#japanese occupation of korea

[1900scartoons]

Wonder What Happened To the Canary?

July 25, 1907

The Japan cat licks its lips by the empty Korean birdcage; the Hague Peace Tribunal smiles as portraits of England, Germany, and France look on.

The caption reads "The Peace Lady - 'I'm so glad my dove didn't happen to be in that cage!'"

Japan had forced the abdication of Korea's Emperor after he secretly sent delegates to the Hague Peace Conference requesting help. The conference refused to see the delegates, allowing Japan to continue their annexation of Korea.

From Hennepin County Library

Original available at: https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/Bart/id/5820/rec/205

[quotesfrommyreading]

There are little mysteries I understand differently now, all these years later. Visits to my family in Korea often meant dinners where I would be told, always, what we were eating, no matter how many times they’d seen me eat it before. Now that I know other Korean families do this, I wonder if it is all some relic of a time when the children had to learn the names of the food they could now eat again. The Korean-American habit of quizzing one another — When was the last time you were back in Korea? Do you speak Korean? Do you read it? What food can you make? — now feels to me like the drills of people studying for a more Korean future than the one they had had.

And the more openly didactic qualities of my visits with my grandfather — always being told that Korean culture or language was superior, for example, which once felt to me like his way of chiding my father for leaving for the United States and not teaching us Korean — I now understand as the act of a man who still woke from dreams in Japanese, who had lived to see a future where his son, also born during the occupation, could decide not to live in the country once lost to them, could decide not to teach what was once forbidden for them to learn. And his grandson might never know.

  —  My Family’s Shrouded History Is Also a National One for Korea

[nibeul]

stumbled upon this white girl complaining about how the handmaiden doesn't pass the bechdel test like why do you people not have an ounce of critical thought I swear

[postcard-from-the-past]

Temple of Heaven's rose garden and Chosen Hotel in Seoul, South Korea, during the Japanese occupation

Japanese vintage postcard, mailed in 1924 to San Francisco

[friendrat]

I finished Whale Star. Man... I knew that it was a little mermaid retelling, and it wasn't gonna be a happy ending, but it was still so sad to reach the end and see it happen. I am really impressed with how the author pulled off a historical fiction fairy tale retelling, and especially how it translated at the end. I was really curious how the mermaid sacrificing herself for the prince would play out, and it did not disappoint.

I don't like historical fiction generally, but I really enjoyed this one because of the little mermaid parallels. I would be willing to read more historical fiction if it was written as a fairy tale retelling.

[anarkhebringer]

"Understanding and demonstrating respect for the real-world histories and culture being referenced" okay then get rid of the racist lore for Blue Mage then and get our names out of your mouths

[kefnut-the-gweilologist]

the history of e and se asia during the middle of the 20th century is so depressing

[an-onyx-void]

Korean government's idea of removing border controls between Seoul, Tokyo triggers stirs - The Korea Times

[driftlessarearev]

Translation Tuesdays: Mater 2-10, by Hwang Sok-yong

Mater 2-10, by Hwang Sok-yong, chronicles Jino’s sit-in, weaving together Korean history and Jino’s family history into a multi-generational saga.

Via A series dedicated to literature in translation whether classic or contemporary. Translated by Sora Kim-Russell & Youngjae Josephine Bae Originally published by Changbi Publishers (2020) Scribe (2023) “When nine-tenths of Africa had been seized (by 1900), when the whole world had been divided up, there was inevitably ushered in the era of monopoly possession of colonies and,…

[shesnake]

The Handmaiden (2016) dir. Park Chan-wook // Interview with the Vampire episode 11 (2024) dir. Levan Akin

He lost his Hindu-originated name “Arun” when he was trafficked from Dehli as a child, was renamed “Amadeo” by his paedophile Maker the vampire Marius, then finally assigned “Armand” by the Roman coven before they sent him to France. He’s also lost his voice in a way, shown code-switching and adopting different accents in different settings. Throughout world history, colonised peoples have often been forced to adopt the languages and names of their oppressive colonisers as a way to erase their cultural identities.

Armand’s history was essentially colonised. His personal sexual trauma is an allegory for wider colonial trauma. This idea was explored similarly in Park Chan-wook’s 2016 film The Handmaiden, where the character Hideko’s forced exposure to pornographic Japanese literature as a child is meant to parallel the colonial oppression of the Japanese occupation of Korea.

The only evidence remaining of Armand’s experiences of sexual and colonial violence is this painting The Adoration of the Shephards With a Donor that hangs in the Louvre. Another cruel irony here is that ‘Adoration of the Shepherds’ is an episode of Jesus’s nativity. Arun as a (presumably) Hindu boy was used as a prop in a Christian narrative. The one historical document that exists of his mortal life is a depiction of his religious assimilation. Completely divorced from his roots, with no identity outside the roles his abusers assigned him, Armand, Amadeo, and Arun “were cut loose and dead like children turned to stone.” Being immortalised, “donated”, and placed on display in a European museum, a space he’s not even really allowed to access, for the mostly-white gaze is a clear metaphor for colonisers’ persisting theft of cultural artefacts belonging to their victims.

