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The Japanese, who migrated and settled in Joseon for the invasion of Joseon after the opening of the port, formed a Japanese society centered on the open port and started to live their lives as ‘grassroots colonizers’ with the ‘imperial perspective’ as imperialists and the ‘perspective of Joseon’ and the ‘region’ as colonialists. They promoted suffrage and petition movements in Japan along with the special self-governing system to maintain their interests and privileges as colonizers while actively participating in the 'local council' of colonial Joseon to push forward with colonial policies and colonial rule for themselves through central and local politics. In addition, to maintain the identity of Japanese colonizers and their own community, they installed Shinto shrines and licensed quarters, which is Japanese culture, in local communities and expanded them to the Korean settlements to intensify colonization. In particular, Shintoism was converted into National Shintoism. It functioned as an important foundation for producing people who would serve Japanese imperialism and war. The licensed quarters were one of the factors that influenced the strong persistence of colonial patriarchy. Not only that, they were the ones that predominantly enjoyed the modern urban infrastructure and culture partially introduced into the colonies. They fully enjoyed the modern culture introduced into the colonies, such as railroads, trams, electricity, and telephones, as well as leisure, tourism, and consumption, in their community.

Of course, not all Japanese in colonial Joseon became established as colonizers. There were also Japanese who belonged to the lower classes in terms of class, status, and gender. However, even at the bottom of this hierarchical order, most lower-class Japanese tried to become colonizers until the end by maintaining the national identity of so-called 'Japanese-ness' and disciplining themselves to stay within that boundary. Only in this way could they take advantage of whatever they could from the colony as colonizers. However, some Japanese lived as colonists with Koreans, not as colonizers who ruled and enjoyed by ‘establishing a relationship’ with the Koreans who were colonized. A typical example of these people is Sueji Isogaya, imprisoned in the 1930s for engaging in a labor movement with Koreans at the Japan Nitrogenous Fertilizer Company in Heungnam, Hamgyeongnam-do. Of course, there are only a very few of these people, but their existence is meaningful in overcoming the past between Korea and Japan, decolonization, and the value of otherness.