The following is from Masayuki Takayama's latest book, Henken Jizai: Corona Taught Us About the Big Bad, published on 1/15/2021.
Like his previous books, this book is also the best in the world and is a must-read not only for the people of Japan but also for the world's people.
Every Japanese citizen should go to the nearest bookstore and buy it right now.
I will make the rest of the world know as much as I can.
p217-p220
Korea's "Endemic Disease" that Cannot Correct
Hiroshi Furuta, a leading authority on Korean studies, says, "Korea has always been ancient.
The ancient times that Japanese people imagine are the Jomon period.
In those days, villages had gutters for water treatment and garbage dumps.
It is the shell mound that Morse found.
The remains of two rows of pillars buried in the riverbank were also found.
It was the remains of a Jomon flush latrine.
However, the "ancient times" that Korea has been dragging on do not have such cleanliness.
Isabella Bird, who visited Seoul before and after the Sino-Japanese War, recorded the "antiquity" that lives on today, saying, "The streets are narrow, covered with filth from the houses, and a terrible stench hangs in the air.
There are no toilets, no roads, no currency, nothing.
'Nothing but Misery for the Future of This Country'
Japan, which was forced into such a country by Theodore Roosevelt of the U.S., invested 300 billion yen every year to build roads, schools, power plants, and sanitation in this ancient land where nothing existed.
As a result, the average life expectancy increased from 24 to 47 years old, and industry took root.
However, since there was nothing to start with, everything did not become brighter all at once.
William Siebold, who would later become MacArthur's right-hand man, stayed in Japan for a long time before the war and visited Korea six times during his stay.
In "Recollections of the Diplomacy of the Japanese Occupation," he mentions his memories, but only six lines. It was "a sad country of oppression, misery, poverty, silence, and gloom."
The last war ended Korea under Japanese rule.
Rather than stay in a country with nothing but unhappiness, many people, like Masayoshi Son's father, smuggled themselves to Japan, which was covered in ruins.
In the 1960s, Walt Rostow, a prominent American economist, wrote a frank report on Korea.
"The divisions and injustices in Korean politics are like an endemic disease that cannot correct."
"Korea's economy is doomed by hundreds of years of pagan disdain for technology and has no hope of industrialization."
He nodded to Isabella Bird's opinion that there is nothing bright about the future.
Rostow's assessment is based on his theory of gradual economic development. Economic growth begins with a traditional society with low productivity, such as ancient Korea, and progresses in stages.
In other words, economic activities become more active and widespread, and GNP per capita increases, leading to a dramatic "take-off.
After that, the political, social, and institutional frameworks that support economic growth will be established, and we will eventually enter the age of mass consumption.
The model for his theory is Japan, which achieved the Meiji Industrial Revolution while changing its "political, social, and institutional framework" from the Edo period to the Meiji Restoration and matured through the Taisho Showa periods to become the economic powerhouse it is today.
He looked at Korea from this perspective.
This country was raised from ancient customary society to an in one go "take off" by Korea under Japanese rule.
However, the political, social, and institutional frameworks that were so important to the country were not achieved by itself after Korea's end under Japanese rule.
Instead, they started a war among themselves, and the industrial facilities built for them were burnt to ashes, reverting to at least Joseon.
Rostow appreciated the Korea of that era.
He revisited Korea 30 years later and was astonished.
Seoul was lined with skyscrapers, Myeong-dong was bustling, and the economy had grown to the seventh-largest in the world.
He admitted that he had been wrong in his prediction and groaned, "Where in the world did these people find such civilized strength?"
No, no, no, there is no such civilization or elemental power in this country.
They just had the skill of threats and deceptions.
South Korea demanded atonement and compensation from Japan for Korea under Japanese rule, took 500 million dollars from Japan, and made Japan for Korea everything from highways to steel mills, dams, and the Seoul subway built.
The "Miracle on the Han River" was all accomplished by the Japanese.
Although Korea seems to be at the peak of its economic development, it is still in the early stages of taking off.
The Moon regime's current turmoil is also the result of "skipping the middle," not changing the political framework.
Rostow was right in his initial assessment. (September 24, 2020)
