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Home , Akihito, Emperor Kanmu, Mindan, North Korean passport, Shoku Nihongi

Meiji Gakuin Course No. 3505 Minority and Marginal Groups of Contemporary

Tom Gill Lecture No. 4

Koreans 在日コリアン HISTORY 1. Ancient History

• Korean kings thought to be buried at ; many archaeological finds show Korean influence on Japan. • Also Chinese influence via – Confucianism, etc. • in Japan today like to point out Japan’s cultural debt to Korea. Ancient Japanese burial mounds … 塚・古墳 … may conceal remains of Korean kings?

… the Japanese government doesn’t want to know. Radical emperor?

During a news conference to mark his 68th birthday, Emperor mentioned a historical document showing that one of his eighth- century ancestors was a descendant of immigrants from the Korean Peninsula. He said he felt a close "kinship" with Korea. 『続日本記』によると The Emperor, quoting from the "" ("Chronicles of Japan"), compiled in 797, said the mother of (737- 806) had come from the royal family of Paekche, ancient kingdom of Korea.

桓武天皇の母親はコリアの皇室出身者 It was the first time a member of the Imperial family had ever publicly noted the family's blood ties with 23 Korea. December 2002 韓国で大歓迎 His remark received a warm welcome in Seoul. South Korean President Kim Dae Jung praised the Emperor for his "correct understanding of history." 手を上げてください

I wonder how many of the Meigaku students here today know that Emperor Akihito himself has stated that he is of Korean descent? 明学の学生たち、明仁天皇自身が朝鮮の ルーツを認めているて、知っています か？ 朝日だけ報道した Of the five national papers, the Mainichi, the Yomiuri, the Sankei and the Nihon Keizai Shinbun ignored the Emperor's Korea reference. Only the Asahi Shinbun ran a story highlighting its significance. 2. Medieval History Toyotomi Hideyoshi, C16th Japanese warlord, twice tried to invade Korea: 1592 and 1597-8. A famous 李 이 Korean 舜 순 admiral saw

臣

him off: YI 신 (RI, I) SUN SHIN (1545- 1598) A national hero of Korea… KOBUKSON ironclad ‘turtle ships’ + brilliant tactics

Hideyoshi’s “Ear mound” (Mimizuka) in Higashiyama, (formerly “nose mound” 3. Modern History 1876, Treaty of Kanghwa 明治9年、江華条約 An unequal treaty, forced upon Korea by Japan. Japanese in Korea no longer subject to Korean law, but still subject to Japanese law. Japanese get trading privileges too. 1910, Japan annexes Korea Korea is a Japanese colony for the next 35 years, 1910-1945. 朝鮮、日本の植民地に Assimilation policy

(1) Religion: Attempt to convert Koreans to religion. (2) Language: attempt to replace Korean with Japanese, gradually outlawing Korean. (3) Identity: Koreans forced to adopt Japanese names （創氏改名）. The aim was to make Korea part of Japan. Mount Fuji overtaken…

In Japanese schools during the colonial period, it was taught that the highest mountain in Japan was not Mount Fuji but Mount Yushan (The Jade Mountain). Indeed, Mount Yushan is 3,952m or 12,963ft high, slightly taller than Mount Fuji, which is 3,776 meters (12,390 feet). But Mount Yushan is not in Japan: it is in Taiwan. A very literal form of colonialism. Sohn Kee-chung, Son Gi-jung In 1936 a Korean man, Sohn Kee- Chung, won the Berlin Olympic marathon. He was forced to run under the Japanese flag and his win was counted as a gold medal for Japan. 손기정 孫基禎) (1912 - 2000) Cf. UK colonialism

In the days of the British empire (often cited as an important model for Japan’s empire building) there was never any attempt to wipe out native languages, or to claim that or Africa were ‘part of Britain’.

Why? (Discuss) • Of course, Korea is much CLOSER to Japan than India is to Britain. • It’s also much smaller and hence easier to govern. • A better comparison might be England and Ireland.

