[Meanwhile] Time to look straight at the elephant
CHUN SU-JINThe author is head of the Today-People News team at the JoongAng Ilbo.
At the ballet studio in Daikanyama, Tokyo, on Feb. 16, a Japanese woman approached me and showed me a picture of actor Park Seo-joon after the class. The ballet teacher said, “It is nice to see Koreans coming back again.”
Actually, I can hear Korean anywhere I go in Tokyo. Things have changed from three years ago, when I advocated “using Japan” amid the “No Japan” wave in the past administration. At that time, I received a bunch of hostile comments and emails like “Tear up the Japanese collaborator living in Korea.”
But numbers prove the end of No Japan. Of the 6,581,45 Koreans who went abroad last year, 1,090,260 headed to Japan. An official from the Japanese tourism office said, “456,100 Koreans visited Japan in December last year alone.”
The number of Koreans visiting Japan is increasing — quietly but surely. Is it thanks to the exploding demand for travel at the end of the pandemic and the low yen?
But think about the days of No Japan. The political forces that manipulated the people with anti-Japanese sentiment are just dormant volcanoes. We have devoted our energy to judgment rather than understanding. What is important is checking on the remains left by the ebbing tide of No Japan.
So many people have been swept up by the rising tide of No Japan — including the people criticized for traveling to Japan, drinking Japanese beer and driving Japanese cars. The No Japan wave, which was instigated and abused politically, is like the “elephant in the room,” an uncomfortable thing you pretend not to know.
The use of No Japan depends on the owner of the “room,” who stays for five years. You cannot take the elephant out of the room by passing it on as if nothing had happened.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we should be pro-Japanese. We need to accuse Japan with a cool-headed approach. A country cannot move elsewhere. Japan is a partner to be wary of, but it is also a partner for us to hold hands with, sometimes for our own interest.
At the ballet studio, comments poured in, “I want to go to Korea and eat something delicious,” and “When will BTS join the military?”
A dance studio in nearby Ebisu has a popular K-pop class. As politicians cannot stop the war of attrition, the flow of civilian exchange cannot be stopped. That’s why it is time to look straight at the elephant: No Japan.
Otherwise, the pendulum of “No Japan politics” will return, and Korea will take steps back by yielding to the wasteful anti-Japanese controversy. For Korea, which has grown so much, neighboring Japan is a strategic partner to use well.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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