Japanese influence on Korean culture
[1] In addition, Korean nationalism continued to rise after the Japanese colonial rule ended and played a large part in the rapid economic development of South Korea.
Hangul, Korea’s script, was created in the 15th century under King Sejong to make reading accessible to commoners.
However, Korea’s elite preferred Chinese and dismissed Hangul as a "lesser script," fit only for women and uneducated people.
In the late Joseon period, Japanese intellectuals like Fukuzawa Yukichi recognized Hangul's potential to increase literacy and support modernization in Korea.
Almost all of technical and scientific terms in the Korean language have been borrowed or taken directly from Japanese coined-terms based on Chinese characters (which in Japan are called Kanji).
Governor-General Jiro Minami and Legal Affairs Director Motoharu Miyamoto clarified in statements that Koreans were not required or pressured to adopt Japanese surnames, emphasizing it was a voluntary option to introduce family names in Korea, where none previously existed.
Today, with the exception of experts, almost no one can read Korean historical documents and biographies in their traditional Chinese characters.
[3] In 1926, Korean Buddhist believers under Japanese rule were allowed to legally marry, leading temples to bear additional costs of childcare and reducing adherence to monasticism.
[12] At this time, in the face of Japanese colonial occupation, Christian community leaders resisted by organizing and establishing religious schools, spreading an ideology of Korean nationalism.
It hoped to weaken anti-Japanese sentiment by controlling public opinion, fully assimilating Koreans, and stipulating Japanese as the official language of Korea.
Japan has found that the commercial value of the pop culture industry is constantly improving, and it can provide a lot of help for the accumulation of capital.
Asian adolescents are defined as one of the most audiences in this industry, and their enthusiasm for new things is not too much of a concern, and they will not delve into the source and history of such consumer goods.
It is expected to complete the fourth ban to accept the spread of Japanese TV programs and popular music, when South Korea and Japan jointly hold the FIFA World Cup in 2002[16] In 2001, the relationship between South Korea and Japan gradually improved.
In the late 1980s, Korea learned the technical know-how of Japanese manga through cooperation, and the level of television animation increased rapidly.
[19] In 1999, Japanese film director Shunji Iwai’s movie “Love Letter” was broadcast in South Korea.
In 1970, Yomaoka Sohachi's novel “Tokugawa Ieyasu” was translated into Korean, and sold more than 400,000 copies, becoming an unprecedented bestseller.
The top ten bestsellers in novels, as published annually by “Gunpo Bunko”, include works by Japanese artists.
[20] Many Japanese artists such as Haruki Murakami, Kaori Ekuni, Banana Yoshimoto, Akira Higashino and Hideo Okuda are popular among young Koreans [20] Pink Lady participated in the World Song Festival held in Seoul in South Korea in 1980, and were the first Japanese musicians to perform in a concert in Seoul.
Showa retro music is included in the television programme Korea-Japan Top Ten Show broadcast by MBN since May 2024.
[29][30][31][32][33] A performance in Tokyo in 2024 of a cover version of Matsuda's "Aoi Sangosho [ja]" (1980) by Korean band NewJeans went viral in South Korea, and pushed the song up the Melon chart.
