Newsletter

Despite the Korean wave boom, such as K-pop and K-drama in Japan, remarks and actions ‘against Korea’ targeting Koreans living in Japan are expressed in other forms. An article titled 「Has Hate Disappeared?」 (『Mainichi Shinbun』, October 19, 2021) shows that the anti-Korean phenomenon is becoming more structured and used commercially in Japanese society. Two aspects of the anti-Korean sentiment are viewed through a psychological analysis of the Japanese people. One is the desire to fill their pride by beating up others they consider 'inferior.' Some people try to display a sense of superiority against Koreans in Japan because they live within Japanese society. The other reflects the reality that anti-Korean publications are selling well against growing interest in Korea in the background. For example, young Japanese people reportedly find psychological comfort by reading books titled "Korea. Is This Country a Hell?" or "Korea. Too Much Capitalism," which describe the current situation in Korea. Such books are written so that Japanese readers would think, ‘It’s tough to live in Korea. I am lucky that I was born in Japan’ when they read the parts that describe the dark reality of current Korean society and the hell-like situation that young people are experiencing due to difficulties in finding jobs. The atmosphere in which these books are sold includes other anti-Korean or hateful elements against Korea, like those who have been telling Koreans living in Japan to “get out of Japan.”

For example, on December 14, 2021, the Osaka government disclosed the name of the representative of the 'Group in Pursuit of Japan without Koreans,' who distributed leaflets with discriminatory content against Koreans living in Japan, under the . The incident was so severe that Masako Yagura, the president of the Osaka Hate Speech Review Commission, even said, "The door-to-door distribution of such materials has given Koreans in Japan a strong sense of anxiety that even their homes are not safe and that their peaceful lives may be threatened at any time." (『Mainichi Shinbun』, December 15, 2021) This is disturbing because the discriminatory remarks and anti-Korean actions against anonymous people on the internet are now targeting specific people living in a particular area.