The Zainichi Population in Japan: Its Origins and its Present State

Panel Convenor(s)

• MC

  Mark Caprio

  Independent Researcher, Japan

Panel Chair(s)

• MC

  Mark Caprio

  Independent Researcher, Japan

Presenter(s)

• MC

  Mark Caprio

  Independent Researcher, Japan
• HL

  Hyangjin Lee

  Rikkyo University, Japan
• JK

  Jackie Kim-Wachutka

  Ritsumeikan University, Japan

This panel will trace the origins and the present situation of the zainichi population in Japan from the earliest days of the postwar (post-liberation) world in Korea and Japan, to the present situation in Japan. Why did Koreans decide to remain in Japan rather than return to their homeland? Was living in Japan the better option or were there complications that prevented them from undertaking the trip home? Did they have a homeland in which to return? These and other questions will be addressed in Mark Caprio's presentation. The two other presentations address more contemporary issues. Hyangjin Lee looks at how this population is represented in present-day film. She provides  a "textual analysis focuses on the representational ambivalence and multiple perspectives communicated by zainichi filmmakers disapproving of the Japanese indiscriminate cultural assimilation policies and processes endorsed by the myth of national homogeneity." Her presentation will examine a number of films that examine the present-day plight of this minority in Japan including Worst By Chance (2003), Bulgogi: The Yakiniku Movie (2007) and Hard Romanticka (2011), all directed by Gu Suyoen. Jackie Kim-Wachutka's presentation deals with how minority women (including Korean) in Japan deal with hate speeches, hate crimes, and other directed against their communities. She links awareness to such problems with other movements overseas including the Black Lives Matter and the Me Too movements of recent. Through these presentations the authors hope to instill that although the zainichi  Korean situation has improved over the decades that followed Japan's defeat in August 1945, questions remain as to whether images toward this population have kept up with the times in contemporary Japan.

Presentations:

• 16:15 – 18:00 (GMT+7)

  Postwar Koreans in Japan and the Creation of a Diaspora in the Zainichi Korean Population: Repatriation Troubles
  

  Presenter: Mark E. Caprio – Independent Researcher
• 16:15 – 18:00 (GMT+7)

  Zainichi Cinema and the Post-national : Romance and Inter-ethnicity in Gu Suyeon's Road Movies
  

  Presenter: Hyangjin Lee – Rikkyo University
• 16:15 – 18:00 (GMT+7)

  Fighting Hate Speech and Microaggression: Ethnic Minority Women and Intersectional Recognition.
  

  Presenter: Jackie Kim-Wachutka – Ritsumeikan University