Hidden treasures : lives of first-generation Korean women in Japan / Jackie J. Kim ; with an introduction by Sonia Ryang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kim, Jackie J., 1969-

Series:

Asia/Pacific/perspectives

Asia/Pacific/Perspectives

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Koreans--Japan--History.

Koreans.

Japan.

History.

Women--Japan--History.

Women.

Japan--Ethnic relations.

Ethnic relations.

Physical Description:

xxxiv, 197 pages, 7 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield, [2005]

Summary:

Ten first-generation Korean women who migrated to Japan during Korea's colonial period tell their compelling stories in Hidden Treasures: Lives of First-Generation Korean Women in Japan. Powerful narratives of migration, minority life, gender discrimination, and the often difficult social relations between Korean immigrants and the Japanese are included, written in the women's own words.

During the colonial era, many Koreans came to Japan as migrant workers in search of a better life or were drafted as laborers. After 1945 they lost citizenship and were left to exist on the fringes of society. With fewer societal options available, women in particular were forced to transform and adapt. The women in this volume participated in tumultuous times in the modern history of Korea and Japan, involving physical, psychological, geographic, and cultural displacements. These women transformed themselves in multiple ways: one from colonial subject to diasporic subject, another from a young and naive virgin bride to a self-made matriarch. Each transformation involved risk, determination, and pain as the women grappled with multilayered structures of gendered, colonial, ethnic, and socioeconomic relations of power. Many of these transformations, however, also entailed self-enhancement, fulfillment, accomplishment, and, at times, triumph and joy.

An introduction by leading researcher Sonia Ryang provides context for the very personal stories of these ten women. This unparalleled social history of Korean women in Japan will engage both students and general readers.

Contents:

Introduction: On Korean Women in Japan: Past and Present / Sonia Ryang xiii

Prologue: In Search of Hidden Treasures xxix

Part I To Join My Husband

1 I Love to Study / Tokumoto Hiroko (Jung Bun-Ki) 3

2 I Have Done My Best / Koda Sumi 19

3 Through His Grace / Pak Sam-Yang 31

Part II Journey of a New Bride

4 No More Tears / Tanaka Kimiko 53

5 Blessings Came Later in My Life / Kim Ch'ae-Yun 65

6 Dear General Kim Il-Sung / Kang Yang-Ok 77

Part III Solitary Sojourn

7 It's My Desting / Yasuda Kimiko (Kim Song-Yun) 97

8 Now I Can Say That I'm Happy / So Meng-Sun 111

Part IV Growing Up in Japan

9 We Koreans Have Come a Long Way / Pak Hui-Sun (Uehara Tamae) 135

10 A Life Worth Living Is a Life That Has Meaning / Pak Sun-Hui 153.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-191) and index.

ISBN:

0742535940

0742535959

OCLC:

56755636