Living in Japan one becomes aware of the homogeneous nature of the Japanese. They may have borrowed heavily in the past from the culture, art, religious practices and language of their neighbours, but the recognition of this fact had scant acceptance in Japan. They're a proud people, proud of their heritage, their accomplishments, their traditions and culture, and with good reason. It's a country wealthy in ambition and accomplishments. Its people pride themselves on being Japanese.
In Japan one must conform; odd man out is quite simply: out. The square nail in the round hole gets pounded into oblivion. Public displays of emotion, physical abnormalities, loud voices, anything considered out of the ordinary is quite simply not on. It was odd to see the municipal accommodations made on behalf of the physically handicapped; and we marvelled that the society was so tenderly aware. Then realized there were no individuals ever seen in public with physical handicaps.
Anomalies were always there to hit your perceptions. Social mores required public sensitivity, to quietly go about one's business. A certain polite aloofness was the order. On the other hand, the Japanese are so completely intrigued at possibilities when sighting a Gaijin many rush over to practise fractured English with such strangers. And occasionally, violently-lettered buses with bullhorns and sound systems blaring militant music will drive slowly through the quiet of a well trafficked street.
Because of the shame and conflicting emotions Japanese live with in the wake of their dreadful defeat at a dreadful cost in lives after the Second World War, the country's military is focused on defence, not offence. Not to give offence to a public not wishing to view military uniforms, members of the military dress in civilian clothing until they reach their building when military gear is assumed, later to be doffed in favour of civilian clothing on the return home. Some individuals who have ventured into public in military garb have been set upon by angry citizens, and beaten.
Koreans who have lived for generations in Japan suffer the indignity of second-class citizens. To appear like anyone else (there is nothing much that can distinguish a Japanese national from a Korean national) the Korean names are often Japanized, origin is sometimes disguised and Koreans hope to melt into the mainstream of Japanese people. Citizenship was denied those of Korean origin. As were equal opportunities in education and business.
In the 1970s almost a million Koreans lived in Japan, descendants of forced labourers imported by Japan from the Korean peninsula during the Japanese era of colonial rule (1910 to 1945). Some were migrants who came themselves to Japan in search of work. At the present time residents of Japan of South Korean origin number approximately 400,000, while North Koreans are estimated at fewer than 50,000.
Each has their own self-recognized organization. Traditionally, a vestigial loyalty to their country of origin had residents of Japan from North Korea forwarding billions of yen and goods back home to their relatives. But increasingly, Japanese residents of North Korean ancestry, with a double loyalty; to their country of residence and to that of their origin, have been deciding to devoid themselves of loyalty to North Korea.
They have taken steps to become citizens of South Korea. They have stopped sending money and goods back to the North Korean government which had up until fairly recently depended upon that critical support from North Korean residents in Japan. "I could no longer support a government that allowed children to starve to death" remarked one shoe factory owner in Kobe, Japan, after switching his citizenship to South Korea.
North Korea's despotic ruler, Kim Jong-il has chosen to acquire armaments, including nuclear weaponry, rather than feed his people. Starvation is rampant in the country, yet the right-wing dictatorship sees more functionality in threatening his neighbours and the international community than allying himself with the democratic government of South Korea.
Through boasts and threats and intimidation and alliances with other rogue countries North Korea has succeeded in establishing itself as a pariah on the world stage.
In the early 1990s it was estimated the annual total received from expatriate North Koreans resident in Japan reached $515 million in money and supplies. "The cash and goods sent from Japan in the late 1980s were bigger than their national budget", according to the director of the Modern Korea Institute in Tokyo. "It was North Korea's lifeline." It might not sound like a lot but North Korea is anxious to have a mere $200,000 million frozen in the U.S. restored to them.
In the last decade the economic slump that Japan found itself in also impacted on North Korea indirectly, as many residents of North Korean ancestry lost their businesses. It's now estimated that the amount of funds flowing to the North from Japan is less than one twentieth of what it once was. North Korea didn't endear itself to the Japanese when it test-fired missiles over the Sea of Japan in 2006.
The North Korean vessel, Mangyonbong which had been permitted to dock on Japan's north western coast, and which was used to transport cash, medical supplies, clothing and other goods from its residents in Japan was barred, along with all other North Korean ships, from docking in Japan.
Older North Koreans are being replaced, as they die, by younger ones who become naturalized Japanese citizens, with no loyalty to North Korea. And the numbers of North Koreans who continue to change their citizenship to that of South Korea continues to grow; residents of Tokyo alone have been switching at a rate of about a hundred a month since 2006, according to statistics revealed by the South Korean consulate.
North Korea's abhorrent behaviours are coming home to roost.
Labels: Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, July 07, 2007
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