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'Ugly Korean Women' in Eyes of Japanese Writer
Poster: ****** Date: 30-May-2006
"Ugly Korean Women" in Eyes of Japanese Writer
January 9, 2000
By Chung Jin-young
Korea Times staff reporter


"What do you think of Korean people?'' is a question frequently thrown at foreigners here. In the face of inquisitive locals, most of those asked choose to give positive answers and not hurt the feelings of the other side.

Yet, when Japanese essay writer Doda Ikuko asked some 200 foreign residents in Korea including 170 Japanese about their views on Korean women, she, a foreigner herself, was able to collect more or less honest opinions. And most responses were not exactly what Koreans would love to hear.

The survey results became the basis of her new book, Korean Women Seen Through the Eyes of a Japanese Woman, published last December. Adding to the opinions of those surveyed, Ikuko unfolds her own observations and views based on years of study on Korean history and on her experiences from her marriage to a local photographer.

Local women readers who pick up the book had better brace themselves for the harsh criticisms directed toward them. In the eyes of the surveyed foreigners, Korean women are ``slim'' and ``good-looking'' but wear ``too much make-up'' which makes them ``look more or less the same.'' They also notice that too many young women opt for plastic surgery to get features such as double eye-lids or a higher nose at the risk of looking ``unnatural'' and even "lifeless.''

As to their characteristics, they perceive Korean women as "aggressive,'' "too dependent on children and their friends,'' and "conformist.'' Particularly the younger generation is viewed as very competitive in their fashion and diet, but not in intellectual development or social participation.

"The negative points I made in the book do not apply to all Korean women. But there are tendencies that stand out, even to outsider's eyes, and that was what I tried to get at," said Ikuko, a soft-spoken 39-year old.

Over the past decade, she has authored several publications on Korean society, in both Korean and Japanese. This new book is her second written in Korean, following her last bestseller in Korea, Two Countries Under a Blanket, which recounts her personal experiences during her intercultural marriage.

"There have been many books on Japanese people and culture written by Koreans but relatively few books where it is the other way around,'' she said when asked what motivated her to write on the subject of her new book.

At the initial stage of publication, she expected a barrage of protests and complaints from Korean readers. "I imagined that the whole neighborhood would rush to my house and ask my family to leave town.''

Her apprehension has not materialized, at least so far. A month after the book's release, she hasn't received one call from a fuming reader, while her book has been placed on the top-ten bestseller list for non-fiction in major bookstores. Instead of receiving protests, she has been asked for an interview from a women's magazine and has also been invited on a television talk show in coming weeks.

Part of the reason that her book is relatively well-received among locals is that Koreans, both men and women, are sympathetic to many of the criticisms in the book, according to her publisher. After all, the women's thick make-up and rough mannered ajjuma - both a referring and addressing term for a married woman - in many public places has raised more than just a few eyebrows, even among locals.

Ajjumas can be a particularly scary breed to foreigners. Ikuko describes typical ajjumas as those who wear the uniform short and curly permed hair, unmatching clothes and have little sense of public decorum. They dash to an empty seat on crowded buses, violently shoving away others as if she were a rugby player, and feels no reservation about yelling or shouting in public places.

However Ikuko also notices some positive sides of these ajjumas; they are deeply committed to their families and friends and they tend to be warm to strangers, particularly elders.

Like most books on Japanese society which Ikuko deplores for their lopsided view, her own is not free from misperception. Often the book reveals a limited understanding on the social and historical context of Korea.

For instance she observed that young Korean women have slimmer bodies than their Japanese counterparts but that middle-aged women are fatter than those in Japan. She conjectures that the reason the women lose shape after marriage is because they often spend more time lying down rest ng at home during the day whereas Japanese housewives rarely do that except for sleeping at night.

Perhaps Ikuko's logic is rather short-sighted. Slim girls on the streets are a relatively recent phenomenon due to fad diets and secondly, there is no evidence that plump housewives here are a product of genetics, eating habits or laziness as the author implies.

Despite some of these lapses in logic and her naiveté, the book is a good read. Not only does it offer some insights into Korean society and its people, but the book also illustrates the reasons why so many foreigners in Korea are often get lost in their efforts to get along with locals.
  List Messages

Replies:
SeoulJoe (1-Jun-2006)- Korean women ,,
I totally agree with the author ,, in fact my criticism on Korean womenhood is much harsher,, but then I find different faults also with Japanese women ,, American ,, French,, German ,, Russian ,,
As far as reading goes , Korean men and women comes in the bottom of all OECD (proven fact) ,,,, they simply do not read ,, just eat,,watch tv,, worry about their flat noses ,, clothes ,, etc ,,
****** (28-Jun-2006)- japanese
criticizing koreans is nothing new.... they have been at odds for most of their long history. It's interesting that most people are quick to judge but slow to understand. Korean culture has HAD to be more ... than it's surrounding cultures simply because it is surrounded. By more powerful, larger cultures.

It's great that Korea has developed it's own culture and has risen so high in the Asian hierarchy despite it's history.
****** (13-Mar-2012)- Bad people
Wow...what arrogant and wrong comments. These guys undervalue Korea and Koreans like crazy. That OECD comment is just a plain lie, and houziboy is just plain confused about everything he talks about. That's pseudo-analysis if I ever saw it.



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