Being Zainichi and being forced to choose

Posted on by

At his K-1 matches, Choo wears both a Korean and Japanese flag on his uniform. Provided by the JoongAng Ilbo

by Robert Moorehead

K-1 UFC fighter Choo Sung-hon and soccer player Lee Chung-sun have more in common than their Korean ancestry and their status as professional athletes Both also surrendered their Korean citizenship when they became “Japanese.” Lee (known in Japan as Lee Tadanari) says he grew weary of the taunts he suffered in Korea because he grew up in Japan. Choo (known in Japan as Akiyama Yoshihiro) acquired Japanese nationality so he could compete on the Japanese national judo team. Choo wears both the Korean and Japanese flags on his uniform when he competes, to honor his dual heritage.

Faced with older Koreans in Japan pulling them toward retaining a Korean identity, and younger Koreans in Japan feeling a kinship to the Japanese country where they had been born and raised, many activists have pushed for a “third way,” an identity as Zainichi (Korean resident of Japan) that reflects their experiences as both of and not of Japan and Korea.

This interview with Choo captures his thoughts on his in-between status.

Racism in South Korea?

Posted on by

by Robert Moorehead

The discussion of alleged racism in South Korea in The Diplomat sounded so similar to discussions of the same issue in Japan that I wanted to post a link to the article. I can’t comment on the prevalence of racism in South Korea, since I’ve never been there and have read little on the issue. However, the issue of English teachers complaining of racial discrimination is familiar to me.

Like the teachers in South Korea, in Japan I’ve had people avoid sitting next to me on the train or subway, I’ve been followed in stores, and I’ve been harassed by a train conductor who insisted that he had stopped me multiple times trying to evade paying my fare (did he think we all look alike?). English teachers have the same right to complain about mistreatment and to pursue positive social change. But these teachers also have a higher status than other foreigners who face far greater challenges. In both Japan and South Korea, foreign migrant workers toil in low-status and low-pay “3-D” (dirty, dangerous, difficult) jobs that native workers avoid. These workers are often on the margins of the society, lacking legal protections from discrimination.

So how to address both the concerns of the teachers and the foreign migrant workers? What’s behind the allegations of mistreatment, and how can we move forward?

Korean hibakusha

Posted on by

Hibakusha diaries: Shin Hyong Gun, South Korean consul general in Hiroshima, points to exhibits featuring the diaries of foreign atomic bomb survivors at the city’s peace museum on July 15.

by Robert Moorehead

An estimated 30,000 Koreans, many forced laborers, were killed by the atomic blast in Hiroshima, and another 10,000 in Nagasaki. Myths of Japanese homogeneity have limited our understanding of the extent of the suffering in the war. Colonial powers are, by definition, multiethnic, and Japan was no exception. This exhibit helps us recognize this fact.

Links: Japan Times, Mainichi Daily News, David Palmer’s article in Japan Focus

Under pressure

Posted on by

Mats, bedding, chairs, slippers, empty bowls and cups lie on the floor of the gymnasium at Karino Elementary School, which was used as an evacuation shelter shortly after the nuclear crisis erupted, in the town of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, on July 26.

by Robert Moorehead

These articles from the Japan Times and the Mainichi Daily News raise questions about the Japanese government’s response to the multiple disasters of March 11, especially its decisions about what information to share with the Japanese people. Disasters never follow the nice, neat plans prepared by bureaucrats and scientists. But when you’re deciding what information to share with the public, whose ass do you cover? Whose interests win out? Do you risk worrying people unnecessarily? Do you risk letting innocent people suffer from radiation exposure because you decided not to warn them a plume was likely heading in their direction? Whose interests does the bureaucracy serve?