Feb. 22, 2015 – Korean Foreign Ministry blasts Japan’s Dokdo event (Korea Herald)
“Seoul on Sunday slammed the Japanese government’s dispatch of a high-level official to a local event designed to stress its claim to the Korean islets of Dokdo.”
Feb. 14, 2015 – “Toshihiro Nikai a man to watch: Influential LDP politician has inside track with S. Korea” (Asahi)
“Toshihiro Nikai, a top executive in the ruling party, has so much political clout he was recently able to pull off something that has eluded even Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: a formal one-on-one meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.”
Feb. 17, 2015 – “High-ranking official to attend Takeshima Day ceremony” (Japan Times)
“The [Japanese] government is sending a high-ranking official to the ceremony this Sunday commemorating the day of Japan’s incorporation of the Takeshima islets, despite the organizer’s request for a Cabinet member…”
Feb. 17, 2015 – Former ‘comfort women’ from House of Sharing shelter thank U.S. historians (Korea Herald)
“A group of Korean victims of Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement on Monday expressed their gratitude to 19 U.S. historians who criticized Tokyo’s attempts to whitewash the dark side of its history in a joint statement earlier this month… …“Should the…
Feb. 19, 2015 – “At ‘Comfort Women’ Shelter in South Korea, a Japanese Volunteer Helps Out” (WSJ/Korea Real Time)
A Japanese language teacher living in Seoul has been volunteering at a shelter for elderly women survivors, known as the “House of Sharing” and located in southeast Seoul.
Feb. 16, 2015 – “Enmity Between South Korea, Japan Worries U.S.” (WSJ)
“Seoul’s demand for new apology over WWII ‘comfort women’ complicates regional security ties… …Polling data show that South Koreans dislike Mr. Abe as much as they do North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. In Japan, polls show that views of South…
Feb. 14, 2015 – “Japan’s public diplomacy is expensive and errant” (Opinion, Japan Times)
By Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan “Global understanding does not come cheaply. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has budgeted ¥70 billion — yes, that’s more than $500 million — to help get the word out about…
Feb. 13, 2015 – Korean Government to “bolster education on wartime sex slaves” (Korea Times)
“The government will bolster education for school children on Japan’s sexual enslavement of Asian women during World War II to help them better understand the long-standing issue, the education ministry said Friday.”
Feb. 11, 2015 – “‘Discordant harmony’ of Asian art” (Korea Herald)
“Contemporary art has become borderless, with visual presentations coming to focus less on national identity and more on individuality. In what appears to be an attempt to go against this trend, Art Sonje Center is seeking to explore the national…
Feb. 11, 2015 – “How Two Small Rocks Stop Japan and South Korea Getting Along” (Bloomberg Business)
“Once a source of fortune for Japanese fishermen hunting sea lions and abalone, a pair of remote rocks is stopping the U.S.’ two biggest allies in Asia from getting along…”
Feb. 3, 2015 – “Bread mimicking shape of Dokdo Appears in Korea” (Korea Bizwire)
“’Dokdo Bread’ made by a baker in his 40’s is the talk of town in Pohang, a southeastern port city in South Korea. Kim Ki-seon, the baker, began baking the bread last year to protect Dokdo from Japan, after the news…
Jan. 30, 2015 – “Japan, South Korea (were) about to agree on ‘comfort women’ issue, reveals memoir” (Malay Mail)
“A memoir of South Korea’s previous president Lee Myung-bak reveals Japan and South Korea were about to agree on terms for settling the issue of “comfort women” serving Japanese troops before and during World War II.”
Jan. 22, 2015 – Korean Translation of White Paper Issued by Japan Claims Ownership over Disputed Islands (Hankyoreh)
“Japan recently published a Korean language translation of the 2014 defense White Paper referring to Dokdo (Takeshima in Japanese) as belonging to Japan, the South Korean government discovered.”
Nov. 24-25, 2014 – S. Korea & China make moves to push respective claims over Dokto/Takeshima & Diaoyu/Senkaku
On Monday, Nov. 24, South Korea conducted its annual or biannual defensive military drill around the Dokdo/Takeshima islets, triggering diplomatic protests from Japan. Click here for Korea Times article announcing the drill: “Joint Drill Planned Near Dokdo” Click here for…
Nov. 24 – “Like Japan, South Korea embroiled in textbook battle” (Japan Times)
“A 17-year-old Korean girl tortured to death for opposing Japanese colonial rulers nearly a century ago has become the latest touchstone of the nationalism that is shadowing Asia’s economic rise… Textbooks have become part of the front line in East Asia’s…
Nov. 23, 2014 – “U.S. shies away from Takeshima/Dokdo dispute in response to online petitions” (Japan Times)
In response to two petitions, one urging and the other opposing U.S. pronouncement over option of taking island dispute between South Korea and Japan to the ICJ, the White House “reiterated that it does not take a position regarding the dispute” (Kyodo)
Nov. 20, 2014 – ” Learning from S. Korean, Chinese, Japanese students’ debates” (Dong-A Ilbo)
Article by Wakamiya Yoshibumi, former chief editor of the Asahi Shimbun: tri-national debate exercise within context of “Campus Asia” program at Dongseo University, Busan, fosters understanding of counterpart perspectives over key international relations issues between China, Korea and Japan.
Nov. 14, 2014 – “Japan, South Korea propose three-way summit with China” (Japan Times)
Article on prospect of trilateral foreign ministerial summit: “Japanese and South Korean leaders have proposed holding a trilateral summit with their Chinese counterpart for the first time since 2012, their deputies said…”
Oct. 02, 2014 – PM Abe: “No plan right now to replace Kono statement”
Article from Asahi Shimbun, October 02, 2014 : Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated he has no plans to issue a new statement to replace a landmark 1993 apology to former “comfort women” forced to provide sex to wartime Japanese soldiers. “I am…
Japan, Korea and Textbook History
Japan, Korea and Textbook History – This New York Times Opinion letter brings together reactions to the Time’s earlier piece (Jan 13, 2014) ‘Politicians and Textbooks’ which discusses efforts by Prime Minister Abe and President Park to alter the history in…
High school teaching manuals up for revision, to include Senkakus and Takeshima as Japanese territories
High school teaching manuals up for revision, to include Senkakus and Takeshima as Japanese territories – reports the Japan Daily Press
Politicians and Texbooks
Politicians and Textbooks – A New York Times editorial that looks at Prime Minister Abe and President’s Parks attempts to alter history textbooks
Yokohama pulls out school books describing 1923 ‘massacre’ of Koreans
This article in the Japan Daily Press discusses the recall of books that described the massacre of Koreans by the Japanese in 1923. According to this article, the Yokohama Board of Education said this text “can cause a misunderstanding.”
South Korea to ask Japan to ‘correct’ school textbooks referring to disputed islands
South Korea to ask Japan to ‘correct’ school textbooks referring to disputed islands – reports the Japan Daily Press.