Message from mhagiwara

[Anonymous]

From 2006-09 I was living and working in Japan teaching English. I am half Japanese and half Korean and when I arrived to Japan I almost felt at odds with my two sides. As people began to understand who I was and what my background was, they became more interested in my mixed background. Of course, the two countries had a history of conflict and many older Koreans still felt animosity towards the Japanese. However instead of seeing and/or experiencing any sort of ill-will towards Koreans and their culture in Japan, all I saw and experienced was great admiration for it. I lived in a small village of about 3,000 people and soon found out that a Japanese man had married a Korean woman, had children, and were living down the street. What a surprise this was in such a small little village in the middle of nowhere. I also realized how much the Korean pop culture had invaded Japanese society, especially when I visited the video/games rental stores. The first display I saw upon entering any video store was "Fuyu no Sonata" (Winter Sonata). It was so very popular and all of my female Japanese colleagues (40-50 years of age) were always talking about it! The Korean wave my be reaching its peak here in the US now, but in Japan it has been a constant, and unending, wave!