"The Marmot's Hole" Shows Off Its Anti-Japanese Bias

Wikipedia discribes "The Marmot's Hole" HERE as a popular weblog by American Robert J. Koehler that focuses on topics dealing with Korean politics and society. Wikipedia also writes that the blog "can serve as a good introduction to Korea, but the neutrality of the content is debatable."

In a July 12 post entitled, "Wanna buy a 'Takeshima belongs to Japan' stake?," Robert Koehler writes about a Japanese man who is selling on the Internet meter-long, stake-like sticks that read, "Takeshima is Japanese Territory." Takeshima is the Japanese name for Liancourt Rocks, a small grouping of barren rocks in the Sea of Japan that is the object of a territorial dispute between Korea and Japan. Koreans call them "Dokdo."

Robert writes the following:

Nobuyuki Suzuki, everybody’s favorite Japanese right-wing ASSHAT, is apparently selling “Takeshima belongs to Japan” stakes at his blog:

"Asshat" is a pejorative, slang word used to refer to an "obnoxiously ingnorant person." It implies that the person is wearing his ass as a hat.

Robert also writes--

Anyway, the ASSHAT also mentioned the guy who recently attempted a short cut through the Japanese embassy’s security by driving his truck through the front gate:

Notice that Robert refers to the Japanese man who is selling sticks with "Takeshima is Japanese territory" on them as an "asshat," but refers to a Korean man who rams his 1-ton, "Dokdo-is-Korean-Territory" truck into the Japanese Embassy as "the guy."

By the way, Robert did not even mention the incident of the Korean man ramming his truck into the Japanese Embassy until this post of the Japanese man selling his Takeshima sticks.

Anyway, "asshat" seems to be Robert's new favorite word because he also used it in a June 27 post entitled "Well, at least you're being asshats in your own country this time," which reports on Japanese protesting an exhibit of Comfort Women photos in Tokyo.

Before that, on June 22, Robert posted "Japanese Right-wing Asshat Records Himself Messing with Comfort Woman Statue, which reported on the man selling "Takeshima" sticks above showing off his sticks in a video of himself next to the "Comfort Woman" statue in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, which Korean activist erected to taunt Japan.

Here is the video:



However, when a group of twenty Koreans went to the Japanese island of Tsushima and protested in front of Tsuhima City Hall that both Dokdo and Tsushima were Korean territory, Robert reported on that incident with a post simply entitled, "Well, I've Heard Tsushima Is Pretty This Time of Year."

Here is the video of that protest:



Japan Probe reported on the Korean protest in Tsushima HERE.

So, is the neutrality of The Marmot's Hole really debatable, especially when the man behind the blog wanders Korea wearing the traditional Korean clothing hanbok and brags about his eating of dogmeat?