I wouldn't say there's a military tension - well, other than the island of Dokdo (aka Takeshima) that's stupidly blown out of proportion, but I hope nobody's st

I wouldn't say there's a military tension - well, other than the island of Dokdo (aka Takeshima) that's stupidly blown out of proportion, but I hope nobody's stupid enough to go to war over it. However the two countries don't exactly have an amicable history. I hope we get along well with each other (and we kind of do, more or less), but Japan still has many right-wing politicians who downplay their past war crimes. On our side, some South Korean politicians love to use Japan as a convenient scapegoat and blame Korea's every social problem on past Japanese occupation. It's less about direct military conflict between the two, and more about who gets a larger voice in any kind of issues. With the two Koreas, China, Russia, and Japan crammed in such a small area, East Asia is a tough place. You need to be seen as someone others cannot ignore.