SLA Junior Seminar 11: Transcultural Japan

"As a Japanese" and "as a Korean" are phrase we do not use in bringing up our daughter. (p.58)

As time passes and reviewed our cultural history, we can not or should not describe one word about it. Through learning English and Chinese and having international friends, one of my interest is to be deep thought into people who have two identity. In this context, it indicates those who have international parents or have lived in different environments so far. I pick up a story written by a Japanese-Korean woman about her life.

Nobuko is a 'Zainichi Japanese' living with her Japanese husband and a daughter. Although international marriage is relatively popular recently and most of you don't mind if your neighbor is international couple, the time when Nobuko determined to be a wife is harsh and full of bias. The first step she had to experience was to be handled with much politeness and attention. Her mother-in-law is a typical Japanese woman who was suspecting that her son would be with a Japanese woman. Therefore, when Nobuko and her husband went to meet her parents-in-law at first time, the mother care about Nobuko's lifestyle such as her language, food, and nationality and so forth. However, Nobuko has lived longer in Japan than in Korea, so the fact could make her relieved. The second one is to consider of their daughter's identity. They were concern that their daughter would be puzzled to show her nationality or origin. It is not appropriate to say 'She is Japanese' or 'She is Korean', so she might be bullied by classmates. They discussed for a long time and at last reached an answer. That is one nationality does not make her what she is. They swore to be generous and not to care about mean words.

I often see foreign family and international family live as Japanese citizens. Some of them changed their nationality from their birthplace or others plan to live in our nation for good. Accordingly, I think the definition 'nationality' is getting variable.  We had a dark history with other countries, so actually it is not easy to get rid of the discrimination and exclusion problem. Nevertheless, as some countries are recognized as a multicultural country, it is time to welcome everyone who lives in Japan as a resident.

 David Blake Willis, Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu. Transcultural Japan. (2008). Tokyo; Paperback