How Japan’s rising nativism is impacting the country’s Zainichi Korean population: Yu Miri won the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s top literary honor, and her novel Tokyo Ueno Station won the US National Book Award. Yet critics say her Korean heritage disqualifies her from commenting on Japanese politics.
Award-Winning Author Yu Miri Harassed Online After Criticizing Japanese Government
11 Comments
What Korean heritage? Her ancestors’ home country was Japan in the 30s, surely she is as Japanese as they are
In that case Japanese cannot talk about Japanese politics due to their Chinese heritage
Do Japanese in Korea talk about Korean politics? Or are they not accepted for not being Korean.
Japanese right-wingers are an interesting bunch.
There was this interesting study (forgot the title) that asked Japanese people to determine whether: a) 中国残留日本人 (people of Japanese heritage who were orphaned in present China during World War II, raised by Chinese families and cannot speak Japanese); b) Zainichi Korean – are considered Japanese or not.
The answer may surprise: most Japanese think that the former are Japanese, but not the latter.
I am not Japanese.
I do not care to commenting on Japanese politics because i am not an expert.
BUT if i wanted to, i feel i had all the rights because i pay taxes! A lot!
In a civilized country works like that.
Lol, aren’t modern Japanese people descended, at least in part, from people from the Korean Peninsula and China?
So are world politicians also not allowed to talk about Japanese politics?
People in this thread keep talking about “heritage”. Zainichi are NOT Japanese. They are Korean with the equivalent of super permanent residency. They can get Japanese citizenship easily but they actively refuse to as a matter of pride and protest against what Japan did to Korea in WW2. They don’t love Korea enough to move there but they don’t love Japan enough to become citizens.
As Zainichi aren’t citizens, they cannot vote. Hence why critics say her opinion doesn’t really matter. She could vote easily by accepting Japanese citizenship but because she doesn’t want it, she can’t vote. So her decision to not convert prevents her from voting and her opinions on politics she actively refuse to participate into don’t matter.
This is a touchy subject in Japan but most Japanese people feel like if a Zainichi doesn’t convert, they made their choice and should stay out of politics. A large portion of Zainichi are also aligned with the Chongryon, a pro NORTH Korean association that acts as the de facto DPRK in Japan.
Japanese don’t even talk about their own politics **unless** it’s related to disparaging foreigners.
Idiots gonna idiot