Why do Koreans insist Tsushima Island belong to Korea?
I think every country on earth has a territorial dispute over some land. In this case the island is midway between Korea and Japan. And people from both countries have lived on it. But since at least 600 AD it has been part of Japan. I doubt if a Korean "land grab" would be successful in this case. see this article : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsushima_Is...
Is the myth about Himiko, the queen of Yamatai used in Tomb Raider, that she is capable of killing people by touching them relateable with the real queen?
Well, a quick scan on Yamatai and Himiko do suggest that they existed in 1st century AD. Well, Yamatai was some region in Japan whereas in the game it is shown as a fictional island in Devils triangle.Himiko was a queen of Yamatai. It is said that she used sorcery and magic to control the populace. She had one thousand female soldiers and no one rarely saw her. She was unmarried till death. Only one Male servant assisted her who took care of food and water for her. Upon her death, she was replaced by a king with people not accepting his reign. It lead to blood bath with at least 1000 people getting killed. Only when a 13 year old girl was given the throne, things calmed down.Although, she has been rarely been described in chinese or japanese history books, they do mention some woman being the queen of Yamatai at that time.U can wiki it. Its an intresting read.
I have a question on Yamato people?
mixure; in fact the yamato are just some of the clan to tribes that resulted when jomon/utari ainu and other prehistoric peoples/kingdoms were heavily mixed whether by conquest or voluntary with bronze using settlers from what is now northeastern china and korea ; and the result was more mixed kingdoms and one that conquered and assimilated if not wiped out the others became the yamato clan/kingdom; the decendants became the modern japanese including myself; only the utari ainu in the north avoided assimilation until the last centuries; and some more jomon derived outcast/criminals who were exiled to the ryukyuu islands to become the ryukyuans including okinawans remain separate cultures of japanese to this day;
How similar are Korean and Japanese cultures?
Very different, but Japanese culture is heavily influenced by Korea. Japanese language, although kind of a mystery as to where it came from, tends to sound a lot like Korean. Much of the art work, political systems and technology of early Japan are directly from Korea. The Emperor of Japan just recently commented on how the royal family is directly descended from Korean aristocracy. Buddhism came through Korea. The southern Islands were settled by Koreans, and the Beakje Royal family fled to Japan where the settled after they lost to the Silla towards the end of the three kingdoms period. But, after a few hundred years, the Japanese broke ties. They assimilated a lot of Chinese culture. Japan occupied and colonized Korea from the early 1900s until they were expelled at the end of WWII. Because of this, there was a general expulsion of all things Japanese. This is one of the reasons the cultures are so different. Westerners tend to see all Asian cultures as similar, but the reality is compared to European culture, Asians are very different. Different alphabets, different diets, completely different languages, different rituals. Even the things that are similar are different. Chop sticks. In Korea, they are long and slender and often times made of metal. Japanese chop stick (I think I'm getting this right) are short and thick. Bowing a touch more elaborate in Korean culture than in Japanese and Chinese cultures. Construction techniques, art and literature styles as well. I find it far more interesting than Western culture.
Do Japanese people normally distinguish between ‘Japanese’ and ‘Yamato’?
Yamato is to Japan as Albion is to Britain, it is a poetic name that is rooted in antiquity. It is written in Chinese characters great 大 + Wa (and old name given to Japan from China 倭 later transformed to 和) but the pronunciation is not remotely related to the characters. It can be supposed that it is the name of Japan that has been used before Chinese writing system was imported to Japan.In the third century document from China, it refers to a kingdom China had some dealings with in Japan as 邪馬台国 Yamatai kingdom but that is written in different Chinese characters from Yamato. From this one can also suppose that the phonetic name probably predates writing in Chinese characters.Since then, it has become a second name of Japan, often used with nationalistic connotations. Japan has few other classical names such as Mizuho 瑞穂 which signify rich and fertile land of the country, and Fuso 扶桑 which is another old Chinese name given that means “land of colossal trees.”
What is the old name of Japan?
One of the most prominent names for ancient Japan is Wa. References to Wa can be found in ancient Chinese sources (as China had written records long before Japan). Early Chinese records tended to be priggish and condescending toward the Japanese people. Early Chinese references to Japan also mention Yamatai. Yamatai was a mysterious polity ruled by Queen Himiko (third century), though its location is the subject of much debate.Ancient Japan has also been referred to as Yamato (the name of the clan which became the Imperial Family).Early Western sources referred to Japan as ‘Cipangu’ during the age of exploration (which is first mentioned by Marco Polo).The names Nihon and Nippon both translate as ‘Land of the Rising Sun.’