[Opinion] Sensation Syndrome

Hot summer nights that make sleeping difficult are continuing. It is, however, not because of these tropical nights, but because of the Olympics. Most finals are broadcast on TV in the middle of the night since the games are happening in Greece, a country on the opposite side of the globe. In Japan as well, which is in the same time zone as Korea, there are many people these days who have forgotten to sleep until dawn, watching the broadcasts of the on-going games in real time. More people are seen dozing on their commuting subway trains. Lots of office workers are found yawning and some are found even stealing naps in smoking rooms at work. They probably stayed up the previous night to watch the games. Nonetheless, these Japanese look happy with their good performance in the Olympic medal hunt.

The TV audience rating on Sunday in the early morning when a judo player won the first gold medal for Japan was 44 percent. About 50 million out of a total of the 120 million Japanese went wild with excitement while watching TV. Following judo, the Japanese continued to win gold medals in other events such as swimming and gymnastics. Now Japanese everywhere are talking about the Olympic games. Some scholars call this “Sensation Syndrome.”

Japan, although the second strongest economic power after the U.S., has been turned away by other Asian countries due to its indecisive attitude in trying to deny its war of invasion, and has not been receiving good treatment on the diplomatic stages of the world. The Japanese economy has lost its energetic power to a significant degree compared to the past, even now that things have improved. When looking into their lives as individuals, they don’t look that affluent due to high prices, and they appear to live a hard life. Such a feeling of being blocked in general has made them crave for “simple heroes,” and their Olympic fever is seen as a reflection of this.

Japanese are in the emotional condition that makes them easily impressed. It is also a result of this emotional condition that the Korean drama “Winter Sonata” enjoyed much more popularity in Japan than in Korea. The drama is not so much different from love stories of the sixties and seventies in Japan. However, it fits the current sentiment in Japanese society that “simple love” can be a source of sensation. As I speak of the “sensation syndrome” in today’s Japanese society, I start to wonder if Korea is dominated by an “irritation syndrome” that makes everybody confront each other in every field, including politics, economy, and society, and show irritating responses. I hope pleasant and cool news such as the gold medal won by Lee Won-hee and the Korean soccer team’s advance to the quarterfinals will be followed more.

Cho Hun-joo, Tokyo correspondent, hanscho@donga.com