Recently, Japanese people are forming such a strong anti-Korean culture that many Koreans who live there have been victims of racism. The biggest topic of conversation was the so-called ‘wasabi attack at Sijang Sushi’, which has become a hot potato on SNS. Sijang Sushi, a restaurant located in Osaka, put a huge amount of wasabi on Korean guests’ sushi and laughed at people who ate the sushi and suffered from the burning that the wasabi caused. In addition to this, they discriminated against and laughed at Koreans by calling them ‘Chong’. Chong is a word that came from ‘Jo-sen-jin’, which is a word that Japanese people used as a slur against Koreans when Korea was colonized by Japan.
  Sijang Sushi was not the only problem. It is easy to find some examples of anti-Korean sentiment in Japan. Last April, a controversy happened where a Korean bus passenger posted on SNS his   bus ticket, on which his name was written as ‘Kim Chong’. Also, on October 5th, a child named Shin, who is 13 years old and was traveling with his family in Dotombori, was kicked and knocked down by a Japanese man. A few days ago, crewman working in the Osaka subway broadcasted, “Today, there are many foreign passengers, and they are giving us inconvenience.” The anti-Korean phenomenon is now spreading in Japan with many discriminatory and disregarding acts toward Koreans.
  As the possibility of attacks toward Koreans has been increasing, the Korean Consulate General in Osaka has issued a personal safety warning to Koreans traveling in Japan. They asked Koreans to refrain from nights out and to be careful about their own safety. The consulate also recommended that Koreans should inform their family or friends of their destination before leaving and should leave any place where anything seems strange. Finally, he said that it is very useful to remember the consulate’s number just in case they need some help. As such, it is obvious that Koreans have been in danger, the anti-Korean culture can be a threat. Therefore, we need to be vigilant.
  Experts express many opinions for the causes of anti-Korean culture. Park Hong-yeong, a CBNU professor in the Department of Political Science, said, “Many Koreans are living in the Osaka area, and a recent extreme conservative swing is spreading across Japan. It seems like the groups of rightists have caused many problems. They tend to exclude and look down on foreigners, and they are also committing assault and discriminating against Koreans. The tendency of excluding foreigners in Japan tends to spread more easily when Japan has social and political problems, and I think that Koreans are the scapegoats. Moreover, the mass media also has a huge influence, so it is becoming an object of public concern.”
  In addition, he suggested an opinion about the attitudes that we need to have, “As the anti-Korean culture is a problem that is usually caused by some politically far-right people, I think we don’t have to act the same way as they do because it is probable that only a small number of Japanese people have damaged Koreans. If Korean people deal with this situation in a politically cultivated way, they might show remorse for what they did. Since it is obvious that there have been some bad feelings between us, we both need to apologize for the past affairs in order to move forward.”
  In conclusion, both a proper response by the Korean government and self-reflection by some groups of Japanese people would be greatly beneficial to alleviating this issue.

By Yoo Jin-kyu
 jk37@cbnu.ac.kr
By Lee Ju-yeon
 jy37@cbnu.ac.kr