The world marveled at the cool and calm response of the Japanese people to the world’s fifth largest earthquake. The next question is why Korea and Japan have been equally successful economically despite their striking differences in characteristics.
The two countries are the core part of the East Asian economic miracle.
Koreans are hot, aggressive, energetic, emotional and upfront; while Japanese are cool, polite, measured, calm and inscrutable.
Koreans are talented for getting things done quickly ― they are fast movers, risk takers and rough-and-ready. The Japanese are careful planners, slow movers and detail-oriented planners, but lack in dynamism.
Koreans are known as Asia’s Italians, Irish, or French; while the Japanese are Asia’s Germans, who are cool and calm, and rational.
Oh Kong-dan, a Washington-based expert on East Asia, said, ``Geography also influences the formation of national personality.’’ Korea is always antsy and nervous because the peninsula has been under constant harassment from outsiders as the corridor of the ocean to Asia's main continent, somewhat like Italy in Europe.
On the other hand, she says Japan is calm and fatalistic as it is difficult for outsiders to invade the island country and for Japanese people to escape from the island.
Food is also allegedly responsible for forming national characteristics. Those eating hot pepper and garlic are relatively hot-tempered, creative, dynamic and fun people, straight forward and blunt. Some link the calmness and longevity of the Japanese to its soft food.
Education also forms national characteristics. Western observers say Japanese men are far more self-conscious and unwilling to assert themselves than Korean men. Korea Times columnist Michael Breen surmises that this must come from child-rearing patterns in the two countries.
He says the Japanese have had unbroken leadership for centuries and appear to have a high level of trust in national leadership. Koreans, on the other hand, have a history of abuse or let-downs by their leaders, and so their trust in leadership, government and those in power, is weak.
``For this reason, he says, the Japanese are patriotic and loyal to their companies. Koreans seem to be the same, but they are not so patriotic or loyal as Japanese.'' Rather their trust goes to sub-groups within the country or company, groups defined by hometown, age, and school.
The two countries imported Confucianism from China but used it differently. Joseon kings localized Confucianism into a governing philosophy for ruling the people under a centralized government. Japan used Confucianism as the foundation of social propriety and ethics under the decentralized government system. ``The warrior class Samurai should not kill innocent farmers; citizens should not steal government property; work hard even though supervisors are not watching them because it is a decent human deed; The Japanese carved out elaborate ethical codes from the Confucian teaching, very different from Korea, ’’ according to Oh.
As a result, Japan has built a strong social decorum that has built an orderly and calm society. Korea is sometimes locked in intense factionalism, intense competition or zero-sum games in their argument over which side is right or wrong.
Former President Park Chung-hee even engineered the transformation of the national character.
In his era, Koreans were heavily guided into being energetic, diligent, ambitious, nationalistic, goal achieving go-getters. In the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the nation-building years, giving vent to emotion was pervasive. The ``ppalli ppalli’’ (hurry-up, hurry-up) culture is largely regarded as the legacy of the military culture.
``Sinpparam’’ is a refreshing breeze coming from a valley in a mountain. Authoritarian leaders allegedly mobilized historians to create the “cheer-up” culture to instill a sense of can-do spirit into Koreans. Writer Chung Kyung-mo said this culture lies in the subconscious of the Koreans. With this spirit, people are ready to dance joyfully and willing to work. This culture has rallied people for national development. Leaders contrived the cheer-up culture to remove the passive “han’’ culture, which refers to lingering bitterness and hopeless self-resignation.
This negative culture prevailed during Japan's colonial rule and authoritarian leaders' suppression of freedom.
The Japanese were trained not to inflict any encumbrance on their neighbors. They restrain desire and action and pay attention to what others are thinking. They try to gauge smell nearby. They sob, but do not cry when sorrow grips them. They are educated not to act on instinct to create harmony with others; they try not to inconvenience others; they are trained to restrain or control desire and passion. They live on an island where they must live harmoniously as they have no place to escape; they become outcasts when they jump the queue.
They have cultivated a sense of adaptation and resignation as they have lived under the constant threat of natural disasters. It is hard to read the inner mind of the Japanese.
Despite differences in characters, the two countries have an unrivaled passion for education, are patriotic, are more or less group-oriented, and have a talent for making manufacturing devices. The resources-poor countries have a self-surviving instinct and are strong in hardware but weak in software. They have difficulty in mastering English. Unlike Western countries, the two nations tend to put group interest above individualism, and this regimented way of thinking sometimes stifles individual creativity and innovation.
There is at least one thing that Japanese are envious of and unable to invent. This is ``Hallyu.’’ Korea Times columnist Andrew Salmon said, `` Passion and emotion enliven the arts, entertainment and sports.’’ In view of the Japanese character, they have difficulty in creating the Japanese Wave.
Unlike the Japanese, Koreans are unable to prioritize reason against emotion in politics, business and the media.
Lee Chang-sup is the chief editorial writer of The Korea Times. He can be reached at editorial@koreatimes.co.kr.