Monster Island (actually a peninsula)*

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun... Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans," Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Norimitsu Onishi on the Dear Leader's trip to China

Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times reporter and suspected (by his critics) stealth Japan-bashing zainichi, has an article on North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's recent tour of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Onishi likened the trip to Chinese leader and retired Ninja turtle Deng Xiaoping's 1992 "southern tour," after which he "gave his nation...the nod for a full-throttled drive toward capitalism." The article provides a reasonable overview of past attempts by Pyongyang to reform. For "Where's Waldo?" type fun, try to find the hidden anti-Japanese message skillfully hidden in his words (I'm being sarcastic).

2 comments:

kushiboFriday, February 03, 2006 12:16:00 PM
The see a vast right wing conspiracy in Japan centered around Koizumi

That's not what I've been saying (and it's not what others I know have been expressing). The problem is not a Koizumi-centered right-wing, but a PM Koizumi pandering to the right wing.
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SimonWednesday, June 13, 2012 11:39:00 AM
This is a six year old reply - but Norimitsu ONISHI is not "Japanese-Canadian" if you apply the standard definition .. that is, a Canadian citizen of Japanese (ethnic/racial) descent.

ONISHI was born in Ichikawa Chiba Prefecture - which is just across the river from the shitamachi of East Tokyo - as an ethnic North Korean who later naturalized as a Japanese citizen. So, assuming he has a Canadian passport, that would make him a "Korean-Canadian" or a "Korean-Japanese-Canadian" depending on your tolerance for hyphenated identities.
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That got me thinking that, hey, I have a master’s degree in Korean studies and a minor in Japanese studies, I’ve lived in Seoul far longer than most foreans my age (whether they're kyopo or non-kyopo), I teach introductory courses on Korea and its cultural trappings and history, so why not offer a free service where I attempt to answer people’s questions, point them in the direction of where they can get them answered, and/or offer my regulars (that’s you!) a chance to take a stab at some of this stuff, too.

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九十五大怪獣란? 쿠시보의 몬스터 아일랜드란?

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun...
Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans" ("foreigners" in Korea be they kyopo or non-kyopo), Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County, and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

* Monster Island (actually a peninsula)

The name of this blog comes from a line in "Lisa on Ice," a beloved episode of The Simpsons, perhaps my all-time favorite television show (even though for several seasons there, it really did suck). Lisa is imagining being sworn in as president, but at the last minute, it is discovered that she failed P.E. (physical education) and she is thus "sentenced to a lifetime of horror" on Monster Island. "Don't worry," the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court confides in her, "It's just a name."

Fast forward to Lisa and other prisoners running in panic through a tropical jungle, chased by Godzilla-like creatures, including a monster turtle and a monster firefly.

"He said it was just a name!" Lisa screams to the man next to her. While he, too, runs for his life, the unidentified man calmly says, "What he meant is that Monster Island is actually a peninsula."

Anyway, I thought in some ways that punchline summed up modern-day Korea in a nutshell. For many people—foreigners and Koreans—the ups and downs and everyday travails of the Republic of Korea make it as precarious as a Monster Island would be (and with the DMZ being the only land border, it really is like an island). But it actually is a peninsula. Okay, it made sense in my head.

So as you can see, despite the hits I get from people looking for Japanese tentacle porn, it has nothing to do with anything salacious as that.