ed Learning from neighbor

Japanology department at No. 1 school is welcome

Korea has long been said to be the only nation which looks down upon global giant Japan. The strange but understandable phenomenon, a combination of strong antipathy and an inferiority complex, is so deep-rooted here that a former KBS correspondent in Japan has become a lawmaker mainly riding on the fame of authoring ``Japan Does Not Exist.”

Many Japanese people might have felt hurt but laughed inside at Koreans’ naïve emotionalism. So it is welcome, albeit quite belated, that Seoul National University (SNU) has decided to set up a Japanese studies department for the first time in its 65-year history.

Of course, many private universities, and 17 of the 43 national and public institutions, have long set up such departments. That cannot hide the significance of SNU’s decision, which indicates the nation’s top school, which was Gyeongseong (Seoul) Imperial University in colonial days ― and Korean people ― have overcome much of the complex.

One may not have to quote here what the ancient Chinese strategist, Sun Tsu, said in his “Art of War”: ``If you know your enemy and yourself, you will not fall into danger in any battle you fight.” Korea no longer regards Japan as an enemy. If one replaces the battle with today’s diplomatic and economic war, however, this advice still holds good.

Especially so in this era of Northeast Asia, when calls are growing for Korea, Japan and China to form a regional community, if not an economic bloc. Japan, on the other hand, knows Korea very well, thanks to a thorough study of their neighboring country to the west since more than a century ago as part of its preparations to invade and annex it. Koreans can’t help but marvel at the Japan’s academic depth in Korean classics and geology, both the spiritual and physical sides.

Many Koreans also went to Japan for academic pursuits, but they focused on studying Western civilization through Japan, not the country itself. It is a serious problem that few Koreans can read and understand Japanese literature and other documents of a century or even half century ago. People who know about Japan only through books are usually surprised to see the ``real” Japan when they first visit the country. Even those Koreans who have lived in Japan for quite a while come back, never fully understanding its complex national traits.

Korea is currently buoyed by hallyu, a popular culture boom of songs and dramas sweeping various parts of the world. It was more than 100 years ago that the word ``Japonism” ― Japan’s culture, both classical and popular ― became the fad in Europe and America.

The dynamic, quick-tempered Koreans and cool, persevering Japanese are contrasting in national character. Korea has too much to learn about and from Japan to pass by its neighbor, thinking it as just another stagnant or declining power.

We hope SNU’s latest decision is the important first step toward more correct understanding of the seemingly well-known but actually hardly-known neighbor.