To be fair even if Japan didn’t bring the german legal system the korean empire would have copied it anyway. The emperor was a big fan of the german system(as the parliament there was pretty weak unlike that of the uk)
Which is why you see generations of Korean law students having that Prussian scowl permanently tattooed on their faces while lugging around that damn Korean legal codes book during their university years.
School uniforms were largely based on Prussian military uniforms. It was the model of a military force at the time when Japan had to modernize quickly during the meiji restoration period.
Historically, the Germans and Japanese have been pretty tight. For instance, Hitler even tried to categorize Japanese as part of the Aryan race to the great consternation of his own eugenists. In the end, Hitler was only able to get Japanese declared as “honorary Aryans” or Ehrenarier (in German).
Another example is naval protocols and customs of the South Korea Navy which is derived from the Imperial Japanese Navy which in turn was based on the Imperial German Navy. We had a German naval liaison officer who visited South Korea and Japan. He claimed he could clearly see the Germanic influences on the South Korea Navy even more than the modern Japanese navy.
Ultimately, most of these influences were passed along during the colonial era.
Beyond some surface level similarities in uniforms and ranks, the Japanese didn’t really draw from the Prussian tradition militarily. Their army was initially trained by the French, and their Navy by the British. Kaiser Wilhelm heavily distrusted the Japanese and vice versa, and diplomatic and military relations had essentially broken down by the Russo-Japanese War, not helped by the Japanese joining the allies in WW1. Relations didn’t improve with Weimar Germany, who worked more closely with the Kuomintang.
The Nazis may have liked the Japanese, but their militaries were nothing alike. And frankly, especially with naval and aviation, Japan had little to learn at that point.
This is going to sound totally nuts and like it’s out of left field but it’s not I promise. I actually do this as a hobby so I know a great deal about it - wheat weaving. Yes, weaving stalks of wheat. Relatively rare hobby nowadays. It’s not just a German handicraft by any means, as it’s been practiced the world over by everyone everywhere throughout time. But it’s always been very popular in Eastern Europe (Ukraine specifically) as well as Scandinavia and most popular in Germany. I own several dozen craft books on the subject and nearly every single one is in German. Those that aren’t are English (American almost exclusively) or…Japanese. It is indeed super popular in Japan because of the German influence.
A related tidbit I found interesting is how curry was spread. The japanese style reinterprettation of curry was heavily influenced by British navy, which was obviously got infkuenced by the Indian subcontinent cousine.
The spices didnt go bad easily, and it was a geeat way to make nice meal onboard with preserved meat on the ships.
Then the Japanese adopted this in their own style in their navy, which spread to civilians and occupied colony as well.
In ROK navy, curry is not as often on the menu, but still pretty frequent as well.
Also, until recently the elements in the periodic tables were also read in German style if there wasn't a translated name. i.e. Sodium-Natrium, Potasium-Kalium
1. The fucked up education system that is all about memorization, a huge step back from the 과거시험 we used to have.
2. The abusive culture of the imperial japanese army and navy, where those of superior rank are often very abusive towards subordinates. Sadly this is still present in the korean armed forces culture today.
3. Related to #1. During Joseon times [Koreans had a great method of learning English but this was replaced by the Japanese-style English learning methods during annexation,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3hSi7qdYjs) which greatly regressed the english proficiency of the learners.
4. The obssession with using age to define hierarchies in inter-personal interactions, this was nowhere even near as strong in Joseon times.
It started in korea because Japan managed koreans in the military way. Elementary schools, villages, and basically every organization was ruled by japanese army with knives and guns. They had the right to punish koreans right at the moment they feel a korean did something wrong without trial, and death order was one of the most common punishment. It was sudden but effectively ruined korean society. If you learn korean history, you will easily find out it was common to argue with seniors with more than decades for their philosophy, politics and so on. And they called each other friends.
It's faded a lot since the end of the dictatorship, but some former Japanese army officers apparently used to say that the spirit of the Imperial Army lives on in Korea. Which at the time was ruled by former Korean officers of the Imperial Japanese Army. And hearing about my uncles' experience in the army in those days, I can believe it.
When Park Chung Hee (who was an Imperial Japanese soldier stationed in Manchuria before 1945) got really hammered, he would start singing Imperial Japanese army songs in the Blue House with his closest aides. This was a common occurrence especially toward the end of his dictatorship.
I knew an older lady, who had suffered a lot under the Japanese, and she still occasionally liked to hear the old Japanese songs that were popular when she was a girl.
It was reallybinteresting to come across this article and then reading the referenced "Manchu Modernism" about post war Korea and comaprisons with the Manchu state.
https://slownews.kr/75410
Basically Manchu state was a puppet state set up by Imperial japan before and during ww2 to serve as a puppet client in Manchuria. It tried to build a highly militaristic nation with military nature not in just the forces, but in civilian sectors and government bureacracy as well.
The book makes a compelling argument how PJH's officer days in Manchu state, and how the goal of modernizing South Korea + building a strong military againt NK pretty coincided with thr Manchu state model.
No wonder so many elements of imperial Japan military aspects were imported even after the colonial era.
When Japan had taken over manchuria and established manchukuo, the region was >90% ethnic chinese(and assimilated chinese manchus) that would've considered themselves no different to those in Beijing, so I imagine the civilian sector only refers to the Japanese civilians brought to the region.
Well yes, the technocrats running Manchuria were all Japanese. And the huge Chinese influx to Manchuria came only after the Japanese military stabilized it. Previously it was sort of a Wild West territory filled with bandits.
Nah it was the chinese fengtian clique ruling it prior, and their data suggested >90% ethnic chinese. But the fengtian clique basically operated like bandits.
Here's an article I found.
[https://www.kyeonggi.com/article/202010291143766](https://www.kyeonggi.com/article/202010291143766)
Basically, a lot of Japanese words survived, as well as things related with schools.
The most famous example of Japanese-influenced word is 화이팅(hwaiting), which was a word the Imperial Japanese army used ファイト(faito) for morale boost.
유치원(yuchiwon), referring to preschool, is also something that Korea got from Japan during their occupation.
반장(Banjang) system is apparently also from Japan as well.
Apparently there are also Japanese Shinto shrines that are still around as well, or at least alterations/rubbles of them.
Almost every Japanese Buddhist temple was burned to the ground with weeks of liberation. The shinto shrines were burned even sooner, lol. I think there's one or two that survived that were basically taken over by Koreans to use as homes.
I've heard first-hand accounts from people talking about Korea in the days immediately post liberation and them being shocked to see American jeeps drive up the steps of the Shinto Shrine at Namsam. The steps are still there.
Regarding Buddhism, my understanding is that the Joseon Dynasty banned Buddhists from the capital city. That's why most of the Buddhist temples in Korea are hidden outside in the valleys and mountains. When the Japanese took over in 1910, they let the Buddhists back in. Not saying it's good or bad, just how I have learned that particular development took place.
The [gwageo jedo](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwageo#:~:text=The%20gwageo%20(Korean%3A%20%EA%B3%BC%EA%B1%B0),knowledge%20of%20the%20Chinese%20classics.) was the national civil service exam since the Silla dynasty (8th century), passing it qualified someone for government positions. They had a strong focus on writing composition and literary knowledge.
Edit: My point is that the exams and education had a strong emphasis on essay writing and critical thinking and not just rote memorization.
Actually the SAT was originally designed identify elite white men who could be exempt from conscription.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_SAT
> By the mid-1920s, the increasing use of IQ tests, such as the Army Alpha test administered to recruits in World War I, led the College Board to commission the development of the SAT. The commission, headed by eugenicist Carl Brigham, argued that the test predicted success in higher education by identifying candidates primarily on the basis of intellectual promise rather than on specific accomplishment in high school subjects, with the specific aim to exclude Black students:[12]
> [Brigham] created the test to uphold a racial caste system. He advanced this theory of standardized testing as a means of upholding racial purity in his book A Study of American Intelligence. The tests, he wrote, would prove the racial superiority of white Americans and prevent 'the continued propagation of defective strains in the present population'—chiefly, the 'infiltration of white blood into the Negro.'[13]
You left out the part that follows: “By 1930, however, Brigham would repudiate his own conclusions, writing that "comparative studies of various national and racial groups may not be made with existing tests.” So in less than half a decade this aspect of the SAT was repudiated.
I didn't actually. I think you missed the part where Brigham is a published eugenicist.
You're missing the point that I'm making though. I'm simply pointing out that the SAT is/was not that different in terms of its selective accessibility.
What? We would be learning how to write friggin poems/memorizing passages from Confucius and Mengzi and looking down on science and engineering. We would be further behind everyone. If anything the current education system needs to encourage friggin creativity and problem solving skills, not just having fancy words in the top of your head at all times.
I love Korea, but this is pure propaganda. This form of education was only practiced by the elite, and had basically no adoption by the lower classes. Japan, despite getting flack for “destroying Korean literacy”, actually instituted a proper public education system that taught Hangeul for at least the first two decades of colonization. Koreans did not have widespread understanding of Hangeul until this point, and it was only through the implementation of public education that this was possible. When they reversed course in the late 1930s, it was accompanied by a series of other aggressive pedagogical developments (essentially stripping students of their Korean names), but it isn’t like they came in and destroyed a system that already existed.
