Korea-Japan Relation Saga, Part I: Background

Hello The Korean!

In the past I had heard that the Japanese look down upon Koreans. Recently, I heard that now in Japan everything Korean is "cool" and "hip". So, my questions are 1) Why the bigotry in the past? and 2) Why the heightened status now? Thank you and I love your website.

Curiouser and Curiouser

Hey, Korean!

Love your blog, it’s funny and informative… when you are draft age, do you have an option of which branch to join? If so why didn’t you become an ROK Marine? I hear they kick ass.
My favorite local sushi bar is owned by a Korean; he also makes great teriyaki; when I went to Seattle I had some good sushi (much more expensive, though) but really no better than the Korean’s. The chef (Japanese) asked me where I was from and I told him, then I described how great the Korean’s sushi & teriyaki bar is, and he was really offended, couldn’t hide it. If I was Korean I’d have punched him out for putting on such airs and acting so superior, but since I’m white I just left a crummy tip. So my question is this: What’s this continuing animosity between Koreans & Japanese? Do the Japanese really think they’re superior to other Asians?

Drunken Psycho,

USMC Ret.

Greetings and Happy New Year, Korean,

I'm a newbie to your site, and am having a grand time reading and learning. Thank you.
I'm 48, caucasian, and my girlfriend is 47, Korean, and we have lived together and I have loved this woman with all my passion and heart for the past 4 years. My question is, I tend to enjoy Japanese restaurants. She absolutely abhors anything Japanese, citing the abysmal treatment of the Korean peoples in WWII and before, and probably after. What is her block against the Japanese? Yes, I did some studies in college about the treatment, but the Japanese basically treated EVERY country, nation, people very badly. The Chinese, the Philippines, etc. So what is her problem?

Michael

Dear Alice in the Wonderland, Drunken Psycho, and Michael,

What a group of questioners, and how hilarious that this is the question that ties them all together! The virulent hatred between Koreans and Japanese is well-documented, and the Korean, although trying to rise above it, is not an exception to the trend. (See here for the evidence.)

Let’s take care of some tangents first. Drunken Psycho, yes one can choose one’s placement in the military at draft age, although with a lot of limitations. The regulations are too complicated to describe in detail, but in general “desirable” spots (desk jobs, close to home, etc.) require some tests and lottery (and often, some connection to pull the strings,) and “undesirable” spots (on the front, first to be summoned to combat, etc.) has less requirements, generally height, weight, and physical fitness. ROK (Republic of Korea) Marines certainly kick ass – they are generally known as the “ghost-catching marines,” and they take immense pride in their elite status. In fact, they are the most insufferable among all insufferable Korean men who went through military (described here.) The Korean left Korea before draft age so he didn’t have to worry about which branch to serve.

Michael, you can’t be serious about your second to last sentence. Suppose your girlfriend was raped, then the rapist would have the nerve to say, “Don’t get mad at me, your girlfriend is not the only one that I brutally raped!” Doesn’t quite work, does it? Readers, I cannot stress this enough: whatever you send to the Korean WILL BE ON THE INTERNET FOR EVERYONE TO SEE!! THINK TWICE BEFORE CLICKING “SEND”!!

Alright, onto business. Korea and Japan were placed near each other for literally thousands of years, so their history of interaction is very long and complicated. So this epic saga will be in four parts: background, pre-modern, WWII, and post-war. After everything, it would be easy to see why Koreans so violently hate the Japanese.

Of course, since this is the age of people not reading anything too long, the Korean will give a summary in today’s edition. Here goes the historical relation of Korea and Japan, in one paragraph:

In early history, Japan owed much (but not all) of its cultural heritage through Korea. During 15th and 16th century, after Japan was unified after centuries of civil war, Japan relentlessly invaded Korea; this was the last large-scale conquest campaign that Korea suffered until the 20th century. In the early 20th century, Japan once again invaded Korea, annexed it, and committed atrocities that rivaled Holocaust, such as Unit 731 and Comfort Women. After the war, many Japanese leaders would continue to pay tribute to the war criminals of WWII, claim that Japanese Imperialism was beneficial to the invaded countries, and deny the existence of their atrocities. Currently, Korea and Japan still have territorial disputes stemming from the annexation era. But recently, as Korea began to produce highly popular cultural products that Japanese consumers enjoy, Korea-Japan relation is entering a new era.

