Acting like adults in East Asia

DEDDS, NOT WORDS, SHALL SPEAK ME, wrote English dramatist John Fletcher in the 16th century, and his aphorism has been used frequently over the centuries to express the standard for judging a person’s intent.

If we were to apply the same standard to the average South Korean vis-à-vis the Japanese, we might see that the blood between them is not as bad as is widely assumed. For example, this week the Kyushu District Transport Bureau issued a report on the number of passengers in FY 2006 who used the high-speed jetfoils and ferries operated by six Japanese companies to travel between Busan in South Korea and Hakata (Fukuoka City), Shimonoseki, and Tsushima in Japan. The passenger total rose 13.4% from the previous year to reach 1,071,406, exceeding one million for the first time.

It’s worth noting that this increase was achieved by a whopping 25.3% year-on-year rise in the number of Koreans traveling to Japan. In fact, Koreans accounted for 70% of all the passengers. On the other hand, the number Japanese passengers fell 7.6%, the second consecutive annual decline. Japanese totals were also down 29.1% from FY 2004, the year of the Korean wave.

Mind you, these are just the figures from Japanese companies in the region. The Koreans operate their own high-speed jetfoil service between Busan and The Port of Hakata, and those passenger totals aren’t included.

Economic factors played a large part in these results—the value of the yen has been falling, while the won has been appreciating. That makes Japan a cheaper trip for the Koreans, and Korea a more expensive trip for the Japanese. Yet for all the talk about how the Koreans hate the Japanese, they certainly are traveling in increasing numbers to—and spending money in–a country they supposedly can’t stand.

This travel is just a manifestation of an increasing sophistication in Japanese-Korean ties at the grassroots level. Every spring, the quasi-public Japanese radio network NHK broadcasts for a week from Seoul, and program participants discuss Japanese-Korean relations from a variety of perspectives. During one of those programs, a Korean (speaking in fluent Japanese) observed that other than in the political sphere, relations between the two countries were very mature.

As an example of this overlooked maturity, I collected a sample of articles reporting on Japanese-Korean interaction that appeared over a short period in my local newspaper two years ago. None of these were headline news items; most were short below-the-fold space-fillers.

• Interaction between the people of Fukutsu, Fukuoka Prefecture, and Kyongju, South Korea, is flourishing. The Fukutsu-Kyongju Culture and Friendship Exchange Association, a group of about 60 people, has been studying the Korean language and culture and conducting grassroots exchanges since 1998. The people in Fukutsu were due for a homestay and visit to Kyongju that year, but were concerned that recent tensions might scuttle the trip. They were relieved to learn that their counterparts in South Korea looked forward to their visit, and their plans went ahead as scheduled.
• The Lotte Giants baseball team from the Korean League held its spring training camp in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture. The Giants and three other Korean professional teams played 10 games in the area in early March.
• The Kyushu Japan-South Korean Economic Exchange Council for promoting trade and investment by private sector companies in Kyushu and South Korea opened its doors in Fukuoka City. The council’s objective is to create a business network to strengthen ties between Japanese and Korean companies. The South Korean Consulate in Fukuoka City, the local South Korean Trade Center, and a Tokyo consulting company are working together on the project.
• Researchers from the Fisheries and Fishing Community Research Center of the Korea Maritime Institute visited Kashima, Saga Prefecture, to observe the Ariake Sea tidelands, known for their six-meter tide level differential, and talk about the Gatalympics. The Center is interested in the Gatalympics because they are studying ways to promote local economies using tourism in fishing villages.
• Warabi-za, a drama troupe based in Akita Prefecture, planned their debut performance of the musical Hyakuba in Arita-machi, Saga Prefecture. The selection of Arita, the production center of Arita and Imari ware, is apt because the musical tells the story of the wife of a Korean potter in Arita who became the progenitor of the modern Japanese ceramics industry. The character of the protagonist was modeled on the wife of Lee Sam-pyung, brought from Korea to Arita about 400 years ago by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The plot focuses on the cultural questions she faced in Japan, such as whether to hold a Korean or a Japanese funeral for her husband, and the differences of opinions she has with her Japanese-born son.
• After threatening to cut friendship ties due to the Takeshima/Dokdo dispute, North Kyeongsang Province in South Korea invited Shimane Prefecture Governor Nobuyoshi Sumita to a ceremony for the opening of the office of the Association of Northeast Asia Regional Governments. Shimane Prefecture is the jurisdiction in Japan with nominal authority over Takeshima. The same prefectural government upset the Koreans by declaring a Takeshima Day.

Speaking of maturity—or the lack of it–in Northeast Asian political affairs, the subject came up in a dialogue conducted between former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone (who’ll turn 90 next year) and political commentator Taro Yayama in the July issue of Seiron magazine. Yayama wondered how anyone could seriously suggest that the countries in the region could form a cohesive organization such as the EC or the EU when cultural differences between the countries are much greater than those between the countries of Europe. He thinks the claim that China and Japan are culturally similar is facile.

Though he assumed a more statesmanlike approach, Mr. Nakasone agreed. He says the key is an otona no tsukiai, or a relationship between adults. Left unspoken is the assumption that the political relationships between the countries of Northeast Asia are not now otona no tsukiai.

What would the terms of a relationship between adults, with Japan as one party, consist of? Aren’t they obvious? Here’s a partial list:

1. China and South Korea would have a greater intrinsic respect for their own millennia-old cultures and histories and forego creating national identities that necessitated the demonization of Japan.
2. China and South Korea would have to openly admit what they already know but won’t act on: Imperial Japan is dead, and today’s Japanese aren’t interested in recreating it.
3. Politicians in both of those countries would have to avoid the temptation to play the demagogue and stop bringing up Japan’s past in an attempt to deflect domestic dissatisfaction. That would include ending the egregious Japan-bashing in the national media.
4. They would have to stop pretending that if Japan modified the peace clause of its Constitution, it would be a military threat to the region.
5. They would have to realize that the content of Japanese textbooks and the sites visited by Japanese prime ministers are none of their business, whether they like it or not. Summit meetings with Japanese leaders are not to be dependent on textbook content or the prime ministerial itinerary. Junichiro Koizumi’s visits to the Yasukuni Shrine didn’t stop Kim Jong-il from meeting with him twice.
6. South Korea in particular will have to start upholding its treaty obligations. One of those obligations is to cease any demand for individual war reparations. Another is to honor the agreement it signed with the fishing industry in Japan and allow Japanese fishermen access to Takeshima/Dokdo.
7. While they’re allowing Japanese fishermen access to Takeshima/Dokdo, they would have to submit the issue of sovereignty over the islets, which they illegally seized, to international arbitration and abide by the result.
8. South Korea also will have to realize that bilateral relations with Japan are not a zero-sum game, and the objective is not to give Japan a black eye. They should demonstrate their good faith by supporting a Japanese bid to become a member of the U.N Security Council. Japan clearly is a better exemplary of the ideals of the U.N. Charter than say, China.

Are these conditions too stringent? Consider:

Japan does not need to demonize either China or South Korea to define itself as a nation, it does not use them as whipping boys for its domestic policies to divert the attention of its citizens, it does not complain about Chinese or Korean textbooks or the travel schedule of their politicians, it upholds its treaty obligations with those countries, and it actually supported former South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon when he was selected U.N. Secretary-General.

Mr. Nakasone said he thought that creating a similar organization in East Asia would take 20 years of repeated negotiations with that specific goal in mind.

Unless the interaction of the citizens of the region creates a fait accompli that their respective governments have to accept, his estimate is probably on the mark.