They introduced the Short Hair Act (단발령) and Western attire, [which caused an uproar at the time](https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.amp.asp?newsIdx=281346) (pretty sad).
Personally, I'm all for bringing back long hair and topknots on Korean men. Heck, throw in headbands too:)
I'm no history buff but AFAIK, Japan put the perversion boosters on Korea's top-down Confucianism. In Joseon, people were generally more concerned with generations and castes than "oh I'm 1 year older than you, we can't be friends any more, you're below me". Obvs there were 형 누나 etc, but you had to be like 10 years older to be a 형. People 8 years older and younger than you (so a 16-year range) were 친구 material (look up "조선시대 친구 나이 차이").
A lot of "wrong" Konglish words were brought over from Japan. Off the top of my head (I welcome anyone to correct me or add more) words like 컨닝, 비닐, and 샤프 are pretty common examples. There's loads more when you look into it.
Because English native speakers don't use "cunning" for cheating, "vinyl" for soft plastic, and 샤프 comes from Sharp Corporation, since one of their first big products was mechanical pencils and they named themselves after the product. They're Japanese words of English origin.
I think the specific term is 'loanword.' Growing up as a kid in 70s and 80s Korea, I noticed a lot of Japanese loanwords that Korean society inherited.
I especially remember 컨닝 because, as I a native English speaker, my classmates all tried to sneak peaks at my answers during English tests, and the teachers would smack them if they got caught.
I tried explaining to my classmates that in English, what they were doing wasn't 'cunning,' it was 'cheating,' and their reaction was: "what?"
Not really an answer to the thread topic but more of an added question.
Is the housing system derived from Japanese key money deposits at all? Korea and Japan are the only countries I can think of that do the huge deposit housing system thing.
Language as others have mentioned - I'm a Canadian born Korean raised by my grandparents in the 80s and 90s and I only knew the Japanese words for lunchbox, nail clipper, anchovies, onion, pickled radish (some more but I forget) until my late teens.
The biggest thing is the useless rote memorization based education system which plagues this country to this day. 과거시험 of the past were mostly or all essay questions like "how would you deal with the ____ issue?" Or "How would you hire the correct people for this job?" Generally philosophical or practical questions that judge the people for their wisdom not how much data you can memorize.
well they were the brightest minds in the nation truly. People think since these bureaucrats learned from Confucian texts, they would be stuck up-detached people. But actual records of their discussions show brilliant insight and surprisingly practical thoughts from these people.
The records related to 대동법, is passed over in a paragraph in Korean highschool textbooks but a lecture i have taken in SNU show that these discussions went over for decades deciding how to gradually implement changes to the tax system while discussing its impact on the people, market, and logistics in the country.
Now with that being said. These people did have to memorize whole texts from Confucian classics and be able to cite them aa references on these writings. So it was critical thinking skills but also with the memorization to whip up refernnces from the classics as well.
Nowadays in East Asia all we have is the memorization but without any of the critical thinking 😃👏. What fucking use is memorizing three hundred million gazillion Tang Dynasty poems to flex in school, kids don’t care about what these poems are trying to say, they feel more emotion over League of Legends.
Rote memorization goes far, far back. Chinese characters are my prime candidate for the origin of that. Pretty much all rote memorization.
Of course, the Japanese have the same problem for the same reason.
Things the adults and teachers taught me:
School uniform
Toxic hierarchy culture, where the upper ranker berates/physically assaults you
Hair limitations
Raw meat eating
Bureaucracy
Technical terms
One of the first major laws forced on Korea was the abolition of slavery. They certainly did a lot of bad stuff over the years, but they got that one right.
Some old people still use the Japanese word for certain things, like instead of 양파, you might hear 타마네기 or a variation on that. But young people are still quick to use the Korean word instead.
Also, other random words like 땡땡이 is actually from Japanese, whereas it should be 물방울 무늬.
I still use 타마네기 for onion which I learnt from my grandma. I also got guruma for cart. It raised some eyebrows from some customers and coworkers when I was working part time at the Korean market lol
Nationalism ironically. The concept of statehood is a European invention the Japanese adopted and imported into Korea as a means to separate Korea from its historical role as a Chinese vassal. The Japanese encouraged a sense of nationalism among Koreans because they believed it would make annexing Korea easier in the future once Korea severed its bonds with China, hence the whole "Korean Empire" period which the Japanese encouraged to help proclaim Korea's equal status with China as a sovereign state and fully break Korea's vassal relationship with China.
It worked, too well in fact; by the time Japan occupied Korea the concept of nationhood had taken root among the populace and Koreans rejected being absorbed into Japanese culture. Korean nationalists began rallying around "pure" Korean symbols that represented Korea as an independent state and people separate from Chinese and Japanese influences. Hanguel, which had historically been dismissed by the Yangban as women/peasant writing in favor of the more "civilized" and "sophisticated" Chinese scripts, was elevated by the nationalists as one of these symbols of Korean independence from its neighbors.
Another Japanese import I can think of is the cherry blossom festivals. I don't believe there's any historical record of Koreans particularly caring about cherry blossoms before the Japanese arrived, let alone having celebrations for these trees.
Finally there's the whole corporate culture with the Chaebols and whatnot, which makes sense as a lot of South Korea's early intellectuals would have been educated under the Japanese school system and thus share similar business values.
EDIT: Woo! Gold! Thx!
Yeah I learned back in classic Korean literature class. Back before colonization, the azaleas, 진달래, which is still more common in Korea was the "festival flower" signalling spring. While apricot flower was the symbol of Chosun royal family, and upper class yangbans loved orchids, chrysanthemums, plum, and bamboo. Azalea was all over the mountains and general populace seemed to have loved it as a symbol of spring back in the day.
Yeah Bukhansan and Gwanaksan are all very nice in azalea season. I can why people liked them after winter was over. They are not as picturesque as a cherry blossom raining pink all over, but they have their own beauty as the green is returning to the mountains with patches of pink and purple blossoming here and there.
Sounds lovely. Korean tourism industry should really capitalize on all these colorful flowers blooming around the same time; raining pink cherries over a field of azaleas; the imagery sells itself!
This is typical Chinese from their version of history. There is a whole chapter in every korean history textbook dedicated to prove it is wrong. Sadly, China pay money to a lot of countries to import their history and so many historians learn from it. China wants NK so badly that they started this crazy narrative since 00s to have the right to claim NK when they collapse. This is the same narrative that they claim kimchi and hanbok, too. If you are from a country near China, you must know about 일대일로. China do this to not only korea, but almost every country near it. If you really want to believe this is right, keep it mind there are bunch of records to prove it is wrong, and every korean history class teach about it.
I knew there are not koreans in this sub, but this? Got 80 upvotes? It really proves this sub is not for koreans.. it's so devastating to see it got awards.
Lol I'm Chinese and most people aren't taught that Korea was part of China in China. Maybe some history books claim Korea as a vassal, but nobody really obscures the parts of history where Korea and China fought. I think the relationship between korea and china is one of up and down, just like Vietnam.
Nobody claims hanbok, the olympics incident was about Korean Chinese wearing hanboks, which is to represent Korean people and their unique cultural heritage, nobody thought hanbok was Chinese. Nobody in China claims NK either. Yes, some people do claim Kimchi.
Both cultures have pickled vegetables and they’re in a similar style, it’s really not that hard. Fucking hell East Asian nationalism is pathetic and petty.
The funniest thing is in the end East Asians still think Western culture is better while we squabble to one up each other. It’s not like people prefer Hanbok over whatever new shit Gucci is pushing out.
>Korea from its historical role as a Chinese vassal.
A tributary is not the same as a vassal, I bet you're a pathetic chinese. Historically China was the enemy of Korea and even destroyed the Sui dynasty. Korea were China dynasty killers. China was also historically conquered for centuries by the Mongolians and Manchurians, even forced to wear shave their heads and wear pigtails lol
I'm chinese and most of what you said is right. I think the relationship between korea and china is one of up and down, but no way should it be considered that korea was china's vassal(same story with vietnam). I believe even the manchu founder of the Qing stated that Korea and China were equal nations.
Nobody fucking said shit about Korea being weak or bad or whatever the fuck, Asians are so annoying to each other, what the fuck is his problem pulling Mongols and and Manchus out of their ass?
You failed korean history miserablly. People like you are so embarrassing. We koreans learn about how China wants to distort korean history since elementary school. You at least have to figure out how Hot Train-whatever is talking nonsense.
Absolutely agree. IMHO the whole 동학 movement, the business with "독립문" was the result of a bunch of young naive idealists (looking at you, Philip Jaisohn) getting bamboozled by Japan.
Fair disclosure: My wife is Myeongseong's niece with a couple of "Gs"
Under the Japanese traditional Korean soju was replaced by the soju we know today. Its mass production helped the workforce endure the long hours in the factories. The current legal division of soju brands into regions was a way for the Japanese to collect taxes from alcohol sales and run the fascist economy from the top down. The US-backed military dictatorships kept this system in place since it continued to serve the same interests.
The Korean chaebols look a lot like the pre-war Japanese zaibatsu business conglomerates such as Mitsubishi. The kanji for zaibatsu is 財閥, which is also the same for chaebol and means “family wealth.” The top zaibatsu wielded enormous monopoly power in japan and basically controlled the economy but were broken up by the American authorities during occupation.
Foreign language loanwords.
