ZAINICHI LITERATURE

   Many Koreans immigrated to Japan following the annexation of Korea in 1910, which made all Koreans Japanese citizens. Often this was an economic necessity, and throughout the 1920s Korean communities developed across Japan. During the Kanto Earthquake of 1923, rumors quickly spread that Koreans fleeing the damaged areas were saboteurs, with tragic consequences. Wartime lack of manpower led to forced conscription of Koreans who were displaced to Japan to work in factories and on farms, often in oppressive circumstances. By the end of the war, nearly two million Koreans were in Japan and many were quickly repatriated. After the Occupation ended, Koreans in Japan were no longer Japanese citizens, so their citizenship reverted back to Korean. More than 500,000 remained in Japan, garnering the zainichi (remaining in Japan) epithet. These Korean families have raised children, run businesses, and lived their lives with dual identities. They speak Japanese primarily, but some have divided into factions following the North–South Korean divide and are ambivalent about their Korean identities in the Japanese context. A number of writers have emerged from the zainichi community in Japan, and their work deals with the issues of prejudice, deprivation, and identity struggles they face living as outsiders in what, to many of the younger generation, is their homeland. Notable among the zainichi authors are Kim Yun Kyu (1926–80; Japanese: Tachihara Masaaki), Lee Hoesung (1935–; Japanese: Ri Kaisei), Lee Yangji (1955–92; Japanese: I Yanji), Yu Miri (1968–), and Hyeon Wol (1965–; Japanese: Gen Getsu).

   See also COLONIAL LITERATURE; FOREIGN AUTHORS WRITING IN JAPANESE; MILITARISM.