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

为什么日本仰慕中国、轻视韩国?

以下是Quora读者的评论：

Gaku Yamaguchi, Software Engineer

I'm a Japanese live in Malaysia. I will be able to provide you with some explanation about your question from the point of the Japanese view. I believe almost of average Japanese agree with my answer:

我是住在马来西亚的日本人。我想从日本人的角度来回答一下你的问题。我相信几乎大多数日本人都认同我的回答：

Why does Japan admire China?

为什么日本崇拜中国？

Japan doesn't admire modern China so much because of some political reason. Mainland China ... don't share the basic concept of value.

出于某些政治原因，日本并不怎么欣赏现代中国。中国跟我们有着不同的基础价值观念。

The target of Japanese admiration is only ancient China, especially the era of the Three Kingdoms Story. (A Chinese media also pointed it out.) When Japanese natives had lived in the rudimentary environment, Chinese people built the most civilised nation at that moment and disseminated their civilisation to peripheral countries. On the other hands, modern Chinese was reflected to be very uncouth, unsophisticated people to the Japanese eyes. Nowadays, this situation has been slightly changing, but there's still bad images of Chinese in Japan.

日本人崇拜的是古代的中国，尤其是三国时期的中国。(一家中国媒体也指出了这一点。)

当日本原住民还生活在最原始的环境中时，中国人已经建立起了当时最文明的国家，并将他们的文化传播到了周边国家。

另一方面，在日本人的眼里，现代中国人则非常粗野。

现在这种情况有了些许改变，但中国人在日本人眼中的不良形象依然存在。

Mitsu Hadeishi, Chief Architect, Heartbeat Health

I’m Japanese-American; born and raised here, and of course Asians and Asian-Americans in the US tend to stick together — we don’t have very much animosity towards other Asian groups. Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans — we all tend to be pretty friendly towards each other, even if we might tease each other about differences between our cultures.

我是日裔美国人；在这里出生，在这里长大，当然，美国的亚洲人和亚裔美国人更愿意扎堆抱团——我们对其他亚洲群体并没有太多的敌意。不论是中国人、日本人还是韩国人——我们对彼此都非常友好，偶尔可能也会嘲笑一下彼此的文化差异。

Regarding Korea there are of course many Japanese who have actually traveled to Korea and know the truth about it: it is a hyper-modern country which has advanced in every way, and for the most part, despite all the tensions that exst between Japanese and Korean governments, Koreans generally speaking (prior to the recent moves by Abe) actually do not hate Japan or Japanese people. In fact tourism from Korea to Japan had been steadily rising, and polling of Korean attitudes towards Japan was steadily going up — until Abe destroyed everything with his ridiculous trade moves. But some Japanese simply know nothing other than rumors and misinformation circulated among right-wing sites, similar to what we have here in the US when it comes to fringe misinformation on social media.

至于韩国，许多去过韩国的日本人都知道：这是一个超级摩登的国家，各个领域都很发达，多数情况下，尽管日本人和韩国政府之间存在紧张关系，韩国人普遍并不讨厌日本和日本人。

事实上，赴日的韩国游客人数一直在稳步上升，韩国人对日态度的民意调查结果也在稳步升温——直到安倍用他荒谬的贸易举措摧毁了一切。

但有些日本人除了右翼网站传播的谣言和错误信息外，什么都不知道，就像我们美国社会媒体恶意传播的错误信息一样。

Those of us Asian-Americans who know something about the tensions in Asia itself generally view the conflict with a mix of alarm and derision. In particular as a Japanese-American it is quite embarrassing to me to read comments from right-wing “netouyo” in Japan who write mostly ridiculous comments about Koreans based on a lack of understanding either of Korea and Koreans as they are today, as well as the history of Asia itself. Japan doesn’t teach Japanese much about what Japan did during the war, and Japanese media tend to avoid reporting very even-handedly about things either. It’s amazing that we Asian-Americans tend to be far better informed about these things than many Japanese in Japan. On the other hand, in the US here we have a similar problem with crazy conspiracy theories and misinformation spreading across social media. It seems to be quite the same in Japan itself, with many people there completely misinformed about what is going on.