Whew! That is way too condensed, and doesn’t really help understanding anything. But if you are the type who are content with the most basic of knowledge, then there it is. Others, more details will be forthcoming. Keep on reading!

(Note: The Korean chose the above map because it must have been made by a Korean person. Guess why. The answer will be on the next part.)

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

The Korean's Holiday Season

A quick recap of how the Korean has been doing:

1. Had a grand ol' time with a couple of the Korean's junior high school friends visiting from Korea.

2. Attended Holiday Bowl at San Diego, CA to watch the Korean's alma mater destroy Texas A&M by the score of 45-10.

3. Visited the Korean Cousin - Colorado at Colorado Springs, then traveled around Colorado, skied, checked out sulphur baths, and got snowed in and barely made it back to Los Angeles 16 hours after the Korean Family was supposed to be back.

And the Korean is finally back in New York, sitting through the first day of his last semester at the graduate school. Since the Korean Email Account has a lot of emails stashed away, the blog will be updated vigorously until they are all gone.

Okay, so...

the Korean won't be back just yet. Right now the Korean Family is stuck in Denver, covered in snow. The update will come whenever the Korean can get back to his computer.

Sae-hae Bok Mah-ni Baht-u-se-yo!

Happy New Year everyone! The above is "Happy New Year" in Korean. The literal translation is "Receive many good fortunes in the new year."

Ask a Korean! will be back on the first week of January. If you got some spare time, shoot the Korean an email.

Watch Out for that Nasty Cold! (and Happy Holidays too.)

Dear Korean,

Why is it that I've always heard Koreans (i.e. my dad and a cousin from Korea or even those Korean celebrities on those random TV shows) end conversations with some variation of "Be careful/Dress warmly/get a flushot so you don't catch a cold." I mean, I haven't heard this kind of cautionary phrase from Americans too often...is this customary among Koreans back in Korea?

Not-So-Cold-in-Cal

Dear Fellow Golden Bear,

Not only are you a Korean, but you are a Golden Bear! You must be one of the finest species that ever walked this earth.

As to your question, your hunch is right; it's just an expression. Think of it as a seasonal good-bye, like some beer companies make seasonal brew. (Times like this the Korean wishes he had some contacts in the market, since right there would be a nice product placement. Free beer for the Korean!) During winter, instead of saying Annyong, you can say gam gi jo sim hae. ("Watch out for cold," as in don't catch a cold.) What's really funny is that even Koreans in Los Angeles say the same thing during winter, although it never falls below 50 degrees in LA.

Koreans have a lot of great expressions and the Korean will share them as we move along. Just among the greetings, the Korean's favorite is siksa ha sheot so yo? ("Have you eaten?", a shout out to the good old days when most Koreans did not eat every day -- but you're not supposed to say "no.") Another very common way of saying good-bye is sugo ha sip si yo. ("Work hard" or "carry on." Used only when you are speaking to someone on duty, like a policeman on the street, or maybe a prostitute.)

Since this is going to the last post before Christmas, the Korean feels like an explanation about Christmas in Korea is necessary. Obviously, Christmas is not a native holiday to Korea, but thanks to the American influence over the world as well as the relentless marketing machine that operates upon gift-giving, Christmas is widely celebrated in Korea. But instead of being a nice family affair as it is in America, Christmas basically is the second Valentine's Day in Korea. (It makes sense, because Koreans have their own family-centered holidays like New Year's Day and Chusok.) Happy couples walk around brightly lit streets and exchange gifts, while singles hide somewhere and drown their sorrows.

And with that, the Korean wishes every one Happy Holidays! The Korean will visit the Korean Family back in Los Angeles, and the Korean Family will take a ski trip to Colorado. It will be exciting. The Korean will try to update the blog next Friday, but no guarantees. Thank you every one for supporting this modest blog, and keep on sending in questions! If yours hasn't been up yet, don't give up! The Korean is trying his best to get all the answers out chronologically, unless there is a pressing theme that the Korean wants to address. So all the answers will come sooner or later.

And here's the Korean's gift for everyone (the Korean took it himself; it's Union Square in San Francisco, in December 2002):

Our First Fan Mail!

