사진 확대 Tokyo correspondent Lee Seung-hoon
When I came to Tokyo three years ago, I wanted to be a person who explained Japan. Readers would have expected that too. That’s why I always asked ‘why’.
What’s wrong with the Japanese. Why do Japanese companies make that choice. Why does Japanese society move like that. There is a reason for every phenomenon, and I believed that if I covered it, I could find the answer.
It was an illusion.
After covering three years, there was no country explained by a single sentence. Articles should be written conclusively, but the reality has always been complicated. Some ‘why’ had the answer, but not some ‘why’. The bigger problem is that the moment I thought I had found the answer, I started to misunderstand Japan.
The more I tried to understand Japan, the more often I thought of Korea, which is different from Japan. Japan was slow and Korea was fast. I’m not saying either is right. I learned that other speeds have advantages and disadvantages.
Two years ago, I visited Kumamoto Castle while covering the TSMC plant in Kumamoto Prefecture. The castle, which collapsed in the 2016 earthquake, was being restored over a long period of time. It was frustratingly slow. But there was also a reason not to rush.
In Korea, it is highly likely that they chose to recover quickly and return to their daily lives quickly. I couldn’t say which one was right. Japan’s slowness did not always mean prudence, and Korea’s speed did not always mean efficiency.
Since then, he has tried not to judge Japan only by news.
The view of no one talking on the phone on the packed subway on the way home from work, kindergarteners who do not disturb the line even in the heat wave, foreign young people I always meet at convenience stores, a restaurant grandmother who was glad to talk to me when she said, “I’m from Korea,” and a grandfather who grumbled, “There are too many Koreans.”
The Japan I met was much more complicated than the news. The same was true of Korea-Japan relations.
We expected a new turning point to mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations last year. However, the Korea-Japan relationship seen in the field was different in the speed of politics and the speed at which people and companies moved.
Companies were already working across the border. The younger generation naturally consumed each other’s cultures. However, I also saw that once a political conflict breaks out, even the relationship between people and companies can be easily shaken.
Even in its complexity, one thing was clearly visible. It was Japan’s potential through Kyoto Corporation. I covered Kyocera, Murata Production Company, and Omron, which I only saw in books and newspapers. The industry was different, but they had something in common. He/she has been obsessed with technology that others do not easily see for a long time. These companies were also closely connected to our companies. Japanese companies’ materials and equipment technologies were also in the growth process of the Korean semiconductor and automobile industries.
When I was covering Kyoto companies, I asked about Korean companies. While acknowledging the performance and technology of Korean companies, most of them declined to comment when asked about “respectful Korean companies.”
That’s when I found out. That acknowledging competitors and respecting them are completely different areas. Maybe we did the same when evaluating Japanese companies. I think the closer the country is, the better we know each other. That’s why it’s easier to judge.
The three years I spent in Tokyo were a time to understand Japan, but it was also a time to read Korea again. So even now that I’m leaving, there’s not much I can confidently explain Japan.
Instead, the question changed. From “What’s Wrong with Me” to “Why Do I Think Like That?”
The correspondent may not be the one who comes back with the answer, but the one who comes back with a better question.
[Tokyo correspondent Lee Seunghoon]