Why does Japan admire China but look down on South Korea?

为什么日本仰慕中国，却看轻韩国？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Belinda

Japan gets along with most countries, but I’m fairly certain from my 25 years living here that they DON’T admire China. Their culture was effected by China, but the China of today is just a bully and like many other countries, they are careful with them. Also, Chinese tourists tend to be rude, so there is a little bit of annoyance there too.

日本和大多数国家的关系都不错，但我在日本生活了25年，我很确定他们并不仰慕中国。日本文化确实受到过中国的影响，但今天的中国是一个恃强凌弱的国家，日本和其他很多国家一样，都对中国小心翼翼。此外，中国游客大多都很粗鲁，所以也有点让人反感。

South Korea won’t forgive Japan for the war even though Japan has apologized (every couple of years they want a new apology it seems). South Korean’s may feel like they are being looked down on, but I think that is incorrect too. The political Japan/S. Korea relationship is quite complicated and it seems that in recent years Korean politicians are trying to stir up the underlying anger for political reasons. On the side of Japanese citizens though, they love Korea. They like it’s TV shows, movies, singers, models. A lot of Japanese are learning Korean. etc. Korea used to be like Japan 10 years before (always behind), but in recent years they have leapt ahead and know they are more modernized, more technological etc. than Japan in some ways.

就算日本道歉，韩国也不会原谅日本对韩国的侵略(似乎每隔几年韩国就想让日本重新道歉)。韩国人可能会觉得他们被日本轻视了，但我认为这也是错的。政治上，日本和韩国的关系非常复杂，近年来韩国政客似乎出于政治原因，试图挑起民众心底的愤怒。但对于日本公民，他们喜欢韩国。他们喜欢韩国的电视节目、电影、歌手、模特。很多日本人正在学习韩语。等。韩国过去一直落后日本10年左右，但近年来已经超过日本，他们知道自己在某些方面比日本更现代化，科技更发达等。

I would say that China looks down on both Korea and Japan who act like brothers each trying to be better than the other. Right now Korea seems a little stronger to me and instead of dragging the war along with them, they should look forward and enjoy their success.

在我看来，中国看不起韩国和日本，他们就像兄弟一样，互相较劲。现在，我觉得韩国似乎比日本更强一些，与其一直抓着过去的战争不放，他们更应该向前看，享受现在的成功。

CK

I think your question is basically wrong. I've seen that many chinese hate japanese (historical reason included) vice versa and do not really look down on korea these days except some idiots. They used to look down on korea in the past. I know still many koreans hate japan because japanese government has never done official apology to Korea yet. I guess you might have to go over recent japanese history.

我觉得你的问题基本上就是错的。我知道有很多中国人讨厌日本人(因为历史原因)，反之亦然，除了一些笨蛋，日本现在并不是真的的看不起韩国。过去他们确实看不起韩国。我知道还有很多韩国人讨厌日本，因为日本政府至今还没有正式向韩国道歉。我想你可能得回顾一下日本近代史。

S. L.

Japan’s history venerates ancient China history and kanji.

S. Korea’s culture meanwhile is very modern and is actually invading Japan’s youth in a bad way (k-pop, k-idols).

日本在历史上尊重中国古代史和汉字。

韩国的文化非常摩登，正在以一种不好的方式侵入日本年轻人的意识(韩流音乐，韩流偶像)。

Juri Geschütz

I think the question refers to only ‘extreme right wingers’ or some other weird people of Japanese. Most Japanese don’t look down or up on someone else (or at least I think so)

我认为这个问题指的只是“极右翼分子”或其他日本怪人。大多数日本人既不会看不起别人，也不会仰慕别人(至少我自己是这么认为的)。

郭 Guo Yongxn

Japan admire China because China is the second largest enconomic (China’s GDP is three times that of Japan) and a potential superpower in the future. Meanwhile ,Japan lood down on China becuase China’s GDP per capita is only about 30% of Japan’s.

As South Koreas’s GDP and GDP per capita will not be able to compete Japan for a long time , Japan think they are still qualified to look down on South Korea.

日本钦佩中国，是因为中国是世界第二大经济体(中国的GDP是日本的三倍)，也是未来的超级大国。与此同时，日本又看不起中国，因为中国的人均GDP只有日本的30%左右。

由于韩国的GDP和人均GDP在很长一段时间内都无法和日本竞争，日本认为他们仍然有资格看不起韩国。

Dong-Yoon Lee

I just can say about Koreans.

