The Ceramic Wars Japan Kidnaps Korean Artisans

In the 1590s, Japan’s re-unifier, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, had an idee fixe. He was determined to conquer Korea, and then continue on to China and perhaps even India. Between 1592 and 1598, Hideyoshi launched two major invasions of the Korean Peninsula, known together as the Imjin War. Although Korea was able to fend off both attacks, thanks in part to the heroic Admiral Yi Sun-shin and his victory in the Battle of Hansan-do, Japan did not come away from the invasions empty-handed. As they retreated for the second time, after the 1594-96 invasion, the Japanese captured and enslaved tens of thousands of Korean farmers and artisans, and took them back to Japan. Japanese Invasions of Korea Hideyoshi’s reign signaled the end of the Sengoku (or â€Å"Warring States Period†) in Japan - more than 100 years of vicious civil war. The country was filled with samurai who knew nothing but war, and Hideyoshi needed an outlet for their violence. He also sought to glorify his own name through conquest. The Japanese ruler turned his attention to Joseon Korea, a tributary state of Ming China, and a convenient ladder into the Asian mainland from Japan. Even as Japan had engaged in unending conflict, Korea had been slumbering through centuries of peace, so Hideyoshi was confident that his gun-wielding samurai would quickly overrun the Joseon lands. The initial April 1592 invasion went smoothly, and Japanese forces were in Pyongyang by July. However, the over-extended Japanese supply lines started to take their toll, and soon Korea’s navy made life very difficult for Japan’s supply ships. The war bogged down, and the next year Hideyoshi ordered a retreat. Despite this set-back, the Japanese leader was not ready to give up his dream of a mainland empire. In 1594, he sent a second invasion force to the Korean Peninsula. Better prepared, and with aid from their Ming Chinese allies, the Koreans were able to pin down the Japanese almost immediately. The Japanese blitz turned in to a grinding, village-to-village fight, with the tides of battle favoring first one side, then the other. It must have been evident fairly early in the campaign that Japan was not going to conquer Korea. Rather than have all of that effort wasted, therefore, the Japanese began to capture and enslave Koreans who might be useful to Japan. Enslaving the Koreans A Japanese priest who served as a medic in the invasion recorded this memory of slave raids in Korea: Among the many kinds of merchants who have come over from Japan are traders in human beings, who follow in the train of the troops and buy up men and women, young and old alike. Having tied these people together with ropes about the neck, they drive them along before them; those how can no longer walk are made to run with prods or blows of the stick from behind. The sight of the fiends and man-devouring demons who torment sinners in hell must be like this, I thought. Estimates of the total number of Korean slaves taken back to Japan range from 50,000 to 200,000. Most were likely just farmers or laborers, but Confucian scholars and artisans such as potters and blacksmiths were particularly prized. In fact, a great Neo-Confucian movement sprang up in Tokugawa Japan (1602-1868), due in large part to the work of captured Korean scholars. The most visible influence these slaves had in Japan, however, was on Japanese ceramic styles. Between the examples of looted ceramics taken from Korea, and skilled potters brought back to Japan, Korean styles and techniques had an important impact on Japanese pottery. Yi Sam-pyeong and Arita Ware One of the great Korean ceramic artisans kidnapped by Hideyoshis army was Yi Sam-pyeong (1579-1655). Along with his entire extended family, Yi was taken to the city of Arita, in Saga Prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu. Yi explored the area and discovered deposits of kaolin, a light, pure white clay, which allowed him to introduce porcelain manufacturer to Japan. Soon, Arita became the center of porcelain production in Japan. It specialized in pieces made with overglazing in imitation of Chinese blue and white porcelains; these goods were popular imports in Europe. Yi Sam-pyeong lived out the remainder of his life in Japan  and took the Japanese name Kanagae Sanbee. Satsuma Ware The daimyo of Satsuma domain on the southern end of Kyushu Island also wanted to create a porcelain industry, so he kidnapped Korean potters and brought them back to his capital as well. They developed a porcelain style called Satsuma ware, which is decorated with ivory crackle glaze painted over with colorful scenes and gold trim. Like Arita ware, Satsuma ware was produced for the export market. Dutch traders at Dejima Island, Nagasaki were the conduit for Japanese porcelain imports into Europe. The Ri Brothers and Hagi Ware Not wanting to be left out, the daimyo of Yamaguchi Prefecture, on the southern tip of the main island of Honshu also captured Korean ceramic artists for his domain. His most famous captives were two brothers, Ri Kei and Ri Shakko, who began firing a new