The only consolation this journey has for Armand is creative inspiration. He took Amadeo, trapped in the horror of his youth for the entertainment of others, and transferred that idea into the play My Baby Loves Windows to torture Claudia.

Armand, colonialism, and the weaponisation of anti-Blackness by Deah

[1900scartoons]

The Story Of a Rescue

July 28, 1907

In the first panel, Korea shouts for help as she is assaulted by the Russian Bear. In the second panel, Japan Rescues her. In the third panel, she shouts to be saved from Japan.

The Japanese had driven the Russians out of Korea during the Russo-Japanese War, but had proceeded to make it a protectorate, and slowly taken over the country.

From Hennepin County Library

Original available at: https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/Bart/id/6112/rec/208

[parklunas]

Idk what I would do without Zlibrary tbh

[hotpinkashcrimson]

That post about Edgeworth's favorite music being Korean disco had me digging and not only was it TRUE from a fanbook interview but ALSO I learned the genre is specifically 'ppong-jjak', and I lost my fucking mind.

I need everyone to listen to this and know that this is the song ace prosecutor Edgeworth has in his ferrari sports car this is it

Edit: this post blew up AND EVERYBODY HAS BEEN DRAGGING ME WHEN IM A FAN OF PPONGJJAK SO ADDITIONAL CONTEXT: ppongjjak, or its real name, 'trot'; is a genre created during the Japanese occupation of Korea, and it has many musical influences from traditinal korean to japanese enka and even american/european folk.

It's a very long standing genre, so it has a very strong demographic of 40-80 year olds. So it's kinda what you would call boomer music I guess? Recently there's been a trot resurgence in Korea though!

Here's one of the songs that brought about the resurgence it's about socrates

Here's a good article I found if you're interested!

[mesetacadre]

In February, 1945, when the USSR agreed at Yalta to join the Allies in the war on Japan, it was decided to divide Korea into two zones for purposes of military action. The Russians took the north, the Americans the south. The following July, at Potsdam, the 38th parallel was chosen as the “great divide.” Korea was a victim of Japanese aggression, not an enemy. We would come as liberators, not as conquerors. The military occupation was to end within a year of victory, followed by about five years of civilian trusteeship in which all the Big Four Powers, America, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and China, should help Korea to her feet. That was the plan. The reality proved otherwise. The growing cold war against the Soviet Union made Korea also a base. The two zones solidified into two areas of military occupation. Friction continues to grow. When American troops landed in South Korea, September 7, 1945, thousands of Koreans danced and cheered and shouted: “Mansai,” or “Live a Thousand Years.” Within six months surly Koreans were demanding how soon the Americans would go home. Within a year great uprisings took place in eighty cities and in hundreds of farming villages against the “police state” that the American armed forces kept in power. When the Americans landed in Korea, the Koreans had already a de facto government. A “People’s Republic” had been declared a day earlier by a congress of Koreans themselves. General John R. Hodge, commander of the U. S. armed forces, dissolved this “People’s Republic,” and drove most of its members underground. Two days after landing, Hodge announced to the Koreans – who had waited a quarter of a century for liberation – that Japanese officials would temporarily continue to run Korea. Korean delegations waiting to greet Americans were fired on – by Japanese police! The Russians pursued an opposite policy. They recognized the “People’s Committees” that the Americans were suppressing. They encouraged Korean initiative when it took the form of ousting the Japanese-appointed puppets, dividing the landlords’ lands, and nationalizing the Japanese-owned industry as the “property of the Korean people.” They especially looked with favor on what they called “mass organizations,” – farmers’ unions, labor unions, women’s associations and unions of youth. The Russian zone in the north fairly blossomed with such organizations energetically building their country after their own desire. From time to time the Americans and Russians held conferences to determine Korea’s future. Nothing came of these talks but increasing bitterness for two years. The Americans insisted on including pro-Japanese quislings and returned exiles in the provisional government. The Russians refused. The Russians insisted on including representatives of the trade unions, the farmers’ union and other similar organizations. The USA would not hear of this.

In North Korea: First Eye-Witness Reports, Anna Louise Strong, 1949

[intersectionalpraxis]

Green Party of Korea in solidarity with Palestine ❤️

Also, the sheer cognitive dissonance in Israel is just so wild to me because Korea was under a brutal, violent, and oppressive occupation for decades under Japanese rule in the early to mid-twentieth century. If some of you were unaware of this, there are plenty of resources available (I have read journal articles and have watched some documentaries, and have bear witness/watched content where survivors talk about the sexual violence they experienced from Japanese military officials before and during World War 2). My point is, the reason why there's SO much solidarity among communities of people all around the world for Palestine is precisely because their ancestors, to their relatives and close family members/loved one's have experienced violent settler-colonial occupations and imperial violence. It's just baffling and disgusting to me how Israel, with the US government supporting them, get to feel so untouchable and superior... despicable.

[icedsodapop]

I find Americans' general ignorance on global affairs and history so fucking frustrating. For example, I saw Americans on social media accusing Exhuma, a South Korean horror film, of being racist towards the Japanese just because the villain of the film was a Japanese spirit, even tho this was obviously a deliberate writing choice as metaphor for the Japanese occupation of South Korea 🤦🏻‍♀️ Please read wikipedia or something, I'm begging...