On the heels of a recent trip to Japan, coincidentally, I was asked by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to write an essay for their webpage, Korea.net, on the positive cultural relations between Korea and Japan. The current government is taking a conciliatory position vis-a-vis Japan, in contrast to the previous administration, which took a more confrontational approach. I suppose that the variations of policy are a good thing and a byproduct of government by democracy. It’s a healthy kind of pendulum swing, the essence of democracy.