Introduction During the Japanese Colonial Rule in Korea (1910-1945), tourism in Korea was an expanding and expansive trade. In fact, in 1936 alone, the number of Japanese inbound tourists to Korea numbered 42,586 individuals. In total, these people spent a total of 107,688,000 yen (per person, this equals 2,529 yen). And even though it only represented a small fraction, just 4 percent, of Japan’s overall trade (including imports and exports), it was a welcomed influx of capital. And the reason that Korea became such a popular destination for the Japanese was that it helped to justify the annexation of Korea. It did this through a number of ways including through…

Introduction At the end of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), and with the growing influence of Japan and Japanese Buddhism on the Korean Peninsula, Korean Buddhist faced the double threat of the continuation of centuries of persecution and marginalization by their own government and having their own tradition hijacked and supplanted by a foreign tradition. It was to this that Korean Buddhists were faced with the choice of either modernizing or simply being replaced. It was to this dynamic relationship that would help modernize Korean Buddhism. As such, the re-traditionalization of Buddha’s Birthday, similar to the modernization of Christmas in the West, was a highly complex negotiation in and among Korean…