Yuki Kuori

How many of us in this class know about Zainichi people or are related to them? I do not think that we often have connection with them. To be honest, I did know much about them until I watched “Pachigi” and “Go”. Although, watching just two films dose not mean I am quite familiar with Zainichi people, these two films were meaningful for me.

I have been living in Osaka since I was born. Osaka is one of the famous places where many zainichi people live in, and lots of them are in Turuhashi where we can eat cheap Yakiniku but good quality. but I had little chance to get involved with them when I was a kid because their schools and Japanese public schools were separated and it seemed they lived in their community. Therefore, I did not know much about them.

The first time I was related to them was when I was in junior high school. I belonged to the soccer club and through the soccer match against “Chosen schools”, I came to know them. When I saw them for the first time, I was very shocked. Because they all were with shaven heads, spoke Korean and Japanese by turn and their soccer skills were amazing. At that time my images of zainichi people were kind of scary and totally different from us. After I graduated from the junior high school, there has been no opportunity to know them.

But recently, I have watched ” Pacchigi!” and ” Go” in this class and I have never watched those films describing Zainichi people before. Although the films describe them violence, we Japanese should watch them, because we rarely learn about Zainichi people in school and I think that films are very important means for most Japanese to understand them.

As long as we live together in this land we have to know each other and get along with. At the moment, Japanese do not know much about Zainichi people, so I think watching those films will give us the opportunity to understand them.

Wakana Dohtan

As we already learned in the Japanese Society class, the issue of Nikkei people living in Japan has been a quite controversial topic. Now it is apparently true that Japanese economy is heavily depending on foreign labor forces in a variety of places, for instance, manufacturing or agricultures. The home countries of these foreign workers are mainly from China, Korea, and the growing number of Nikkei people.

Especially talking about Nikkei people, since the new law, which enables Nikkei workers come and work in Japanese society with almost no conditions required, came into force in 1990, the number of them has been skyrocketing up until today. They usually devote themselves to unskilled and low-paid jobs which is so called 3D (Dirty, Dangerous, and Demeaning.) The reason why Nikkei people poured into Japan then were also associated with the very big economic downturn happened at the same time and mal-politics back home in large part of Latin America. Japanese government decided to accept Nikkei people because they predicted that if they have at least something in common with native Japanese like an ancestral linkage, there would be less conflicts and disagreements among Japanese society which seemed to prefer homogeneity and resulting efficiency at working place. However, this easygoing assumption turned out to be completely wrong. Even though they were “Nikkei”, their attitudes, culture, or speaking languages were totally Peruvian, or Brazilian, therefore, they had great difficulties of integration and there appeared so many problems like lack of necessary information, housing problems and cultural clashes with Japanese neighbors.

For such a situation, a friend of mine told me that Japanese government does not have to do anything to support them. He insists that Nikkei people were coming to Japan spontaneously with their own will and that they may not get any jobs if they stay in their home countries. In comparison with their homeland, Japan must be much better for them, therefore Japanese government should not take any extra responsibility for them.

Well, that could be one reasonable opinion. I personally, however, believe that as long as Japanese government is economically willing to accept cheap labor forces to fulfill the demand at working site, they also have to prepare and supply them basic circumstances for coming immigrants, for example by providing them with the Japanese-learning class, multilingual information, some sorts of social security, or checking system that investigates if their working contracts with the company is legal, all of which are greatly important for foreigners to survive in Japan. However, the reality is completely insufficient. Especially after the economic crisis in 2008, Nikkei people have been suffering from sudden and wrongful determination or unexpected cut down on their salary.

Self-help is the theory which is applicable only to the majority I think. Thus Japanese government should take it into account that Nikkei people are not only cheap labor forces but also “human beings”.

