Second season of 'Pachinko' explores challenges for ethnic Koreans in Japan

Man, season 1 was released so many years ago and I read the book before the season was released. I can't even remember if they covered most of the content of the novel in season 1, but I think the answer is yes.

I predict rough seas as far as viewership in Japan.

I have a lot to do with Koreans here in Japan, and I like them a lot - great people. Certainly different to the Japanese, I generally find them a little more outgoing and expressive. Fore the Zainichi Koreans, pretty tough story. I know of some who didn't actually know they were ethnically Korean until they were 16 or 17 - their family didn't even tell them, such was the fear of persecution.

Oscar-winning actor Youn Yuh-jung 

She was absolutely exceptional in “Minari,” and her subsequent Oscar speech was so heartfelt and humorous:

”And I’d like to thanks to my two boys, who make me go out and work. This is the result. Because Mommy worked so hard.”

Man, season 1 was released so many years ago

Perhaps it just feels that way. According to Wikipedia, “the first season was released on Apple TV+ on March 25, 2022.”

Many ethnic Koreans were brought to Japan, often forcibly, to work in mines and factories during the country’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea. They were treated as second-class citizens and faced discrimination, which the series portrays.

Some 800,000 to 1 million Koreans immigrated to Japan from 1910 to 1941 voluntarily because of the better economic conditions and opportunities in Japan. This was facilitated by the fact that after 1910, Koreans held Japanese citizenship. After 1942, the Volluntary Recruitment of workers changed to the Mandatory and later Forced labor programs (1942-1945). Some 600-700,000 Koreans are believed to have been brought to Japan under the latter programs as the war took a heavy toll on Japan's labor supply along with everything else.

There is no doubt that Koreans faced discrimination in Japanese society. But many Zainichi today are actually decendants of Koreans who had immigrated to Japan of their own free will, as they constitute the vast majority of Koreans in Japan. There is a tendency for the media to give the false impression that all zainichi Koreans in Japan are decendants of those brought as forced labor against their will.

Zainichi Koreans are a domestic issue of immigrants in Japan. These younger Zainchi were born and raised in Japan and many are tied only to their grandparents and great grandparents homeland at a distance. Others choose to look into their family roots and strengthen their ethnic identity. These people need to be accepted into Japanese society free of the Korean anger of 1910-1945, and any remaining discrimination needs to be eliminated.

I look forward to hopefully watching. Youn Yuh-jung is a fine actress who was great in Minari. 

I just wish it were on Netflix not Apple.

OssanAmerica

Some 800,000 to 1 million Koreans immigrated to Japan from 1910 to 1941 voluntarily

It’s a mighty stretch to claim that Koreans were voluntarily immigrating to Japan from 1910 to 1941 when so many had lost title to their land due to the comprehensive cadastral survey and reformed land-title registration system implemented by the Japanese colonial authorities between 1910 and 1918.

If Mr. Chen seeks work in Beijing after China invades Taiwan and takes ownership of his home and land, is that really voluntary immigration?

Tough deal.

Don't feel 100% Korean nor Japanese.

Every time when I'm asked " Is your wife Japanese? And I say No, Korean"

You get that Ooooh and a slight silence.

Yes, and the recently re-elected governor of Tokyo, Koike will once again decline to send a eulogy to a memorial service on September 1, for the Koreans who were murdered in the pogrom after the Kanto earthquake in 1923. She has not sent one in the past eight years of her tenure when all previous governors have done so. Did the good people of Tokyo think about this when they voted for her?

Only on Apple TV ? No other way to watch it ?

It's an Apple TV production so ...

@deanzaZZR

Thanks, I didn’t know.

We can't change history and all the bad things that have happened everywhere. Try a bit to change your mind and look into a future, which surely requires a peaceful and co-operational management, instead of bringing up old bygone conflicts again and again. Of course, only if you want any future, otherwise follow as usual your old historical and ideological wars, but that won't have any merits.

Go back in history and we find that Imperial Japan wished to flex its new found power on countries near it-Korea suffered.

Koreans should ALWAYS remember their history.

Still, in the present Japan and Korea need to work together for mutual benefit.

Racism and discrimination should not be an issue in the 21st century and past mistakes must not be repeated.

Some 800,000 to 1 million Koreans immigrated to Japan from 1910 to 1941 voluntarily

Pretty bold statement this,when Koreans were under Japan’s regime iron fist and military conquered with very little to say.

dbsaiyaToday  08:39 am JST

Yes, and the recently re-elected governor of Tokyo, Koike will once again decline to send a eulogy to a memorial service on September 1, for the Koreans who were murdered in the pogrom after the Kanto earthquake in 1923. She has not sent one in the past eight years of her tenure. Did the good people of Tokyo think about this when they voted for her

No, the good people of Tokyo did not think about it as why would they? It is in no way relevant fact to leading modern day Tokyo.

