My name is Daniel. I was an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea, and I am now a writer who has published three books including South Korea: Our Story by Daniel Nardini.

                            My third book, My Taiwan, Seoul, and Guadalajara (Mexico) Memoirs by 

Daniel Nardini, talks about the great city of Seoul and its history. Having lived in Seoul, it is without question

my favorite city in the world. Its history in so many ways is sad as well as long. The sad part is how Seoul

became a modern city. The Japanese had made Seoul into a modern city on the same scale as Tokyo, New

York City or Paris. They built new houses and modern buildings; they constructed new plumbing and streets

with the best methods of transportation (such as streetcars); and created hospitals as well as public schools

on a vast scale. Yes, they had made Seoul a thoroughly modern city---something it had never been under the Joseon. But as I argue in my book, the Japanese Empire had made Seoul into a Japanese city. The Japanese colonial government had constructed Japanese-style buildings, taught Japanese in the public schools, forced Koreans to sell Japanese goods in their stores, wear Japanese as well as western clothing, and had 

constructed miles and miles of modern railroad to bring in goods for the good of the Japanese Empire.

None of this was done for the good of the Koreans, and even if many Koreans overall were living better than

they did under the Joseon, they were still slaves to the Japanese Empire. No dissent was tolerated, the Korean printed language was not allowed to be used after 1930, and the Koreans were never asked what they 

wanted for their own country. Koreans were conscripted into the Japanese armed forces, as slave labor in

Japan's industries, and those who resisted were imprisoned, tortured and hung. The Korean palaces and other traditional structures that had been built during the Joseon were either neglected by the Japanese or otherwise torn down. The Japanese colonial government had tried to erase the Korean identity from Korea's own capital. Yes, Japan had made Seoul into a modern city which the Joseon had failed to do, but the price Korea and Koreans paid was horrific. The very name for the capital of Japanese occupied Korea, "Keijo," shows very clearly that the Korean people could not even be allowed to name their own capital city.