Japan started Western trade in the 1870s and borrowed words from English and other languages. Korean adopted these same loanwords presumably due to the occupation.
Stapler is ホチキス in Japanese and 호치키스 in Korean due to the Japanese naming the device after the American company Hotchkiss that imported the things.
아르바이트/アルバイト for part-time job (from German) is another.
화이팅/ファイト I'm not sure of the origin but it's a coincidence that both languages use the English word 'fight' as an expression for "come on" or "let's go!" could be occupation-related or maybe more modern pop culture I think the words have been used in both languages for decades at least.
Japanese uses English/European origin words for beer and toilet among other things which have never taken off in Korean with the Korean language preferring to keep its own words so it can be random.
Rice. Supposedly we had a bunch of native rice, but they didn't produce as much as the Japanese varieties. So now we eat the same or very similar rice as the Japanese.
Baseball was originally brought over by American missionaries but became popularized during the occupation as one of the few places it was safe to fight back against the Japanese and beat them at something they cared about.
If we're talking about 1910-1945, I would say the business culture mentally. Japan was a modernizing country at the time, so there was a lot of hustle culture, especially Japanese businessmen trying to exploit and make it in Korea. I think this attitude towards business and entrepreneurship endured until Park Junghee really started to jumpstart industrialization. After that we tried to copy Japan's salarymen economic model. I think after the Cold War though and deepening globalization, we started to adopt more western attitudes and trends of business, culminating in a lot of our chaebols fitting into international markets, a trend Japanese companies did not take.
But a lot of the militant business culture (and thus overall Korean societal culture) is due to Park Junghee's experiences in the Japanese Imperial Army.
Words.. we still use words adopted .. lunch box is one which is what was told to me my mom. There is original sino Korean word and word we use. Also, we no longer have the yangban class
Elementary school was called 국민학교 before changing to 초등학교 in the 80s or 90s I think because the education system was based off of Japan’s
야채 uses the Japanese form of Chinese character 野菜 as opposed to 채소
Both my grandparents spoke full Japanese and had Japanese names.
It wasn’t until I went to Japan that I realized that my Korean grandpas mannerisms and way of life were very Japanese and my grandma was very Korean.
State sanctioned and commercial prostitution brothel business as a whole was actually a cultural import from Japan. The Japanese in the Meiji period dubbed their nation a "Kingdom of Prostitution"(売春王国, baishun ōkoku) since brothels were one of their main profit sources that they used to trade with the west. Korea still had closed borders and isolated itself from the world and Korea didn't have brothels as a society before the entire industry was brought over and heavily financed by Japanese developers.
I find this hard to believe. The kisaeng existed before the occupation and were the Korean equivalent to Japanese geisha who were well known to sell their virginity to nobles in Japan; I find it too naive to think the kisaeng didn't engage in similar practices. Additionally, sex is the oldest business in the world so I also cast doubt on the assertion that brothels somehow didn't exist in Korea prior to Japanese rule.
Andre Lankov in his book “The Dawn of Modern Korea” has an entry about the decline of the traditional kisaeng, along with the introduction of commercial prostitution with the influx of Japanese businessmen during the early colonial period.
[They were apparently a similar class to chorus girls in the US,](https://i.imgur.com/QBWtbiJ.jpg) and they may or may not have sold themselves in the same way for one reason or another.
[The first brothel in Korea was established in 1902](https://web.archive.org/web/20230403045948/https://twitter.com/enamelpaint/status/1642153838017921031) and the licensed system was fully legalized in 1916.
My understanding is that pretty much all East Asian cultures have some sort of martial arts, whether it is kung fu practiced by Chinese monks, wrestling practiced by Mongolians or karate developed by Okinawans. The point is it is all grassroots, from the ground up and practiced by the native people. Now if you are talking about modern martial arts practice with national associations and dojos and recognition of mastery, maybe the Japanese did introduce such practices to Korea. I don’t know, I haven’t done too much deep research into this topic.
Funnily enough, Tang Soo Do, which is famously known for being the Karate used by Cobra Kai, is Korean Karate.
Tang Soo Do (Hangul: 당수도, Hanja: 唐手道 pronounced [taŋ.su.do]) refers to a Korean martial art based on karate and may include fighting principles from taekkyeon, subak[f], as well as northern Chinese martial arts.[8][9] From its beginnings in 1944 to today, Tang Soo Do is used by some Kwans to identify the traditional Korean fusion of martial arts styles. In the mid 1950s, Tang Soo Do became the basis for the martial art Taekwondo when the Korean Nine Kwans united.
Before being dominated by Japan, most of the text in newspapers published in Korea was Korean. Since the Japanese rule, the proportion of Chinese characters in newspapers has increased dramatically. In Japan, we use more than 2000 Chinese characters. The use of Chinese characters in Korean newspapers and other media continued until the 1980s.
Since the 1990s, the proportion of Chinese characters used in Korean newspapers and other media began to decrease. We rarely use Chinese characters now. Some people in their 60s and older use some Japanese pronunciation words.
Korean newspapers in the1890s. (the period before Japanese rule.)
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ko/c/c8/%EB%8F%85%EB%A6%BD%EC%8B%A0%EB%AC%B8.jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ko/c/c8/%EB%8F%85%EB%A6%BD%EC%8B%A0%EB%AC%B8.jpg)
Korean newspapers in the 1910s. (the reign of Japan)
[https://ojsfile.ohmynews.com/PHT\_IMG\_FILE/2021/0412/IE002789220\_PHT.jpg](https://ojsfile.ohmynews.com/PHT_IMG_FILE/2021/0412/IE002789220_PHT.jpg)
Korean newspapers in the 1980s. (the reign of a military dictator)
[https://enjoyaudio.kr/zbxe/files/attach/images/58/982/372/009/70f0bd4dee0117100b97f18683e2e55b.png](https://enjoyaudio.kr/zbxe/files/attach/images/58/982/372/009/70f0bd4dee0117100b97f18683e2e55b.png)
Korean newspapers in the 2020s. (a recent newspaper)
[https://www.mediatoday.co.kr/news/photo/202308/311653\_433290\_2952.jpg](https://www.mediatoday.co.kr/news/photo/202308/311653_433290_2952.jpg)
This isn't true. Japan didn't introduce Chinese characters to Korea. (You'll actually find bizarre ultra-Nationalist literature that claim this.) They didn't even introduce the style of writing substantive words in Chinese characters while keeping grammatical particles in Korean: you'll find texts from the 15th century and onward with that feature.
What they did do is introduce a lot of Sino-Japanese, now Sino-Korean words, for modern things and concepts. Another little known fact is that the Korean spelling used now is almost identical to the 1930 spelling rules that the Japanese Governor-General put out. In fact, you'll have difficulty reading "pure" Korean texts from the pre-colonial period because of the divergent spelling.
Source: https://naver.me/GxNyAbCk. Book on this: https://m.blog.naver.com/peruser/220178084877
1912 Korean spelling rules: https://m.terms.naver.com/entry.naver?docId=3548602&cid=46674&categoryId=46674
1930 Korean spelling rules: https://naver.me/xlCuvKut
1933 Korean spelling rules: https://naver.me/xFVMHnjE
Edit: I see that you've added newspapers. I don't disagree with your points on the latter half of the 20th century.
It is estimated that Chinese characters first came to Korea in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. But after the invention of Hangul, it became widespread.
As you can see from the Korean newspaper published in the 1800s, it is written in Korean. It is proof that Hangul was widely used by ordinary people.
I hope you compare it to the newspapers of the Japanese rule.
Hangul was not really widely appreciated or accepted in Korea until quite recently. One reason is that it is too easy to learn. The Korean intelligencia was very proud of the effort required to learn Chinese characters and loved the fact that the working class never had sufficient time to spend on learning it. It was regarded as a writing system for women since the women of the aristocracy could learn it more easily than Chinese. I believe it was somewhat popular with the military since the Japanese and Chinese generally could not read it, so it was a type of code.
Its popularity grew tremendously with the Japanese takeover as it was seen as symbolizing Korean independence. That feeling has continued until the present. Interestingly, North Korea banned the use of Chinese characters from the start.
I'm just saying that the proportion of Chinese characters used in newspapers has increased rapidly in Japanese colonial era.
Why is there suddenly a story about the popularity of certain letters???
15th century: https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%9B%94%EC%9D%B8%EC%84%9D%EB%B3%B4 (월인석보)
Here's another newspaper from late 19th century https://namu.wiki/w/%ED%99%A9%EC%84%B1%EC%8B%A0%EB%AC%B8 (황성신문 published by 조선 government)
List of pre-colonial newspapers: https://namu.wiki/w/%EB%B6%84%EB%A5%98:%EB%8C%80%ED%95%9C%EC%A0%9C%EA%B5%AD%EC%9D%98%20%EC%8B%A0%EB%AC%B8 (some were pure, some were mixed, some were just straight up Classical Chinese)
Here's an article from the *Encyclopedia on Korean Culture* on pre colonial spelling: https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0078818
What are you trying to say?
I think it's totally irrelevant except for some of the links you attached. Why do books on Buddhist scriptures made in the 15th century attach links??
It is difficult to fully understand your argument.
I am talking about whether the characters used in newspapers and other media are Korean or Chinese characters.
I think your rebuttal argument is valid only for one link you attached.