Incomplete assimilation

• No intention to make Koreans full citizens of Japan. • They cannot vote in Japanese elections. • Distinction between ‘naichijin’ 内地人 (inlanders, i.e. Japanese living in Japan) and ‘gaichijin’ 外地人 (outlanders, ie. Those in Korea, Taiwan etc.) Migration begins • Under colonialism, numbers of Koreans coming to Japan to get work slowly rise. There are 80,000 living in Japan by 1923.

1885 1 (officially). 1910 3,542. Japan annexes Korea. c. Population passes that of Chinese, making Koreans the 1917 biggest ethnic minority in Japan. 1918: 22,262. 1920: Passes 30,000. 1922 59,865. Mostly single men coming to Japan as labourers. 1923 – The Great Kanto Earthquake kills 130,000-140,000 people in the /Yokohama region. But also, 6,000 Koreans are massacred for ‘planning riots’ and ‘poisoning the wells.’ Some were killed by Japanese policemen and soldiers.

1923 6,000 Koreans massacred after Great Kanto Earthquake. Eyewitness sketch of the massacre Why were Koreans hated so much?

(1) Government propaganda encouraged the idea that Koreans were inferior. (2) Ordinary Japanese people feared that they might lose their jobs to Koreans, who would work harder, and for lower wages, than themselves. There were many cycles of boom and bust in the 1920s and 1930s. A fast-growing minority 1930 300,000. Chain migration brings Korean workers’ families to Japan.

1936 690,501.

1938 800,000. Start of forced labour migration 強制連行 as war approaches. Yet still Korean migration to Japan expanded: … by a factor of ten over the next 15 years. By 1938, on the eve of World War II, there were 800,000 Koreans living in Japan. Early in the colonial period, it was mostly single men coming over to work; but as the years passed, they started to bring their families and relatives over, in a case of ‘chain migration’. Sweated labor

“On average, Koreans were paid a third less than indigenous workers, and were regarded as inherently suited for tasks involving physical strength but little else.”

Michael Weiner 1997, p. 84. If things were so bad for Koreans in Japan, how come they carried on migrating?

• Because things were even worse in Korea. There was widespread poverty, and the country’s natural resources were exploited by the Japanese. Eg, Korea exported rice to Japan during the inter-war period, although there were often food shortages in Korea. Japan : Korea :: England : Ireland (I mentioned that Ireland was one of England’s first colonies. The staple food of Ireland was the potato. During the 19th century there was a series of potato famines in Ireland, but at the same time Irish potatoes were being exported to England by the English colonial landlords.)

Colony 植民地 Famine 飢饉 Export 輸出 The Cheju connection A large proportion of migrants to Japan were from Cheju, an island to the south of the Korean peninsula that was poverty-stricken and discriminated against by other Koreans. It was the same with migrants from Japan to Latin America. They were mostly from the poverty class, and many were Okinawans. Cheju : Korea :: Okinawa : Japan. Cheju-do and Japan Forced labor in wartime Japan 1.5 million Koreans were brought to Japan between 強 1938 and 1945, mostly to work in factories, fields and 制 mines as substitutes for Japanese men called up to 連 join the army and because extra manpower was

行 needed for the war effort. The longer the war went on, the more desperate the Japanese government became, and a large proportion of these people were forced to go to Japan against their will and used almost as slave labor, though officially wages were supposed to be paid. Wartime growth 1941 1,469,230.

1943 1,882,431

1945 2,365,263. Population peaks at end of WW2. Japan defeated. Korean City Populattions

Year Osaka Hiroshima Nagasaki Fukuoka 1910 206 24 173 335

1937 234,188 19,525 7,625 50,565

1945 333,354 84,886 61,773 205,452

Source: Michael Weiner 1997, p.87. Korean hibakusha

• Of approx. 80,000 Koreans resident in Hiroshima, 30,000 were killed in the blast or died soon after. The other 20,000 survived as hibakusha. • In Nagasaki approx. 10,000 died and another 10,000 were irradiated. • See Weiner’s chapter on Korean hibakusha in Japan’s Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity. The struggle to secure health treatment and compensation for them continues to this day. The Korean monument in the Hiroshima Peace Park: A source of controversy. Who to commemorate, and how?

