Day 3
We went to Ryu-to-zan park (龍頭山公園) and saw the Busan tower and had a lecture about the site of Wakan(草梁倭館跡地). This is where Japanese used to live for trading back in the 15th century and there were about 60 buildings that is said to had been made in a Japanese-and-Korean-like architecture.
The Korean government is working on a project to restore all the wakans(倭館), so that it could represent the friendly relationship between South Korea and Japan.
For lunch we had Deji Cuppa(デジクッパ), a pork soup with rice. Of course it was delicious! The place we ate was in a market, and we could feel the local, lively atmosphere.
We met Kunita san, the president of "fuyo kai", a group of Japanese women who lived in Korea around the time of WW2. Those women experienced discrimination and had a very hard time living as Japanese in Korea back then, and because of that, Kunita-san made this community to provide a place for those Japanese wives to gather up and overcome those hardships. Kunita san is now 104years old(!), but she was standing with her own legs and looked so healthy and energetic! I myself saw my Japanese mother living in a foreign country, and that made me feel more close to these Japanese wives. I thought that war could harm people directly both in physical and mental ways, but it could also create a structure of discrimination or hate among the community like what happened to these Japanese wives.
We also met Lee soo Hyun(李秀賢) san's parents, and recieved a message that encouraged all of us.
This day got much more exciting when we went to the Consulate-general of Japan in Busan(在釜山日本領事館) and met the consul. It was such a rare oppertunity to listen to an opinion from a person from the government, and I was lucky enough to ask him a question and got more perspectives that I had barely touched before.
And finally at the end of the day, university students in South Korea,
#CoolJapanReporters had been waiting for us in a hall, and we had a nice chat and quite deep discussion, too. I've heard that other groups ended with chatting, but our group were able to step into a more serious topic, for instance about the politics and the 'comfort women' issue.
How serious our conversation would be, the Korean students were always very nice and welcoming to us! And us Japanese students also enjoyed getting to know them!
Our group went to eat 삼겹살 (samgyeopsalサムギョプサル) and 돼지갈비(pork ribs) with one of the Korean students we met! He spoke very good Japanese and his attitude towards studying gave me a huge inspiration and made me want to study even more!
All of the people we meet in South Korea are such nice people. The more I stay here, the more I want to know this country even more!
#日本大学生訪韓団 #jenesys2017 #釜山 #Busan
We went to Ryu-to-zan park (龍頭山公園) and saw the Busan tower and had a lecture about the site of Wakan(草梁倭館跡地). This is where Japanese used to live for trading back in the 15th century and there were about 60 buildings that is said to had been made in a Japanese-and-Korean-like architecture.
The Korean government is working on a project to restore all the wakans(倭館), so that it could represent the friendly relationship between South Korea and Japan.
For lunch we had Deji Cuppa(デジクッパ), a pork soup with rice. Of course it was delicious! The place we ate was in a market, and we could feel the local, lively atmosphere.
We met Kunita san, the president of "fuyo kai", a group of Japanese women who lived in Korea around the time of WW2. Those women experienced discrimination and had a very hard time living as Japanese in Korea back then, and because of that, Kunita-san made this community to provide a place for those Japanese wives to gather up and overcome those hardships. Kunita san is now 104years old(!), but she was standing with her own legs and looked so healthy and energetic! I myself saw my Japanese mother living in a foreign country, and that made me feel more close to these Japanese wives. I thought that war could harm people directly both in physical and mental ways, but it could also create a structure of discrimination or hate among the community like what happened to these Japanese wives.
We also met Lee soo Hyun(李秀賢) san's parents, and recieved a message that encouraged all of us.
This day got much more exciting when we went to the Consulate-general of Japan in Busan(在釜山日本領事館) and met the consul. It was such a rare oppertunity to listen to an opinion from a person from the government, and I was lucky enough to ask him a question and got more perspectives that I had barely touched before.
And finally at the end of the day, university students in South Korea,
#CoolJapanReporters had been waiting for us in a hall, and we had a nice chat and quite deep discussion, too. I've heard that other groups ended with chatting, but our group were able to step into a more serious topic, for instance about the politics and the 'comfort women' issue.
How serious our conversation would be, the Korean students were always very nice and welcoming to us! And us Japanese students also enjoyed getting to know them!
Our group went to eat 삼겹살 (samgyeopsalサムギョプサル) and 돼지갈비(pork ribs) with one of the Korean students we met! He spoke very good Japanese and his attitude towards studying gave me a huge inspiration and made me want to study even more!
All of the people we meet in South Korea are such nice people. The more I stay here, the more I want to know this country even more!
#日本大学生訪韓団 #jenesys2017 #釜山 #Busan