Why This Topic Landed in Japan

Two Korea-related stories broke in Japan at once. A 50-something Japanese woman indicted for forcibly kissing BTS member Jin failed to appear at her first hearing on July 14, and the case was postponed. Separately, a Korean X post arguing that "the country you come to dislike when you study world history is Japan" reportedly drew over nine million impressions. A Japanese fan's misconduct toward a Korean idol tends to trigger "as a fellow Japanese, this is embarrassing" reactions, but online it slides easily into a Japan–Korea confrontation or a gender fight. The history post, meanwhile, poked at familiar friction points — Korea's history education, comparisons with European colonialism, and the "Japan modernized us" argument — and spread on the back of them.

Key Reaction Themes

  • A "disgrace to Japan" take on fan manners — Many branded the unauthorized kiss "a harasser auntie" and "a disgrace to Japan," a self-critical reflex.
  • A slide into a gender fight — Comments like "the female version of you lot" and "this country really is hell for women" turned the perpetrator's gender into a men-versus-women argument.
  • Pushback and relativizing on history — "That's not world history, it's Korean history" clashed with "the countries you'd hate most are Britain, France, and Spain."

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

The BTS-kiss trial and the defendant's no-show

A 50-something Japanese woman, indicted for forcibly kissing BTS's Jin, skipped her first hearing on July 14 and the case was postponed.

Sources: sportsseoul

Comments:

  • "The female version of you lot, lol."
  • "The feminists are taking the bait, lol."
  • "This guy who keeps getting hit on wouldn't have run into this mess either if he, as an idol, hadn't held 'touch' events with women in the first place."
  • "This country really is hell for women." [Translator's note: sarcastic — here the perpetrator is a woman.]
  • "But I'm a woman!!??"
  • "Japanese women, especially unmarried middle-aged ones, are all like this anyway."
  • "This harasser auntie is a disgrace to Japan."
  • "If Japanese men were decent, she wouldn't have resorted to such an outrage…"

A Korean 'world history' post goes viral

A Korean X post claiming "studying world history makes you dislike Japan" spread widely and drew Japanese pushback and relativizing.

Comments:

  • "Honestly, old Japan was trash, so it can't be helped."
  • "Says someone from a country you come to dislike without even studying world history."
  • "Well, of course you'd hate it once you face the truth that you were ruled by your 'little brother' — calling us the little-brother nation and then getting ruled by them." [Translator's note: Korea traditionally cast itself as the elder-brother nation and Japan as the younger.]
  • "But there are ways our country modernized thanks to Japan. I feel nothing but gratitude toward Japan." [Translator's note: written mockingly, in a pretend Korean voice.]
  • "Do Koreans still see it this way?"
  • "That said, the countries you'd hate most would be Britain, France, and Spain, right?"
  • "That's not world history, it's Korean history, lol."
  • "Only a handful of Korean high schools even offer world history; most students never study it and learn Korean-fantasy fiction (Korean history) instead."