The Korean monument was first established in the 1960s, by the government of (ROK, Kankoku 韓国). There is no monument associated with (DPRK Kita Chousen, 北朝鮮)… a legacy of the postwar troubles, the division of the Korean peninsula, and bad relations between Pyongyang and Tokyo. Who gets commemorated, and how?

The monument is dedicated to the memory of atomic bomb victims from the Republic of Korea (Kankoku 韓国)… a country that did noｔ even exist at the time the bomb was dropped. And where?

The monument used to be on the other side of the river from the Peace Park. It was moved to its present location inside the park after protests from the (South) Korean community. But since then, it has been vandalized several times by right-wingers who do not want Koreans to be remembered in the same park as Japanese. Issues left over from the War

• Unpaid wages of Korean workers. • Compensation for the families of Koreans killed or wounded while fighting for the Japanese army. • Korean hibakusha • Korean comfort women. • Teaching of history in Japanese textbooks. 1946 600,000. Following repatriation of most forced labourers. 1947 Partition of Korea. 1948 Cheju Massacre. Mindan founded. 1950 750,000. U-turn effect as Korea is divided and heads toward war. 1950-3 . 1955 Chongryun (Chôsen Sôren) founded. Post-war events

• Repatriation of c. 1.5 million Koreans. (Important: Most of those who stayed in Japan were people who had come to Japan before the war, so it is not strictly true to say that most Koreans in Japan today were forced to migrate – cf Fukuoka 2000, 9-10.) • Partial U-turn, reflecting troubles in Korea: superpower struggle, Cheju Massacre, partition, Korean War. Post-war treatment of Koreans in Japan What can a government do with an ethnic minority? 6 options: assimilation, pluralism, legal protection, population transfer, subjugation, extermination. (Fukuoka 2000 p. 13) Assimilation? Assimilation means turning Koreans into Japanese. But after the Allied occupation ended, in 1952, Koreans were stripped of their Japanese citizenship. Population transfer?

Population transfer means sending the Koreans back to Korea, but Japan made no particular effort to do that after 1952. E.g. no state support for schools where Koreans could learn their own language and culture. No government contribution towards the costs of repatriating. Pluralism?

Pluralism means accepting members of the minority group as part of society. But Japan does not permit dual nationality after the age of 22, so anyone who applies for Japanese citizenship must abandon his or her Korean citizenship. Those with Korean citizenship have no voting rights although they pay taxes, and must carry an alien registration card. Those with North Korean citizenship cannot even get a . Worst of both worlds “It is true that it has been made difficult for Koreans to live in Japan, but it has not been made particularly easy to return to Korea.” (Fukuoka p. 17). Subjugation

“A policy that attempts neither to absorb the minority group nor to expel it, but rather to maintain its inferior social status and subject it to oppression and exploitation.” (p.13). The Workers’ Paradise

1959 Some 90,000 are repatriated to North Korea.

Many Zainichi Koreans were living in poverty – unemployed and surviving on welfare. They nearly all came from [what is now] South Korea, but many of them were Communists, and could expect heavy punishment if they went back to the ROK. Meanwhile the DPRK had a severe labor shortage… and so a deal was done. 1980 700,000. The population has stabilized. By now the majority are people born and bred in Japan. Naming issue 1987 First legal victory by a naturalized Korean demanding that he be allowed to use his Korean name although he had become a naturalized Japanese. 1991: Japan-ROK treaty * Naturalization simplified * Fingerprinting abolished * “Special permanent resident” status created.