style called Hagi ware in 1604. Unlike the export-driven pottery works of Kyushu, the Ri brothers kilns turned out pieces for use in Japan. Hagi ware is stoneware with a milky white glaze, which sometimes includes an etched or incised design. In particular, tea sets made of Hagi ware are especially prized. Today, Hagi ware is second only to Raku in the world of Japanese tea ceremony sets. The descendants of the Ri brothers, who changed their family name to Saka, are still making pottery in Hagi. Other Korean-made Japanese Pottery Styles Among the other Japanese pottery styles that were created or greatly influenced by enslaved Korean potters are the sturdy, simple Karatsu ware; Korean potter Sonkais light Agano teaware; and Pal Sans richly glazed Takatori ware. Artistic Legacy of a Brutal War The Imjin War was one of the most brutal in early modern Asian history. When Japans soldiers realized that they would not win the war, they engaged in atrocities such as cutting off the noses of every Korean person in some villages; the noses were turned in to their commanders as trophies. They also looted or destroyed priceless works of art and scholarship. Out of the horror and suffering, however, some good also appeared (at least, for Japan). Although it must have been heart-breaking for the Korean artisans who were kidnapped and enslaved, Japan used their skills and technical knowledge to produce amazing advances in silk making, in ironwork, and especially in pottery.

Aristotles Legacy Essay - 1151 Words

Extraordinary achievements have been made through ancient civilizations. Philosophers that have changed the way we look at things every day came from the ancient Greek world, especially during the prosperous Golden Age of Athens, Greece. Aristotle, a famous philosopher, taught his philosophy during this period of time in Greece. Using his intellect and astounding ideas, Aristotle created a legacy that influenced people for ages. To start off, Aristotle was a widely known philosopher in the Ancient Greek world born in Macedonia in the year 384 B.C. Not only did he take part in philosophy, but he also contributed poetics, political science, and biology. All of these subjects were taught at his school, the Peripatetic School of†¦show more content†¦Here he met a group of Platonists where he continued to learn about Plato’s philosophy. After staying in Assos for three years, he moved to the island of Lesbos in Mytilene until 344 B.C. It was in this same year that the Mace donian King Philip asked Aristotle to tutor his 13-year-old son Alexandros III later to be known as Alexander the Great. From the lessons he taught Alexander, he found he had some disagreements with Plato which he used to make up his own philosophy. Disagreements Aristotle had with Plato included his, previously mentioned, â€Å"ideal world of eternal beings†. Back when Plato was still alive and teaching Aristotle, this foreign utopia seemed reasonable, but over the years Aristotle began to think that true reality lay in the real, tangible world, not in a world that nobody can see. This concept began the philosophy of Aristotelianism. To teach his new philosophy, Aristotle established a teaching facility. He moved back to Athens, Greece to find a location for his school. 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Examine how and why McDonald’s recently decided to rebrand itself in the UK Free Essays

Introduction This paper will critically examine the key factors behind the recent McDonald’s rebranding campaign in the UK. The main objectives of this research will be to explore why and how did McDonald’s rebrand itself in the UK. This research will also provide an in-depth analysis of the benefits of McDonald’s business model, as well as the significant problems that have been faced, and have generated criticism towards McDonald’s, its product, and its quality of service. We will write a custom essay sample on Examine how and why McDonald’s recently decided to rebrand itself in the UK or any similar topic only for you Order Now McDonald’s Rebranding The fast food restaurant, McDonald’s, has been a significant influence and figure in American culture for decades, and continues to prosper in the USA and around the world. For Ritzer (2011), the McDonald’s brand has become a symbol of the Westernization process, which is driven by the general globalization. Through the company’s success, McDonald’s has developed a profitable business model that has widely adopted by a number of other successful companies around the world, such as IKEA, Pizza Hut, and Burger King (Ritzer, 2011). â€Å"McDonaldization† has become the term to identify organizational systems which look to control their consumers through the McDonald’s business model (Ritzer, 2011). McDonald’s business model has been so successfully in recent times that the company has consistently been ranked as one of the top â€Å"Best Global Brands†; and it can certainly be felt that almost every person around the world has hear d of McDonald’s (Ritzer, 2011). However, the company has recently received quite a large degree of negative criticism with regards to