By Hyun Suk Chang

Exchange Student form Ball State Univ. USA

My name is Hyun Suk Chang, and I started to study in America after I finished my military service in South Korea. I am an exchange student from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. There I am majoring in Telecommunications and Japanese. I have been going to Sapporo University for six months. After studying Japanese culture and language, I became interested in the similarities between the two countries

Have you ever been to or experienced the cultures of both Korea and Japan? They are both located in the Far East on the Pacific Ocean. They have four seasons exactly like other countries in Asia. A long time ago during World War II, Japan invaded Korea and my ancestors were hurt by the Japanese. However, nowadays we communicate with each other to improve relations and to trade in technology. We have a lot of similarities, such as our food culture, Confucianism and language.

First, our food culture is similar in that we sue chopsticks, and eat rice and soup. Rice is the most important food in Korea and Japan. Maybe Korea and Japan do not have any meals without rice. It is our staple food. Korean lunch mainly consists of rice, soup and side dishes. And also, when they have breakfast, lunch and dinner, they use chopsticks to pick up the rice and side dishes. In my case, I learned how to use chopsticks when I was 4 years old. Probably Japanese also learned like this.

While we are eating, we usually use chopsticks. And we eat quietly. I do not know why we use chopsticks and eat quietly. I think it is part of our traditional food culture. We have a similar lunch time when the students and businessmen eat at their school or company. Some schools and companies order box lunches. This is also a common traditional food culture in Korea and Japan. When I was a high school student, sometimes I ate a box lunch at lunchtime. A type of noodle called 'Soba' in Japanese and 'Momil' in Korean, are both the same thing. It is interesting that they are the same noodles have but different names.

Second, since a long time ago, we Japanese and Koreans share the same basic social structure of Confucianism. Some people do not know about Confucianism. One part consists of strict rules between old people and younger people. For instance, in Korea and Japan we have a short nod and a bow. Those are respectful courtesies when greeting somebody. I think that Korea is the most Confucian nation in Asia even though it originated in China.

Confucianism has many kinds of rules between father and son, old and young and among friends. These relationships are important in Korea and Japan. Also, Confucianism is concerned with food courtesy. In the case of Korea, while people eat dinner together, young people should not start to eat dinner before old people start eating. It is not mandatory, but it is a courtesy. Not only do people eat together, but they also drink beer together. When I was in school in Korea, I went to the bar with my seniors. At that time, I had no idea about the eating and drinking courtesies. When I started to eat the side dishes, my senior got mad at me. I was so upset, but I learned something about eating customs.

Third, we have similarities in our languages, especially in our grammar structure. In Korea, we have 14 consonants and 21 vowels. However, in Japan, there are three different writing systems. Nevertheless, if Koreans want to learn the Japanese language, it is easy to learn because we have a similar grammar.

For example, in the case of English, when I write 'I am a boy' it translates grammatically in both Korean and Japanese as 'I a boy am.' For these reasons, Koreans can learn Japanese easily and Japanese can learn Korean easily. A long time ago, when Korea was occupied by Japan, we used the Japanese language to communicate. That is why many older Koreans can still speak Japanese.

We also use the same Chinese charactersﾑKanji (Japanese), Hanmun (Korean)ﾑwhich originate from the Chinese language. When I was young, I learned Hangeul and at the same time I started learning Hanmun. It was difficult for me to learn hanmun. Our pronunciations are different but we can use the same characters in the sentences.

We have food, language and Confucianism in common between Korea and Japan. However, some Korean people do not like Japan because Korea was invaded and colonized by Japan a long time ago. However, we have to change our thinking. We should help each other to improve the development of our countries. Gradually we can change and establish a good relationship with each other.