1999 636,000. Zainichi: 518,000, Newcomers: 118,000. 200,000 have naturalized; they and their offspring form another major population. The population today Korean nationals: 578,495 (Japanese Ministry of Justice, March 2010) Of which: “Special permanent residents”: 405,571 (70%) “Newcomers”: 172,924 (30%) Plus naturalized “Korean Japanese”: 296,168 (ROK govt: March 2009) Registered Korean nationals, 1910-2010

Special permanent residents KOREANS IN JAPAN TODAY Are they North Korean or South Korean? Geographically, 99% are from South Korea, especially from the southern provinces of Kyongsang-do and Cheju-do. But most first-generation Zainichi Koreans came over from Korea in the days before partition, when there was only one Korea. Many of them supported Kim Il-Sung when Korea was divided. Legally, too, they preferred to be identified as citizens of the DPRK. (To them, Kim Il-Sung was a Korean hero who had fought a guerilla battle against the Japanese imperialists. Syngman Rhee (president of South Korea) was just a puppet of the American imperialists.) Family origins (2010)

Kyongsang S 慶尚南道 172,343 28.79% Kyongsang N 慶尚北道 125,392 20.94% Cheju island 済州島 99,421 16.61% Seoul ソウル市 57,574 9.62% North Korea 北朝鮮 3,001 0.50% “North Koreans” and “South Koreans”

… are categories that have nothing to do with geography.

North Koreans and South Koreans in Japan, since 1955

Year North Korean South Korean nationality nationality 1955 75% 25% 1969 50% 50% 1992 25% 75% Why the shift?

• Changing political and economic situation on Korean peninsula. • Japanese government inducements. • 1965 Japan-ROK treaty and prolonged absence of diplomatic relations with North Korea. Are Koreans assimilating? 在日コリアンは「同化」しているか どうか？結婚+帰化 There are 2 principle ways an ethnic minority assimilates into the majority： (1)Marriage (2)Naturalization Marriages involving Koreans in Japan

Year K K wife, J A + B K-K All K-K, husband, husband ( B) K-J J wife (A) marriages 1960 26% 9% 33% 66% 3,500 1970 20% 22% 43% 56% 6,900 1980 23% 34% 57% 42% 7,300 1990 20% 64% 84% 16% 13,900 1995 32% 51% 83% 17% 9,000

Source: Simplified version of table on Fukuoka 2000 p. 35. Naturalization

Year (N&S) Korean Nationals Total Foreign Residents 1952 232 282 1955 2,434 2,661 1960 3,763 4,156 1970 4,646 5,379 1980 5,987 8,004 1990 5,216 6,794 1995 10,327 14,104 1997 9,678 15,061 Total 217,055 286,734 Korean Population (As of Dec 1996) 1 Osaka 170,516 2 Tokyo 93,437 3 Hyogo 68,430 4 Aichi 51,369 5 Kyoto 44,451 6 Kanagawa 32,470 7 Fukuoka 23,910

40 other prefectures 172,576

Total 657,159 Korean Population (As of Dec 2009) 1 Osaka 129,992 2 Tokyo 114,273 3 Hyogo 53,142 4 Aichi 40,643 5 Kanagawa 34,233 6 Kyoto 32,305 7 Saitama 19,750 8 Fukuoka 19,087

Total 578,495 Education (1986) ‘North’ Korean ‘South’ Korean 조선학교 Choson hakkyo Elementary: 81 4 schools (2 in Osaka, 1 each in Tokyo and Junior high: 57 Kyoto), covering Senior high: 12 elementary to senior high age groups. University: 1 None. The breakdown c. 150,000 school-age Koreans: * 86% at Japanese schools * 13% at ‘North’ Korean schools * 1% at ‘South’ Korean schools (as of 1986; Fukuoka 2000, p.25) A Korean high school in Tokyo Education (2009) ‘North’ Korean ‘South’ Korean 조선학교 Choson hakkyo 73 schools, 8 of them 4 schools (2 in Osaka, 1 temporarily closed, each in Tokyo and with 8,300 students Kyoto), covering elementary to senior high age groups. University: 1 None. Korean businesses • 1. Yakiniku – Some 40,000 restaurants, thought to be c. 90% Korean owned. • 2. Pachinko – Some 18,000 pachinko halls, thought to be c. 70% Korean owned. The little silver balls

