[KS] Re: Koreans in Japan

[Dr. John Caruso Jr.]

REPLY sends your message to the whole list
__________________________________________

Koreans in Japan: Past and Present1
FUKUOKA, Yasunori

Saitama University Review, Vol.31, No.1.

Marriage

At the time when first and second generations made up the majority of
Koreans in Japan, it was expected that Koreans should marry their
countrypersons to mainta in their "Korean blood". It was also a taboo among
Japanese to marry Koreans. Ac cording to a statistic from the Japanese
government, among the 6,892 marriages o f Koreans registered in 1970, 56.3%
were with their countrypersons and 42.4% wer e intermarriages with Japanese.

However, in 1991, amongst the 11,677 Korean resident marriages registered, 8
2.5% were intermarriages with Japanese and only 16.8% were with their
countryper sons. Korean intermarriages with Japanese are partly influenced
by a social phen omenon that Japanese men have difficulty finding partners
among young Japanese w omen. The statistic thus should include certain
numbers of marriages between Jap anese males and Korean females who were
born in Korea. However, it is clear that the number of marriages between
Koreans in Japan and Japanese have continued to increase in recent years.

Marriages with Koreans are still a taboo among Japanese, although such taboo
s are weaker compared with the previous generations. Even some young
Japanese te nd to avoid marrying Koreans. Those young Japanese and Koreans
who are free from such taboos often have parents that are very likely to
disagree to intermarriag e. There are many cases in which intermarried
couples separate as a result of fa iling to understand each other's
experiences and situations, even though they lo ve each other.

Nevertheless, the number of intermarriages between Japanese and Koreans is c
ertainly increasing. Amongst the young Koreans in our investigation in 1993,
15. 0% responded that they want to marry their countrypersons; 20.0%
responded that they want to marry their countrypersons if possible; 31.4%
responded that they d o not prefer their countrypersons; and 33.7% responded
that they do not prefer t heir countrypersons at all.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Yuh Ji-Yeon" <j-yuh at northwestern.edu>
To: <korean-studies at iic.edu>
Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2000 3:01 PM
Subject: Re: Koreans in Japan


> REPLY sends your message to the whole list
> __________________________________________
>
> koreans in japan often say that 60 percent or more of marriages among
> koreans in japan involve an ethnic korean marrying a japanese. but i
> haven't seen any firm statistics yet.
>
> ji-yeon yuh
>
> At 11:18 ¿ÀÀü 00-09-03 -0400, you wrote:
> >REPLY sends your message to the whole list
> >__________________________________________
> >
> >The subject of intermarriage between Koreans and Japanese is an
> >interesting one.  A few years
> >ago I read an article in a Japanese magazine (Bungei Shunju?
> >--unfortunately I didn't save the
> >reference) on the lives of Koreans in Japan.  Among other interesting
> >claims, the article
> >described intermarriage with Japanese as anything but rare; instead, it
> >was said to be the
> >rule.  The statistical number given was surprisingly high--I seem to
> >recall that it was over
> >50% of recorded marriages.  That number sounds exaggerated, and it may
> >well have been (or my
> >memory of the article may be flawed).  Does anyone have the facts?
> >
> >----------------------
> >Robert Ramsey
> >sr1 at umail.umd.edu
>
>