★ How to enjoy your trip to Japan even more
★ A masterpiece that easily explains the history of Japan, a close but 'unknown country'

An easy and fun history book targeting Japanese travelers has been published.
This book is titled, “If you go to Japan, you should know this much history.”
The subtitles are 'A new way to enjoy your trip to Japan' and 'A taste of Japanese history before ramen!'
It feels more like a travel book than a history book.
Upon closer inspection, I found that this book is more of a cultural information book for travelers to Japan than a history book.
It's easy to have a prejudice that history books are generally boring and stiff, but this book breaks that prejudice and is written lightly, as if telling an old story.


It is also interesting that this book is a history of Japan written by a Korean.
The two co-authors who wrote the book are said to be friends.
Among the co-authors, Song Deok-ho is a management consultant who worked as an executive at a leading company and is currently a professor teaching business administration.
I have worked in Japan and still travel frequently to Japan to continue studying Japanese history and culture.
Co-author Lee Woo-kwon is currently working as the head of a public interest corporation after completing his public service career.
Two people with such backgrounds have written a book about Japanese history together.
What is particularly interesting is that it looks at Japan from an objective perspective.
It examines Japan from a thorough observer's perspective, excluding any subjective thoughts that Koreans may have.

Japan is only geographically close to us, but its social structure has developed very differently.
The imperial system is like that, and the military-centered system is like that.
There were classes of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, but 'sa' (士) means warrior, not scholar.
So what makes Japan seem so unique and strange compared to our country?

1.
The coexistence of the emperor and the shogunate system
In Japan, just like in our country, there has always been a king called the 'Emperor'.
But the actual, secular ruler was not the emperor.
It was ruled by the shogun of the shogunate, a warrior regime.
Japan maintained this shogunate system for a long period of about 700 years.
The emperor existed only symbolically.
However, this does not mean that the Emperor was completely ignored.
Because even if they were not actual rulers, they had their own unique role.
Because the shogun derived his authority from the fact that he had received his position from the emperor, the emperor's presence was very important to him as well.

2.
unmanned system
The shogunate was a collection of warriors.
Beginning with the shogun, the leader, all members of the group were warriors.
As a result, Japan maintained a society centered on unmanned vehicles until the modern era.
There was no such thing as a civil service examination system like ours to select officials.
There were social classes called the scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, but the major difference was that the ruling class, the 'sa (士),' were not 'scholars' like in Joseon, but were 'samurai', or 'busa (武士)' in Japan.

3.
Decentralized Japan
Our country maintained a centralized system for over a thousand years, from the Unified Silla period to the Joseon period.
The local government was a system in which officials were dispatched from the central government.
However, although the shogunate ruled the entire country in Japan, each region was ruled by local lords called 'daimyo'.
And the position of daimyo was hereditary.
It was similar to the feudal system in Europe.
For this reason, Japan still retains a strong local decentralization character today.

4.
Division of eras by shogunate, not dynasty
In our country or China, when the dynasty changed, the country name also changed.
Therefore, the division of eras was also based on the country name, such as ‘Goryeo Dynasty’ and ‘Joseon Dynasty.’
However, Japan did not change its national name because the imperial system continued.
For this reason, when dividing eras, Japan, unlike us, uses the names of the regions where the ruling shogunate was based.
--- pp.24-26

When did the national name "Japan" first appear? Officially, it is said to have been established as the national name through the Taiho Code in 701, during the Asuka period.
However, there is also a theory that the name of the country, Japan, was actually given by Baekje.
Why is this story possible?

The name 'Japan' first appeared around the 7th or 8th century when the Ritsuryo system was introduced.
Officially, it is believed that it was first established as a national title by the Yamato government through the Taiho Code in 701.
Before that, there is a record of the 'Emperor of the place where the sun rises' in a document sent by Prince Shotoku to Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty in 607.
Related information can also be found in our country's data. In the Annals of Silla in the Samguk Sagi, there is a record that 'the country of Wa changed its name to Japan.'


According to another theory, the name 'Japan' was not given to the people of the Japanese archipelago by themselves, but was given to them by the people of the Korean Peninsula.
It is claimed that due to this influence, when the Taiho Code was created in 701, it was adopted as the official name of the country.


The word Japan means 'place where the sun rises'.
From the perspective of the Japanese archipelago, the place where the sun rises is the Pacific Ocean, and the only people who can call the Japanese archipelago the place where the sun rises are those who live on the western side of the Japanese archipelago.
Those western people are Baekje, and I think the Baekje people may have called the Japanese islands that.

Regarding the Taiho Ritsuryo, it is necessary to examine its contents more broadly than just the origin of the Japanese national name.
The Taiho Ritsuryo was created by Emperor Monmu during the Asuka period as part of an internal system reorganization effort to strengthen the centralized government system.
The Code of Edicts began work in 700 AD when the Emperor issued a decree, and was enacted in 701 AD.
One thing to note in relation to this movement to establish the law is the fall of Baekje.


Japan had maintained a close relationship with Baekje, but this relationship was broken when Baekje was destroyed following Silla's unification of the Korean Peninsula.
In 663, when Baekje was in crisis, Wa sent a large force to rescue Baekje, but was defeated by the Silla-Tang allied forces and failed to achieve their goal.
With its relationship with Baekje severed, Japan was now faced with the situation of having to stand on its own two feet, and it had to seek change, which was the Taiho Reforms.
It can be assumed that during the Taiho Reforms, the name 'Japan' used by Baekje was used as the national title.
--- pp.66-68

Immediately after the Imjin War, Joseon sent an envoy to push for the repatriation of Joseon prisoners of war.
However, of the estimated 30,000 prisoners, only a few thousand returned.
If you look at the 'Busangrok' written by Lee Gyeong-jik, who went to Japan to repatriate prisoners of war, it says, "There were people who said they would not return because the economic situation in Japan was better than in Joseon."
Jo Eom, who also went to the news agency to bring in sweet potatoes, praised the sophistication of Japanese architecture and showed great interest in the waterwheels used in Japan.
In addition, there are also articles written based on the clothing of Japanese people seen on the street.
By synthesizing various records, the correspondents of the time were able to confirm with their own eyes that Edo was a large city, culturally developed, and economically advanced compared to Joseon.


However, even though so many people have visited Japan, there has been little active discussion about what we can learn from Japan.
In the case of the Qing Dynasty, there were some members of the Northern Learning School who insisted that they should learn from them after visiting, but there were no voices saying that they should learn from Japan.
Our perception remains at the level of the fact that the news agency introduced advanced civilization to Japan and earned their respect.
And then I feel a little bit of superiority.
So what did we gain? The Joseon people, as believers in Neo-Confucianism, didn't place much value on material things, and they may have even tried to ignore Japan's advancements.
Moreover, it would have been difficult to say that the Japanese, who were considered barbarians, had something to learn.


Let's say that our ancestors during the Joseon Dynasty lived with Confucian values.
But we are different now.
Focus on substance.
It would be inappropriate to simply feel superior to the fact that the news agency taught Japan something.
We should be critical of what we failed to learn from Japan at that time.
That's what needs to be taught.
Just because you hate Japan, does that mean you shouldn't learn from it even though there is something to learn from it?

--- pp.153-155