我们这些对亚洲紧张局势有所了解的亚裔美国人，普遍都会带着一种既警惕又嘲讽的态度看待这场冲突。

特别是作为一个日裔美国人，当我看到日本的右翼“netouyo”因为对现代韩国、韩国人以及亚洲的历史缺乏了解而发表的针对韩国人的评论时，我真的觉得特别尴尬。

日本政府没有告诉自己的国民，日本在战争期间犯下了什么恶行，日本媒体也不愿如实公正地进行报道。

令人惊讶的是，我们亚裔美国人往往比日本的许多日本人更了解这些历史。

另一方面，我们在美国也遇到了类似的问题：疯狂的阴谋论和社交媒体上肆虐的错误信息。日本似乎也是如此，很多人完全被误导了。

In ancient times, of course, Japan looked up to China — then for a while Japan looked down on China, and now Japanese attitudes towards China may be improving as China becomes more successful. However, what many Japanese don’t know is that even longer ago Japan looked up to Korea — this is well-known historically for anyone interested in ancient history, but not understood by many Japanese (or Koreans) today. We imported a lot of culture, philosophy, even Buddhist thought from Korea, particularly from the Baekje Kingdom. Even many of our most famous temples were built by Kongo Gumi which is the oldest company in continuous operation in the world — and Kongo Gumi was originally founded by Korean builders who came to Japan from Baekje to help teach us how to build temples.

当然，古时候日本曾仰慕中国——后来有一段时间看不起中国，而现在日本人对中国的态度可能会随着中国的日趋成功而日益改善。

然而，许多日本人不知道的是，早在很久以前日本就开始崇拜韩国了——对古代史感兴趣的人来说，这在历史上是众所周知的事实，

但现在许多日本人(或韩国人)却并不理解。

我们从韩国，特别是在百济王国时期引进了很多文化、哲学，甚至佛教思想。

我们有许多最著名的寺庙都是由株式会社金刚组建造的，这是全球最古老的且持续经营中的公司——株式会社金刚组最初就是由从百济来到日本，教日本人建造寺庙的韩国建筑商建立起来的。

Today, Korea is a modern country and in some ways has surpassed Japan. Rather than continually antagonizing Korea, Japan should try to bring Korea closer. The two countries would be far stronger together than they are fighting like this.

今天，韩国是一个现代化国家，在某些方面甚至已超越了日本。日本不应该继续与韩国作对，而是应该努力拉近彼此的关系。两国携手，实力会比给彼此使绊子来强大得多。

Jay Hah, Co-Founder of a VR Startup in Silicon Valley

Simply because those Japanese don’t know about what S. Korea is like today. S. Korea has been achieved a lot recently economically, militarily and in many other aspects.

因为那些日本人对现在的韩国一无所知。韩国近些年来在经济、军事和许多其他方面都取得了很大的成就。

When I first come to US they said which Korea I came from if I said I am a Korean never realizing US -N. Korea never has any official diplomatic relationship or whatsoever.

我第一次来美国的时候，如果我说自己来自韩国，他们就会问我来自南韩（韩国）还是北韩（朝鲜），从来没有意识到美国和北韩（朝鲜）从来没有建立正式的外交关系。

More than 70% of DRAM including SSD comes from S. Korea and over 80% of OLED panel and a lot other IT components such as battery packs as well. War in Korean peninsular surely ignites a doomsday like catastrophe to global IT industry.

超过70%的DRAM(动态随机存储器，包括SSD固态硬盘)产自韩国，超过80%的OLED（发光二极管）面板和许多其他IT组件，如电池组等，也来自韩国。朝鲜半岛的战争无疑会给全球IT业带来世界末日般的灾难。

Chinese only assembles but S. Korean makes most of what are inside your smartphones and PCs. You really don’t want your mobile to have cheap Chinese components, do you?

中国人只会组装，而韩国人制造了智能手机和个人电脑里的大部分配件。你真的不希望你的手机里装着廉价的中国配件，是吗？

Miraculous and explosive growth of China is nothing but the political propaganda.... It is too much too exaggerated.

