Japanese Author Tells S. Korea Why It Will Always Lag Tokyo

The title aims to inflame: “18 Reasons Why South Korea Will Die Before It Catches Up With Japan.”

More audacious still, the book’s author, Tadashi Momose, is Japanese.

Are South Koreans offended by a book criticizing everything from their penchant for payola to their driving habits, written by a businessman from the country that was Korea’s colonial master until 1945 and is now its fiercest economic rival?

Nope. They’re eating it up.

Within days of its publication in July, “18 Reasons” had become Korea’s nonfiction bestseller. It has sold about 100,000 copies, its publisher says.

“Up until now, Koreans thought we were about five years behind Japan,” said Yoon Chol Ho, president of the publishing company. “But the author said . . . we are about 20 years behind Japan. This was very shocking.”

Still, Yoon decided that South Korea was ripe for outside advice. In the past year, the nation has seen: eight of its top 50 conglomerates declare bankruptcy; a massive corruption scandal that resulted in the convictions of some top tycoons as well as the president’s own son; and its economy in the throes of a painful restructuring.

And who better qualified to comment on these woes than Momose, who has lived in this land for almost three decades, heads the Seoul branch of Tomen Corp., a Japanese trading company, and wrote the book by dictating it in fluent Korean?

“Although his criticisms are sharp, I know he loves Korea, so I take it as friendly advice,” Yoon said.

Japanese readers have a proven track record of literary masochism, snapping up translations of American books considered to be Japan-bashing tracts. But readers at the huge Young Poong Bookstore in downtown Seoul said they do not see “18 Reasons” as Korea-bashing.

“I want to read it,” said Kim Chae Taek, 19, a Sanyong University economics student. “Because of the experience of colonialism, many Japanese seem to think that they can still influence Korea, and Koreans likewise want to know what the Japanese are up to.”

Japan’s prolonged economic slump notwithstanding, Kim said, “we still have a long way to go to catch up with Japan.”

Although Japanese films, television shows and magazines are still banned here--a legacy of South Korea’s attempt to restore its own culture after the occupation--the cultural antipathy toward their powerful eastern neighbor is fading, especially among the young. Japanese fashions set the style in Seoul, social trends seem to migrate westward, and there is a booming black market for Japanese comics.

Momose is not alone in his literary success here. A recent top nonfiction bestseller at Young Poong was a Korean translation of “50 Things You Must Do in Your 20s,” by Japanese author Akihiro Nakatani.

“In my generation, people don’t care if the author is Japanese or German or American or Mongolian,” said Shin Seung Ok, 22. “We still criticize the Japanese government for not having admitted and apologized for their wartime crimes, but our resentment is not directed at individuals.”

Koreans can learn “a lot” from Japan, “especially their diligence and how they achieved economic development,” Shin said.

In an interview, Momose suggested that “18 Reasons” succeeded because he is Japanese.

“If a French author had written it they probably wouldn’t have read it,” he said.

He said Koreans are well aware of their problems but “are not doing what they could do” to fix them.

Asked what lessons Japan could learn from Korea, Momose was silent. “I can’t think of anything,” he said.