• Pachinko is played by about 30 million people, i.e. a quarter of the Japanese population. “Sales” of c. 30 trillion yen a year, roughly $350 billion = roughly 1 million yen ($8,000) per person per year. Bigger than auto industry or defense budget. • Of course a lot of that money is returned in the form of prizes, or spent on buying and maintaining equipment, paying employees etc. But it is still a very lucrative business. DIFFERENT KINDS OF KOREANS Fukuoka Categories • Pluralist – ‘Living together while respecting mutual differences.’ • Nationalist – ‘Overseas nationals’, usually of the DPRK. • Individualist – ‘Self-expression’. Ethnic labels don’t matter. • Naturalizing – Desire to become Japanese. • Ethnic Solidarity – Stress mutual assistance among Zainichis. Feel attachment to both countries, want to learn Korean, visit Korea, in search of roots. Mindan HQ (Shingawa, Tokyo) Chongryun HQ, Tokyo Famous Zainichi Koreans and Japanese-Koreans Every now and again, rumors start going round that some Japanese star of sport, music or film is actually Korean. Some of those rumors are true. Rather like black people in the US, Koreans have tended to fight their marginal status with determination to make the big time. Most of them hide their Korean ethnicity. Misora Hibari (enka singer) 力 道

山 Rikidozan Pro wrestler 1924-1963 Symbol of Japan’s post- war recovery Rikidozan was a national hero in the 1950s. He would defeat far bigger men, mostly white, with an explosive barrage of karate chops… “A powerful display of national pride and masculinity” (John Lie, Multiethnic Japan, p. 62). Real name: Kim Sin-Nak Born 1924 in Northern Korea. Because of the long history of discrimination by the Japanese against Koreans, Sin-Nak used the name Mitsuhiro Momota and claimed he hailed from Nagasaki. While growing up, he encountered that prejudice against Koreans often, and was known to have been quite bitter because of it. He kept his true identity a secret for his entire career, and his true nationality was not revealed until years after his death. -- Steve Slagel, Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame Isao Harimoto (active 1959-1981) Only man in Japanese baseball to pass 3,000 hits. A proud Korean who helped found the South Korean league. Matsuzaka Keiko (actress) Kaneda Masaichi (Giants) Hisao Niura 新浦 壽夫 Giants + Yokohama pitcher; now baseball commentator Miyako Harumi (enka singer) Korean father Tachihara Masa’aki 立原正秋 (novelist) Wada Akiko (jazz singer) 木村充揮, 憂歌団 Atsuki Kimura Blues singer, ex Ukadan

Born in Ikuno-ku Osaka. Real name Pak Su Sun 朴秀勝（ぱく・すすん Ikuno-ku 生 野 区 has about 30,000 foreign nationals in its total population of 130,000. Over 27,000 are of North or South Korean nationality. It is the most multi- ethnic ward in Osaka and the heart of the Kansai Korean community. There are nearly 2,000 Chinese living there too. Osaka city government data, Sept 2011 Even Beat Takeshi 帰「 桧 化 山 し 新 な 次

い 郎 」 Korean and proud of it: Shinjiro Hiyama 徳 Tokuyama 山 昌 Masamori 守 8 straight 洪 昌 defences of his 守 WBC Super ホ Flyweight title ン Korean name: チ・ ャ Hon Chan Su ン