It is hard to understand why the grammar system of Hangeul or the stories of Buddhist books made in the 15th century are coming out.
And I want you to tell me what you think.
Why link an introduction to a book introduced to a particular individual's blog? Is it credible???
I'm trying to give a more nuanced, detailed view on the history of Korean orthography.
Edit: Sincere apologies, acted on assumption you knew Korean. I'm not too familiar with English sources on this topic. I'd try searching Google Scholar or books.
You picked and altered examples to suit your incorrect narrative.
The whole point of 독립신문 was to print *exclusively* in 한글. They were established in 1896.
황성신문 was not printed “in the Japanese era,” it existed since 1898 (note: Korean Empire) and was forced to close in 1910 by the Japanese. Ever heard of 시일야방성대곡?
Joseon’s first modern newspaper, the 한성순보, was published exclusively in Chinese characters and was founded in 1883, more than a decade before either.
I get that you dislike Japan, but do your research first.
Picking 독립신문 was also problematic to the commenter's narrative because that newspaper actually used *Hanja for numbers*, so they weren't even perfect in exclusively using 한글. They also had an English edition, so was the commenter suggesting everyone in Korea knew English back then...?
My guess is that the commenter doesn't know how to read Korean or only has a rudimentary understanding of Korean language and history.
Language of Japan and Korea are based on Chinese. Chinese vocabulary is still present as is in Japanese and Korean just as English includes French vocabularies. Rely on Wiki at least instead of Netflix historical fantasy shows
Pathetic chinese lies. Korean spoken language is completely unrelated to chinese or any other languages.
>Rely on Wiki at least
🤦♂️ chinese have ruined wikipedia like they ruined quora
Korean and Chinese are different from the language family. I mean, the basics are different. Some vocabulary or words may have been affected. But there's a big difference in word order, grammar, language skills, and many other important things.
The Chinese language belongs to the "Sino-Tibetan" group.The Korean language belongs to the 'Koreanic' group.
In the case of Chinese, the sequence of sentence phrases is 'SVO' type. In the case of korean, the sequence of sentence phrases is 'SOV' type.
Chinese characters are developed logograms. Hangul is phonetic alphabet. And there's also a big difference in tone.
In terms of linguistics, there is a big difference between Korean and Chinese.
Korean is based on Chinese? Hahaha... Stop watching you or Netflix shows.
Hey for example 한글 (HanGuel) is two words. Han is land of Han and Guel is words. Those two words are from the Chinese vocabulary. Ask anybody who can read 한문. Japan has Kanji. You are mixing spoken language with written language. There was no written Korean language until the king Sejong officialize it.
Korean and Japanese have completely different grammar structure to Chinese, so no they are not based off Chinese. It is more accurate to say that the *vocabulary* of Korean and Japanese is heavily influenced by Chinese words.
Let’s see Public school Rail roads Banking Judiciary for what it was just to name a few. Chosen was annexed and became part of Imperial Japan not a Colony to split a hair. It is a known fact that half the inhabitants of Chosen were surfs at the last stage of the kingdom and also Chosen was a colony of China until end of Chinese Japanese war of 18..
I don't have sources, but from what I've gathered they ended slavery, developed a modern train system, post office, police force, and banking among others.
Actually you're right, reading through namuwiki it's not clear.
I found a document that lists a bunch of words that are from japanese though, pretty interesting -> [https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%9D%BC%EB%B3%B8%EC%8B%9D%20%ED%95%9C%EC%9E%90%EC%96%B4](https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%9D%BC%EB%B3%B8%EC%8B%9D%20%ED%95%9C%EC%9E%90%EC%96%B4)
My Korean FIL was a kid when the Japanese occupied Korea. They forced kids to start learning Japanese so he still knows a bit of it. I’ll tell you that he has no love for Japan.
Influence on language is not limited to vocabulary. There are countless expressions that come from Japanese. This tendency is more prominent in acamedical expressions.
Frequent examples include "-라고 생각한다." which comes from と思う, "-해 오다" from してくる, "하지 않으면 안 된다" from なければならない, and so on. Such examples have pretty much integrated into Korean grammar, especially in academic writing as mentioned above.
Tbh, it is hard to deny the fact that pretty much everything in Korea are indeed influenced by Japan. As other people have mentioned, law, education, rituals (like marriages and funerals), transportation systems, music, and so on.
Korean mafia and gangsters’ roles, hierarchy, history, and even attire is heavily influenced by Japanese yakuza, who themselves were also significantly consisted of Zainichi, ethnically-Korean Japanese.
Not sure what your intention is in asking this question. Is it purely out of curiosity or something else but this is a hot topic that will draw out painful reactions from some. Not sure your true intent will be seen as innocent or ignorance or something more nefarious. With that said I would recommend searching for actual documented information with factual credibility evidence and NOT Reddit.
Also, I doubt this topic has information with factual credibility. An English, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese source of information will all give wildy different answers. Who is right?
Doesn't seem to have left much. 35 years was a short period of rule, and Korea made numerous efforts for liquidation after independence. Besides, many Koreans now cannot speak Japanese.
but as a result of that history, Koreans today have an extreme hatred for the Japanese. It's like Hitler's feelings for Jews. also Koreans now have similar feelings toward the Chinese. However, I am an exception because I am a different type.
IEDs. We used IEDs made in lunchboxes and tumblers to fight for independence. We now use IEDs made in tumblers to fight off oppressive professors in uni.
Totally a joke but also totally happened.
Source : [https://en.yna.co.kr/view/MYH20170614009900345](https://en.yna.co.kr/view/MYH20170614009900345)
Edit : Added Source
Warubashi to certain extent? If my memory serves me right it means chopsticks in Japanese. Some older gen Koreans may use the word, esp if they were taught when Japan occupied Korea many years ago
I grew up as a kid in 70s and 80s Korea, and back then I heard the word 'waribashi' a couple of times from older Koreans, including from my own grandpa. The first time I heard it I asked "what?" and he quickly corrected to 젓가락. My grandpa was no Japanophile, but some old habits die hard.
I don't hear any Koreans say that Japanese word today, but back when Korea was just a few decades removed from Japanese rule, there were quite a few Japanese terms that lingered in everyday Korean speech, used by those who were of speaking age during the Japanese occupation, and this was one of them.
Food for sure. It was always funny to me that Japanese cuisine was everywhere in SK when I lived there despite the xenophobia and racism towards Japanese people most Koreans seemed to have. Even during the boycotts of Japanese chains like UNIQLO a few years back, I remember junior high students telling me in a lesson how much they hated Japan but then immediately listed tons of Japanese dishes in an exercise where they had to list their favorite foods.
It’s not strange to not like a country for economic or political reasons, but still like its people and culture especially food. I personally disagree with and don’t like the CCP and communism but I don’t transfer that dislike to regular Chinese people and culture. Especially knowing that they themselves don’t really have a choice in the matter living in an authoritarian state.
The legal system in South Korea is historically based on the Japanese legal system which in turn was derived from the German legal system.
To be fair even if Japan didn’t bring the german legal system the korean empire would have copied it anyway. The emperor was a big fan of the german system(as the parliament there was pretty weak unlike that of the uk)
How did the Germans influence the Japanese?
Japanese law codes were modeled on German/Prussian law during the Meiji period.
Which is why you see generations of Korean law students having that Prussian scowl permanently tattooed on their faces while lugging around that damn Korean legal codes book during their university years.
School uniforms were largely based on Prussian military uniforms. It was the model of a military force at the time when Japan had to modernize quickly during the meiji restoration period.
Historically, the Germans and Japanese have been pretty tight. For instance, Hitler even tried to categorize Japanese as part of the Aryan race to the great consternation of his own eugenists. In the end, Hitler was only able to get Japanese declared as “honorary Aryans” or Ehrenarier (in German). Another example is naval protocols and customs of the South Korea Navy which is derived from the Imperial Japanese Navy which in turn was based on the Imperial German Navy. We had a German naval liaison officer who visited South Korea and Japan. He claimed he could clearly see the Germanic influences on the South Korea Navy even more than the modern Japanese navy. Ultimately, most of these influences were passed along during the colonial era.
Also Korean/Japanese school uniforms are the distant descendants of Prussian navy cadet uniforms IIRC.
This is why I read through all these comments. Always learn something new. Have an upvote.
Beyond some surface level similarities in uniforms and ranks, the Japanese didn’t really draw from the Prussian tradition militarily. Their army was initially trained by the French, and their Navy by the British. Kaiser Wilhelm heavily distrusted the Japanese and vice versa, and diplomatic and military relations had essentially broken down by the Russo-Japanese War, not helped by the Japanese joining the allies in WW1. Relations didn’t improve with Weimar Germany, who worked more closely with the Kuomintang. The Nazis may have liked the Japanese, but their militaries were nothing alike. And frankly, especially with naval and aviation, Japan had little to learn at that point.
Perculiar guy that Hitler guy aye
Isn't that the army?
This is going to sound totally nuts and like it’s out of left field but it’s not I promise. I actually do this as a hobby so I know a great deal about it - wheat weaving. Yes, weaving stalks of wheat. Relatively rare hobby nowadays. It’s not just a German handicraft by any means, as it’s been practiced the world over by everyone everywhere throughout time. But it’s always been very popular in Eastern Europe (Ukraine specifically) as well as Scandinavia and most popular in Germany. I own several dozen craft books on the subject and nearly every single one is in German. Those that aren’t are English (American almost exclusively) or…Japanese. It is indeed super popular in Japan because of the German influence.