It's a truly momentous occasion in Ask A Korean! history. The Korean received a fan mail without any question attached to it! Here it is:

Dear Korean,

As an American girl married to a Korean boy (raised in Korea until age 14), I absolutely LOVE your blogspot! According to my husband, he's finished a major study in relation to amount of mean-ness vs. body mass. Apparently the Korean woman is only second to the wolverine! :D From what I hear from other ajumah I have met, this is most likely so...but I'm blessed with probably the only wonderful Korean Mother-in-law in the world.... honest!

Anyong!

Cordelia

Thank you Cordelia, your support is very much appreciated. Next time, however, please include the citation for that wonderful study done by your husband! The Korean cannot wait to read it. And your mother-in-law is wonderful? Have you also tried your luck in lottery tickets?

The prize for the first fan mail ever was going to be some spicy Korean lovin', but I see you're already getting plenty from your husband. Still, if you are ever in the New York area, drop a line to the Korean and we will arrange something. Hopefully the Korean Girlfriend won't be looking.

Got a question or comment for the Korean? Ask away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

The Mexican Asks the Korean

Dear Korean,

Why do Koreans repeat "Annyong Haseo!" when someone greets them with "Annyong Haseo!" Isn't it redundant? And how does the meaning change?

Salsa, the Mexican Brother of Kimchi

Dear Salsa,

The Korean would like to tell the readers that you are Gustavo Arellano, columnist for OC Weekly who is known for writing the insightful and hilarious !Ask A Mexican! If it was not obvious so far, Ask A Korean was directly inspired by the Mexican's work. Click the link to !Ask A Mexican! on the right and check it out yourselves. Welcome to the show, Mexican.

As to the question - don't gabachos say "hello!" to "hello!" as well? That's kinda redundant too, ?que no? But I can see where you're coming from. Every time I say "!Buenos dias!" to a Mec-jahk (derogatory Korean term for Mexicans; could be just an LA Korean American thing,) they always reply "Pinche chino."

(If you don't get that, go to !Ask A Mexican! and check out the glossary.)

"Annyong Haseo" is actually a question - it literally translates into "Are you well?" Let me ask you this, Mexican: don't you hate it when you have to perfunctorily say "I'm good" before you can ask back "How are you?", while fully knowing that the answer would be also "I'm well"? If you had noticed, Koreans did not rise from the ashes of the Korean War into the shining star of Asia for no reason. Korean folks are efficient people; they realized the inefficiency of saying the answer to "are you well?", so they just stopped saying it. The meaning does not change when the question is repeated.

It gets better. Koreans say "Annyong Haseo" only when they wish to be polite, usually toward an older person. When Koreans greet their peer, they simply say "Annyong," and the reply is also "Annyong." Again, this is a question - "Good?" "Good?" How efficient is that?

In Korean the polite form of "Good bye" is "Annyong-hee Gaseo." ("Go well.") The informal form is, again, "Annyong." So often Koreans will say "Annyong" twice whenever they meet; once to greet, once to say bye. And only the inefficient crackers will find that confusing. That's why Asian cars are kicking American cars' ass around the block.

Got a question or comment for the Korean? Ask away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Quick Announcement

In an attempt to have some semblance of professionalism, Ask A Korean! will be updated every Friday morning, at least. There may be periodic updates, depending on the Korean's schedule.

It's Hard Out Here for a Pimpin' Korean

Dear Korean,

I have met many Koreans who are originally from Korea, as well as many who were born in the United States. Why does it seem like the Koreans born in the United States are overwhelmingly likely to turn into hard-thuggin' gangsta wannabes, even if they grow up in nice neighborhoods?

Mike

Dear Mike,

Honestly, I met more hard-thuggin' gangsta wannabe white kids from nice neighborhoods than Koreans. But yes, I do agree that proportionally, there is a greater proportion of KA kids who thug out KP ("Korean Pride.") Why is that?

The currently going theory starts from the fact that one way for the mainstream society to weaken the minorities is to depict them as strange and dumb, or--to combine strange and dumb together--feminine. This phenomenon happened consistently with each of the minority races in the U.S. If you look at the Jim Crow arts from the early 20th century, you would notice that denigrating depiction of a black woman is pretty rare. Women are not really denigrated because, well, they're really never a threat. (So Rosa Parks was doubly upsetting to the racists. She's awesome.)

