In 1905, everyone had different opinions back then, right?

Japan to Westerners: “Kawaii, anime, sushi!”

Japan to other East Asians: Untold unmentionable unimaginable violence and suffering

It’s okay, Korea.
One day you’ll conquer the west with k-pop…
or at least half of you.

The Ottomans: I’m just too tired to try again

Context: The Korean Peninsula acted as sort of a neutral middle ground between the Asian powers of China and Japan, with the Korean court favouring China to counteract the more aggressive Japanese. however with Japan surprisingly routing China in the first Sino-Japanese war (1894) (which the Koreans themselves accidentally started) Japan nearly fully annexed the peninsula before the European powers and the US intervened, pressuring the Japanese to return most of their land in Manchuria to China.

From 1894 to 1896, Korea was under control of the Japanese-backed Kabo Government and the royal family was basically held hostage in Japanese-controlled Seoul. Eventually, the Queen Min’s family was able to reach out to the Russians for assistance in pressuring the Japanese out of Korea, which led to the Japanese assassinating her, making her a martyr to the Korean people, which combined with the King Kojong (aka Gojong) and the Heir fleeing to and being sheltered in the Russian Embassy made the Japanese position in Korea extremely dire, so they withdrew their forces, leaving the Puppet Kabo gov. To literally get torn apart in the streets.

From 1896 to 1904, the Russian Empire took over the role that the Qing dynasty previously played, acting as a regional balancing power to Japan in Korea and Manchuria. This lasted until the Japanese offered to give Russia Manchuria in exchange for Korea. Russia refused, which resulted in the Russo-Japanese war and the subject of this post. Following Russia’s defeat, Korea was again puppeted and officially annexed by Japan in 1910, ending Korean independence until 1945 and subjecting the Korean people to the horrors of Japanese occupation for 35 years.

TLDR: Russian influence in Asia was the only thing protecting Korea from Japanese occupation. The Russian’s defeat in 1905 led to forty years of Japanese rule and the numerous horrors that entailed.

The mood was not all champagne and roses on Japan’s side either, people were like “What!? Russia paid no war reparations!?” and raised a riot immediately ([the Hibiya riot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiya_incendiary_incident)) even tho the Japanese treasury was on the verge of collapse from the war.
Well, for the Korean empire, all I can say as a Japanese is my deepestest condolences bro.