Interesting Daito Ryu Demo from Hawaii

[Interloper]

There also are clips of Horikawa Kodo on YouTube with demonstrations of aiki in traditional exercise/drill form (not martial apps).

[asiawide]

1. HKD

I think Choi learned some arts in Japan. AFAIK, there was no such a locking techniques in Korea.
Most HKD styles are mixed martial arts now. However, there is a few teacher who calims teach
what Choi taught. 'Kim Yun Sang''s Hapkiyusul and 'Kim Jung Yun''s Hanpul are. Some HKD teachers
actually learned aikido from aikikai shihans. That's why some HKD schools have aikido skills.

2. Native Korean arts

Officially Taek-kyun, Gook-Gung(like Kyudo in Japan), and Si-rum(sumo) are native Korean arts.
There are some minor martial arts like Subyeok, Kicheon, Sunmudo. But not so sure about their origin.
If you want to learn something reflects 'Korea' in Korea, you should try Taekkyun or Gook-gung.

3. TKD

Early founders of TKD learned Karate in Japan from different schools. After 1950's TKD is formed
and some teachers refused to join it. That's why there is Tangsoodo and it looks like Karate. Now
some people admit that TKD is from Karate. But many still say.. Modern Karate was also forming
at early 1900's. Korean Karate teachers also contributed to moderen Karate. Modern TKD is now
almost a new arts though it's originated from Karate. The more Karate is also from southern china
(not sure..) Anyway most Korean don't give a shit about TKD. Maybe Japanese and Chinese too..

4. Korean hate Japanese

True. And many Japanese politicians are still saying 'there's nothing wrong about what we did'
or 'it didn't happen'. Soccer or baseball A-Match(inter-country) is something like a war here. Beat
Jap vs Beat Chosenjin. However, not that serious between normal people.

[Interloper]

4. Korean hate Japanese

True. And many Japanese politicians are still saying 'there's nothing wrong about what we did'
or 'it didn't happen'. Soccer or baseball A-Match(inter-country) is something like a war here. Beat
Jap vs Beat Chosenjin. However, not that serious between normal people.

Perhaps the problem here is that you/Allen/Andy and I are painting the issue with too broad a brush, from either side. Maybe my comments seem naive, but is it really true that The Korean People HATE The Japanese People? Or is it really a hatred focused on specific subgroups? In the past 30 years I have met hundreds of Koreans (as part of my work and outside of it), and never got the sense that they loathed the The Japanese People. Those who expressed resentment directed it toward the Japanese government, military and those who had been soldiers - or who had aided and abetted them - during the period of the occupation. But many Koreans in the post-WWII generations have attended university classes, MA club classes, or worked with Japanese peers and have a wider world view than that of their parents and grandparents. That was where my perceptions were coming from, and they are corroborated by comments I have heard from both Japanese and Korean friends from Baby Boomer, GenX and GenY.

When you make a statement such as "The Koreans HATE the Japanese," that is pretty black-and-white, and that's what prompted my initial response.

[edededed]

In my experience...

Koreans (and often Chinese) don't like the general idea of Japan and Japanese; Chinese are to some extent influenced by the government's stance on the Japanese at that particular time, while Koreans have been ingrained with some amount of antipathy by the education system and some funky museums. That doesn't mean that they will spit on your Japanese friend that you bring along - but if that friend reinforces the bad stereotype of Japan, well... Unless the Chinese or Korean works in a Japanese firm, I think that there is a pretty small chance that they had any meaningful personal contact with Japanese people (it's not like America where we have lots of different kinds of people together)...

In turn, Japanese in general don't really feel sorry about past atrocities (that they did not personally participate in) and often think that the whole forcing an apology thing is a scheme to get Japan to give money to Korea/China. They also have a secret (but obvious) superiority complex towards the entirety of Asia (and other races), but an inferiority complex towards the West in general (especially older folks).

