Comments on: TPR News: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - Cellular phone number portability and Kim Jong Il

by: DeOrio

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 16:40:24 +0000

I take that back. I checked a 国語 (Japanese to Japanese) dictionary and a 和英 (Japanese-English) dictionary and, technically, you and I are zainichi. So, Ken, you have a lot more in common with your Japanese contemporaries than you do with Koreans in Korea. Want to make something of it?

by: DeOrio

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 15:57:59 +0000

I haven’t discussed the subject with any zainichi lately, no. I thought that by calling the question unimportant, I implied that.

by: Ken

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 15:54:37 +0000

You didn’t answer my question. That was, seriously, one hell of a way not to give a yes/no answer.

by: DeOrio

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 09:23:57 +0000

Unless you’re going to survey a representative sample of zainichi Koreans, including both people over 19 holding Korean passports and those who opted to become naturalized Japanese citizens, it would be no more than anecdotal to ask. I’m not disputing that some zainichi Koreans think of themselves as Korean, that’s obvious and there are many nasty little racist occurrences and views among some Japanese that would reinforce such a view. (Some Black Americans view themselves as much part of a diaspora as American, it happens in every country and is exacerbated by racism.) I’m saying, with every possible qualification (that I’m not talking about everyone, that I don’t think being nationality or the other is better, that there are many ways to determine cultural heritage, and so on), that it doesn’t matter what one individual says. There are traits such as language, lifestyle, predominant cultural influences during formative years, etc. that can be observed, and that woudl lead a person to identify himself as Korean, even though he’s a lot more a part of Japanese society than he is a part of Korean society.
There are reasons beyond actual cultural similarity that lead people to identify with the nationalities of their ancestors. As I said before, the US is a great example of this and I think some of the same forces are at play in the zainichi communities in Japan.

by: Ken Worsley

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 07:58:50 +0000

Third or fourth generation Koreans born and raised in Japan, have a lot in common culturally with their Japanese contemporaries than they do with Koreans in Korea.

Have you tried telling that to any zainichi recently?

by: DeOrio

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 07:49:18 +0000

I’m referring more to being able to spot people or tell an immediate difference upon walking into someone’s house. Moreover, whether or not a zainichi becomes a Japanese citizen, they normally speak fluent Japanese, often as a native language, often without being able to speak fluent Korean. The distinction would be somewhat like the child of European parents being born and raised in the US. You might not guess anything was at all different about him until you heard an uncommon name. Granted, the names carry more weight here, and both Korea and Japan tend to have more homogenous names, foreign names being restricted, if not effectively prohibited for citizens, but the point remains: What’s in a name, under normal circumstances? On top of that, some zainichi who retain Korean citizenship use Japanese names in daily life. A name alone is just not a good indicator of culture. My name is De Orio, but I have a lot more in common with, say, a John Sheridan in the States than I do with any De Orio or di Iorio in Milan or Naples.
The passports are a fluke of the citizenship rules in the region. Third or fourth generation Koreans born and raised in Japan, have a lot in common culturally with their Japanese contemporaries than they do with Koreans in Korea. They’re slightly more Korean than you or I are Italian.
Why would a 19-year-old choose to retain citizenship in a country he may not have even spent much time in? Why would a 19-year-old in Boston get an Irish flag tattooed on his arm? Why would a 19-year-old in Miami identify himself as Italian? There are issues of emotion and familial pressure that play a role in that decision. Besides, keeping a Korean passport and special permanent resident status in Japan could be a wise decision if you plan to go back and forth, regardless of where your feelings lie culturally.

by: Ken

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 06:55:18 +0000

Garrett,
I think you’re confused about something. At the age of 19, zainichi are given a choice: be a Japanese or Korean citizen. Like much of East Asia, Japan does not offer a (legal) dual citizenship. Thus, those who choose to become ‘Japanese’ assume a Japanese name and in return, get passports, a jyuminho and a honseki.

So, it’s sort of ridiculous to say that zainichi who have chosen to remain Korean are culturally indistinguishable from Japanese - they have Korean names! That’s pretty easy to spot, and very culturally different.

You know I’m with you on the language issue, for the most part. But, many zainichi will strongly claim not to be culturally the same as Japanese. If they were, why retain a Korean name and passport?

by: DeOrio

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 04:48:28 +0000

That sure is picking a semantic bone, Ken. I think “race” and “ethnicity” are the same thing, the only difference being that “race” has been used to differentiate based on appearance. Then again, “ethnicity” is used to differentiate between people based on bloodlines and appearance more than on cultural background. When Koreans face discrimination in Japan, it has little to do with what they eat, and more to do with where their ancestors were from. If you want to say “ethnicity” where I’ve said “race,” that’s fine, but we’re talking about the same thing.
I don’t think “cultural background” is appropriate in this case because zainichi are often culturally and linguistically indistinguishable from ethnic Japanese. When a Korean goes to gets her special permanent resident card, it’s about what her grandfather’s name was, not about any practices or beliefs of her own.
I

by: Ken

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 16:12:48 +0000

Garrett,

I’m going to play semantics and pick a bone with you here. It’s about comment #324 above. You mention ‘race’ - but I don’t think that’s an apposite word to use at all. I think ‘ethnicity’ or ‘cultural background’ are more accurate. Then again, I think there’s only one race: the human race.

by: Ken

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 04:48:56 +0000

John,

The North Koreans living in Japan being referred to here are (usually) part of a group known as ‘zainichi’ in Japannese. There are about 610,000 of these people, born, raised and educated in Japan, yet still considered Korean. The Wikipedia article about zainichi might be helpful.