In a 1928 news editorial, a colonial government official describes getting into an argument with students and professors opposed to Japan’s colonial policies in Korea during a lecture at Kyoto University
February 18, 1928 Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo)
Students of Japan proper who are ignorant about the situation in Korea
Mr. Mitsui the engineer recounts discussing the Korean problem at Kyoto University
Mr. Mitsui, an engineer with the Colonial Production Bureau of the Government General of Korea, traveled on business to Kyoto to give a lecture at Kyoto University on the history of agricultural policies in Korea. After he returned to his post in Korea on the 17th, he recounted the following regarding the ignorance of academics and researchers in Japan proper about the situation in Korea.
“The attendees who came to listen to my lecture were mostly students and professors from the economics department, and I spent over thirty minutes talking about the history of the agricultural policies of the Government General of Korea. Apparently, the people in Japan proper seem to be ignorant about the situation in Korea. With their ignorant minds, university professors discuss the rural problems of Korea in their writings. Then the students apparently read these writings, and something that is far separated from the actual reality of Korea is imprinted onto their minds. Topics such as the purpose of rice production and rice breeding plans, issues related to Japanese settlers migrating into Korea, and issues related to Koreans migrating into Manchuria are all very erroneously represented. The audience argued that it was unnatural for Koreans to eat chestnuts from Manchuria, and then ship off the rice that they themselves produced to Japan proper. As a counterattack, I asked if it was really unnatural to export silk thread produced in Japan proper to the United States, and for the Japanese to wear cotton cloth from India, and I asked whether or not this was really sacrificing the Japanese for American flappers. I argued that Koreans were not sacrificing themselves in favor of the Japanese people by shipping off Korean rice to Japan proper and eating chestnuts from Manchuria, but that this arrangement was for making life convenient for the Koreans themselves. The issues related to migration are talked about as if the migration of Japanese settlers were actually oppressing the Korean peasants, but it is actually more the case that, generally, the migration of Japanese settlers into Korea has enriched the Korean peasants. Because these things are not widely known, I talked about the history of agricultural policies in Korea and the reality of the rural communities in Korea, and the audience listened to my lecture very attentively.”
(my transcription into modern Japanese orthography, with punctuation marks added for clarity)
昭和三年二月十八日 京城日報
朝鮮の事情に疎い内地の学徒
京大で朝鮮問題を論じた
三井技師語る
殖産局三井技師は京都大学で朝鮮の農政沿革史講演のため京都へ出張中であったが十七日帰任、内地の学究が朝鮮の事情を知らぬ事につき左の如く語る。
「私の講演を聴きに来たものは経済科の生徒と教授達が主で私は三十余分間朝鮮総督府の農政の沿革を話した。内地にいる人はどうも朝鮮の事情に疎い様である。大学教授なども、其のうとい頭で朝鮮の農村問題を論じ、学生もそれを読んで朝鮮の真相に遠いものが頭にコビリ付いている様である。産米増殖の計画の趣旨、内地人の朝鮮移民問題、朝鮮人の満州移民など非常に誤り伝えられている。朝鮮人が満州栗を食って自分の作った米を内地に移出するのが不自然だなどという議論をやるから、私はそれでは内地で産する繭糸を米国に輸出し内地人は印度あたりの綿布をまとっているのは不自然で米国のモガの犠牲になるためかと逆襲してやった。朝鮮人が朝鮮米を内地に移出して満州栗を食う事は何も内地人の犠牲になってやっているのではなく、鮮人自身の生活の方便からである。移民問題にした所が内地移民が朝鮮農民を圧迫するが如く伝えているが、大体内地移民のために朝鮮農民がうるおった事の方が大きい。そんな事はよく知られていぬから私は朝鮮農政の沿革を語り農村の真相を語ったが、非常に傾聴されていた。」