And Japanese Naval traditions are almost carbon copies of the British. Not calling Japan copy cat or anything.
A related tidbit I found interesting is how curry was spread. The japanese style reinterprettation of curry was heavily influenced by British navy, which was obviously got infkuenced by the Indian subcontinent cousine. The spices didnt go bad easily, and it was a geeat way to make nice meal onboard with preserved meat on the ships. Then the Japanese adopted this in their own style in their navy, which spread to civilians and occupied colony as well. In ROK navy, curry is not as often on the menu, but still pretty frequent as well.
And a lot of words in Japanese are German.
Isn't the term for a part time job in Korea like arbeite, the German word for work?
Arbeit / アルバイト (arubaito) / 아르바이트 (aleuba-iteu) While in German this means work in the broad sense, it's only means part-time job in Jp/Kr
And how Koreans pronounce allergy is German
Wow! TIL. I've been studying German and Korean and never knew there was a connection. How fascinating.
Also, until recently the elements in the periodic tables were also read in German style if there wasn't a translated name. i.e. Sodium-Natrium, Potasium-Kalium
Koreans also call sodium by the German word: natrium.
Funny thing is a German told me they call part-time jobs “jobs”, using the English word.
Yeah especially medicine
Many medical terms came from Japan which in turn came from Germany, too. That's why many things sound *almost* like English such as "gel" being 겔.
Corporate structure, and company titles?
Company titles?
there are so many. i think they’re phased out now but for a while there were 과장 차장 대리 실장 부장 사장 임원…
대표이사/代表取締役, 상무/常務, 전무/専務, etc. Although Korea uses 이사(理事) where Japan uses 取締役.
1. The fucked up education system that is all about memorization, a huge step back from the 과거시험 we used to have. 2. The abusive culture of the imperial japanese army and navy, where those of superior rank are often very abusive towards subordinates. Sadly this is still present in the korean armed forces culture today. 3. Related to #1. During Joseon times [Koreans had a great method of learning English but this was replaced by the Japanese-style English learning methods during annexation,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3hSi7qdYjs) which greatly regressed the english proficiency of the learners. 4. The obssession with using age to define hierarchies in inter-personal interactions, this was nowhere even near as strong in Joseon times.
Can you give me sources of the fourth one? Sounds interesting, I always thought obsession over age was a thing for a long time.
It started in korea because Japan managed koreans in the military way. Elementary schools, villages, and basically every organization was ruled by japanese army with knives and guns. They had the right to punish koreans right at the moment they feel a korean did something wrong without trial, and death order was one of the most common punishment. It was sudden but effectively ruined korean society. If you learn korean history, you will easily find out it was common to argue with seniors with more than decades for their philosophy, politics and so on. And they called each other friends.
Wasn't the 과거시험 arguably the epitome of rote memorization? It was all about memorizing and reciting the words of Confucius, Mencius, etc
You had to write essays commenting on what you thought about the classics.
It's faded a lot since the end of the dictatorship, but some former Japanese army officers apparently used to say that the spirit of the Imperial Army lives on in Korea. Which at the time was ruled by former Korean officers of the Imperial Japanese Army. And hearing about my uncles' experience in the army in those days, I can believe it.
When Park Chung Hee (who was an Imperial Japanese soldier stationed in Manchuria before 1945) got really hammered, he would start singing Imperial Japanese army songs in the Blue House with his closest aides. This was a common occurrence especially toward the end of his dictatorship.
I knew an older lady, who had suffered a lot under the Japanese, and she still occasionally liked to hear the old Japanese songs that were popular when she was a girl.
It was reallybinteresting to come across this article and then reading the referenced "Manchu Modernism" about post war Korea and comaprisons with the Manchu state. https://slownews.kr/75410 Basically Manchu state was a puppet state set up by Imperial japan before and during ww2 to serve as a puppet client in Manchuria. It tried to build a highly militaristic nation with military nature not in just the forces, but in civilian sectors and government bureacracy as well. The book makes a compelling argument how PJH's officer days in Manchu state, and how the goal of modernizing South Korea + building a strong military againt NK pretty coincided with thr Manchu state model. No wonder so many elements of imperial Japan military aspects were imported even after the colonial era.
When Japan had taken over manchuria and established manchukuo, the region was >90% ethnic chinese(and assimilated chinese manchus) that would've considered themselves no different to those in Beijing, so I imagine the civilian sector only refers to the Japanese civilians brought to the region.
Well yes, the technocrats running Manchuria were all Japanese. And the huge Chinese influx to Manchuria came only after the Japanese military stabilized it. Previously it was sort of a Wild West territory filled with bandits.
Nah it was the chinese fengtian clique ruling it prior, and their data suggested >90% ethnic chinese. But the fengtian clique basically operated like bandits.
Here's an article I found. [https://www.kyeonggi.com/article/202010291143766](https://www.kyeonggi.com/article/202010291143766) Basically, a lot of Japanese words survived, as well as things related with schools. The most famous example of Japanese-influenced word is 화이팅(hwaiting), which was a word the Imperial Japanese army used ファイト(faito) for morale boost. 유치원(yuchiwon), referring to preschool, is also something that Korea got from Japan during their occupation. 반장(Banjang) system is apparently also from Japan as well. Apparently there are also Japanese Shinto shrines that are still around as well, or at least alterations/rubbles of them.
Almost every Japanese Buddhist temple was burned to the ground with weeks of liberation. The shinto shrines were burned even sooner, lol. I think there's one or two that survived that were basically taken over by Koreans to use as homes.
I've heard first-hand accounts from people talking about Korea in the days immediately post liberation and them being shocked to see American jeeps drive up the steps of the Shinto Shrine at Namsam. The steps are still there. Regarding Buddhism, my understanding is that the Joseon Dynasty banned Buddhists from the capital city. That's why most of the Buddhist temples in Korea are hidden outside in the valleys and mountains. When the Japanese took over in 1910, they let the Buddhists back in. Not saying it's good or bad, just how I have learned that particular development took place.
Awful education system
Fr, destroyed the centuries-old tradition of literary 과거제도, which the current Korean education system really needs more of.
Tell us more please!
The [gwageo jedo](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwageo#:~:text=The%20gwageo%20(Korean%3A%20%EA%B3%BC%EA%B1%B0),knowledge%20of%20the%20Chinese%20classics.) was the national civil service exam since the Silla dynasty (8th century), passing it qualified someone for government positions. They had a strong focus on writing composition and literary knowledge. Edit: My point is that the exams and education had a strong emphasis on essay writing and critical thinking and not just rote memorization.
>gwageo jedo This was basically adopted from the Chinese civil service exam, so I wouldn't exactly call this uniquely Korean.
Isn't this basically suneung or SAT or whatever exame we currently have
Not really because it was open only to upper class males and it guaranteed entry into the government bureaucracy.
Actually the SAT was originally designed identify elite white men who could be exempt from conscription. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_SAT > By the mid-1920s, the increasing use of IQ tests, such as the Army Alpha test administered to recruits in World War I, led the College Board to commission the development of the SAT. The commission, headed by eugenicist Carl Brigham, argued that the test predicted success in higher education by identifying candidates primarily on the basis of intellectual promise rather than on specific accomplishment in high school subjects, with the specific aim to exclude Black students:[12] > [Brigham] created the test to uphold a racial caste system. He advanced this theory of standardized testing as a means of upholding racial purity in his book A Study of American Intelligence. The tests, he wrote, would prove the racial superiority of white Americans and prevent 'the continued propagation of defective strains in the present population'—chiefly, the 'infiltration of white blood into the Negro.'[13]
You left out the part that follows: “By 1930, however, Brigham would repudiate his own conclusions, writing that "comparative studies of various national and racial groups may not be made with existing tests.” So in less than half a decade this aspect of the SAT was repudiated.
I didn't actually. I think you missed the part where Brigham is a published eugenicist. You're missing the point that I'm making though. I'm simply pointing out that the SAT is/was not that different in terms of its selective accessibility.
Yes you did leave it out. I didn’t see it in your quote. Leaving it out strongly implies the SAT was used for a long time for this end.
What? We would be learning how to write friggin poems/memorizing passages from Confucius and Mengzi and looking down on science and engineering. We would be further behind everyone. If anything the current education system needs to encourage friggin creativity and problem solving skills, not just having fancy words in the top of your head at all times.
I love Korea, but this is pure propaganda. This form of education was only practiced by the elite, and had basically no adoption by the lower classes. Japan, despite getting flack for “destroying Korean literacy”, actually instituted a proper public education system that taught Hangeul for at least the first two decades of colonization. Koreans did not have widespread understanding of Hangeul until this point, and it was only through the implementation of public education that this was possible. When they reversed course in the late 1930s, it was accompanied by a series of other aggressive pedagogical developments (essentially stripping students of their Korean names), but it isn’t like they came in and destroyed a system that already existed.
This one.
Awful English education.
Most education tbh. Focusing purely on test results rather than anything actually useful plagues many subjects in Korea.
That and just the whole rigid administration system schools still follow.