On the positive side, Korean dramas became very popular for a while here in Japan, giving Korean culture quite a bit of exposure here those few years - I think that helped things quite a lot, with lots of older women starting to (unsuccessfully try to) learn Korean language and go to Korea. A few Korean TV personalities (all female) also appeared around that time - some truly Korean, some Japan-born Korean, and some Japan-born Korean with Japanese name. (Actually, it is said that a large number of TV personalities in Japan are of Korean ethnicity, but secretly - still, people are not coming out of the "closet," so to speak.) It seems that pretty girls are one way to soften people up (there is finally a male Korean group nowadays, too, but I guess girls were more common.)

I think that in China and Korea, Japanese anime/manga do a lot to "soften" the image of Japan for these countries - after all, the people who made this fun stuff can't be that bad, right? (In older days, I remember how Korean-dubbed anime tried very, very hard to hide the Japanese origins of the program - for example, all characters got Korean names, Tokyo became Seoul while Okinawa became Cheju, and so on. I dunno about today, but there is a lot more than there was when I was younger, I think.)

[Andy_S]

Inteloper:

Last month, I took a night bus from London to Edinburgh. I sat next to a very sweet young Jap girl who was backpacking. We got talking, and she told me how she had been in Korea, stayed with a Korean family, and loved Korea. Fine.

Earlier this week - back in Seoul - I strolled past the Japanese Embassy on my way to lunch. There was the usual local weekly demo re the "Comfort Women." Fair enough. The crowd, of a couple of hundred, were all in their 20s, I would say, at a glance. (Bar a couple of Nuns - and who knows how old Nuns are?) One maiden with a mic was haranguing the crowd - quite literally screaming/spitting with indignant fury. It was an impressive demonstration of primeval hatred.

Koreans and Japs are culturally very similar, and get on fine, one to one. But as soon as a group gets together and politics comes into it, the hatred is spewed out. The trouble is:
(1) When people here get emotional - especially when the group menality that the Kors loves so much kicks in - you can't win a rational argument with them; and
(2) Intense nationalism is just below the surface, and it is impossible for (shall we say) rational, intelligent people to get a word in when locals are in this mood.

[edededed]

I would say that strong nationalism is above the surface for Koreans, while it is under the surface for Japanese. (They have it, but the latter deny it.)

[Interloper]

Andy,
I see your point. There is much to be said for the "pack mentality," especially in basically homoethnic countries like Korea and Japan. And even when everyone is the same ethnicity, they will still find a reason to gang up on one of their own sub-groups, such as the way the Japanese persecute their own people who are "hinin/eta" (Histabetsu Burkakumin).

[edededed]

Korea actually has the same - I suspect Japan may have learned to do the whole burakumin thing from Korea, strangely.

As for Japan and homoethnicity - well, actually they are not (they are a mix of various Asian peoples who migrated to the islands many centuries ago, plus the much more recent addition of various groups like Koreans to the mix), although they like to believe so. The media and education (or lack thereof) is responsible for a lot of the mentality in both.

[asiawide]

Well.. there's no burakumin in Korea though surely there was. (eg. butcher..) Nobody knows and cares now. 'Money' talks instead in Korea now. By the way, Korean and Japanese are different. Social system looks similar since Japanese transplant theirs and Korean adopt theirs to build up the system.

[edededed]

I admit that I have not really heard or felt the Korean version's existence throughout my long association with Korean people, so it was interesting to find out about them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baekjeong

The Baekjeong, unlike the Burakumin, seem to have a fairly reasonable reason for their existence (i.e. originally a different race/culture), though.

In my opinion, Koreans and Japanese are extremely similar culturally, with a few key differences:
1. Koreans are more overtly emotional (Japanese learn to suppress it... except when they are the boss)
2. Japanese believe that dead are freed from sins/transgressions
3. Not key, but food flavoring is different (Koreans use sesame oil, hot peppers, and garlic for flavor, Japanese use salt, sugar, and vinegar for flavor)

[ashe]

this topic has become quit a fascinating dissection of asian culture by ex-pats