On October 30, former AV actress, entrepreneur and influencer Ai Uehara made a controversial video post on X. It is a video post on her visit to the Seodaemun Prison History Museum, uploading the video to her Korean YouTube Channel.
In the video, a guide woman explained to her: “This is the prison that used to house the independent activists who were trying to protect Korea when the Japanese army entered Korea to try to make it Japan’s.” Then, they looked around the prison.
After the visit, when asked about her impressions, Uehara said that it was cruel and heartbreaking, I felt like I’m going to hate Japanese. And said “If Korean people hadn’t protected this country, I wouldn’t have been able to come here, so I’m very grateful.” And “Maybe the Korean people still have a bad image of Japan, but it’s a peaceful time now, so I hope we can get along together.”
Ai Uehara, who once made her mark as a top AV star, is a popular figure with 1,322,000 followers on X.
But the situation on X has been full of criticisms such as:
“Stupid Japanese go to Korea and get deceived?”
“It’s a story about how you were brainwashed when you went to learn about the history of another country with no knowledge.”
“Live in South Korea forever. Japan does not need people who speak ill of Japan.”
Masashi Okazaki, an editor who works on books of East Asian history, analyses the situation as follows.
“Certainly, the Seodaemun Prison was built under Japanese influence during the Daehan Empire. However, from a different perspective, it could be said that it was a modern prison that was finally built after the country gained independence from China thanks to the Sino-Japanese War. In fact, a number of independence campaigners were housed there, but as it was just a prison, it also housed other criminals, such as murderers. Of course, the conditions and treatment of the independence activists may have been appalling from a modern perspective. However, it has been pointed out that the punishments reproduced in the history museum are exaggerated for the sake of a kind of anti-Japanese propaganda. On the other hand, for Korean fans, Uehara’s impressions must sound good. Considering the complex historical background between Japan and South Korea, there are plenty of more considerate comments that could be made, things like, “It was a sad history” or “I want to learn more and build bridges.” Yet the deliberate use of such strong languages may be intended that she can cut off the Japanese market and make money in South Korea.”
As of October 31, the video is already unavailable. Where is the once charismatic AV star headed?