In Japanese Society class, we learn about Dowa problem. As we confirm in the class, almost all Japanese students learned about Dowa problem in elementary school and junior high school. We Japanese learn about Dowa problem in moral education class. Moral education class is a class about moral, citizenship, and behavior pattern. In that class, students learn about right and wrong from a moral point of view. Japanese elementary and junior high school have moral education class. The moral education textbook usually have several stories that make students think about better citizen. The stories are typically heartwarming stories. The stories stimulate students to act kindly. However, it might be a problem that students learn about Dowa problem in such class. Because it is not a moral issue but social issue. Not only Dowa issue, but when we learn about discrimination issue, we tend to think it is not “our issue” but it is “their issue”. We learn about discrimination and tend to think some kind of people (not me) is discriminated and other kind of people (not me) discriminate them. However, all of us can be discriminated and can discriminate others. The solution of discrimination is not to change individual’s mind, but discrimination is human rights abuse. When Japanese students learn about Dowa problem in a moral education class, they would think “discrimination is bad thing! ‘They’ (people who discriminate others) have to change their mind!” Because Dowa issue is social problem, it should be taught as a human rights problem not as a moral problem in school.

by Nana Uno

I watched the movies “Pacchigi” and “Go” both of which are stories about Zainichi Koreans through the class. In both movies, Zainichi Koreans usually have a hostile against Japanese. I was shocked to see that. I like Koreans and have a lot of Korean friends, so this fact made me sad. I think I am a good friend with my Korean friends. Then, I have been considering why the most of the Zainichi Koreans dislike Japanese. I came up with four reasons for this.

First, there is an unchangeable fact that Japan annexed to Korea in the past. At that time, Japanese people integrated Korea cruelly Japanese forced Koreans to assimilate Japanese culture, language, and name. They also treated with Koreans severely. Then, Koreans have an image that all Japanese people are spiteful.

Second, Japanese people actually discriminated against Zainichi Koreans just because they are different from Japanese. Japanese despised, teased, and did something spiteful to Zainichi Koreans. Some Japanese are so mean to Zainichi Koreans that a lot of Koreans living in Japan have an image that all Japanese people are ill-natured.

Third, even though any Japanese isn’t hard on Zainichi Koreans, Zainichi Koreans have some stresses because Zainichi Koreans are often disliked by Koreans living in Korea. It’s because Zainichi Koreans don’t have duty of military service in spite of their nationalities as Koreans, Zainichi Koreans had right to come back to Korea, but they didn’t, and during The Korean War, Zainichi Koreans didn’t fight and fled to Japan. Then, Zainichi Koreans take it out on Japanese just because Zainichi Koreans feels some stresses

Fourth, it’s just because Zainichi Koreans envy Japanese people’s wealthy by comparing with themselves or their own country Korea. Japan is a well developed country and has a lot of good points. For example, Japan is the safest country of all countries and there’re a lot of splendid cultures in Japan. Thus, Korean people usually envy Japanese.

For four reasons, Zainichi Korean have animosity toward Japanese people, I suppose. Even though there is such a Korean who doesn’t like Japanese, I like Korean people very much.

by Akimi Yano

There are 135 U.S. military bases in this small country, Japan. Topics about U.S. military bases are recognized widely especially relating to Futenma base camp in Okinawa and the discussion is still going on. For the most part, issues related to U.S. military bases in Japan are spoken with negative implications. For example, some Okinawan people argue about the noises combat planes make, or about some serious crimes committed by U.S. soldiers. However, in this post, I would like to put my focus on positive impacts that U.S. military bases give to Japanese society, mentioning an example of English conversation schools inside the base.

How many of the readers of this blog know about English conversation schools in the U.S. military base? In fact, I did not know much until I began researching about it in writing this post. Though there aren’t many, there are some U.S. military bases that preserve English conversation schools. I would like to mention about Mommies’ English School in Sumouhara base as an example.

Mommies’ English School is located in the American Town within Sumouhara base where 2000 Americans live. It serves comfortable time to have natural conversation with native English speakers and it is possible to change your instructor if he/she was compatible to you. By learning at this school, it is possible to acquire not only English skills, but also able to become conscious of ‘real’ culture and customs. English conversation schools in U.S. military bases enable you to feel as if you are studying abroad without stirring to other countries.
It is always important to look at both positive and negative points. Here, I touched some positive aspects on U.S.  military bases especially those to Japanese society, since negative aspects are taken up only. Just arguing does not necessary lead to the solution of issues. It is sometimes important to look at the good effects U.S. military bases give to Japanese society.

by Minami Hosokawa

Today, I want to write about “meaning and recognition of being Japanese” thinking with education in Japanese elementary school.

