NewJeans member Hanni recently took to social media to reminisce about her trip to Japan with her fellow group members. She playfully referred to their visit as a “short trip to sushi land.”
This lighthearted term caught the attention of Japanese netizens, leading a Japanese YouTuber to conduct a poll. The poll asked netizens whether they found Hanni‘s reference to Japan as “sushi land” offensive or not.
The poll results showed that 82% of voters did not find the phrase offensive, while 18% did. Some Japanese netizens shared their thoughts on the matter.
One person compared it to calling India “curry land” and found no offense in it. They mentioned that Japan is famous for sushi, so being called “sushi land” shouldn’t be a problem.
Another netizen expressed that they didn’t find it offensive but questioned Hanni‘s intention since the shared collage lacked actual sushi photos.
They noted that terms like “sushi girl” are sometimes used in Korean online communities in a derogatory manner to describe conservative and submissive Japanese women.
Interestingly, this issue also prompted discussion among Korean netizens. They debated how they would feel if a foreigner referred to Korea as “kimchi land.“
Some felt it wasn’t an issue, citing kimchi’s significance as a representative Korean food. Others brought up the broader question of whether it’s appropriate to label a country based on a single food item.
Source[1]