It's time the whole world stopped living in the past and concentrate on now. present generations cannot change the past and have no responsibility for it.

It is difficult to get a grasp of the actual figures but it appears there are at least 1 million Japanese, and probably many more, who are individuals or descendants of individuals from the Korean peninsula who became naturalized citizens. Some have retained portions of their previous surname Kim in the form of Kaneda, Kanamoto, Kanamori, etc. They have been naturalizing at the rate of around 3,000 to 4,000 a year.

Ossanamerica:

Some 800,000 to 1 million Koreans immigrated to Japan from 1910 to 1941 voluntarily

Dear lord. Reminds me of when Ben Carson said African slaves taken to USA were 'immigrants'.

Before the war, there was a food shortage and no jobs in Japan, so people were emigrating to America, Brazil, and Manchuria, China. So why did they have to bring Koreans to Japan to work?

It seems contradictory, doesn't it?

How many Japanese Americans and Japanese Brazilians do you think there are?

Until it was annexed by Japan, the Korean Peninsula was ruled by aristocrats, and the people lived a life worse than that of the Middle Ages in Japan and Europe, and most of the people were treated like slaves. There was no way that such a country could develop, and it was close to being one of the poorest countries in the world.

It is true that Koreans were constantly smuggling themselves into Japan, and since the annexed Korean Peninsula was poorer than Japan, many Koreans went to Japan to work. There was no need to mobilize the military to bring them here.

Believe it or not wars and atrocities which were carried out in the past reverberate and do still affect people living today.

If you want to say that since it's in the past it can just be forgotten and glossed over, then you should be prepared to overlook keeping accountable a man who raped your deceased grandmother when she was a child or dealt your grandfather a crippling blow (and therefore impacted all the people she/he came into contact with throughout their lives, who then passed that forward)- terrible actions should be recorded and spur people on to be more decent and motivated to create a better future.

It's time the whole world stopped living in the past and concentrate on now. present generations cannot change the past and have no responsibility for it.

This type of comment is often made by people when the past is embarrassing to them, yet the same people also revel in the past when it is patriotic or something to be proud of.

Until it was annexed by Japan, the Korean Peninsula was ruled by aristocrats, and the people lived a life worse than that of the Middle Ages in Japan and Europe, and most of the people were treated like slaves.

I once read a comment by someone talking of British colonial rule where life was probably better under the colonists, which was something like, "our rulers were tyrants before the British came, but at least they were our tyrants".

Japan colonized Korea in 1910 - only a few decades earlier Japan had itself been in the "middle ages". Had development been the other way round, Korea could have feasibly colonised Japan, but I doubt Japanese would be celebrating the economic advances it led too.

Before the war, there was a food shortage and no jobs in Japan, so people were emigrating to America, Brazil, and Manchuria, China. So why did they have to bring Koreans to Japan to work?

You really need to check your history. Do you hear of the great Depression? Most of the Japanese went abroad in 1890-1924. The US Ban Japanese immigration in 1924. The Koreans came because Japan needed the labor. Because Japan was growing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Japanese_Americans

Very much enjoyed the first season of Pachinko, and looking forward to the new episodes.

A long time ago I dated a Korean woman who told me about her family during the war. One story was about her father, who was working in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped. He managed to get home safely. There were no means of rapid communication between Japan and Korea at that time, so when he suddenly showed up back home it was a big surprise.

It's time the whole world stopped living in the past and concentrate on now. present generations cannot change the past and have no responsibility for it.

Japan did a great job of forgetting its atrocities committed during WW2, but wallows in vicitmhood every August at the anniversary of Hiroshima.

People have great selective memories.

Those that forget the past are doomed to repeat it

Haven't seen the show. Does it cover how many of the Korean schools in Japan have ties to North Korea?

＠BgirlKai

Just because America stopped accepting Japanese immigrants, it didn't mean Japan stopped sending immigrants out.

Because Japan couldn't support its citizens domestically.

Japan sent immigrants overseas from before WWII until after WWII. Labor shortage? Even though we were sending immigrants out? lol

We don't have any need for Koreans at all, do we?

＠Ah_so

It's the Chinese and Koreans who scream that the Japanese are cruel, but no one believes them anymore because there is no evidence to back up what they say.

China is propaganda. Korea, which was annexed by Japan and never fought a war with Japan, is just a fantasy.

I'd like to see evidence that would clearly convince the Japanese.