely a Korean or a Japanese and highly unlikely a Chinese. And they do not look like Chinese. There are a lot of differences between the 3 major East Asian countries.
I am not suprised if you think they are similiar if you are using Asian Americans as examples.
Korean and Japanese languages have a larger differences than the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese, both are descended from old Chinese. Korean and Japanese are not descended from Chinese language.
Korean and Cantonese do share some common vocabulary. For example, both language use the same term "Juk" for porridge.
Historically there has been more interaction between China and Japan. Unlike the bilateral relationship between Korea and Japan which had been mostly at odds throughout history, China and Japan had its honeymoon period during China's Sui/Tang dynasties. The frequent interaction led to Japan's Taika Reform.
In fact, it had already been relatively easy to travel from China to Japan in the past. During summertime, it would take only about 10-15 days to travel by sea from Yangzhou to Nara with the aid of Kuroshio current.
None of this has anything at all to do with Korean-Japanese relations.
Just google "Japanese occupation of Korea" and you'll see why the idea of a united Korea and Japan would be resisted by Koreans. From the assassination of Korean royalty by the Japanese, Koreans being forced to surrender their Korean family names and adopt Japanese surnames, forced labor in Japanese factories (and estimated 10% of the victims of the atomic bombs in Japan were Korean) and the Comfort Women atrocities, Korean has a lot of reasons to never want to be a part of Japan in any way.
A lot of Japanese nationalists like to say what Imperial Japan did was okay because South Korea did a similar thing in the Vietnam War, though to a lesser extent. Although, the authoritarian government in South Korea had a lot more domestic opposition than the authoritarian government in Imperial Japan, who were basically only opposed by ethnic minorities and the Communist Party.
Of course, a lot of the same people then turn the argument and try to blame Westerns for the Pacific War because they placed "horrible" embargoes on Japan in response to it invading China. As if embargoes are so much worse or uncommon than government sponsored rape of citizens (if I remember correctly, Koreans were technically equal citizens of the Japanese Empire, even if treated lesser in practice).
Not to defend South Korea's actions in Vietnam. I'm actually in agreement that South Korea should offer an official apology for some of the mistakes made during the war.
EDIT: @Ian Lee not sure what you are speaking of. Korea and Japan had frequent contact prior to the Imjin War, with missions commonly being sent to each other.
Some people are so obsessed with imperialism that they just must see bigger countries swallowing smaller ones in order to sleep well. Whatever happened to the precious virtue of minding one's own business? I wonder.
Korea and Japan are about as different as neighbours could be. They absolutely detest each other (obviously not on a personal/individual level, but collectively their relations are ****ing sour), Korean people would rather die than see the Japanese flag flying on their land and vice versa, both countries have a ridiculous level of nationalism, and their languages are absolutely not related.
Last edited by Greysholic; 10-01-2016 at 12:31 PM..
Some people are so obsessed with imperialism that they just must see bigger countries swallowing smaller ones in order to sleep well. Whatever happened to the precious virtue of minding one's own business? I wonder.
Korea and Japan are about as different as neighbours could be. They absolutely detest each other (obviously not on a personal/individual level, but collectively their relations are ****ing sour), Korean people would rather die than see the Japanese flag flying on their land and vice versa, both countries have a ridiculous level of nationalism, and their languages are absolutely not related.
You gotta be kidding? South Korea and Japan is one of the closest nations on Earth culture wise. The two languages are arguably from the same line, share an extremely close grammatical structure. Both borrowed from ancient Chinese, most Japanese actually have Korean blood/lineages. Most of the Chinese culture imported by ancient Japan was via Korea, not directly from China..
Sure, there is bad blood, but that is pretty much universal with all neighbouring countries.
You gotta be kidding? South Korea and Japan is one of the closest nations on Earth culture wise. The two languages are arguably from the same line, share an extremely close grammatical structure. Both borrowed from ancient Chinese, most Japanese actually have Korean blood/lineages. Most of the Chinese culture imported by ancient Japan was via Korea, not directly from China..
Sure, there is bad blood, but that is pretty much universal with all neighbouring countries.
Language connection is disputed and not concrete. Nobody is in agreement whether Koreanic and Japonic are actually related.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greysholic
Some people are so obsessed with imperialism that they just must see bigger countries swallowing smaller ones in order to sleep well. Whatever happened to the precious virtue of minding one's own business? I wonder.
Korea and Japan are about as different as neighbours could be. They absolutely detest each other (obviously not on a personal/individual level, but collectively their relations are ****ing sour), Korean people would rather die than see the Japanese flag flying on their land and vice versa, both countries have a ridiculous level of nationalism, and their languages are absolutely not related.
It's a North American and northern European thing, being obsessed with countries breaking up, uniting, or colonizing others. I agree, just mind their own business
Before you go all nuts and all, but what if Japanese still held onto Korea (the whole peninsula not just the South)?
I find that there are few countries who are more similar in culture and language than these two. If they could get over the atrocities from the Japanese, economically it would be a behemoth? Think of the possibilities and benefits:
- Both share a common culture (mostly imported from China or in Japan's case, Korea + China).
- Language is very similar and again, most foreign words are either from Chinese or English.
- Economically, would be a mighty unit, producing middle to high end goods, could quell China and stand up better to the USA.
- Japan can free itself from the lower value chain of electronics these days and focus on lucrative markets such as energy, aviation, defense products whilst Korea can focus on what Japan was dominating in 10 years ago - cars, electronics, whitegoods etc.
- Hangul can be used as the official script removing the need for Kanji and other systems (Hirigana, Romanji and Katakana) which is a massive mess to begin with anyway. Words would be based on the Japanese pronunciations and also the grammar (easier than Korean).
- Country would be a combined size of 500,000m2 - Japan 300m2 and Korea 200m2. The current North Korean part would provide both South Korea and Japan with more space.
- The only real problem is still, there would be a lack of agricultural land.
If you remove the current WW2 issues, comfort women and all, Japan and Korea uniting could honestly reap a lot of benefits. Could this possible have happened before the Japanese atrocities?
This is just about the most insane thing I've ever heard.
I don't think people understand how nation's work. You can't govern two drastically different people. War and conflict ensue....
Hey, Palestine and Israel...they are both Middle Eastern....the language is close enough....ahmm...it really does NOT work that way at all.
You gotta be kidding? South Korea and Japan is one of the closest nations on Earth culture wise. The two languages are arguably from the same line, share an extremely close grammatical structure. Both borrowed from ancient Chinese, most Japanese actually have Korean blood/lineages. Most of the Chinese culture imported by ancient Japan was via Korea, not directly from China..
Sure, there is bad blood, but that is pretty much universal with all neighbouring countries.
Have you lived in either Japan or South Korea?
I lived in both, and culturally they are extremely different places....it's not just that though...
Basically when people but two nations of people and combine them...(basically what Europe did when it carved up Africa)...you create wars and conflicts, which is why EUrope was able to control Africa for so long, they couldn't combine or agree on anything to defeat the Europeans who controlled them.
The ONLY reason you'd put Japan and Korea together is if you wanted to be an outsider (europe/usa) and you wanted them at conflict over every detail, then you can call yourself the neutral fair person to decide major decisions between the two, etc.
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