<WK Contribution> A formidable Korean woman!?

1. on the train

An old man and a young woman in priority seats on the subway.

There are 6 priority seats (3X2) per carriage on Korean subways. When I witnessed it, there was an old man on the left side of the seat across from me, and a young woman in the middle seat. The old man asked her, "Is something wrong?" and "Are you pregnant?"

Still the old man shook her knee lightly. Immediately, she raised her voice and expressed her anger, "Why are you touching a woman's body?" The old man hesitated for a moment and explained, "I thought you didn't hear me, so I shook you."

In South Korea, it is common for superiors to warn young people who misunderstand them, but young people these days are not necessarily submissive to existing morals and to the old man's snobbery. Normally, in such a scene, the old people used the rules of society as a shield to criticize the young people, and the young people would sneak out of their seats with an apologetic look.

The young woman relentlessly accused him of touching a woman's body, drives the old man into a shameless crime, saying that it is rude to ask a woman if she is pregnant. She insisted on her legitimacy that she sometimes sits down because her condition was bad and made him apologize, she went down triumphantly, saying that you were the reason he was offended for the rest of the day. Strangely, the old man dropped his shoulders and got off at the same station.

2. in the bus

holiday morning. The temperature is around 28-29 degrees. A middle-aged woman on the bus asked the driver to turn on the air conditioner, but they did not respond. Another elderly lady joined in and urged them to turn on the air conditioner.

When the cooler was turned on reluctantly, an old man who was also on the bus closed the window and walked away thanking the driver. However, the elderly woman who said to turn on the air conditioner only half closed the window of her seat. The middle-aged woman who first insisted on turning on the air conditioner, told her to close the window.

However, rather than closing the window, the elderly woman looked back at the middle-aged woman who urged her to do so, saying, "When you start turning on the air conditioner, bad air that accumulates in the air conditioner comes out, so it's better for your body to open the window a little.". Of course, there is an awkward atmosphere on the bus. When she got off, the elderly lady closed the window tightly and left the bus.

Could such scenes and interactions be possible in Japan's public transport system?

Even if young people sit in priority seats, they pretend not to see them. Do you stare back at them or walk away? There is no exchange of words...

In Japan, you can see yourself sitting in the priority seat, logically replacing the problem with the other person's immorality, and getting off proudly and triumphantly.

Normally, if you open the window a little and get a cool breeze, you don't have to turn on the air conditioner at all... but as a customer, you push it out!

The two are connected by turning on the air conditioner, but by closing the window, they decide to part ways. The difference between Japan and Japan is that if there is a problem, you can read the atmosphere around you and endure it yourself.

<Addiction>

In my experience, Korean women are generally more egoistic, more compassionate, self-sacrificing, and more jealous than Japanese women. Even in the Joseon Dynasty era, we often see women involved in power struggles on TV series, etc., but Japanese women in the same era were politically divorced regardless of their own intentions and were forced to be widowed as hostages. (Hideyoshi's younger sister, three Asai sisters, etc.).

In terms of language, there is something in Japan that is not in South Korea, "husband Kanpaku." In Korea, men getting married is called 'Jangga/Gangda'. Its meaning is ``going to the bride's house,'' and it is said that in the past, not only the man's house but also the bride's house had the initiative in marriage.

I will carefully examine the strength of Korean women in another section.

Stay tuned!

* Contributed by Gon Yong-dae, representative of the Korea-Japan Temperament Comparison Study Group. Graduated from the Department of History, Seoul University, and completed the Graduate School of Newspapers at the same university. Worked at the Korean Air Training Center. Worked as Asiana Airlines' Japan and China managers. Author of "Do you really know 'Korea'?"