中国犹如奇迹般的爆炸式增长，不过是宣传罢了。这太过于夸张了。

Ku Shokai, B. A. from Sophia University (1994)

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

严格来说，自从我祖父来到日本并定居在此后，我就算3/4的日本人，1/4的中国人了。

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.

我在日本出生、长大，在国际学校就读。因此，我认为自己对日本人和西方人的心态兼而有之。

当然，我也受到了某些中国人的影响。我曾在许多东南亚国家和欧洲国家工作过，所以在面对许多不同文化时，我不会迷惑。

I think I can contribute certain thoughts on the subject.

我想我可以就这个问题提出一些想法。

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.

首先，请不要把所有的日本人都混为一谈。许多日本人跟韩国人和中国人一样，都有着自己不同的想法。

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

通常，当你浏览社交网络上的评论时，往往会注意到那些哗众取宠的言论。

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.

所以，有些人崇拜中国，有些人看不起中国，也有些人对中国没有特别的感觉。日本人对韩国也是如此。他们都有各自不同的原因。

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; some Japanese gets angry if I mention this.

与其他文化相比，日本文化可能是最为与众不同的。他们不喜欢多样性，盲目相信“常识”，凡事喜欢模糊粉饰，直到关键时刻才说清楚。人们习惯于服从命令，而非自己做决定；如果我这么说，有些日本人会很生气。

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

现在，我不想谈论政治问题和历史问题。就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.

你问我欣赏这三种文化吗？我也不知道。我更关心自己，而不是与我有关的某个国家的先辈的成就。

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.

先辈的成就不会让我更加优秀。一切都取决于我自己和你们自己。我有来自许多不同国家和文化背景的朋友。我钦佩他们并非因为他们来自某个国家，而是因为他们自身的魅力。

Yuya Motohashi, B.S. Political Science, Stony Brook University

I am Japanese American and had no clue about the views of what you stated in your question. Generally I believe Japan is a country that respects everyone, and 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. There might be some people but it’s no different than extremists in America screaming “Amurrrrica” and hating on non-whites. There will always be extremes.

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.

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

我是日裔美国人，我不理解你在问题中提出的观点。总的来说，我认为日本尊重所有民族，尊重是日本文化中很重要的一部分。

我理解日本过去的所作所为导致了政治上的紧张局面，但我不认为日本人会特别喜欢某个国家，或看不起另一个国家。

可能有些日本人如此，但这和美国某些极端分子一边高呼“美利坚”，一边憎恨非白人的行为并没有什么不同。林子大了，什么鸟都有。

话虽如此，我知道，我也感觉到，鉴于日本的不光彩历史，其他亚洲国家可能对日本会有些看法。

那都是无法改变的历史，我们真的不能责怪他们，他们是否能选择原谅和忘却，该由新一代来决定，希望日本人能深刻认识到日本犯下的堪比二战后纳粹行径的暴行。

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，很少接触其他日本人。我认识的日本人，无论是日裔美国人，还是传统日本人，都尊重并热爱中国和韩国。

我绝对热爱这两个国家，我的中国朋友和韩国朋友是因为我这个人而尊重我，并不在意我的族裔。

 译文来源：三泰虎 https://www.santaihu.com/p/51954.html 译者：Joyceliu

Sato Shusaku, 

First of all, Korean people I know have normal sense but, either Korean government or Korean society seems strange. Because:

首先，我认识的韩国人都有着正常的判断力，但是韩国政府或韩国社会有点奇怪。因为：

They have been reversing any kind of agreements/promises between the both countries easily.

他们总是动不动推番两国之间达成的协议/承诺。

Their history is a story. eg. Their (hi)story says Korea fought against Japan in WW2 and won their independence. NO, they fought against US and China as Japanese.

他们的历史被改编成了故事。比如，他们的历史说韩国在二战中对战日本并赢得了独立。不，其实他们对战的是美国，跟日本人对战的是中国。

Japaneses don't look down Korea but, everybody is in amazement and drop jaw.

日本人并没有看不起韩国人，但是每个人对此都很惊讶，不敢置信。

继续阅读：日本   韩国

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