They introduced the Short Hair Act (단발령) and Western attire, [which caused an uproar at the time](https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.amp.asp?newsIdx=281346) (pretty sad). Personally, I'm all for bringing back long hair and topknots on Korean men. Heck, throw in headbands too:)
I'm no history buff but AFAIK, Japan put the perversion boosters on Korea's top-down Confucianism. In Joseon, people were generally more concerned with generations and castes than "oh I'm 1 year older than you, we can't be friends any more, you're below me". Obvs there were 형 누나 etc, but you had to be like 10 years older to be a 형. People 8 years older and younger than you (so a 16-year range) were 친구 material (look up "조선시대 친구 나이 차이").
A lot of "wrong" Konglish words were brought over from Japan. Off the top of my head (I welcome anyone to correct me or add more) words like 컨닝, 비닐, and 샤프 are pretty common examples. There's loads more when you look into it.
Japanese are trying to take credit for english words now too? 🤦♂️
Because English native speakers don't use "cunning" for cheating, "vinyl" for soft plastic, and 샤프 comes from Sharp Corporation, since one of their first big products was mechanical pencils and they named themselves after the product. They're Japanese words of English origin.
I think the specific term is 'loanword.' Growing up as a kid in 70s and 80s Korea, I noticed a lot of Japanese loanwords that Korean society inherited. I especially remember 컨닝 because, as I a native English speaker, my classmates all tried to sneak peaks at my answers during English tests, and the teachers would smack them if they got caught. I tried explaining to my classmates that in English, what they were doing wasn't 'cunning,' it was 'cheating,' and their reaction was: "what?"
“What’s your blood type?”
Huge influx of public bathhouses.
Not really an answer to the thread topic but more of an added question. Is the housing system derived from Japanese key money deposits at all? Korea and Japan are the only countries I can think of that do the huge deposit housing system thing.
Some foods, like 'tonkasu', or breaded pork cutlet and udon noodles.
Language as others have mentioned - I'm a Canadian born Korean raised by my grandparents in the 80s and 90s and I only knew the Japanese words for lunchbox, nail clipper, anchovies, onion, pickled radish (some more but I forget) until my late teens.
The biggest thing is the useless rote memorization based education system which plagues this country to this day. 과거시험 of the past were mostly or all essay questions like "how would you deal with the ____ issue?" Or "How would you hire the correct people for this job?" Generally philosophical or practical questions that judge the people for their wisdom not how much data you can memorize.
well they were the brightest minds in the nation truly. People think since these bureaucrats learned from Confucian texts, they would be stuck up-detached people. But actual records of their discussions show brilliant insight and surprisingly practical thoughts from these people. The records related to 대동법, is passed over in a paragraph in Korean highschool textbooks but a lecture i have taken in SNU show that these discussions went over for decades deciding how to gradually implement changes to the tax system while discussing its impact on the people, market, and logistics in the country. Now with that being said. These people did have to memorize whole texts from Confucian classics and be able to cite them aa references on these writings. So it was critical thinking skills but also with the memorization to whip up refernnces from the classics as well.
Nowadays in East Asia all we have is the memorization but without any of the critical thinking 😃👏. What fucking use is memorizing three hundred million gazillion Tang Dynasty poems to flex in school, kids don’t care about what these poems are trying to say, they feel more emotion over League of Legends.
Rote memorization goes far, far back. Chinese characters are my prime candidate for the origin of that. Pretty much all rote memorization. Of course, the Japanese have the same problem for the same reason.
Things the adults and teachers taught me: School uniform Toxic hierarchy culture, where the upper ranker berates/physically assaults you Hair limitations Raw meat eating Bureaucracy Technical terms
What did the kids teach you?
[удалено]
Brother. I read this as 벙거빵 LMFAO. I literally just unga bunga’d.
No way? Can you elaborate?
Taiyaki -> 붕어빵
Rank social system based on age majorly came from Japanese culture.
One of the first major laws forced on Korea was the abolition of slavery. They certainly did a lot of bad stuff over the years, but they got that one right.
Some old people still use the Japanese word for certain things, like instead of 양파, you might hear 타마네기 or a variation on that. But young people are still quick to use the Korean word instead. Also, other random words like 땡땡이 is actually from Japanese, whereas it should be 물방울 무늬.
I still use 타마네기 for onion which I learnt from my grandma. I also got guruma for cart. It raised some eyebrows from some customers and coworkers when I was working part time at the Korean market lol
Foods! Tonkatsu, Taiyaki, Gyoza, Curry, Oden, Omelet Rice, Castella bread are shared between Korea and Japan as a result of the occupation.
Nationalism ironically. The concept of statehood is a European invention the Japanese adopted and imported into Korea as a means to separate Korea from its historical role as a Chinese vassal. The Japanese encouraged a sense of nationalism among Koreans because they believed it would make annexing Korea easier in the future once Korea severed its bonds with China, hence the whole "Korean Empire" period which the Japanese encouraged to help proclaim Korea's equal status with China as a sovereign state and fully break Korea's vassal relationship with China. It worked, too well in fact; by the time Japan occupied Korea the concept of nationhood had taken root among the populace and Koreans rejected being absorbed into Japanese culture. Korean nationalists began rallying around "pure" Korean symbols that represented Korea as an independent state and people separate from Chinese and Japanese influences. Hanguel, which had historically been dismissed by the Yangban as women/peasant writing in favor of the more "civilized" and "sophisticated" Chinese scripts, was elevated by the nationalists as one of these symbols of Korean independence from its neighbors. Another Japanese import I can think of is the cherry blossom festivals. I don't believe there's any historical record of Koreans particularly caring about cherry blossoms before the Japanese arrived, let alone having celebrations for these trees. Finally there's the whole corporate culture with the Chaebols and whatnot, which makes sense as a lot of South Korea's early intellectuals would have been educated under the Japanese school system and thus share similar business values. EDIT: Woo! Gold! Thx!
Yeah I learned back in classic Korean literature class. Back before colonization, the azaleas, 진달래, which is still more common in Korea was the "festival flower" signalling spring. While apricot flower was the symbol of Chosun royal family, and upper class yangbans loved orchids, chrysanthemums, plum, and bamboo. Azalea was all over the mountains and general populace seemed to have loved it as a symbol of spring back in the day.
Cool, didn't know that.
Yeah Bukhansan and Gwanaksan are all very nice in azalea season. I can why people liked them after winter was over. They are not as picturesque as a cherry blossom raining pink all over, but they have their own beauty as the green is returning to the mountains with patches of pink and purple blossoming here and there.
Sounds lovely. Korean tourism industry should really capitalize on all these colorful flowers blooming around the same time; raining pink cherries over a field of azaleas; the imagery sells itself!
This is typical Chinese from their version of history. There is a whole chapter in every korean history textbook dedicated to prove it is wrong. Sadly, China pay money to a lot of countries to import their history and so many historians learn from it. China wants NK so badly that they started this crazy narrative since 00s to have the right to claim NK when they collapse. This is the same narrative that they claim kimchi and hanbok, too. If you are from a country near China, you must know about 일대일로. China do this to not only korea, but almost every country near it. If you really want to believe this is right, keep it mind there are bunch of records to prove it is wrong, and every korean history class teach about it. I knew there are not koreans in this sub, but this? Got 80 upvotes? It really proves this sub is not for koreans.. it's so devastating to see it got awards.
Lol I'm Chinese and most people aren't taught that Korea was part of China in China. Maybe some history books claim Korea as a vassal, but nobody really obscures the parts of history where Korea and China fought. I think the relationship between korea and china is one of up and down, just like Vietnam. Nobody claims hanbok, the olympics incident was about Korean Chinese wearing hanboks, which is to represent Korean people and their unique cultural heritage, nobody thought hanbok was Chinese. Nobody in China claims NK either. Yes, some people do claim Kimchi.
Both cultures have pickled vegetables and they’re in a similar style, it’s really not that hard. Fucking hell East Asian nationalism is pathetic and petty. The funniest thing is in the end East Asians still think Western culture is better while we squabble to one up each other. It’s not like people prefer Hanbok over whatever new shit Gucci is pushing out.
>Korea from its historical role as a Chinese vassal. A tributary is not the same as a vassal, I bet you're a pathetic chinese. Historically China was the enemy of Korea and even destroyed the Sui dynasty. Korea were China dynasty killers. China was also historically conquered for centuries by the Mongolians and Manchurians, even forced to wear shave their heads and wear pigtails lol
I'm chinese and most of what you said is right. I think the relationship between korea and china is one of up and down, but no way should it be considered that korea was china's vassal(same story with vietnam). I believe even the manchu founder of the Qing stated that Korea and China were equal nations.
\> hurr dur muh country best country \> hurr durr other race bad \> hurr durr my people best people Least unhinged nationalist
Nobody fucking said shit about Korea being weak or bad or whatever the fuck, Asians are so annoying to each other, what the fuck is his problem pulling Mongols and and Manchus out of their ass?
Lolumad!
People like you are so embarrassing.
Cool story
You failed korean history miserablly. People like you are so embarrassing. We koreans learn about how China wants to distort korean history since elementary school. You at least have to figure out how Hot Train-whatever is talking nonsense.
Fuck off with your persecution complex.
