Where is Cheongju Again?

The machinery for this post actually comes from this post here at the excellent site The Grand Narrative. Since I discovered this site, it has quickly become one of my favorite sites on the interweb, as it discusses various aspects of Korea society that cultural studies geeks like me would find interesting. And he does it in a (semi-)humorous manner, no small feat.

I've long stated that Korea needs a better PR representative to promote Korea among the Western World (Entertainment). If, I judge knowledge of Korea by what Stephen Colbert knows of Korea, people know M*A*S*H (need to watch the movie again), kimchi, Hyundai and that's all. Oh, and Korean international singing star Rain. Coming from my Japanese background, you can also add Winter Sonata, Bae Yong-Joon (Yon-sama) and BoA. That doesn't amount to much.

Here's the passage that originally peaked my interest:

Convergence vs Divergence

"Very basically, I believe that the dictates of capitalism mean that as a country develops, its society and culture “converge” towards those of the most advanced capitalist countries of North America, Europe and Australasia. Now, let me hand you over to Yoshio Sugimoto, pp. 18-19, who points out that:

Japan provides a logical testing ground for this debate since it is the only nation outside the Western cultural tradition that has achieved a high level of industrialization. On balance, a majority of Japan specialists, be they culturologists or institutionalists, have tended to underscore the unique features of Japanese society, thereby siding either explicitly or implicitly with the [divergence] stance.

  "Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks) is Korean land!"
  (Ed. Note: I am not touching that issue with a 10 ft. pole. At least, not yet.)

I’d suggest that most Japan specialists do so because of the special Orientalist role that Japan has in the Western and particularly American imagination, and regardless, very few Western social scientists originally became interested in Japan because of its similarities with back home. By 2007, of course Korea is too a prime candidate for study, but in the English-speaking world it tends to get overshadowed by the deluge of material on its neighbour."

He then goes on to describe Japanese developmental theories and how they apply to Korea. Not the point of this topic. But the idea of Japan capturing the imagination of the Western world hit the nail on the head. But this reminded me of the Book The Best and The Brightest by David Halberstam describing how the US got involved in the Vietnam War. In it he mentions the fall of China, and how Chinese people, during WWII, were considered the jewel of the Orient. They were a democratic, civilized people with a rich history who were admired by the American people. Of course, once China fell to Communist, they were simply another part of the Global Communist Agenda to take over the world. The US admiration of China quickly vanished, and instead became attached to Japan. Japan was quickly transformed from a defeated enemy to an important ally against Communism. Thus restoring their economic and military strength became a top priority, which led to their current status as the third largest economic market in the world (thank you convenient chart on CNN International the other day.) Had China not fallen to Communism, would Japan have risen to the same level of prominence? I doubt it.

OK, so now that I've sort of established Japan filling China's role post-WWII, let's go back to the economic aspect of this real quick. Japan's export-driven economy following WWII set the model for most of the developing world on how to transform from a developing state to a developed state. Japan's quick rise to economic prosperity (as best illustrated by the movies "Gung Ho" and "Mr. Baseball") made other countries take notice. Plus it didn't hurt that Japan became the main source for electronics innovation throughout the 80s and 90s (don't get me started on video games.)

Which leads me into the great segway for Japanese pop-culture. Japanese culture, led primarily by Japanese manga and animation but also to a lessor extent movies and music is widely disseminated throughout the world. In fact, many cartoons created in the States have that definitive Japanese look to them now. That is, of course, when an actual Japanese show isn't on. Japanese shows shown in the States that I can think of off the top of my head include Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Naruto, Bleach, Zatch Bell, Cowboy Bebop, Witch Hunter Robin, Big-O, Yu Yu Hakusho, One Piece, Samurai Champloo, I could could go on... but I think I've illustrated my point. Japanese remakes have become fashionable in Hollywood (The Ring, The Grudge) and Japanese film is widely studied.

So I've tried to identify three factors - historical, economic, and pop-cultural - why Japan is popular in the Western World. Let's now compare these same factors with Korea.

Historically, no one cared to much about Korea. Korea was valued as a key position to launch an invasion over mainland Asia so it was valuable in that sense. But other than that, Korea was just another vassal state under Chinese influence. It was never conquered by Western imperial powers, though France and the US did send small incursions to force the country to open up trade. It wasn't until Communism became a threat that the US took an interest in the country. After fighting North Korea to a draw, the US set out to establish a strong and prosperous South Korea. But, unlike Japan, the government wasn't truly a democracy until the late 1980s. One might say that South Korea wasn't recognized as a modern state until the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

Economically, South Korea has always trailed behind Japan. [An interesting factoid - the Korean War broke an economic slump in Japan and jump-started the economy (Think of all the US soldiers who wanted to visit Japan during M*A*S*H. The US military poured millions into the country to help supply and support the US troops.) Just as, in turn, the Vietnam War would break an economic slump in Korea and jump-start the economy. So, I think I just proved that war is good, or something.] South Korea is an important trading partner with the US and EU, mainly due to their semiconductors and flat-screen televisions, but sadly, there are no baseball movies that readily capture this unique economic relationship (Mr. Baseball II - The Korean Expedition.) [Another interesting factoid - did you know that South Korea provides the animation of many quality cartoons, such as The Simpsons, Futurama, the original Transformers movie, and even the cult classic 1995 MTV cartoon The Maxx? I just downloaded all the episodes of that show. Damn is that show messed up, but in a really good way. I highly recommend.]

Pop-culture wise, Korean animation and comics are almost non-existant in the States. Music tends to do better than Japanese music, but that is mostly due to the large Korean-American communities. Movies have also done well recently, with movies such as Old Boy and JSA (both by director Park Chan-wook) gaining popularity amongst college students, and Hollywood remaking movies such as The Notebook. But by and large, Korea lacks the video game (Sorry, DJ Portable Max is an amazing game, but one game does not an industry make.) and anime/manga influence that Japan has. In fact, you can watch tons of anime here, as well as get manga at any bookstore.

What does this all mean? That Japan was lucky to come of age in a time when they were desperately needed by the US, and they did it first in Asia. They also filled a role that was vacated by China in the imaginations of the American people. Finally, their anime and video games are really cool. These three factors have led to Japan being more in the conscience of a normal American than South Korea. This is starting to change, but no where near the amounts that some people would have you believe.

As for the Korean Wave, which was supposed to take over the world, it seems to be coming to an end. First, read this article here comparing the current Japanese wave in Korea to the Korean wave. Next, check out this blog post at the The Marmot's Hole dealing with the Korean Wave. My favorite passage from the first article: 

"The biggest strength of the Japanese Wave, then, is creativity. In Japan, popular comics or novels are often made into dramas and movies, creating a kind of a synergy effect. In Korea, hit dramas like “Winter Sonata” and “Daejanggeum” rarely venture into other media. Japan also boasts a rich variety of material for its dramas and movies. Stereotypical Cinderella stories dominate Korean dramas but are almost non-existent in Japan. Instead, bizarre yet brilliantly creative stories of ordinary individuals entertain Japanese viewers."

So basically, Korea tends to recycle the same stories over and over again while Japan pushes for new and exciting stories and angles. Sounds about right.