• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.489-500
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• 2018

Since the late 19 century, the Choseon dynasty forcibly opened the door to western countries, including Japan. In addition, cultural propagation called 'modernity' caused subtle changes in dietary life. Based on the theory of colonial dual society, this study examined the dietary modernity in Kyungsung (mid 1930s~early 1940s) when 50 years had passed since the Open-Door policy. Three films, (1934), (1936) and (1941) (those made in 1930s~1940s) were analyzed. Twenty six scenes [14 scenes from , five scenes from , and seven scenes from ] related to the dietary life from films were chosen and classified according three criteria (degree of modernization, main influential countries, and benefit groups from modernization). The degree of modernization of all films was more than 80%. The average proportion of the countries that affected modernization were western (35%), western-Japan (28%) and Japan (20%). Approximately 33, 53 and 14% of the upper, middle, lower classes, respectively, benefited from diet modernization. The main places where modernized dietary culture could be enjoyed were cafes, western restaurants, tea rooms, and hotels. The main food or beverages that were considered as modernized dietary culture were liquor (especially beer), coffee, and western meals. People in Kyungsung in the mid 1930s~early 1940s experienced modernity in dietary life differently according to the social classes and these culture changes were generally accepted as a symbol of modernity.

• CONCEPT AND COMMUNICATION
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• no.23
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• pp.5-37
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• 2019

The March 1st Movement in Korea and the May 4th Movement in China, which both occurred in 1919, have often been thought to reflect each other like two mirrors. This paper is an attempt to reexamine the relationship between these two events in terms of simultaneity, and thus to articulate their world-historical significance. Their distinctive historical character is also understood through the perspective of an interlocking East Asia, by which is meant that although imperial Japan, semi-colonial China, and colonial Korea were all connected to the modern world-system, these three states each occupied different positions within the hierarchy of interstate relations. The differences between the anti-Japanese national movements of colonial Korea and those of semi-colonial China deserve particular attention, since they help to reveal the complexities of (semi-)colonial modernity, and may provide some clues for overcoming modernity. In this context the theory of the Double Project of Modernity is useful, which describes the process of simultaneously adapting to and overcoming modernity. The (re)remembrance of the March 1st Movement and the May 4th Movement is more than a historical issue: it is also an existential issue. The historical significance of these two events should be beyond doubt, and to make this clear it is proposed to rename them respectively as the March 1st Revolution and the May 4th Revolution. This renaming is surely justified by the way that people gathered at these events.

• Architectural research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2017

This research examines the historic preservation of Korean modern architecture by applying Kenneth Frampton(1930-)'s concept of critical regionalism. It explores the representative Korean modern architect Gil-ryong Park (1898-1943) and two of his buildings: the Hwashin Department Store (1935) and the No-soo Park house (1937-1938). The former was in the hot spot on the preservation. There were plans to preserve this building but that it ended up being demolished in 1987. The latter building, however, has been preserved and is currently being used as a museum. These two Korean modern buildings are explored through the frame of Kenneth Frampton's critical regionalism, in particular focusing on three important concepts: "dialectical expression," "place-form," and "sustainability." In this sense, this research will provide pioneering research in understanding the preservation of Korean modern architecture through a representative Western modern theory. In the early $20^{th}$ century, Korean modern architecture, which was built during the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945), could be interpreted as critical regionalism because it represented a dialog between the West and the East, in particular between Western modernism, Japanese modernity, and Korean tradition in the East Asian context. Understanding Korean modernism in this context of a cross-cultural perspective enables scholars to define both the origins and uniqueness of Korean modern architecture.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.23
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• pp.33-55
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• 2011

In the late Japanese colonial period, from the Sino-Japanese War until the Pacific War, critical discourses on the modern were prevalent in Japan and the Joseon. Despite the absence of a consensus about the specific definition of the modern, most thinkers agreed that the modern was something to be overcome. While some regarded naturalism and capitalism of the West as the essence of the modern, some others named scientism and humanism as the nature of the western modernity. Additionally, some criticized the temporal concept of historicism and brought new meanings of 'tradition' into relief, and some others advocated overcoming 'the West inherent in us'. This study is to consider the temporality of the theory of overcoming the modern focusing on the following three notions-world history, tradition, and emergency-, and examines the antinomy of them. The first notion to consider is 'world history'. The theorists of overcoming the modern, including the Kyoto school, discarded the progressive ideology that had led the Western modern history, and instead introduced 'world history' as a new notion. Although this resulted from the imperialistic embracement of the theories of Ranke, a major positivist historian from Germany, it contained antinomy of remaining in 'history' which was the modern temporal view. The second notion is 'tradition'. While the critical mind of 'world history' brought 'time of world' into question in the context of temporal realization, the notion of 'tradition' was to understand 'time of history' itself as the modern and overcome it. The critical mind of the notion involves the attempts to criticize regarding history as a 'progressive' process and to discover tradition as 'the present past' or 'the eternal present'. However, it also contained antinomy; the 'tradition' here was a notion that was created in the modern times, not passed down from ancient times. The third notion to consider is 'emergency', which was a method to define the present time as a transition period toward a new era, relating to states of war. However, the theorists of overcoming the modern did not regard 'emergency' as a particular time that strayed from normal states, instead they thought is as 'a regularized exceptional state', namely 'a state in which exceptions have become regulations'. However, the notion also contained antinomy since the word 'emergency' connotes abnormality.

• CONCEPT AND COMMUNICATION
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• no.24
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• pp.165-191
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• 2019

Since July 2019, South Korea and Japan have been engaged in a cultural and economic conflict which originated in the differing stances of the two governments on the issues of sexual slavery and forced mobilization of Korean laborers before and during World War II. This ongoing dispute is a reminder that the fact of colonialism and the question of how it should be interpreted have not gone away: these are still present tense issues. The book's subtitle The Origin of the Korean Elite, What Did They Do When They Came back to Korea? makes clear that the elite class which held power and influence in the newly born Republic of Korea were actually educated in Japan, at the Japanese Imperial University. This book examines evidence which sheds light on the motives of Korean students attending the Imperial University, describing their academic studies and their lives after the liberation. By revealing this enduring substratum of "Japanese origins" at the heart of the South Korean establishment, a current which is not generally realized by Koreans today, the book allows us to re-examine our origins and thus to better understand our present-day identity and situation. It also addresses the question of how to confront these difficult questions, proposing a "historicization of what happened during the colonial period," which is not about hiding or minimizing the importance of our origins, but about facing up to reality as it actually happened.