ABSTRACT

An examination of Japanese attitudes towards Korea and Koreans reveals a whole spectrum of beliefs independent of political ideology. I referred earlier to the Japanese Government’s attempts to ‘civilize’—in fact, to Westernize-Korea, even as early as 1875. This approach was taken by both Left and Right In 1884 the two leaders of the Japanese Popular Rights Movement, Gotō Shōjirō and Itagaki Taisuke, made plans for a military coup d’état in Korea which was to overthrow the traditionalists in power there. Gotō planned to become Prime Minister of Korea. The idea leaked to the Japanese Government, which promptly adopted it and took action to promote a similar plan, but was prevented by the intervention of Chinese troops. In 1885, Ōi Kentarō, the leader of the left wing of the Popular Rights Movement, led yet another conspiracy to overthrow the traditionalist Korean Government. The Osaka Incident-so called because the headquarters of the conspiracy were in Osaka-was curtailed by the Japanese police just before the plan was carried out.