Small incident that I felt illustrated Koreans' thoughts against Japanese

I recently had a phone call from a reader who has read a copy of Hiragana Times for the first time. He is a hotel owner and praised the magazine. Furthermore, he invited me to dinner. I have had similar calls from well-known people as well as a call telling me that Hiragana Times had been chosen to receive the grand prize at a magazine contest. There is nothing more encouraging to an editor than receiving these kinds of unexpected calls.

While having a drink with the hotel owner, we had an enjoyable time discussing editorial content. At a break in the conversation, two young women entered the restaurant and sat at a nearby table. Though they looked like Japanese, they were speaking in English. When we asked them where they were from, they replied saying they were Americans from New York. I asked about their ancestry and discovered their families were originally from Korea.

Then I asked them, "Do you know there is a Korean boom in Japan right now?" but they did not know about it. So I explained a little about the boom to them. They nodded and murmured saying, "Finally" ... "Finally."

The word "Finally" has remained in my heart. I felt their thoughts as Koreans were summed up in the word "Finally." Korea and Japan had became good friends - finally.

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