ス Tokuyama Masamori / Hon Chan Su • Born in Osaka, fights under a . He has a but fights under the “One Korea” banner. • Fans dress in Korean gear, wave Korean flags, bang Korean drums, sing Korean songs. • Not allowed into South Korea or the ; banned for visiting North Korea. • But very popular in South Korea and Japan. Despite his allegiance to Korea, many Japanese fans admire the Tokyo-born fighter. To some, he represents the disenfranchised, to others he is merely a talented sportsman with little ego and an everyman quality. Into the 2000s … and the image of Koreans in Japan sharply divides along political lines. Kidnapping Bombshell

2002 Koizumi – Kim Jong-Il summit. North Korea admits abducting Japanese citizens. Anti-North Korean sentiment strengthens in Japan 拉致問題ショック April 2003: Winter Sonata A romantic Korean drama makes a huge hit on NHK … part of the ‘Korea Wave’ (Hanryu/Kanryu) Bae Yong Jun a.k.a. ‘Yon-sama’

Heart-throb of middle-aged Japanese ladies… he shows an old-fashioned romanticism and sincerity that is allegedly missing in Japanese guys. South Korean singer BoA

In 2003 she sells 1..25 million copies of her album Valenti in Japan… her biggest hit

7 albums, 6 made #1 in Japan Girls’ Generation 少女時代… recent hit 2005 Kenkanryu “anti-Korean wave” The year 2005 saw a rash of anti- Korean popular books, especially a notorious manga, called Kenkanryu 嫌韓流。A nationalistic backlash against growing popularity of Korean pop culture. Japanese look European, Koreans Japanese look ultra- Asiatic… a good example of Korean the ‘gaijin complex’ Korean

Japanese

Just look at the eyes… Two … • DPRK president Kim Jong-Il further alienates Japan with repeated test firings of ‘Taepodong’ and ‘Nodong’ missiles, some in Japan’s direction… then tests a nuclear weapon, October 9, 2006. After Kim’s death in December 2011, his son Kim Jon-Un came to power still his 20s. No-one knows how the DPRK will develop under his leadership. While South Korea enjoys an improved image from the “Korea wave”, North Korea is viewed with ever deeper suspicion.

… North-leaning Zainichi Koreans are far more likely to wear traditional Korean clothes, especially school uniforms, than those neutral or south-leaning. The “jeogori,” though pretty, is an easy target for anti-Korean racists. Resented “privileges”

Lengthy campaigning by Mindan, Chongryun and other pressure groups has won a series of concessions for Koreans. Japanese right-wingers call these concessions “zainichi tokken” (在日特権) and loudly demand their abolition. Some examples… At the airport…

Zainichi Koreans are allowed to enter Japan at the same gate as Japanese citizens, as “special permanent residents.” No other national group gets that treatment. They do not have to give their fingerprints or have their photograph taken, unlike the rest of us.

The ambiguous alias 通名

Many Koreans have had the habit of using an assumed name (alias), called a tsuumei in Japanese. For many, that is a response to racism. But the alias has a semi-legal status. For instance it can be used on financial documents. It can also be changed fairly easily. There have been some cases of people using this as an aid to illegal transactions.

It also means that if a Zainichi Korean commits a crime, the name that appears in the media will often be the Japanese alias, so it seems to the casual reader as if it the criminal was Japanese rather than Korean.

Some Japanese do not like that. Anti-Korean propaganda: note “Kankoku”, not “Kita Chosen” 2008

• Chinese overtake Koreans to become Japan’s biggest ethnic minority. … in terms of legal nationality.

The number of ethnic Koreans in Japan is far higher than the half million who still have ROK or DPRK nationality. Many have naturalized, many have married Japanese and had ethnically mixed children. They are gradually blending into the population. Yokohama’s “” Everybody knows Chinatown (Chukagai), which has developed from an ethnic ghetto into Yokohama’s premier tourist attraction. Just across the road is Kotobuki-cho, a notorious slum district which is largely owned by Koreans. The contrasting fate of Yokohama’s two main ethnic minorities is very striking.