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cali

(114,904 posts)
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 11:39 AM Apr 2013

Here’s the Japanese rock song so offensive it took North Korea’s focus off U.S.

From 1910 through its defeat at the end of World War II, Japan forced tens of thousands of Korean women into sexual slavery as “comfort women.” Korea was a Japanese colony at the time; since then, this abuse has come to symbolize the worst of Japanese practices in Korea. But it’s also become a touchy subject in Japan itself, an abuse so profound that nationalists sometimes refuse to acknowledge it happened. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has hinted he might “revise” the country’s formal apology – or, in very extreme cases, even boast about its past.

A far-right and otherwise obscure Japanese rock band called Scramble, seizing on renewed political attention to the issue, has released a song about comfort women, called “Slashing Koreans.” I haven’t been able to get a full translation of the lyrics yet, but an Agence France-Presse story says the song alleges that the women were all prostitues, an allegation often made by far-right Japanese. The song also urges violence against the elderly survivors of Japan’s wartime sex slavery.

The song is so offensive that North Korea’s official media outlet, the Korean Central News Agency, dedicated its “daily commentary” to it. The daily KCNA editorial is typically a screed against “American imperialists” or their South Korean “lackeys.” For the last two weeks, it’s been wholly consumed with escalating tensions against the United States, so the fact that they set aside an entire daily commentary to call out Scramble for its song suggests that they might really, sincerely be incensed by it.

The song likely came to North Korea’s attention after some South Korean survivors of the sexual slavery system, women now in their 80s and 90s, filed a defamation suit against the band. It seems that the women learned of the song when someone mailed a CD of it, along with the lyrics helpfully translated into Korean, to a shelter for comfort women survivors in South Korea. It’s not clear who sent the CD, but it’s worth noting that Scramble took care to include a Korean-language translation of the song’s name when they posted it to YouTube, suggesting that they like the idea of rubbing the song in Koreans’ faces. Perhaps one of the band’s few fans wanted to help in that mission.

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/04/04/the-japanese-rock-song-so-offensive-it-took-north-koreas-focus-off-u-s/

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Here’s the Japanese rock song so offensive it took North Korea’s focus off U.S. (Original Post) cali Apr 2013 OP
Sounds quite similar when individuals NOT affiliated with the government what to create friction and still_one Apr 2013 #1
Not sure why, but I was surprised they have a female singer. Paul E Ester Apr 2013 #2
Reminds me of how the "Gangnam Style" rapper was accused of being on a "Kill the F-ing Yankees" song alp227 Apr 2013 #3
Seems like any mistranslation still wasn't far off. redqueen Apr 2013 #5
The song AsahinaKimi Apr 2013 #4

still_one

(91,965 posts)
1. Sounds quite similar when individuals NOT affiliated with the government what to create friction and
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 11:51 AM
Apr 2013

antagonism, something like when the Benghazi incident tried to blame it on a video, or issues I believe in Denmark when a cartoonist depicted Mohammad in an insulting manner.

Of course in this particular case, it insults the people that actually went through the terrible ordeal. It would be similar to a group mocking the holocaust, the battle of Stalingrad, or slavery in this country, all of which actually have occurred

The question that comes to being is should their be censorship of it?

 

Paul E Ester

(952 posts)
2. Not sure why, but I was surprised they have a female singer.
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 01:01 PM
Apr 2013

Amazing the power of a three cord song and lame video to provoke and cause trouble.

Like the recent mohammed video that caused rioting everywhere and peoples deaths, Art can be a powerful political tool.

Looking at Scrambles YT feed, it's like a battle of the bands. Their song seems to be a response to a Korean song called "Dokdo is Korean Island!". Seems there were a bunch of flash mobs where Koreans got together to sing this nationalist ditty about some disputed islands in the sea of Japan. The catchy lyrics for the Korean song are on the right.

alp227

(31,962 posts)
3. Reminds me of how the "Gangnam Style" rapper was accused of being on a "Kill the F-ing Yankees" song
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 01:30 PM
Apr 2013

But the "kill the f-ing Yankees" part was probably a mis-translation.

redqueen

(115,096 posts)
5. Seems like any mistranslation still wasn't far off.
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 02:01 PM
Apr 2013

He apologized, either way, so that settled that.

AsahinaKimi

(20,776 posts)
4. The song
Thu Apr 4, 2013, 01:40 PM
Apr 2013


I haven't found a link to the lyrics, but the song and singing is not bad.

Edited to note, I can like some riffs by Ted Nugent (or even a song like Cat Scratch fever) and still hate the idiot for his stupid
political stances.
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