It's a very curious phenomenon that occurs even to this day: it's always, ALWAYS a minority woman who becomes the first one to appear in mainstream TV shows or movies. (Unfortunately, the first Korean woman was Margaret Cho. Not that I don't like her, but it would have been nicer if it were Yunjin Kim.) The Korean's favorite example: the "yellow" Power Ranger from 1994.

Of course black folks are the ones who had to endure this shit for the longest, so they were the first to come up with the solution to this: ridiculously crazy overcompensation! So they grab their biggest guns and their overrated testicles to show the world "we got some black MEN here, crackas!!" All the black rappers' lines about being killahs, soldiers, wariers, or backhand-slappin' pimps are basically this. And they made a fortune out of it! Black people are great.

What KAs (and all Asian American males, for that matter) suffer through is not all that different. Name me one, just fucking ONE unquestionably manly Asian actor that would make you go "damn, that's a real man who throws it DOWN and gets ALL the bitches!" (Note: as much as I love them, martial artists don't count. They really fall into that "strange" category among the strange, the dumb, or the feminine. This might have changed if Bruce Lee lived longer. What a tragedy.) As a Korean man, all you ever are on TV is some castrated male while your women are snapped up by honkies. Wouldn't that make you want to scream "thug life!" and empty the clip? Don't be lookin' fo' me, the Korean is out to get some guns. (Or a machine gun-firing sentry robot. See the post below.)

Got a question or comment for the Korean? Ask away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Ask A Korean! News: Portrait of Mail-Order Brides

First, a call for help. The Korean is somewhat discouraged by the slow flow of questions. Send in questions! Tell your friends! Thank you so much :)

Remember in one of the last Ask A Korean! News that I would talk more about the mail-order brides? Well here it is. Below is some excerpt from the report by Presidential Advisory Committee on Correcting Wealth Gap and Discrminiation, titled "International Marriage Brokerage System: Field Study at Vietnam".

At 2004, 11.4 percent of all marriages in Korea were between a Korean and a non-Korean. The number is as high as 27 percent in rural areas. Vietnamese women are a major subject of such marriages between Korean men and foreign women.

Usually Korean men are flown out to Vietnam for as long as 7 days or as short as 3 days, during which meeting, wedding, and honeymoon all take place. Korean men meet as few as 20~30 women or as many as 200~300 women per meeting. Between 5 to 10 Vietnamese women file into a room, the Korean man picks one among them, and the process is repeated for second and third round until one is chosen. Only at the last stage the man learns the age, edcuation, home town, family members, occupation, height, weight of the woman; the woman learns the man's occupation, economic standing and marriage history.

One Korean man who went through the process said: "it was very difficult to choose one among so many women after seeing them just for a moment. I was so nervous and no one really stood out. I was so hesitating that the marriage broker just picked one for me."

From the woman's side, it is virtually impossible to reject the marriage since being chosen already entails stiff competition; if she ever rejects, the "brokers" disadvantage her by never arranging her to meet another man. She also has to risk false information from the man's side about his occupation, etc. One woman recounted being told that her husband was a machinist earning $2,000 a month, only to find out that he was a daily laborer at a construction site when she came to Korea.

It is illegal in Vietnam to broker marriage for profit. Therefore this entire process is done underground. Smaller operations have around 15~30 women, and larger ones have 60~100 women. The women who are recruited are mostly from the southern, rural parts of Vietnam and generally are 19 to 25 year old primary school graduates. All women live together in a dormitory run by the broker. The women are charged with the cost of the dormitory, to be paid by their future husbands. The meeting takes place the day after the Korean man arrives Vietnam; the women (again, as many as 300 of them) are transported very early morning to avoid police detection. However, if the police ever catches them, it is their individual responsibility to run as best as she can, since the broker will assume no responsibility.

Officially the whole process costs around $10,000 (the Korean said in the earlier post that the cost was around $2,000. The Korean apologizes to the disappointed prospective buyers) for a Korean man to take a Vietnamese woman. The Korean brokerage company takes $6,500 and the rest goes to the Vietnamese brokers. Usually the Korean man gives to the bride's parents $500 as a dowery. But after taking out brokerage fee and so on, the actual amount that goes to the parents is about $180.

