Koreans are from America, Japanese are from England
by James Na ~ November 30th, 2005. Filed under: Uncategorized. Why Korean soap operas are more compelling than Japanese ones (via Simon World):
For me what stands out the most is the very, very high production values of the popular Korean shows - there simply is no discernable gap between them and those made in Japan, with all being shot in gloriously vivid HDTV detail - as well as the expressiveness of the acting: to indulge a stereotype or two, where the Japanese are said to be the British of East Asia, all reticence and understatement, Koreans might be said to be the regional equivalents of Americans, direct and unafraid to tell you exactly what they feel about anything on their minds, and this comes across in an almost exaggerated fashion in the TV shows being made in both countries.
Read the rest on your own.
November 30th, 2005 at 10:48 am
I’m not sure it would be correct to say that Koreans are, “direct and unafraid to tell you exactly what they feel about anything on their minds.” In fact, Korean language is noted for being relatively vague compared other languages in that it leaves a lot unsaid and as ‘understood.’
Koreans have been called, however, the “Irish of the East,” for both the propensity to drink and fight.
November 30th, 2005 at 1:05 pm
“direct and unafraid to tell you exactly what they feel about anything on their minds, and this comes across in an almost exaggerated fashion”
compaired to Japan, everybody appears like this. Japan is so quiet and unasuming that it won’t speak up in its own defense half of the time, which often leads oher people/countries to think that Japan/Japanese are either ignoring an issue or don’t understand how serious it is.
Many Japanese will avoid saying anything that breaks harmony.
Korean’s are just a bit more straight forward. But given their history, who can blame them, its hard to be quiet and genteal when you are swinging between poverts and subjegation.
November 30th, 2005 at 7:55 pm
Koreans have been called, however, the “Irish of the East,” for both the propensity to drink and fight.
I’ve heard that often. I am also fond of saying that Koreans are like Italians: they live to eat, not eat to live.
So I guess Koreans are really like Italian-Irish-Americans. Then again, I’ve also heard a lot of comparisons to Jews. I guess it’s more like Jewish-Italian-Irish Americans. All right, that settles it, Koreans are the Jewish-Italian-Irish-Americans of the Orient.
I just thought that the piece was on the amusing side. I don’t know how useful these kinds of generalizations are, in the end. I certainly have run into sizable number of quiet, harmony-seeking Koreans and blustery Japanese.
There are so many other factors (levels of education & income, familiarity with the West, just to name a couple) that figure into the whole business at an individual level, I’d be hard pressed to say some of these sweeping generalizations.
If anything, I find that Japanese and Koreans are more similar than they are different.