their employment conditions, the quality of their products and the negative effects of these products on people’s health (Ritzer, 2011). Consequently, this has led McDonald’s senior management to consider a rebrand to sustain their competitive advantage in the modern market. In terms of the poor employment conditions, the â€Å"McJob† scheme has lost its appeal to prospective employees because of the low salary and lack of further career opportunities or long-term development for McDonald’s staff (Klein, 1999). In fact, the majority of McDonald’s employees consider their job to be a hobby, although this has now changed in light of the recent economic downturn (Klein, 1999). This attitude suggests that the candidates who apply for employment with McDonald’s consider service industry roles as â€Å"temporary work†, and expect to change their roles in the near future. From the employer’s perspective, the ability to offer a low wage has always been seen as an effective way to cut down on operational costs (Klein, 1999). Recently however, McDonald’s has started to push an additional 50 000 new jobs as part of their new rebranding campaign (Talent Management, 2011). The company is trying to disrupt this associat ion between McJob and poorly paid, dead-end work by connecting both the HR and the Marketing sectors. The main message they are promoting suggests that more than 50% of franchise owners and 75% of restaurant managers started their career as waiters (Talent Management, 2011). Furthermore, the company has recently implemented a general budget planner for their employees which is based on the average salary of a McDonald’s waiter (Bloomberg, 2013). These figures suggest that this level of salary is enough to cover living costs (Bloomberg, 2013). However, this has also stirred much debate across social networks. Elsewhere, McDonald’s has targeted younger people, including students or young adults, as potential employees (Talent Management, 2011), Unfortunately this salary has been shown not to cover their basic living expenses, and nor does the role correspond to the â€Å"dream job† they were expecting (Klein, 1999). With regards to McDonald’s products and service quality, the company has built its success on a tasty product delivered at fast speed. This is significant as efficiency is one of the key dimensions underlying the brand (Ritzer, 2011). Even though the products are considered tasty and are widely enjoyed, the nutritional value and the general effect on the consumer’s health are questionable (Schlosser, 2004). The reputation of the â€Å"healthiness† of McDonald’s products has been widely examined, with documentaries such as â€Å"Super-Size Me† exposing the health risks of consuming McDonald’s products over time (Boniwell and Lucy, 2012). It was shown that are significant risks to major bodily organs that came as a result of this experiment (Boniwell and Lucy, 2012). This attitude aligns itself with the increasing interest in the growing level of obesity among adults and children around the world. Given the fact that one of the main reasons beh ind the obesity is excessive fast food intake, this negatively affects the brand image of McDonald’s (Boniwell and Lucy, 2012). As a result, the company has decided to integrate healthier fast food options within their menus. Jamie Oliver, one of the most popular TV chefs in the UK, has also criticized McDonald’s food. He condemned the company for the poor nutritional content in their products and the overall low quality of McDonald’s food (Marketing, 2012). However, once the company integrated health-related associations into it rebrand, Jamie Oliver actually praised the company (Marketing, 2012). Oliver started supporting McDonald’s after the company started using organic milk and free-range eggs in their menu (Marketing, 2012). Therefore it can be seen that criticism from key institutions and famous celebrities has driven McDonald’s to promote healthy food as part of the company rebrand. This can be seen as McDonald’s has started to provide nutritional information for its products in the restaurant menus. The products have also been redesigned with a view of decreasing the number of calories in them; for example, it is estimated that the calorie content in some McDonald’s meals has decreased by as much as 20%. Despite this, there remain products which are high in calories, such as the popular Big Mac, which still has 490 calories a serving (Daily Mail, 2011). A significant part of this rebrand aims to distance McDonald’s from the image of a â€Å"fast food cafe†, which considers speed as their priority. This implies that the company is trying to change its brand image to be seen as an â€Å"upscale restaurant†, thereby delivering better quality service and products (Humans Invent, 2012). This can be seen in the redecoration of the restaurants’ interior to be more â€Å"restaurant-like† in their design. These actions suggest that the company is attempting to distance itself from the primary factors that, in the beginning, actually have contributed to the widespread development of McDonald’s brand image: efficiency, calculability and