※Translated with Notion AI. (Plus version)
I’m back in Japan from Korea for about three weeks, visiting ancestral graves in the midst of the intense heat.
This summer at the Koshien Stadium, for the first time in history, a school song in Korean echoed through the ballpark.
The first victory of Kyoto International High School was reported and praised by Korean media, with headlines like “Applause for their fighting spirit.”
Perhaps because of this, I suddenly received a call from the mayor of my hometown and six of his staff members, wanting to hear about Korea, and we arranged to meet.
The background of their interest in me seems to be that I’m married to a Korean woman, have lived with my in-laws in Seoul for many years, and currently work as a consultant for a major Korean conglomerate. Apparently, they were planning to organize a delegation to visit Korea this fall to observe education, digital technology, and distribution systems.
Frankly, my impression was that they weren’t actively seeking to understand Korea. It felt more like a tourism-oriented visit.
I couldn’t shake the impression that local government taxes might be wasted.
To elaborate a bit, I had heard that the mayor graduated from the School of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University, so I expected him to have some understanding of Korean politics and Japan-Korea issues.
However, it seemed that after graduation, he had only focused on local society after joining a local company.
In this era where information is rapidly available, can someone who doesn’t even understand a neighboring country express opinions on the U.S. presidential election or the Chinese economy?
I can’t help but think that many people are not truly benefiting from the advantages of our times.
Nevertheless, I’d like to talk about the current situation in Korea, including the questions I received from my hometown’s mayor.
This might be a small story, but it’s a time when Japan and Korea should deepen mutual understanding more than ever.
Please bear with me for a moment.
**Anti-Japan sentiment is the height of tactlessness**
