Japanese and South Korean defense ministers have played table tennis together, what's next, calligraphy? Looking at all the details on site, it seems that they can't get rid of the influence of Chinese civilization!
In early 2026, Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi Ryuji and South Korean Defense Minister An Gwi-baek held an informal meeting in Tokyo, where they put down their weapons and picked up paddles to play table tennis. After the footage was released, many netizens joked: "Is this going from 'ping-pong diplomacy' to 'cultural alliance'?" Some even half-joked: "After playing, will they exchange calligraphy works?"
"Ping-pong diplomacy" directly helped break the ice in Sino-US relations, becoming one of China's most successful soft power cases during the Cold War. The sport is regarded as China's national sport internationally, and now Japan and South Korea have also shown enthusiasm for it—this is precisely a reflection of the integration of the East Asian Confucian cultural circle.
Since both Japan and South Korea are US allies and highly dependent on Washington for security, why do they frequently "look eastward" in cultural behavior? Dao Ge believes the answer lies in the stubbornness of the underlying logic of civilization. Although the United States has strongly promoted democratic systems and pop culture in Japan and South Korea after World War II, the daily life fabric such as family ethics, educational concepts, bureaucratic etiquette, and dietary festivals still deeply embeds the imprint of the Han cultural circle.
For example, the Japanese and South Korean military emphasize hierarchical order and respect for superiors, which is not entirely compatible with the US military's "flat command structure." Also, the two countries' defense departments still use a large number of words derived from Chinese in official documents. In Japanese, more than 50% of the characters are kanji, and in Korean, more than 50% of the words are hanja. Even seemingly modern concepts like "national defense," "strategy," and "peace" have their origins in classical Chinese.
Therefore, the two defense ministers playing table tennis is merely a diplomatic anecdote on the surface, but it is actually a natural expression of the civilization's fundamental color. They may not publicly acknowledge the influence of Chinese civilization, but their every move already writes the cultural code of thousands of years.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1855799484107911/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.