speed. However, some sources argue that it would be quite difficult for the company to change the target market from being consumer’s expecting quick service and standard McDonald’s food meal to ones expecting a nice and pleasurable experience (Humans Inve nt, 2012). Elsewhere, McDonald’s rebrand aims to target families with children that visit the restaurants for lunch or for dinner. This implies that McDonald’s typical customers, namely teenagers and children, has contributed to decrease the value of the brand image (Humans Invent, 2012). Consequently, the majority of McDonald’s restaurants in the UK have been redesigned to look like a contemporary family restaurant (Humans Invent, 2012). This implies that the whole seating arrangement and interior design has been changed to suit the family needs. Despite this, the food quality is still not considered to be for everyone; therefore it is questionable whether the redesign and changes in the menus will attract the correct consumer. A similar rebranding campaign was integrated by the superstore Wal-Mart, where the management tried to integrate celebrity endorsement to change brand image (Frying Pan News, 2011). However, given Wal-Mart’s brand reputation and history, this campaign was widely considered to be a failure. Therefore, the question still remains whether the current rebranding strategy will work for McDonald’s as the company is trying to completely change a brand strategy that has been hugely successful for 50 years (Elliott, 2011). McDonald’s had already tried to integrate new products in the past, such as offering Deluxe Line Burgers, but these strategies have failed (Elliott, 2011). This suggests that McDonald’s targeted children as well as families, anticipating that parents would come to McDonald’s to please their children. Therefore the needs of a target market did not correspond with the positioning of a new â€Å"Deluxe† product which led to the failure of the line (Elliott, 2011). Currently, McDonald’s is attempting to change the product, promotion, positioning, and physical evidence of its brand in line with the new target market. However, despite all of these changes, there is still a chance that this will not be successful. Conclusion The aim of this essay was to explore the key reasons behind the new McDonald’s rebranding strategy. It can be seen that the company has decided to move away from the old rebranding strategy which has been successful for the last 50 years. McDonald’s has started to integrate changes into every aspect of its marketing mix. This rebranding has altered the nature of McJob, the health value of the product and the quality of the service. The new rebrand strategy has also introduced new targeting and positioning strategies, as well as affecting the promotion, physical product and people aspects of the McDonald’s brand. Despite the efforts of the new rebranding strategy, the levels of success remain questionable and it could be considered that rebranding may actually decrease the value of McDonald’s brand in the context of its association with American and pop culture. Likewise, it may fail to attract the new target market which could result in additional costs fo r the company. References: Bloomberg (2013) McDonald’s Employee Budget Planner Assumes 2 Jobs at $13 an Hour. Available: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-15/mcdonald-s-employee-budget-planner-assumes-2-jobs-at-13-an-hour.html (Accessed on 14/11/2013). Boniwell, I., Lucy, R. (2012) Personal Well-Being Lessons For Secondary Schools: Positive Psychology In Action for 11 to 14 years old, McGraw-Hill: UK. Daily Mail (2011) It’s a (salty, fatty, saucy) McWrap! 600-calorie breakfast is worse than Big Mac, Available: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054942/McDonald’s-McWrap-600-calorie-breakfast-worse-Big-Mac.html (Accessed on 14/11/2013). Elliott, C. (2011) â€Å"It’s junk food and chicken nuggets: Children’s perspectives on ‘kids’ food’ and the question of food classification†, in Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 10 (13): 133-40. Frying Pan News (2013) Walmart Celebrities: Which Side Are You OnAvailable: http://fryingpannews.org/2013/07/30/walmart-celebrities-which-side-are-you-on/ (Accessed on 14/11/2013). Humans Invent (2012) McDonald’s gets a face-lift. Available: http://www.humansinvent.com/#!/4429/McDonald’s-gets-a-face-lift/ (Accessed on 14/11/2013). Klein, N. (1999) No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, Knopf Canada: Canada. Marketing (2012) Jamie Oliver praises McDonald’s healthy eating agenda. Available: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1142906/jamie-oliver-praises-McDonald’s-healthy-eating-agenda (Accessed on 14/11/2013). Ritzer, G. (2011) The McDonaldization of Society 6, Pine Forge Press: USA. Schlosser, E. (2004) Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, Allen Lane The Penguin Press: UK. Talent Management (2011) McDonald’s Aims to Rebrand the ‘McJob’. Available: http://talentmgt.com/articles/view/McDonald’s-aims-to-rebrand-the-mcjob/1 (Accessed on 14/11/2013). 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