Look Back In Anger

Lee Doo Dam is a third-grader in Seoul who, like many eight-year-olds around the world, is nuts about Pokémon. But unlike most kids, he's conflicted. He knows the popular animated characters come from Japan. He has also learned in school how Japanese soldiers brutally invaded and colonized his homeland back in 1910. After his mother reminded him that every Pocket Monster sold helped Japan get richer, Doo Dam successfully resisted buying any Pokémon cards. "Japan is bad," he says. "No one nation should be above another nation."

The little boy's predicament aptly illustrates Asia's mixed feelings toward Japan. To...

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