ASEM leaders gather in Beijing (完全)

South Korean President, to my surprise, made no mention of “territorial and historical issue” at the meeting, which I find it hard to believe since that is the most important, favorite, exciting, and never-ending political topic among Korean people, and the hot issue had long been an indispensable agenda item, always raised unilaterally by South Korea, at summit meetings in the past. I still remember clearly that the President severely criticized Japan on this matter only a few months ago.

韩国总统李明博在这次日韩首脑会晤中竟没有提到“关于领土和历史的问题”。这件事情我真的没想到，让我难以置信，因为这些敏感政治问题就是对韩国人来讲一直是最重要，最受欢迎，最兴奋，而且没完没了的热门话题，同时也是在两国首脑会谈中韩国领导非提不可的关键议题。就在前几个月李明博又严厉地指责日方对这些领土，历史等问题的态度，我还记得很清楚。

Strangely enough, some major Korean newspapers, which are usually fond of criticizing Japan or even trying to “enlighten ignorant Japanese people”, have also suddenly begun to emphasize the need for the closer cooperation between Korea and Japan. I wonder what on earth happened to Korean people? Did they cross the aisle? It looks like that the “financial crisis” is not necessarily a bad thing. At least it can promote “friendly” relationship between the two countries, albeit temporarily, hehe.

最近有些韩国主要报社也忽然开始提倡建立日韩双方的密切合作关系。我觉得蛮奇怪，因为他们平时常常强烈非难日本，试图纠正日本人的“误解”，或者甚至呼吁说，韩国人应该好好教训“蒙昧”的日本人。韩国人到底怎么了？改变主意了吗？看样子这次世界金融危机也许并不是百分之百的坏事。尽管一时，这种经济危机最起码会对日韩友好关系做出一些贡献，哈哈。

今天中国日本等亚洲股市又大幅下跌了，韩国元也又贬值了，日元又升值了，专家说都是对亚洲经济很不利的因素。但是说实话，日元升值对我来说并不是个坏事。因为我的工资用日元发，我在中国的日子越来越好过，我家的小狗同志也很高兴，而且日元走强当然有利于出口到日本，最近我的老板也高兴得不得了。

由此可见，世界泡沫经济破裂的幕后肯定有许多赚钱而大笑不止的人。你的损失就等于别人的利润，你吃亏的时候有人一定会占便宜。一般来讲，在这样的时候借机发财的人什么都不说，偷着在家数钱。所以大家不必担心，反正全球财富总额不变，只不过是“分配不公平”而已。我的看法好像有点太天真单纯啊！

changye, 我真的不懂很多金融的事情。例如说，为什么日本的政府要日元贬值了。第二世界大战以后，当然要发展经济，并且要找工作给前任的武士。不过现在日本又发达又丰富。而且它的人口越少越老，所以不必需创造新工业。反对日本的财政部还投诉日元太强。

On Japan-Asian relationships, I think other Asian countries both admire and fear Japan, even China.  They admire its success, but look at its current strength while remembering its past.  (While often conveniently ignoring their own history.)  This seems especially true where Korea is concerned.

Hi tvan,

You are very right. I admit that Japanese people are somewhat forgetful about “history”, probably as forgetful as people in most other countries including China and Korea. Please let me tell you interesting episodes.

I debated on a historical issue with some Chinese young guys on the Internet a few years ago. I was very impressed with their impassionate eloquence and abundant knowledge when they were criticizing and blaming Japan.

On the other hand, they didn’t say lot when I asked their opinions about Chinese invasions of Vietnam and an ethnic territory, which happened only a few decades ago. They didn’t seem to know much about their own histories. 

One of them even said to me, without answering my question, China wouldn’t hesitate to wage war if necessary. I understand their sentiments about their own history very well because I myself also love “double standard”.

In 1960s, South Korea dispatched a lot of troops to Vietnam upon the request of the United States, and some Korean soldiers slaughtered local villagers in Vietnam, but most modern Korean people are indifference to this fact. 

I hear that there is no mention to the atrocity in their history textbooks in ROK. On the contrary, “The Vietnam Brave Warriors Memorial Park”, a kind of sightseeing spot, has recently opened in South Korea.

I have no intention to blame Chinese and Korean people for their “double standard”, because I understand their way of thinking very well. Good or bad, this is the reality of “morality” in East Asian countries, Japan included.

I believe that you western guys, of course, definitely have high moral standards and always critically look back on your own history, but please be careful, you apt to become a moral advocate only when criticizing someone.

P/S. By the way, do you know that Japan is the only country that waged war against all the three superpowers, China, Russia, and the US in the past? Its overall record, two victories and two defeats, is not so bad for a small country. I must say Japanese are reckless rather than brave. No more war!

changye, I certainly didn't intend to imply that Westerners have a lock on honest history; the English saying, "History is written by the victors," is not intended to be complementary.  Likewise, we Americans are famous for our historical and geographical ignorance. 

I was aware of Japan fighting China, Russia (twice), and the U.S.  Also, I imagine you are aware that, on this side of the Int'l date line, today is the birthdate of Teddy Roosevelt, the U.S. president who won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the Japan-Russian war's peace treaty.

Hi tvan,

Thanks, I feel relieved to hear your words. I thought that only we East Asian guys were forgetful about history. To tell you the truth, we are actually not so forgetful about ....... self-serving history and information. We have a convenient memory, haha.

Looks like that Japanese people must thank Teddy Roosevelt for the Japan-Russian peace treaty. In fact, Japan won the war (1904-1905) by only a narrow margin. Japan had no weapon/manpower left to continue the war when concluded the treaty.