Teaching East Asia: Korea Teaching East Asia: Korea | Page 111

Asia in AP, IB, and Undergraduate Honors Courses
the opportunity for a debate over the nature of Japanese democracy. Is it a foreign imposition,
or did the Shōwa Constitution just give voice to formerly suppressed desires on the part of most
Japanese people?
Then, examine the famous 1954 Japanese film Godzilla, available on Amazon Prime and
Hulu, with discussion of the irradiated monster’s relationship to the Japanese being the only
people to have suffered nuclear war. This opens up an opportunity to review the relationship
between environmental disasters and democracy in Japan. Readings include chapters 7–8
and the conclusion of Timothy George’s Minamata: Pollution and the Struggle for Democracy
in Postwar Japan (Harvard University Asia Center, 2001) for the 1950s, Ken’ichi Miyamoto’s
“Japanese Environmental Policy” 5 for resident movements against pollution in the 1960s and 1970s, and the
interview “Fukushima and the Crisis of Democracy” on the 2011 disaster. 6 Does the formation of environ-
mental movements and their method of operation utilize democratic processes? Can consumer activism be a
form of democracy? Can local democracy be at odds with national democracy and vice versa?
Divide the class into groups for an activity. Display the image of Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath (1971) by
W. Eugene Smith, included in the resource list below. Have the students convey what is going on in the picture
without speaking or writing—they can only communicate through gestures. Explain that Ishimure Michiko
worked as a kataribe, speaking for those without voices, and explain that without help these people would
suffer silently. Have students then reflect on situations nearer to home where those struggling may be silenced,
literally or figuratively, and ask them to think about how they could lend their voices. Conclude with the ques-
tion, “When is it our duty to speak on behalf of others, and when must we refrain?”
Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath by W.
Eugene Smith. Source: Wikipedia at
http://tinyurl.com/hsdxxgj.
The Pacific Century, Part 5, “Reinventing Japan.” Claremont, CA: Pacific Basin Institute, 1992. Originally aired on PBS
in 1992. Available on YouTube at http://tinyurl.com/zq3fs8b.
See Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath (1971) by W. Eugene Smith from the June 2, 1972 issue of Life magazine at
http://tinyurl.com/glsfkoh.
Left: PSY, “Gangnam Style. “
Source: Screen capture from YouTube
video at http://tinyurl.com/zsoyp8l.
Right: North Korean leader Kim
Jong-un with military leaders.
Source: ABC The World Today website at
http://tinyurl.com/zv6wa2q.
Democracy in the Two Koreas: Diverging Paths
A satellite image of North and South Korea at night is a perfect metaphor for the two estranged states (see
resources below), with the South brilliantly lit and a veritable black hole to the North. Similarly, while South
Korean pop sensation PSY’s hit “Gangnam Style” boasts the most-watched YouTube video ever, the austere
Kim Jong-un heads a reclusive and belligerent dynasty in the North. Given that the two Koreas only diverged
in 1945, what accounts for such stark differences today?
Two documentary videos, both available online, provide insight into the recent history of each state. Part 8
of the documentary The Pacific Century, “The Fight for Democracy,” available on YouTube, covers the democ-
racy movement under Kim Dae-jung, from the Kwangju Uprising through the 1987 election, with harrowing
footage of clashes between protestors and the police/military. Students can consider what explains the failure
of earlier attempts to democratize in South Korea (in 1960 and 1980), and what made the difference in 1987.
On the other side of the DMZ, the documentary Welcome to North Korea, available through the link be-
low, provides a haunting and surreal glimpse inside the reclusive regime, with great examples of how the cult
of the Kims is perpetuated. Chapter 9 in Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
offers a firsthand account of the famine in North Korea during the mid-1990s, an unfortunate consequence
of communist policies seen in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s and China in the early 1960s. 7 Having con-
trasted the two Koreas, students can then discuss to what extent democracy explains their differences.
Griffin, Andrew. “North Korea: It’s Not a Problem That Our Country Goes Dark at Night.” The Independent. February
9, 2015. See the image at http://tinyurl.com/h9fdl7r.
“PSY—Gangnam Style m/v.” YouTube video, 4:12. Posted by “officialpsy.” July 15, 2012.
http://tinyurl.com/74qk8s4.
The Pacific Century, Part 8, “The Fight for Democracy.” Claremont, CA: Pacific Basin Institute, 1992. Originally aired on
PBS in 1992. Available on YouTube at http://tinyurl.com/hhtbkfx.
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“Welcome To North Korea.” YouTube video, 53:15. Posted by Michael Satok Wolman. December 28, 2011.
http://tinyurl.com/j2uoy9o.
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