[KS] Re: Koreans in Japan

[Dr. John Caruso Jr.]

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__________________________________________

I hope the situation has improved from this 1995 description.

John


Subject: KOREANS LIVING IN JAPAN:
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 21:18:04 GMT



KOREANS LIVING IN JAPAN:

Here is some additional information about Japan's Alien Registration Law,
which was revised in 1993 in a way that affects Korean permanent
residents.

However, as shown below, the 1993 revision of the Alien Registration Law
does not eliminate that law's being used as a basis for prejudice and
discrimination against Koreans living in Japan.

"About
638,000 foreigners, mostly Koreans and Taiwanese, will no longer need to
submit fingerprints when they register or renew registration."

Although Koreans can now get by with a document containing their
photograph, signature, and family history, "they will still have to carry
this document at all times.  They will still have to report a change of
job or address within two weeks and be fined heavily if they do not. . ."

Tokyo officials privately concede that the
practice of fingerprinting [was] maintained chiefly to keep a watch on
ethnic Koreans."  It is for this same reason that the National Police
Agency fought so hard to keep the registration system.  For even without
the fingerprinting provision, that system is still an effective
surveillance tool.

Although repeal of the racist fingerprinting practice does remove one of
the worst humiliations for Koreans, it does nothing to eliminate the
registration system's use as a basis for prejudice and discrimination
against them.   This is because Koreans still have to carry their
registration card at all times and are still subject to criminal
penalities if they fail to produce it on demand or report a change of job
or address within two weeks.  And this means that many Koreans will still
wind up with minor police records, which can then be used as an excuse to
deny them citizenship or engage in other forms of discrimination against
them.  Moreover, the registration card contains one's *family history,* or
_koseki,_ which reveals the bearer's Korean identity, which is a main
basis for discrimination.  As the _Wall Street Journal_ (Ibid.) puts it,
"Koreans and other foreigners born in Japan don't automatically get
Japanese citizenship.  They face bias in schools, employment, housing and
social welfare."

----- 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
>
>