Your Opinion of Life in Seoul

[Ebck120]

Originally Posted by Ryuji

Do you read?

Ask anyone who understand Japanese to translate the evidence offered by Korea government into English. It's an ads in newspaper.

If Japan could force them, why the hell did the evil 일제 need to post those ads in newspapers? Use your brain and think the logic. It's not for being washed.


BTW, Many Koreans don't think lying is a bad thing.

When I lost my way in Seoul, I asked strangers which way I should take. What happened many times to me when those stranges didn't know the right directions, were being directed randomly. They seldom, if not never, answered me "I'm not sure" or "I don't know". They just told me any directions they felt good at the moment.

I asked many Koreans the reason why they do like that. Some of them, including a teacher and even some books, gave me the same answer: That is an expression of kindness. Thanks to their kindness, it took me much more time to get to my destination. I was totally lost everytime I got this answer.

To be honest, I didn't buy their explanations.

Many years later, I believe I found the truth.

In China, some Chinese strangers do exactly what those Korean strangers did to me. I asked some Chinese people the reason. Their answers are: They just don't wanna loose their faces. It's a shame for them to admit they don't know what they don't know.


To believe The Boy Who Cried Wolf or not, that is the question.

So your own personal experiences vs. countless historians and historical books and references..

how about your own personal experiences on the streets of Korea & China today vs. countless personal experiences of women throughout Asia who proclaimed that the Japanese raped, tortured, and enslaved them.

ok, I've come to the conclusion that your either brainwashed or your just stupid.

[Ryuji]

Originally Posted by Ebck120

So your own personal experiences vs. countless historians and historical books and references..

how about your own personal experiences on the streets of Korea & China today vs. countless personal experiences of women throughout Asia who proclaimed that the Japanese raped, tortured, and enslaved them.

ok, I've come to the conclusion that your either brainwashed or your just stupid.

Well, I must admit I was brainwashed and stupid. Oh, wait, I am still stupid.

How much do you know about Japanese education system, Ebck? I am 99% sure you know little about it. You'll know why I'm sure about that.

As being a product of the Japanese education system, I used to be on your side.


Believe or not, hundreds of thousands teachers of public schools in Japan refuse to stand up for national anthem.

I can tell you with 100% confidence what would happen if a school or a teacher in Japan asked students to read something like The Pledge of Allegiance. The school or the teacher would be labeled as militarist (school).


You'd better be, or at least pretend to be, a patriot in the US, Korea and China.

You'd better not be, or at least pretend not to be, a patriot in Japan. That's why you can't see the flag of Japan even in some government office buildings in Japan.


My only feeling towards Japanese government, especially between WWI and WWII, was: disgust. I used to believe Japanese government at the time period was evil. This is what I learned from Japanese education system.

This kind of view is called 自虐史観(自虐史観 - Wikipedia) in Japanese. Google translates the page into English if you don't understand Japanese: Google –|–ó.

Ebck, you've just learned a little about Japanese education system.


Now let me introduce a Japanese proverb: 嘘は泥棒の始まり. Similar one in English is: He that will steal an egg will steal an ox. Literally it means: He that will lie will steal. I was a believer of this proverb when I was a child. Well, I must confess I still think it's right.

As a naive child, I thought everything textbooks, dictionaries, references, teachers, newspapers, television programms, adults, schools or governments said couldn't be false; they would never lie to me.

Imagine what if an innocent kid like me heard Korea government insisted Japan did something wrong. He would think like this: (1) Satanic Japan did something + (2) Government's announcement = (3) YES! WHAT KOREA GOVERNMENT TELLS ME MUST BE THE TRUETH! LOL, kid.


Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I came to realize this world is filled with lies.

One of the things that shocked me most was Gulf War. IIRC, CIA made up evidences, which ought to prove Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. After reading the news, I felt sick to my stomach and almost vomited.


If you examine carefully references/news/books on comfort women, you'll find there are too many questions/contradictions about comfort women that you can't answer or expalin.

Take the reference below as an example.

JPRI Working Paper No. 77
"The euphemism "comfort women" (ianfu) was coined by imperial Japan to refer to young females of various ethnic and national backgrounds and social circumstances who were forced to offer sexual services to the Japanese troops before and during the Second World War. Some were minors sold into brothels; others were deceptively recruited by middlemen; still others were forcibly abducted. Estimates of the number of comfort women range between 50,000 and 200,000. It is believed that most were Korean. "

The last sentence doesn't make sense to me. Ebck, can you expalin why most were Korean? Believed by who? What kind of evidences do those believers have?

I'd been confused by those 2nd hand info for a long time.


