Abstract

The experience of colonial period (1910-45) made Koreans to react ambivalently against Japanese culture. Even after liberation, Korea could not help being under the Japanese cultural influence, however, on the surface, it has refused the influence due to anti-Japanese nationalism. This paradoxical situation came from coloniality that has not yet purged. Especially, even after Korean-Japanese diplomatic relation normalization, Korean nationalism had contained Japanese culture from spreading, and ended up with ‘the culture of covert imitation and secondhand translation.’ The double-faced blockade against Japanese culture has lasted until the 1980’s, and ceased in the 1990’s. The cultural relationship between two nations changed fairly after 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan. ‘The Korean Wave’ in Japan and ‘the Japanese Wave’ in Korea symbolically represent the current situation. These cultural waves constitute a brand-new paradoxical situation which the Korean nationalism is situated from the relationship with Japan. Meanwhile, Some cultural receivers like women, youth, and manias in Korea are escaping from the dominant nationalistic ideology, mind-set or tradition. People who are engrossed in Japanese culture try to avoid suppression of the mainstream society and nationalism as a ruling ideology. Their motives come from individualistic and maniac pleasure, but they cannot succeed fleeing from the nationalism, because nationalism hinders the escapers with its irrationality. Nationalism itself is a kind of maniac enjoyment. Nationalistic group behavior can be mingled into pleasure as seen in ‘Red devils syndrome’ in the 2002 World Cup. The nationalism of both Korea and Japan has interacted from their early development and have to go same way further. So cultural resemblance between the two nations which became more similar after 2000’s will fluctuate by the political ‘reality’ which causes cultural paradox. Again, the correlation between Korea-Japan reminds the fact that politics and culture is so intertwined.