한국에서의 일본연구의 동향과 과제

Japanese Studies in South Korea have recently shifted their focus from policy-oriented comparative research to the analyses of Japan itself. This change has been initiated by those Koreans in their forties who have studied in Japan, mostly in the 1990s. Yet, it is important for the new comers to take into consideration what the predecessors have found in the established Korea-Japan relations or comparative studies. Its success would depend on how to situate our 'special' perspective coming from the colonial experience as well as how to overcome it. Japanese studies have contributed to consolidating Korean historical experience as an unique or 'special' one by failing to understand its colonial history in a broader worldly perspective. Due to this self-imposed isolation, the legacy of anti-imperialist, anti-war pro-peace movements has weakened with the expansion of anti-Japanese and anti-North Korea propaganda. What we need to do now is to view the colonial and the following postcolonial experiences in much more universal global perspectives. It would become a base camp for Japanese studies in Korea to take off to an advanced and independent discipline.