It takes 2~3 months for the women to obtain the entry visa for Korea. During that time the women learn Korean language, cooking Korean food and Korean manners. The cost of those lessons are again charged on the women.

Once the Vietnamese women come to Korea, they often suffer from domestic violence and jealous husbands who fear that they would run away. One woman said "As soon as I arrived at Korea my husband took away my passport and choked me. I am so afraid of him." Another woman said "I was hit by my husband three days after I entered the country. He demanded sex after coming home drunk; when I refused, he hit me in the face, pulled my hair and spat on my face."

Got a question or comment for the Korean? Ask away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Yellow Fever Sold Here

Dear Korean,

I'm a non-Korean woman who has been involved with a Korean man for quite a few years. Due to financial burdens suffered by his family, my beau will be living with his parents until he has helped them pay off their house. While his father has taken no issue with my ethnicity (and even seems rather enthusiastic about me), his mother refuses to acknowledge me. I'm unceasingly polite to her. I smile and bow and greet her with a single-semester's worth of Korean vocabulary whenever I pick her son up for a date, but alas, she sours at the sight of me. So my question is simple- what does a girl have to do to get a smile from an ajumma?

Regards,

Whitey Mcflighty

Dear Yellow Fever,

It's not just any ajumma (a lovely Korean word signifying generic middle-aged women; calling a young lady this is a good way to get your face slapped) you're talking about: it's a possible in-law. I don't care what you think about the marriage prospect of your beau, who must be an exceedingly handsome man as all Korean men are. Any woman who befriends her son is a son-thief in the eyes of a Korean mother, who will protect her son like Homer Simpson protects his last donut.

In fact, the daughter-in-law and mother-in-law conflict is so prevalent in Korea that Koreans have one word to describe it. (Pronounce it if you can, Whitey: Go-bu-gal-deung. Don't say it to your ajumma though. It would only piss her off more.) Historically, Korean sons live with their parents and bring the wives in. The wives naturally piss off their mothers-in-law because (1) they take away the attention of the sons and (2) being new to the kitchen, they make lousy cooks/servants.

Korean Americans make things more complicated because usually the first generation sacrificed everything (seriously) to make something out of their spawn, I mean sons. (Daughters too, to some extent, but they don't count as much.) The sons are the crown jewel of the family and they're not going to just anyone, especially not to some pasty hussy who looks like she will trip over herself trying to do jeol (a deep bow, on your knees.)

So are you doomed? Kinda. But take comfort in the fact that there are extremely few girlfriends/wives of Korean men who don't piss off their boyfriend's mother/mother-in-law. If you can handle it, try to be a good Korean woman and help your beau's mother out in the kitchen. Show your willingness to be a beast of burden. Try to include yourself in the family functions if at all possible. But again, no guarantees. The Korean Mother did all that and it only took her about 10 years before the Korean Grandmother was no longer mean to her. Took another 10 years for her to be nice. Brace yourself.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Our First Question!

Dear Korean,

why are Korean men such awesome pool players?

Jeff C., New York.



Jeff,

You submitted the first question ever to the Korean! A special prize (a jar of extra-aged kimchi) is on your way.

Korean men on average do excel at pool (but not the Korean, who is merely average.) And it's for the same reason why Chinese people excel at ping pong - it's a game where you can play in a limited space. Most Koreans in the U.S. are from Seoul, and Seoul is really a big fucking city, with about 20 million people in the metro area. The city is crowded and congested everywhere, and the forms of entertainment that don't require much space developed very well. (Starcraft at the nearest PC Bang, anyone?)

Speaking of pool, Korean people traditionally (and by "traditionally", I mean since 40 years ago or so, when Korea was modern enough to have any sort of organized entertainment,) play "straight carom billiard". Korean people probably won't understand you if you said "straight carom"; they would know it as "sa-gu", meaning "four balls." (Or Lance Armstrong times 4.) This involves having the aforementioned four balls on the table without any pocket, two red and two white (cue) balls. Each player owns each cue ball, and they get a point each time their cue ball makes contact with both of the red balls. But since about 15 years ago, 8-ball pocket pool became more popular, and a pool hall in Korea or K-town typically have both. Sa-gu is more difficult and sophisticated since it involves a lot of non-linear movement and projection of movement after impact. Plus it deals with bigger balls, which is the representation of what Korean men are all about.