First of all, I am Japanese. My mother and father are Japanese, I born in Japan and grow up in Japan. But I lived in England for 4 years in total when I was in elementary school. I spend half of the time in Japanese school and the half in local school. In a way, it was the most shocking experience in my whole life and also later day life after I came back in Japan.

I came back in Japan when I was third grade in elementary. It was private elementary school in Nara and there were about 80 children in each grade and I was the only transfer student in my school. Also I was the only student who can speak with ES teacher. At first day in my elementary, I was called “gaijin” just because I came back from England and can speak English. The word was enough for me to addle my identity.

Why I am “gaijin”? What is the difference between me and other children?

From 2011 in Japan, every elementary school required English class for children to acquire basis of communication. The numbers of foreigners in Japan are increasing and it is not rare to see “Hafu” child in Japanese elementary school. I think this is good mood for Japanese education but still there are many things to think about. Japanese are ethnic group of accommodativeness which means they don’t like the “difference” especially when they are child. We have to think and teach about how children deal when they met with “difference” and how to understand it not just thinking about “communication skill”.

by Anonymous

Do you know Shigeru Kayano? He is a man who made an effort to protect Ainu culture and language, and he is Ainu himself. He was born in 1926, Nibutani, Hokkaido. He was brought up by his grandmother, who spoke only Ainu language. So he became to be able to speak two languages: Japanese and Ainu. He talked with his grandmother in Ainu when they go to get wild plants. Then he grew up, when he was young, he didn’t feel good about being Ainu, and he was thinking that he wanted to escape from being Ainu.

However when collectors and scholars started to collect the tool of Ainu for agriculture, his heart was injured. Then he started to collect them by himself. This is the start of his life to protect Ainu culture and language. After that, he made a lot of efforts to protect Ainu culture and language. He recorded Ainu language, wrote dictionary of Ainu language and published it. He made a wedding of Ainu style again, and he made houses of Ainu style. He made a museum to preserve his collection of the tools of Ainu. He made a preparatory school to learn Ainu language; this is to maintain Ainu language.

Moreover he became the first Ainu member of the Diet. He made a question in Ainu language to know everyone there is another ethnic group except Yamato race. This is the first time to be used other language except Japanese language. During his term of a member of Diet, the act to promote Ainu culture was established. This is very important point about protection of Ainu culture and language.

Now, various events to show Ainu culture are held. For example, the Ainu traditional dance performance is performed by young people whose ancestors are Ainu. The recognition that there were Ainu people on Hokkaido except Yamato race is becoming spread. Long time ago, the homeland of Ainu people was taken by Yamato race. Ainu culture and language was received lots of pressure.

This is the event in very old time, but the problems about Ainu culture and language still exist. We cannot miss this truth. We must know the existence of Ainu people, culture, language and unfair treatment for Ainu people. To say that Japan is a mono ethnic nation has a lot of misunderstanding.

by Ayako Miyamae

There are a lot of Japanese Americans called “Nikkei” in the United States. I’ve home stayed in Nikkei’s family and they told me that situation during the WW2 was hard time for them. They were discriminated and sent to the camp for few years because the United States was fighting against japan during that time. After coming back from the camp, they stopped using Japanese in public and started to stay with other Americans. Especially for the second generation and third generation, most of them married non-Japanese American.

Therefore, Nikkei people adapted their self to American society. Also, it was not too difficult for them to be the same like other Americans because there are so many different nationalities in American society and Nikkei is not only one who looks different. For example, there are Chinese American and Korean American living in the same area so it’s difficult to distinguish them. Besides, there are Indian American and Italian American so they all look different.

But the situation is not so easy in Japanese society. I think there are two reasons to make them hard to live without discrimination in Japan. The first reason is because there aren’t so many Nikkei people in Japan. Nikkei people in Japan who came from South America look different from Japanese people. When we see them, we can see that they are different. The situation might be changed if the numbers of foreigners increase so much in Japan in the future.

