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He also gave money to certain Japanese authorities to help them build roads and buildings. Sometimes he used his wealth to pay off important Japanese occupiers of Korea so they would not seize him and take him to Japan. He worried that if he ever was taken as a slave or as any kind of worker to help the Japanese in Japan, that he would never come back. It hurt him deep inside to turn his back on his own ethnic Korean people. Many nights he cried because he felt like he was a traitor to his own people in Korea. But he was coy enough and shrewd enough to realize that if he did not renounce his real ethnicity, he could be taken away or treated very badly in Korea, and that would not help his family or his country either.
When World War II ended and the Americans liberated Korea, things for my Grandfather Cho were better for a time, but then the next war came along and the communists from North Korea and China tried to take over the whole country. The Japanese at the end of WWII had raided Korea of much of its resources and that left many Korean people without cattle to raise for food, and without rice and other provisions. Things were bad, but my Grandfather was a resourceful man and he survived. He went along with the communists rather than fight them. People who did not cooperate with the communists were killed, or...
In fact Grandfather Cho let the communists take over his land, so he would be cooperating with them and would not be harmed. He did not want his wife to be hurt or to be raped or harmed in any way so he was smart enough to pretend to agree with the communist philosophy in order to survive and to help his family survive.
Imagine having to pretend to be something you are not. Imagine actually changing your name from Korean to Japanese, a culture you despise, just to avoid being killed. Think about how difficult it was for Grandfather pretending to be a Japanese person to avoid being killed or put into slavery, and then later explaining to Koreans (when the Japanese are gone) that you were just doing it as a ruse, as a way to disguise your real feelings. You love Korea and hate the occupation by Japanese, who were so cruel and bloodthirsty, but you pretended first to be Japanese, then later pretended to go along with communism, all just to survive. This takes a toll on a person's heart, and my Grandfather was hurt very deeply to have to lie and hide his real feelings. He is a capitalist through and through but there he was going along with ruthless communists just so he and his wife could stay together and wait for the end of the wars and for a better world for his family.
Shinto-Buddhism in Japan Japan's main religious tradition is a combination of the conventional Shinto beliefs integrated with the imported Buddhist practices. Long been considered the land of several million gods, Japanese base their traditional Shinto beliefs on this pantheon. But the introduction of Buddhism in the mid 500's A.D. forced an amalgamation of the two belief systems. Over time these two very different religious traditions blended together into a unique system
Shinto Today Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan. It is often called 'nature worship' because of the way the material world is invested with spiritual significance. The world is populated with kami: "the best English translation of kami is 'spirits', but this is an over-simplification of a complex concept - kami can be elements of the landscape or forces of nature" ("Kami," 2009). Kami may include nature, the spirits of
These narratives were also intended to validate the Imperial house, showing its lineage back to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, as other ethnic groups were warring against the Shinto and not accepting the Imperial House's rule. Eventually, Shinto was made the official religion of Japan in hopes of unifying the country, and combining it with Buddhist beliefs was outlawed. Shinto beliefs spread to territories like Hokkaido and Korea. After World War
The ritual is the most important aspect of Shinto; thus performing the ritual the right way is the most important part of worship in Shinto. The rituals serve to bind Japanese to their past as well; since the rituals themselves are sacred they do not change. The other key element of Shinto is purification. Wiping clean restores the natural process, which is clean and beautiful, and free from pollution. For
As a consequence, the society provides a culturally acceptable outlet for such expression, i.e., while under the influence of alcohol during a Shinto festival procession (also known as Japanese matsuri). During these public processions, which are generally held on annual basis, a large object (supposedly containing the spirit of a local deity) is carried shoulder-high through the streets, in order to revitalize the community with its supernatural presence. The bearers
..as Shinto was hijacked by the military before the War to their own political ends." (1999) Lamont-Brown states "...today members of the new religions-based spiritual regenerations tends to be both socially and politically conservative." (1999) the influence that is seen is the "contemporary trend for such member groupings to be more selective of their choice of candidates to support..." (Lamont-Brown, 1999) Lamount-Brown states that the Risshokosekai has five million members