Main stream Japanese are mixed people between Korean peninsula descendants and aboriginal Japanese. They received smartness from Koreans(Yayoi people) and good-looking features from Aboriginal Japanese(Jomon people). So, when they mixed and be increased, they started to despise pure Koreans about ugly appearance, and did it to aboriginal Japanese about intelligence.

我可以说说韩国人。

主流日本人的是朝鲜半岛后裔和日本原住民的混血儿。他们继承了韩国人(弥生族)的智商和日本土著(绳纹族)的颜值。所以，他们开始鄙视纯种韩国人的外貌和日本原住民的智商。

The superiority sentiments over two ethnic groups about the sides is chronic problem of Yayoi-Jomon mixed people. If Japanese don't fix it, the only way is that the Koreans don't think they are ugly and the Jomons don't think they are stupid, and totally ignore Japanese’ long-lasting prejudice.

对这两个族群的优越感是弥生绳纹混血后代长期存在的问题。如果日本人不解决这个问题，那么唯一的办法就是韩国人不认自己丑，绳纹人不认自己蠢，并完全忽略日本人长期以来的偏见。

Ku Shokai

Technically, I am 3/4 Japanese and 1/4 Chinese since my grandfather came to Japan and settled in Japan.

I was born and raised in Japan, but sent to an international school. Therefore, I think I stand between Japanese mentality and Western mentality. And of-course, I have been influenced by certain Chinese mentality. I had worked with many Southeast Asian countries and European countries, so I know what I am talking about when dealing with many different cultures.

I think I can contribute certain thoughts on the subject.

严格来说，我有四分之三的日本血统和四分之一的中国血统，因为我祖父早年来到日本并在日本定居。

我在日本出生、长大，但被送入一所国际学校学习。因此，我认为我在日本和西方的思维方式上拥有一个平衡点。当然，我也受到了某些中国的思维方式的影响。我曾在许多东南亚国家和欧洲国家工作过，所以在跟许多不同的文化打交道时，我知道自己在说什么。

我想我能就这个问题发表一些看法。

First of all, please do not paint all Japanese people with just one brush. Many Japanese people have different thoughts just like Korean and Chinese people.

Usually, when you look at comments on social networks, most extreme thoughts stand out.

So, there are people who admire China, look down on China or have no thought about China. This is also true for Korea. They all have different reasons.

首先，请不要把所有日本人都一概而论。很多日本人和韩国人、中国人一样，有各自不同的想法。

通常，当你浏览社交网络上的评论时，总会注意到最出格的言论。

所以，有人钦佩中国，有人轻视中国，有人对中国没有任何想法。韩国也是如此。他们都有各自不同的理由。

Japanese culture is probably most different from other cultures. They are not used to diversity, they blindly believe in “common senses” and keep things vague until the matter reaches the crucial point. The people are used to follow orders rather than making decisions by themselves.

Now, I wish not to discuss about political problems and historical problems. Leave them up to politicians and historians.

日本文化可能是最特立独行的文化。他们不喜欢与众不同，他们盲目相信“常识”，不到最后一刻决不把事情说清楚。日本人习惯于服从命令，而不是自己做决定。

我不想讨论政治问题和历史问题。把这些问题留给政治家和历史学家吧。

Do I admire these three cultures? I don’t know. I am more interested in myself than achievements by the older generations of the country I am connected with.

The older generations’ achievements won’t make me any greater. It’s all up to myself and yourselves. I have friends from many different countries and cultures. I admire them not because of the country. I admire them because they are who they are.

我欣赏中国、韩国、日本这三个国家的文化吗？我也不知道。比起与我有关系的国家的历史成就，我对自己更感兴趣。

老一辈的成就不会让我变得更厉害。这完全靠我自己，靠你们自己。我有许多来自不同国家和文化的朋友，我钦佩他们也不会是因为他们的国家。我钦佩他们，只是因为他们自己足够优秀。

Chan Wai Loong

History written from Xu Fu expeditions for Qin Shi Huang longevity medicine that landed to Japan territory.

Maybe, guilty-concious from ww2 made Japanese still held on to certain Chinese writing characters. Different generation evolved different love and hatred.

历史记载，徐福为秦始皇寻找长生不老药，登上了日本领土。

也许，二战的罪恶感让日本人仍然保留着某些汉字。不同的世代演化出不同的爱与恨。

Maka Jang

I dont know where and why you arise this question.

Here's my Korean perspective.