The second reason is that in Japanese school they make us look the same. We need to wear uniforms and our hairs need to be black all the time. This circumstance also makes us to distinguish Nikkei people that they are different. Japanese people should get used to live with the people who don’t look the same. But for now, I guess it’s uncomfortable for Nikkei people to live in Japanese society.

by Misaki Fukada

 I strongly remember that there were a lot of Nikkei students in my elementary school in Mie. The number of the Nikkei students was over 30 at that time. It means that four to five students were Nikkei students in each class. Most of them were from Brazil and their grandfathers were Japanese so they had a Japanese last name. The reason why there were so many Nikkei people in my hometown was because there are a lot of factories near my hometown like Honda or Sharp. And the second reason was the prefectural housing, which they could live in a low price and they are located in my hometown.

The teachers of my school liked to teach us cross-cultural understandings, so we often learned about the culture in Brazil. Sometimes the class was held in Portuguese and I remember that I didn’t understand anything. Because of those lectures, all of the Japanese students in my school thought Nikkei students were Brazilian and different from Japanese. And also the Nikkei students understood that they were Nikkei but different from Japanese. So Nikkei students didn’t play with the Japanese students and they played with Nikkei students and spoke Portuguese. The situation was not so bad until they enter the middle school. In that elementary school, there was special Japanese class for Nikkei students so they can learn Japanese. But there weren’t in the middle school, and also the classes became difficult than in elementary school so they couldn’t catch up. As a result, many of them dropped out from school and became delinquents. I don’t know what they are doing now, but I really think it is a sad situation. I know some of the Nikkei students studied hard and entered high school or even university but they are minority.

The prefectures that have high population of Nikkei people have to think about the education for them. Before taking this Japanese Society class, I thought that it was good thing that the teachers taught us about the culture of Brazil or Portuguese to know their culture, but after the class of Ha-Fu and Nikkei things, I felt it made them feel different from us. But on the other side, they were born in Brazil and they should keep their culture and we need to know about it. Well… was it right or wrong?

by Misaki Fukada

In the previous blog, I wrote about education of Dowa Problem and suggested that we should hide that so as not to remember; namely, 寝た子を起こすな論. In my view, the theory does work in the case of Dowa Problem; however, as described in Pacchigi!, lack of correct understanding of certain kind of problems such as about Zainichi Koreans may cause troubles. In the movie, when Kosuke (main character) attempted to pray in his Zainichi friend’s funeral, he was refused by the friend’s families due to lack of understanding of Zainichi’s history. That is, unlike Dowa Problem, the problem of Zainichi Korean requires another way to learn; thus the following will discuss the way to learn about Zainichi Koreans, comparing with the case of Dowa Problem.

The first difference between burakumins and Zainichi Koreans is their identities. The former has identities as Japanese and the latter has those as, more or less, Koreans. Unlike burakumins who are completely Japanese, Zainichi Koreans are different from Japanese. The second difference is in their demands; i.e. the former requires assimilation into other Japanese majority because they have a historical background that they were outcasted in Edo Era, while the latter keep on having their own culture including, as described in the movie, makkori and Choko (high schools for Zainichi Koreans). In other words, Zainichi Koreans requires diversity unlike burakumins who are seeking to assimilation.

In the case of burakumins, 寝た子を起こすな論 works because they have Japanese identities and require assimilation; while in the case of Zainichi Koreans, the theory does not work because they do not completely have Japanese identities and require diversity; thus, we need to have correct historical understanding of Zainichi Koreans actively. In the movie, Kosuke was refused by his friend’s families and the sole reason was his nationality: Japanese. Zainichi Koreans have a historical background that they came to Japan through the colonialism of Japan and they perhaps do not have good image to Japan. The movie described Kosuke as naïve and ignorant; while at present, Japanese youth are unconcerned about such problems; in other words, they tend not try to know. The historical backgrounds are different between 1970s (in the movie) and 21st century; but both are common in a sense that both Kosuke and Japanese youth do not have knowledge about Zainichi Koreans; thus, the lesson of having historical understanding can be applied not only to Kosuke but also to us.

by Kosuke Matsuura