Overcoming the past. The controversial legacy of Japanese colonialism in Taiwan and South Korea.

Abstract

At the turn of the XX century, in an effort to escape Western domination and build up an alternative to the decaying sinocentric order, Japan directed its forces to colonise various territories around her. Among these territories Taiwan and Korea stood out for the substantial role they played in the colonial system. They became very important for the cultivation of rice and sugarcane that sustained Japanese demographic growth and, later, they turned to be essential source of manpower to employ in the war. When Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945 was forced to immediately withdraw from its former colonies, leaving them to a completely new political course. Notwithstanding the common colonial experience Taiwan and Korea, developed completely different feelings and attitudes towards Japan. Pro-Japanese and inclined to cooperation the first, embittered with anti-Japanese feelings and prone to confrontation the second. Reasons of the differences between the two countries are lying both in their past colonial experiences and in internal and external political developments of more recent years. While Taiwan government resurrects a colonial-born good relationship with Japan in order to counterbalance China’s pressures for reunification, South Korean leaders use ancient anti-Japanese feelings to re-approach people with its corrupt politicians. This paper aims to analyse such a different behaviour in many of its facets, starting from the colonial period to arrive to nowadays disputes over textbooks revision and territorial acquisitions. The final result is a clear picture of how different behaviours in international politics often hide a mixed origin made of deep-rooted historical sentiments and more recent political interests.