[Nyororin]

There is a level of anti-Korean sentiment in Japan. I don`t really think it`s usually directed at the average Korean person - but more at statements and actions of those in positions of power... And of course, it seems like the media on both sides is good at making mountains out of mole hills.

In general, to be honest, most people don`t really care all that much. There are extremes where they hate Korea and Koreans, and the other end where they love Korea and anything Korean like crazy... But I would say the majority falls in the middle.

I actually want to point out that the example of Winter Sonata is actually not that far from the truth. Not that people thought of Korea as insignificant, but more that they didn`t think of it much to begin with. (There is a difference between thinking something isn`t worth thinking about, and just not having reason to think of it.) With the popularity of Winter Sonata and other Korean dramas - I think that it has driven home the fact that Korean people aren`t all that much different than Japanese. I think it is completely possible that there were people who didn`t think well of Korea but who changed their opinions on seeing popular media. Just looking at government and hearing reports of the extreme ends doesn`t give an accurate image of the real people.

I was personally more interested in Korea than in Japan when I started being interested in Asia - one of my childhood friends was from Korea, and I spent a fair chunk of my childhood at her house. I had planned to study in Japan and then study Korean in Korea - but, well, I fell in love and got married in Japan so that plan was never fulfilled.

Anyway, to answer the direct questions;

Are many Japanese aware that there are some anti-Japanese feelings among Koreans?

Very much so. The media, along with the Korean community in Japan, makes it impossible not to know.

Also I wonder what the Japanese are taught regarding the colonization of Korea? do they think it was good, bad, both, or don't care?

Textbooks are generally fairly neutral - there were good intentions behind part of it, but it`s never good to do that sort of thing, etc... Mostly just the facts and figures are presented without a whole lot of opinion inserted. If there is a story representing it positively, there is one balancing it with the negative results of the colonization. I don`t really think there is anyone who thinks it was good, but I am sure there are plenty of people who think that it was partially good (in terms of modernizing Korea - such as rail systems, medicine, and education).

I was wondering if many people of Japan thought similarly?

Korea is far too close to Japan for people to be oblivious of it`s culture and history. It`s probably the most popular holiday destination for Japanese tourists, and has a good reputation. Definitely not a feeling of "nothing there".