Samsung is not a Japanese company, but a South Korean company.

Samsung is a South Korean based company.

However, many people except Japanese and Korean mistake Samsung to be a Japanese based company. According to the survey by KOTRA(Korean Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) in 2009 (see Searchina's article), 25.9% of foreign people think Samsung is a Japanese company(59.7%: a Korean Company, 10.4%: a Chinese company). Some Chinese people misunderstand it too, even though China is a neighboring country of Japan and South Korea. In China in 2012, Samsung's shop was attacked by Chinese rioters who were frustrated with JAPAN (see dongA.com's article). As said before, Samsung is a SOUTH KOREAN company.

Why do many people think Samsung is a Japanese company? There are three reasons.

First of all, many people don't know Japan and South Korea are SEPARATE countries. If you see the map below, you will get to know Japan and South Korea are separate countries.

Map created from DEMIS Mapserver, which are public domain, and then edited and location names added by the writer.

Secondly, Samsung have actively adopted Japanese technology. For instance, Samsung have picked out employees of Japanese manufacturers, such as Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, Sanyo, Sharp, NEC and so on. In addition, Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, has a degree in economics from Waseda University in Tokyo. Waseda University is one of leading universities in Japan.

The third, Samsung uses images of Japan for its advertising. For example, Samsung used a ninja(忍者) for its television commercial. A ninja is a kind of spy or assassin who lived in JAPAN beginning in the 14th century (If you don't know a ninja, see wikipedia). Here is the TV commercial.


[Link]
Samsung's website
http://www.samsung.com/

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