These days Koreans espcially Young koreans do not care about japan. Although japan has some good companies and items, many Koreans think their Korean Pop culture such as Kpop, Kdramas, Kmovies etc. already beat Japanese ones these days. Moreover, japan's economy has been decreasing.

我不知道你从何得出这个疑问，也不知道你为什么提出这个问题。

这是我作为韩国人的观点。

如今，韩国人尤其是韩国年轻人并不关心日本。虽然日本有一些不错的公司和产品，但许多韩国人认为韩国流行文化，如韩国流行音乐、韩国电视剧、韩国电影等都超过日本。此外，日本经济一直在走下坡路。

To china, its complicated. Although theres some look down atmosphere about china, i think many koreans consider china has much more potential than japan. Everyone knows that chinese economy has been rising these days even if there are some problems inside and ouside china.

对中国来说，就很复杂了。虽然有些人看不起中国，但我认为很多韩国人认为中国比日本更有潜力。众所周知，虽然中国面临着一些国内外的问题，但中国经济一直在崛起。

Mikhail Kotykhov

I have been living in Japan for about 10 years, and a talk to many different people pretty much every day.

I am a teacher and my classes are discussions, not lectures, so I have a chance to listen to different opinions. I also have a lot of informal communication, in addition to teaching.

I have never met a single Japanese person so far who would explicitly look down on South Korea.

Yes, the cultures are different, opinions may be different. Some Japanese people visited Korea, but did not like it very much.

我在日本生活了大约10年，几乎每天都和许多不同的人交流。

我是一名教师，我的课是讨论课，不是讲课，所以我有机会听取不同的意见。除了教学之外，我也有很多非正式的交流机会。

到目前为止，我还没有遇到过公开表示看不起韩国的日本人。

是的，大家文化不同，观点可能也不同。有些日本人去过韩国，但不太喜欢韩国。

But, again, I have never heard an opinion from at least one Japanese person that South Korea is in any way inferior to Japan.

If you meet a Japanese person who says that, it just could simply mean they read a newspaper all day, and they have never met a Korean person in their life, let alone ever interacted with them.

This could happen, but it is highly unlikely.

This is why the premise of the question is not correct.

但是，我从来没有听日本人说过韩国在任何方面都不如日本。

如果你遇到一个日本人这样说，那可能意味着他们整天只知道看报纸，但从未真的见过韩国人，更不用说和韩国人交流了。

这种情况有可能发生，但可能性极小。

所以这个问题的前提就是不对的。

Brian Ko

I think it’s the other way around, Japanese might not necessarily admire South Korea, but they do agree with South Korea more and China is looked down upon because of political, historical and economic reasons.

我认为情况正好相反，日本人可能不一定钦佩韩国，但他们确实更认同韩国；而因为中国的政治、历史和经济原因，日本看不起中国。

Yuya Motohashi

I am Japanese American and had no clue about the views of what you stated in your question. Generally I believe respect is a huge part of the culture. I understand that there are political tension because of Japan’s action in the past but I don’t think the Japanese people particularly favor one country and look down on the other.

我是日裔美国人，我不太了解你的观点。总的来说，我认为尊重别人是日本文化的重要组成部分。我理解由于日本过去的行为而造成的政治紧张，但我不认为日本人会特别喜欢一个国家、看不起另一个国家。

With that said, I know and feel that the other Asian countries may have views on Japan as a whole because of its history. Can’t really blame them considering what happened, and it’s up to the newer generations to forgive and forget if they so choose, and hopefully the Japanese to recognize the atrocities caused similar to post World War 2 nazis.

话虽如此，我明白其他亚洲国家可能会因为日本的历史而对整个日本抱有看法。鉴于历史事实，真的不能责怪他们，如果新一代愿意的话，他们可以选择原谅和遗忘，也希望日本人能认识到自己在二战时的纳粹暴行。

Personally, growing up in NY, over 90% of my friends are Chinese. From elementary school through college, I was always a minority and rarely met other Japanese people. Of the Japanese people I know whether if they are Japanese American, or traditionally Japanese, all of them respect and love China and Korea.

I absolutely love both countries and for the most part my Chinese and Korean friends respect me for who I am as a person, instead of focusing on my ethnicity.

就我个人而言，我在纽约长大，超过90%的朋友是中国人。从小学到大学，我一直是少数族裔，很少看到其他日本人。在我认识的日本人中，无论是日裔美国人，还是日本本地人，他们都尊重和喜爱中国和韩国。

我非常喜欢这两个国家，我的中国和韩国朋友也大多很尊重我，因为我就是我，他们并不在意我的种族。