Koreans in Japan

Koreans in Japan

Koreans are currently the largest ethnic minority group in Japan. They are often known as Zainichi Koreans, which refers to the long term or permanent residents of Japan who are still of Korean nationalities. The term does not include Koreans who are Japanese citizens.

It was Japan’s colonization of Korea that influenced a great number of Koreans to migrate to Japan. However, Koreans were forced to become subjects of Imperial Japan after the annexation of Korea in 1910. The Japanese government then confiscated a large amount of land from Korean landowners. These eventually led to Koreans trying to escape from poverty and were forced to look for jobs in Japan.

Koreans who migrated to Japan faced severe discrimination and prejudice. One example of this would be the time of the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake. Rumors were started that Koreans were taking advantage of this disaster and committing arson and robbery, and were in possession of bombs. This rumor led to the mass murder of Koreans by mobs in Tokyo and Yokohama. Even newspapers were reporting these rumors as facts and also reported that Koreans were poisoning wells. Korean accents pronounced “G” or “J” differently in the beginning of words, so that was used as tests of ethnic identity. If anyone were to fail this test they were assumed to be Korean and were asked to leave, beaten or killed. Some Chinese, Okinawans and Japanese with regional dialects also suffered the same fate. The Japanese army and police conducted operations to protect Koreans, but studies show that there were some incidents that army and police personnel were known to have allowed killings in some areas. However, in some towns, neighborhood residents took steps in protecting Koreans.

The total number of deaths is not certain, though estimates range from 2,500 to 6,600. However, the confirmed victims of vigilante violence were: 231 Koreans killed, 43 injured; 3 Chinese killed; 59 Japanese killed 43 injured. There were eventually 362 Japanese charged for murder, attempted murder, manslaughter and assault. Most of those charged were later let off with nominal sentences and some were even released with a general pardon.

Between 1939 and 1945, many Koreans were forced to work in Japan under severe conditions. The Japanese military also forced young Korean women to serve as their “comfort women”. “Comfort women” was a term used for women who were forced by the Japanese military into prostitution as a form of sexual slavery. Young women were reportedly coerced, deceived, lured or even kidnapped from their homes. It has been estimated that between 20,000 to 410,000 women were involved. The majority of these women were from Korea, China, Japan, Philippines. There were also some women from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and other Japanese-occupied territories.

During this time, Japan used their military power to force Koreans to completely assimilate to Japanese. One way of doing this was by “Shoshi-Kaimei”. This means that the Koreans adopted Japanese names instead of using their Korean names. Even to this day, a large amount of Koreans in Japan still use Japanese names instead of their Korean ones.

Currently, Zainichi have established themselves in Japan after years of activism. The social atmosphere for Zainichi in Japan has improved with the help of Mintohren (a movement to help end ethnic discrimination by encouraging a multicultural and positive approach to integration of Koreans into Japanese society), other minority groups and sympathetic Japanese. Most young Koreans in Japan today are the third generation. They seem to feel an attachment to Japan and consider it their home.