After many years, this flowchart: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/%7EJK3M-SITU/link/krflowchart.jpg (broken link) helped me a lot.

This flowchart is not drawn by either a Japanese or an American. The author is a Canadian man who married a Korean woman. He summarized what he'd heard from his wife and drew it.

Now the whole thing about comfort women makes sense to me.

Ebck, give me 1st hand info, or evidences, and explanations derived from them. I'm open to it.


Japanese Prisoner of War Interrogation Report 49 - Wikisource "

UNITED STATES OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION Psychological Warfare Team Attached to U.S. Army Forces India-Burma Theater APO 689

Japanese Prisoner of War Interrogation Report No. 49.

Place interrogated: Ledo Stockade Date Interrogated: Aug. 20 - Sept. 10, 1944 Date of Report: October 1, 1944 By: T/3 Alex Yorichi

Prisoners: 20 Korean Comfort Girls Date of Capture: August 10, 1944 Date of Arrival: August 15, 1994 at Stockade

PREFACE

This report is based on the information obtained from the interrogation of twenty Korean "comfort girls" and two Japanese civilians captured around the tenth of August, 1944 in the mopping up operations after the fall of Myitkyin a in Burma.

The report shows how the Japanese recruited these Korean "comfort girls", the conditions under which they lived and worked, their relations with and reaction to the Japanese soldier, and their understanding of the military situation.

A "comfort girl" is nothing more than a prostitute or "professional camp follower" attached to the Japanese Army for the benefit of the soldiers. The word "comfort girl" is peculiar to the Japanese. Other reports show the "comfort girls" have been found wherever it was necessary for the Japanese Army to fight. This report however deals only with the Korean "comfort girls" recruited by the Japanese and attached to their Army in Burma. The Japanese are reported to have shipped some 703 of these girls to Burma in 1942.


Many discussions here:
Talk:Comfort women/Archive 1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Talk:Comfort women/archive 2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Talk:Comfort women/Archive 3 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Talk:Comfort women/Archive 4 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Cornerguy1]

Mod Note:

Time to get back to the topic of the thread : Life in Seoul



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[RMELIFER]

I haven't lived in South Korea since 2002, but I hope to go back someday. I loved the Seoul nightlife around Myeong-dong, Insa-dong areas and several other areas of the city. I miss the Coex underground mall area also. I spent every day off riding the metro and picking a new area to explore. Lots of great restaurants, historical sites, outdoor markets and shopping malls and other items of interest.
I was always told to travel in pairs with Americans, but I never had any problems in the city, day or night, while on my own.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by RMELIFER

I was always told to travel in pairs with Americans, but I never had any problems in the city, day or night, while on my own.

I guess you were in the military?

I never heard of the travel in two thing before. But sounds like something that could be issued from the base.

For civilians, we go everywhere solo all the time. I always did.

[Amber18]

I spent a day in Seoul, its very beautiful there!! The food was amazing and shopping is a plenty, people were very nice too

[danielsa1775]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I guess you were in the military?

I never heard of the travel in two thing before. But sounds like something that could be issued from the base.

For civilians, we go everywhere solo all the time. I always did.

The one problem I find with travelling solo, is when you eat out. I have this great photo at home of myself at a resteraunt, after ordering Sam Gap Sal the gave me an additional 13 Banchan , making 16 plates in total all for me!

The reception is not so good in other places however, where you have to pay for two people dispite being by yourself, or the just outright refuse to serve you.

Eating out and travelling by yourself is not a common thing for Koreans to do.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by danielsa1775

The one problem with travelling solo, is when you eat out. I have this great photo at home of myself at a resteraunt, after ordering Sam Gap Sal the gave me an additional 13 Banchan dishes, making 16 plates in total all for me!

The reception is not so good in other places however, where you have to pay for two people dispite being by yourself. Or the just outright refuse to serve you.

Eating by yourself has not really caught on in Korea.

That's true! From that standpoint, yeah, better to be in groups of two!

The other poster, seemed to imply it was for a safety Which is really a non-issue in Korea.

[danielsa1775]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

That's true! From that standpoint, yeah, better to be in groups of two!

The other poster, seemed to imply it was for a safety Which is really a non-issue in Korea.

My opinion to tiger, The travelling solo remark just made me think of one the little quirks of Korean Culture.

[aek11]

It's part of the Korean culture. i remember in college, my school had a lot of international students from various asian countries. a lot of koreans, japanese, chinese, taiwanese.... I remember a lot of the Asians hung out all together and were all friends. Only the Koreans stuck amongst themselves and didn't play with other types. Koreans are very "korean pride!".