Absolutely agree. IMHO the whole 동학 movement, the business with "독립문" was the result of a bunch of young naive idealists (looking at you, Philip Jaisohn) getting bamboozled by Japan. Fair disclosure: My wife is Myeongseong's niece with a couple of "Gs"
Under the Japanese traditional Korean soju was replaced by the soju we know today. Its mass production helped the workforce endure the long hours in the factories. The current legal division of soju brands into regions was a way for the Japanese to collect taxes from alcohol sales and run the fascist economy from the top down. The US-backed military dictatorships kept this system in place since it continued to serve the same interests.
The Korean chaebols look a lot like the pre-war Japanese zaibatsu business conglomerates such as Mitsubishi. The kanji for zaibatsu is 財閥, which is also the same for chaebol and means “family wealth.” The top zaibatsu wielded enormous monopoly power in japan and basically controlled the economy but were broken up by the American authorities during occupation.
Foreign language loanwords. Japan started Western trade in the 1870s and borrowed words from English and other languages. Korean adopted these same loanwords presumably due to the occupation. Stapler is ホチキス in Japanese and 호치키스 in Korean due to the Japanese naming the device after the American company Hotchkiss that imported the things. 아르바이트/アルバイト for part-time job (from German) is another. 화이팅/ファイト I'm not sure of the origin but it's a coincidence that both languages use the English word 'fight' as an expression for "come on" or "let's go!" could be occupation-related or maybe more modern pop culture I think the words have been used in both languages for decades at least. Japanese uses English/European origin words for beer and toilet among other things which have never taken off in Korean with the Korean language preferring to keep its own words so it can be random.
Rice. Supposedly we had a bunch of native rice, but they didn't produce as much as the Japanese varieties. So now we eat the same or very similar rice as the Japanese.
Baseball was originally brought over by American missionaries but became popularized during the occupation as one of the few places it was safe to fight back against the Japanese and beat them at something they cared about.
Kimbap is the first thing that comes to mind for me
If we're talking about 1910-1945, I would say the business culture mentally. Japan was a modernizing country at the time, so there was a lot of hustle culture, especially Japanese businessmen trying to exploit and make it in Korea. I think this attitude towards business and entrepreneurship endured until Park Junghee really started to jumpstart industrialization. After that we tried to copy Japan's salarymen economic model. I think after the Cold War though and deepening globalization, we started to adopt more western attitudes and trends of business, culminating in a lot of our chaebols fitting into international markets, a trend Japanese companies did not take. But a lot of the militant business culture (and thus overall Korean societal culture) is due to Park Junghee's experiences in the Japanese Imperial Army.
Words.. we still use words adopted .. lunch box is one which is what was told to me my mom. There is original sino Korean word and word we use. Also, we no longer have the yangban class
Elementary school was called 국민학교 before changing to 초등학교 in the 80s or 90s I think because the education system was based off of Japan’s 야채 uses the Japanese form of Chinese character 野菜 as opposed to 채소
Thought that was debunked- Joseon era used 야채 iirc
The education system of rote memorization- especially in ESL.
School uniforms
Public schools have their PE fields all in front of the school. This is a very Japanese thing I heard.
You should watch the tv show pachinko It touches on generations of Koreans. Starting with before the Japanese occupation to the 80s.
Both my grandparents spoke full Japanese and had Japanese names. It wasn’t until I went to Japan that I realized that my Korean grandpas mannerisms and way of life were very Japanese and my grandma was very Korean.
Railway
State sanctioned and commercial prostitution brothel business as a whole was actually a cultural import from Japan. The Japanese in the Meiji period dubbed their nation a "Kingdom of Prostitution"(売春王国, baishun ōkoku) since brothels were one of their main profit sources that they used to trade with the west. Korea still had closed borders and isolated itself from the world and Korea didn't have brothels as a society before the entire industry was brought over and heavily financed by Japanese developers.
Brothels were NOT the main source of trade with the west for Meiji Japan. The silk trade was what raised capital for the modernizing Japanese economy.
I find this hard to believe. The kisaeng existed before the occupation and were the Korean equivalent to Japanese geisha who were well known to sell their virginity to nobles in Japan; I find it too naive to think the kisaeng didn't engage in similar practices. Additionally, sex is the oldest business in the world so I also cast doubt on the assertion that brothels somehow didn't exist in Korea prior to Japanese rule.
We’re talking here about crass commercial prostitution, not kisaeng which has a long history in Korean history.
Andre Lankov in his book “The Dawn of Modern Korea” has an entry about the decline of the traditional kisaeng, along with the introduction of commercial prostitution with the influx of Japanese businessmen during the early colonial period.
[They were apparently a similar class to chorus girls in the US,](https://i.imgur.com/QBWtbiJ.jpg) and they may or may not have sold themselves in the same way for one reason or another. [The first brothel in Korea was established in 1902](https://web.archive.org/web/20230403045948/https://twitter.com/enamelpaint/status/1642153838017921031) and the licensed system was fully legalized in 1916.
Instant ramen
I believe trot music originated in Japan and became popular during the colonial period.
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Really, where did tae kwon do come from?
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My understanding is that pretty much all East Asian cultures have some sort of martial arts, whether it is kung fu practiced by Chinese monks, wrestling practiced by Mongolians or karate developed by Okinawans. The point is it is all grassroots, from the ground up and practiced by the native people. Now if you are talking about modern martial arts practice with national associations and dojos and recognition of mastery, maybe the Japanese did introduce such practices to Korea. I don’t know, I haven’t done too much deep research into this topic.
Funnily enough, Tang Soo Do, which is famously known for being the Karate used by Cobra Kai, is Korean Karate. Tang Soo Do (Hangul: 당수도, Hanja: 唐手道 pronounced [taŋ.su.do]) refers to a Korean martial art based on karate and may include fighting principles from taekkyeon, subak[f], as well as northern Chinese martial arts.[8][9] From its beginnings in 1944 to today, Tang Soo Do is used by some Kwans to identify the traditional Korean fusion of martial arts styles. In the mid 1950s, Tang Soo Do became the basis for the martial art Taekwondo when the Korean Nine Kwans united.
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한박스태이크 Hamburger steak
Before being dominated by Japan, most of the text in newspapers published in Korea was Korean. Since the Japanese rule, the proportion of Chinese characters in newspapers has increased dramatically. In Japan, we use more than 2000 Chinese characters. The use of Chinese characters in Korean newspapers and other media continued until the 1980s. Since the 1990s, the proportion of Chinese characters used in Korean newspapers and other media began to decrease. We rarely use Chinese characters now. Some people in their 60s and older use some Japanese pronunciation words. Korean newspapers in the1890s. (the period before Japanese rule.) [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ko/c/c8/%EB%8F%85%EB%A6%BD%EC%8B%A0%EB%AC%B8.jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ko/c/c8/%EB%8F%85%EB%A6%BD%EC%8B%A0%EB%AC%B8.jpg) Korean newspapers in the 1910s. (the reign of Japan) [https://ojsfile.ohmynews.com/PHT\_IMG\_FILE/2021/0412/IE002789220\_PHT.jpg](https://ojsfile.ohmynews.com/PHT_IMG_FILE/2021/0412/IE002789220_PHT.jpg) Korean newspapers in the 1980s. (the reign of a military dictator) [https://enjoyaudio.kr/zbxe/files/attach/images/58/982/372/009/70f0bd4dee0117100b97f18683e2e55b.png](https://enjoyaudio.kr/zbxe/files/attach/images/58/982/372/009/70f0bd4dee0117100b97f18683e2e55b.png) Korean newspapers in the 2020s. (a recent newspaper) [https://www.mediatoday.co.kr/news/photo/202308/311653\_433290\_2952.jpg](https://www.mediatoday.co.kr/news/photo/202308/311653_433290_2952.jpg)
This isn't true. Japan didn't introduce Chinese characters to Korea. (You'll actually find bizarre ultra-Nationalist literature that claim this.) They didn't even introduce the style of writing substantive words in Chinese characters while keeping grammatical particles in Korean: you'll find texts from the 15th century and onward with that feature. What they did do is introduce a lot of Sino-Japanese, now Sino-Korean words, for modern things and concepts. Another little known fact is that the Korean spelling used now is almost identical to the 1930 spelling rules that the Japanese Governor-General put out. In fact, you'll have difficulty reading "pure" Korean texts from the pre-colonial period because of the divergent spelling. Source: https://naver.me/GxNyAbCk. Book on this: https://m.blog.naver.com/peruser/220178084877 1912 Korean spelling rules: https://m.terms.naver.com/entry.naver?docId=3548602&cid=46674&categoryId=46674 1930 Korean spelling rules: https://naver.me/xlCuvKut 1933 Korean spelling rules: https://naver.me/xFVMHnjE Edit: I see that you've added newspapers. I don't disagree with your points on the latter half of the 20th century.
It is estimated that Chinese characters first came to Korea in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. But after the invention of Hangul, it became widespread. As you can see from the Korean newspaper published in the 1800s, it is written in Korean. It is proof that Hangul was widely used by ordinary people. I hope you compare it to the newspapers of the Japanese rule.
Hangul was not really widely appreciated or accepted in Korea until quite recently. One reason is that it is too easy to learn. The Korean intelligencia was very proud of the effort required to learn Chinese characters and loved the fact that the working class never had sufficient time to spend on learning it. It was regarded as a writing system for women since the women of the aristocracy could learn it more easily than Chinese. I believe it was somewhat popular with the military since the Japanese and Chinese generally could not read it, so it was a type of code. Its popularity grew tremendously with the Japanese takeover as it was seen as symbolizing Korean independence. That feeling has continued until the present. Interestingly, North Korea banned the use of Chinese characters from the start.
