All mankind expresses himself (or herself) through language, furthermore, creates and delivers culture through language. Language is a means to express and understand thoughts and emotion through sound or letters. In order to learn language, culture s...
All mankind expresses himself (or herself) through language, furthermore, creates and delivers culture through language. Language is a means to express and understand thoughts and emotion through sound or letters. In order to learn language, culture surrounding the language should be acquired first. Keeping this in mind, a survey on Japanese popular culture and Japan itself was distributed to Korean teenagers. About Japan and Japanese people, 43.5% of them responded that "considering the national traits of Japanese, we must be cautious, however, we do consider them partners in this international era." There seemed less animosity toward Japanese people among teenagers than the older generation. About Japanese popular culture, 28.1% responded that Japanese popular culture was more decadent and hedonistic than Korean popular culture. 21.8% answered that Japanese popular culture was interesting. About opening up to Japanese popular culture, 81.6% of respondents agreed that Koreans should selectively introduce Japanese culture into Korea. There were also some negative responses such as "Japanese popular culture was just interesting, but not beneficial,"(44.5%) and "it is too decadent and hedonistic"(31.6%). About 36% of respondents had an experience of watching Japanese animation imported to Korea for one to five times, and most of the animations were violent. When the impression of the animations they watched was asked, 68% stated that they were interesting. Impression of Japanese magazines, popular songs, animation original sound tracks was that 'they just enjoyed them without thinking of anything(44.8%)', and 'they were satisfied because they were interesting regardless of their contents(31.6%).'
The survey also asked if the respondents had an experience of learning about Japanese culture either at home or at school. 28.2% responded that they did not have a chance to learn about it. 15% said that they did have a chance to learn about Japanese culture, and it drew positive aspect of Japan. It seems that schools do not offer any lesson on Japanese popular culture, and neither do parents. The survey also questioned if respondents were taught about Japanese culture. 59.2% of them responded that they never had any instruction on Japanese popular culture, and 28.3% answered they did have some instruction with negative viewpoints. Unlike schools consider Japanese culture positive, families do not take Japanese culture favorable.
According to a study on Koreans watching Japanese satellite telecommunication by Department of Journalism of Korea University, 89 respondents out of 209 said they had watched Japanese TV programs, and 32.6% of them were watching for 2 - 4 hours per week. 5.6% of them were watching over 6 hours per week. The most favorite programs were music and show entertaining programs because these programs did not require Japanese language ability. Reasons of watching Japanese TV programs were 1) good producing techniques; 2) variety of programs; 3) internationally attractive contents; 4) whole day running time. In other words, it was concluded that Japanese TV programs attract Koreans with variety of programs and excellent producing skills.
The survey also asked how Japanese TV programs influenced the viewers. Most of the viewers watched Japanese programs to see fashion and hair styles, to listen to popular music, to learn Japanese language and to learn popular dance moves. There were some respondents who earned information on Japanese products for business reason. Some viewers were watching Japanese programs simply out of curiosity. More they were open to Japanese broadcasting, better they evaluated it in terms of its usefulness. Those who frequently watch Japanese TV programs seem to be more active and affirmative in exchanges with Japan.
In conclusion, it seems that there is increase in worries and concerns about Japanese culture affecting Korean youngsters as Korea takes in Japanese culture. However, opening to Japanese culture may contribute to understanding and evaluating Japan better. Also, it may motivate students to study Japanese and Japan.