Japan’s right-wing Japanese media outlet Sankei Shimbun reported on NHK’s subtitle of Kyoto International High School’s lyrics, “This is the will of the school.” Some Japanese netizens exuded the embarrassing comment, saying, “Translate the East Sea into Sea of Japan,” sparking controversy.
Japan’s Sankei Shimbun reported on the 22nd (Korea time), “NHK complained about Kyoto International High School’s ‘East Sea’ marking, saying, ‘This is a clear mistake.’
Kyoto International High School, a Korean-ethnic school in Japan, advanced to the final by defeating Aomoriyama Madago 3-2 in the semifinals of the Japanese National High School Championship held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan on the 21st. Kyoto International High School will now challenge Tokyo’s representative Daiichi Kanto to win the final on the 23rd.
Kyoto Chosun Middle School, founded in 1947 by a group of Koreans in Japan, is the predecessor of Kyoto International High School. In 1958, it was renamed the Kyoto Korean Studies Institute, but it was not an official school registered in Japan. In 1999, the number of students decreased and suffered financial difficulties. As a result, Japanese were allowed to enter, and in order to fill the quota, a baseball team was formed that year to join the Japanese baseball league. In 2003, it received official school approval from the Japanese government. After advancing to the semifinals at Koshien in the spring of 2021, it caused a stir by reaching the final this time.
Established in 1915, Koshien is Japan’s 106th high school baseball championship. The national high school baseball championship, in which Kyoto International High School took the final stage, is called the “summer Koshien.” Prior to this, the starting high school baseball championship will be held in spring.
Currently, there are 138 students enrolled in Kyoto International High School. Seventy percent of them are Japanese and 30 percent are Korean. Of the 138 students, 61 are in the baseball team and three are of Korean descent. Kyoto International High School’s school song begins with a phrase, “The land of Yamato is the holy place of our ancestors’ old dreams across the East Sea.” There is also a phrase, “Stand up strong, descendants of Daehan.”
Throughout the competition, NHK has been mired in controversy over its distortion of the East Sea from Kyoto International High School’s school song into the East Sea. After Kyoto International High School won, a school song in Korean rang out in the stadium. The NHK broadcast included Korean lyrics and Japanese translation.
However, the East Sea, a Japanese word for East Sea, was translated into East の from the lyrics of “crossing the East Sea” among the school songs. In addition, the lyrics of “Korea-Japan academy” were also translated into “Korea-Japan” rather than “Korea.” Critics pointed out that the school changed only the parts that could react sensitively within Japan.
In response, NHK added a separate Japanese caption, “The Japanese translation of Kyoto’s international high school was submitted by the school.” NHK also marked the “East Sea” part of Kyoto’s international high school as “East Sea” at the 2021 spring and summer Koshien competition. 스포츠토토
“The Korean media reported that Professor Seo Kyung-duk protested against NHK,” the Sankei Shimbun said. “Kyoto International High School is a school for Koreans in Japan, and the lyrics of the school song include the word “East Sea,” which Korea claims as an international name. NHK is translating Japanese into “sea of the east” when writing lyrics on the broadcast screen according to the school’s intention.”
Earlier, the Sankei Shimbun reported that the school had translated “East Sea” into Japanese instead of “East Sea” to NHK. “This seems to be an attempt to separate high school baseball from South Korea’s political claims.”
Japanese Internet users expressed keen interest in the news report. The article, which was posted on Yahoo Sports, a Japanese portal, had more than 1,090 comments, including “As the international title of the East Sea is the Sea of Japan, if the school song is played in the final, translate it into Sea of Japan,” “Sports and politics should be separated,” “They wrote the subtitles that they submitted at the school, but if the controversy continues, why not just publish the original text?” and “I knew for the first time that the school’s school song is Korean.”
Meanwhile, the Korean government has consistently insisted on the combination of the East Sea and Sea of Japan since 1997, but it has not been properly reflected. In response, with the IHO General Assembly in 2017, informal consultations were held between related countries. In addition, it has been decided to introduce a method of writing numbers (specific identification numbers) instead of names such as ‘East Sea’ and ‘Sea of Japan’ in the 2020 International Standard Chart.