Japan-South Korea ties / Food, once divisive, now brings neighbors closer

The Yomiuri Shimbun

This is the third installment in a series on Japan-South Korean relations marking the centennial of the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty of 1910.

Food was once a symbol of division between Japan and South Korea; today, it is one of the things bringing them together.

When second-generation ethnic Korean resident Chong Dae Sung, 77, was a primary school student in Kyoto before World War II, he didn't put kimchi in his bento lunch box because of its distinct smell. Instead, there were katsuobushi dried bonito flakes on his rice, but he felt deeply inferior when an older Japanese boy told him one day: "You Korean, you reek of garlic."

It was simple racial prejudice, but kimchi--at the time called chosen-zuke, or Korean pickles, by Japanese people--came to symbolize Chong's feelings of inferiority.

Years later, however, when he studied zymology at graduate school, Chong learned that kimchi is a fermented food abundant in lactic bacteria and vitamins. "I felt as if the scales had fallen from my eyes," Chong said. He finally realized kimchi was not a shameful food, but part of a Korean food culture he should be proud of.

Today a professor emeritus at the University of Shiga Prefecture, Chong has written and edited 42 books about the origins and appeal of kimchi and Korean barbecue.

Today, kimchi is a major part of the Japanese diet. According to the Food Marketing Research and Information Center, it has been the most consumed pickle in the country since 1999, leaving Japanese asazuke pickles far behind.

"We finally live in an era when both Japan and South Korea can speak about food without any ill feelings," Chong said.

South Korean food is gaining popularity in other countries as well.

Cho In Hyon, 55, represents South Korean food manufacturer Nong Shim in China and is also chief executive officer of Shanghai Nong Shim Foods Co. He expressed confidence that South Korean food products would spread around the world.

"We've sold a variety of products in Japan, the Middle East and the United States. But the products that beat the competition were the Korean-flavored ones: Shin ramen and kimchi ramen," Cho said.

In the Japanese market, the company didn't do well in sales of miso- and soy sauce-flavored ramen, according to Cho. Cho says the company therefore is confident it can tackle the global market with its spicy Korean flavors.

In South Korea, meanwhile, there is an unprecedented boom for "genuine" Japanese cuisine.

With the wealth of South Koreans gradually increasing, real Japanese restaurants--not Japanese-style adapted to Korean tastes--are proving to be extremely popular. Fans of Japanese food are flocking not only to Japanese restaurants in South Korea but also to Japan to eat. Such South Koreans do not seem to have any ill feelings toward Japan.

According to a survey by the Japan National Tourism Organization, South Korean tourists to Japan last year chose food as the thing they were most looking forward to, not onsen hot springs or shopping. Sushi, ramen and udon noodles reportedly are the three most popular foods among South Korean tourists.

Nakamura Academy, a cooking school for Japanese cuisine in Seoul, held a class on kaiseki set meals taught by the proprietor and chef of Kikunoi Honten, a Kyoto ryotei restaurant with three Michelin stars. The school was opened last year by a cooking school headquartered in Fukuoka.

When the chef decorated raw fish with a lotus flower, a sigh of admiration came from students aspiring to become cooks of Japanese food, with one saying, "It's artwork."

"Delicious food will spread only through human interaction," said academy President Tetsu Nakamura at the Fukuoka headquarters. "In the past, Japan and South Korea did nothing but feud with each other."