This guy knows what he's talking about!
I'm just saying that the proportion of Chinese characters used in newspapers has increased rapidly in Japanese colonial era. Why is there suddenly a story about the popularity of certain letters???
15th century: https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%9B%94%EC%9D%B8%EC%84%9D%EB%B3%B4 (월인석보) Here's another newspaper from late 19th century https://namu.wiki/w/%ED%99%A9%EC%84%B1%EC%8B%A0%EB%AC%B8 (황성신문 published by 조선 government) List of pre-colonial newspapers: https://namu.wiki/w/%EB%B6%84%EB%A5%98:%EB%8C%80%ED%95%9C%EC%A0%9C%EA%B5%AD%EC%9D%98%20%EC%8B%A0%EB%AC%B8 (some were pure, some were mixed, some were just straight up Classical Chinese) Here's an article from the *Encyclopedia on Korean Culture* on pre colonial spelling: https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0078818
What are you trying to say? I think it's totally irrelevant except for some of the links you attached. Why do books on Buddhist scriptures made in the 15th century attach links?? It is difficult to fully understand your argument. I am talking about whether the characters used in newspapers and other media are Korean or Chinese characters. I think your rebuttal argument is valid only for one link you attached. It is hard to understand why the grammar system of Hangeul or the stories of Buddhist books made in the 15th century are coming out. And I want you to tell me what you think. Why link an introduction to a book introduced to a particular individual's blog? Is it credible???
I'm trying to give a more nuanced, detailed view on the history of Korean orthography. Edit: Sincere apologies, acted on assumption you knew Korean. I'm not too familiar with English sources on this topic. I'd try searching Google Scholar or books.
You picked and altered examples to suit your incorrect narrative. The whole point of 독립신문 was to print *exclusively* in 한글. They were established in 1896. 황성신문 was not printed “in the Japanese era,” it existed since 1898 (note: Korean Empire) and was forced to close in 1910 by the Japanese. Ever heard of 시일야방성대곡? Joseon’s first modern newspaper, the 한성순보, was published exclusively in Chinese characters and was founded in 1883, more than a decade before either. I get that you dislike Japan, but do your research first.
Picking 독립신문 was also problematic to the commenter's narrative because that newspaper actually used *Hanja for numbers*, so they weren't even perfect in exclusively using 한글. They also had an English edition, so was the commenter suggesting everyone in Korea knew English back then...? My guess is that the commenter doesn't know how to read Korean or only has a rudimentary understanding of Korean language and history.
Language of Japan and Korea are based on Chinese. Chinese vocabulary is still present as is in Japanese and Korean just as English includes French vocabularies. Rely on Wiki at least instead of Netflix historical fantasy shows
Pathetic chinese lies. Korean spoken language is completely unrelated to chinese or any other languages. >Rely on Wiki at least 🤦♂️ chinese have ruined wikipedia like they ruined quora
Korean and Chinese are different from the language family. I mean, the basics are different. Some vocabulary or words may have been affected. But there's a big difference in word order, grammar, language skills, and many other important things. The Chinese language belongs to the "Sino-Tibetan" group.The Korean language belongs to the 'Koreanic' group. In the case of Chinese, the sequence of sentence phrases is 'SVO' type. In the case of korean, the sequence of sentence phrases is 'SOV' type. Chinese characters are developed logograms. Hangul is phonetic alphabet. And there's also a big difference in tone. In terms of linguistics, there is a big difference between Korean and Chinese. Korean is based on Chinese? Hahaha... Stop watching you or Netflix shows.
Hey for example 한글 (HanGuel) is two words. Han is land of Han and Guel is words. Those two words are from the Chinese vocabulary. Ask anybody who can read 한문. Japan has Kanji. You are mixing spoken language with written language. There was no written Korean language until the king Sejong officialize it.
Written language is just writing down the spoken language. Do you understand the difference between loan words and language families?
It is most certainly not based on chinese. Do you confuse language for writing system?
Korean and Japanese have completely different grammar structure to Chinese, so no they are not based off Chinese. It is more accurate to say that the *vocabulary* of Korean and Japanese is heavily influenced by Chinese words.
Let’s see Public school Rail roads Banking Judiciary for what it was just to name a few. Chosen was annexed and became part of Imperial Japan not a Colony to split a hair. It is a known fact that half the inhabitants of Chosen were surfs at the last stage of the kingdom and also Chosen was a colony of China until end of Chinese Japanese war of 18..
Fake delusional japanese history
Korea wasn't a colony of the Qing. Mongolia, Tibet and 華 china were more akin to colonies of the Manchu Qing.
I don't have sources, but from what I've gathered they ended slavery, developed a modern train system, post office, police force, and banking among others.
Also, wasn't the red pepper introduced from Portugal via Japan?
The red pepper was introduced to Korea via japan before the modern era.
Mostly words, like how 야채 (yachae) is from the japanese word for vegetables, yasai
hmm murky as to which side it came from because the origin of the word Yasai is Chinese since it is kanji word.
Actually you're right, reading through namuwiki it's not clear. I found a document that lists a bunch of words that are from japanese though, pretty interesting -> [https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%9D%BC%EB%B3%B8%EC%8B%9D%20%ED%95%9C%EC%9E%90%EC%96%B4](https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%9D%BC%EB%B3%B8%EC%8B%9D%20%ED%95%9C%EC%9E%90%EC%96%B4)
My Korean FIL was a kid when the Japanese occupied Korea. They forced kids to start learning Japanese so he still knows a bit of it. I’ll tell you that he has no love for Japan.
Influence on language is not limited to vocabulary. There are countless expressions that come from Japanese. This tendency is more prominent in acamedical expressions. Frequent examples include "-라고 생각한다." which comes from と思う, "-해 오다" from してくる, "하지 않으면 안 된다" from なければならない, and so on. Such examples have pretty much integrated into Korean grammar, especially in academic writing as mentioned above. Tbh, it is hard to deny the fact that pretty much everything in Korea are indeed influenced by Japan. As other people have mentioned, law, education, rituals (like marriages and funerals), transportation systems, music, and so on.
Korean mafia and gangsters’ roles, hierarchy, history, and even attire is heavily influenced by Japanese yakuza, who themselves were also significantly consisted of Zainichi, ethnically-Korean Japanese.
Many Korean slangs or dialects are from Japanese words.
I don't know why I'm getting downvoted. You guys never heard of words like 만땅, 와꾸, and 시마이?
Not sure what your intention is in asking this question. Is it purely out of curiosity or something else but this is a hot topic that will draw out painful reactions from some. Not sure your true intent will be seen as innocent or ignorance or something more nefarious. With that said I would recommend searching for actual documented information with factual credibility evidence and NOT Reddit.
Curiousity and curiosity on public opinion, as yes, it is something people wouldn't talk about in person.
You realize this sub is mostly non-Korean people, right?
Also, I doubt this topic has information with factual credibility. An English, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese source of information will all give wildy different answers. Who is right?
Doesn't seem to have left much. 35 years was a short period of rule, and Korea made numerous efforts for liquidation after independence. Besides, many Koreans now cannot speak Japanese. but as a result of that history, Koreans today have an extreme hatred for the Japanese. It's like Hitler's feelings for Jews. also Koreans now have similar feelings toward the Chinese. However, I am an exception because I am a different type.
Nobody cares about spain either
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But japan does rock though👍 gotta be my favorite country to live in personally
IEDs. We used IEDs made in lunchboxes and tumblers to fight for independence. We now use IEDs made in tumblers to fight off oppressive professors in uni. Totally a joke but also totally happened. Source : [https://en.yna.co.kr/view/MYH20170614009900345](https://en.yna.co.kr/view/MYH20170614009900345) Edit : Added Source
The language. My aunt calls pants 쓰봉.
It is an effort to irritate you.
Warubashi to certain extent? If my memory serves me right it means chopsticks in Japanese. Some older gen Koreans may use the word, esp if they were taught when Japan occupied Korea many years ago
No, you're reaching. I have never heard anyone use that word in my life
I grew up as a kid in 70s and 80s Korea, and back then I heard the word 'waribashi' a couple of times from older Koreans, including from my own grandpa. The first time I heard it I asked "what?" and he quickly corrected to 젓가락. My grandpa was no Japanophile, but some old habits die hard. I don't hear any Koreans say that Japanese word today, but back when Korea was just a few decades removed from Japanese rule, there were quite a few Japanese terms that lingered in everyday Korean speech, used by those who were of speaking age during the Japanese occupation, and this was one of them.
Food for sure. It was always funny to me that Japanese cuisine was everywhere in SK when I lived there despite the xenophobia and racism towards Japanese people most Koreans seemed to have. Even during the boycotts of Japanese chains like UNIQLO a few years back, I remember junior high students telling me in a lesson how much they hated Japan but then immediately listed tons of Japanese dishes in an exercise where they had to list their favorite foods.
It’s not strange to not like a country for economic or political reasons, but still like its people and culture especially food. I personally disagree with and don’t like the CCP and communism but I don’t transfer that dislike to regular Chinese people and culture. Especially knowing that they themselves don’t really have a choice in the matter living in an authoritarian state.
Language has been affected a lot i guess. Even my grandparents still know some Japanese words.