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Edward Karaa (Edward) wrote:
Hello Frederick,
By no means did I want my post to be understood in an unkindly fashion. Sorry for any misunderstanding. Now for the Korean animosity towards Japan, I had an unfortunate first hand experience a few years ago when I mistook a group of South Korean tourists to be Japanese, and approached them as such. All I can tell you is that I narrowly escaped being beaten up.
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No offense taken, Edward. Just wanted to clear things up a bit before some of my more fiery countrymen took a crack at the topic.
And I'm sorry you had such a bad experience - anti-Japanese sentiment does run quite high, especially with the older generations, but you seem to have stumbled across a particularly bad-tempered batch. To tell the truth, I myself sometimes have bouts of ambivalence about practicing a Japanese art - not often, but sometimes. And stuff like O'sensei making trips to Mongolia and hosting right-wing societies in his dojo seems to be a matter of only passing interest to most, but when viewed from the perspective of a country that suffered imperialist rule as a result of such activities, can hardly be brushed off lightly.
I am still with Aikido, though, and that is all that needs to be said.