Welcome to Ask A Korean!

Today is Saturday, October 21, 2006. And today will be the birthday of this blog, Ask A Korean. This blog is inspired by Ask A Mexican (take a sample: http://www.ocweekly.com/columns/ask-a-mexican/ask-a-mexican/25980/) written by Gustavo Arrellano for the OC Weekly.

In other words, I plan to answer any question you might have about the Korean people, both Korean American and Koreans in the old country. And by "any question", I mean ANY QUESTION. Ever had a question about why Korean women are so terrible in driving? Ask me. Ever wondered why Korean men beat their wives? Ask me. Ever wondered why your Korean parents would not take the plastic cover off their mattresses? Just ask me. No judgments, no screenings, and certainly no holds barred.

Send your emails to AskAKorean@hotmail.com. Looking forward to your comments!

-the Korean.

Korea-Japan and the End of the '65 System: Series Index

This is the index for the series about the '65 System, the South Korea-Japan relationship that began with a series of bilateral treaties in 1965 and began unraveling in 2019.

Part I:  Colonial Times

Part II:  The '65 System

Part III:  The Rise of the '65 System

Part IV:  The '65 System's Decline

Part V:  The End of the '65 System

Part VI:  Taking Stock

Korea's Nine Years of Darkness: Series Index

This is the index for the series about South Korea's nine years of conservative rule, which ended in the impeachment and removal of Park Geun-hye.

Part I - Introduction

Part II - The Lee Myung-bak Years: 2007-2009

Part III - The Election of Park Geun-hye: 2009-2012

Part IV - Death, Death Everywhere: 2013-2014

Part V - The Turning Point: 2014-2016

Part VI - The Candlelight: 2016-2017

Part VII - Epilogue & the Lessons  

Learning Korean Language Series Index

This is the index for the series about learning Korean language.

Part I - Recommended Books and Methodology
Part II - Reading and Writing Hangeul
Part III - Grammar: Classificational Particles
Part IV - Sino-Korean, Numbers, Counters, Telling Time

Somewhat unrelated, but useful:

How the Korean Learned English, and the Best Way to Master a Foreign Language.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.

Military Service Series Index

This is an index to the series on Korea's mandatory draft, and how it affects Korean society.

Part I - Mechanics of Military Service in Korea
Part II - Life in the Korean Military
Part III – Korean Military and Korean Society

Here are additional posts about Korea's military draft:

Do Naturalized Citizens Get Drafted?

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.

The Sewol Tragedy Series Index

This is the index for the series about the Sewol ferry accident.

Part I:  The Accident
Part II:  Causes and Contributing Factors
Part III:  The Fallout

Related:  Culturalism and the Understanding of Culture

Sewol Tragedy, One Year Later

Korean Names Series Index

This is an index of posts dealing with Korean names.

Why are there so many "Kim"s in Korea?
What are different clans within a Korean last name?
How do you create a Korean name?
What is my Korean name? 
Why do Korean siblings have similar names? 
Is Name Change Common in Korea?

Korea-Japan Relation Saga Index

Because of the popularity of this series, here is the full index.

Part I: Overview
Part II: Korea and Japan in Pre-Modern Times
Part III: Japan's Occupation of Korea during World War II
Part IV: Korea and Japan after World War II
Part V: How Contemporary Korean Nationalism Shapes Korea's Attitude Toward Japan Today

Currently, the most robust discussion has been occurring Part III. However, please read the entire series for the whole context.

Other posts relevant to the past history Korea and Japan:

Japanese Defense Minister Denies the Existence of Comfort Women
A Look into Imperial Japan’s Rule over Korea
Japan Pays 99 Yen Pension to Former Forced Laborers, and the Godfather offer that Japan should make.
Korean and Japanese Scholars Issue Joint Statement on History
Japanese Prime Minister Apologizes for the Colonial Rule
A Look Into the House of Sharing, the Memorial for Comfort Women
Japanese Finance Minister Denies the Legality of War Criminal Conviction
Story from a Former Comfort Woman
Lies by Imperial Japan Apologists