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Little Statue, Big Message

The “object” of my choice is not necessarily a physical item per se, but a brilliant idea that inspired and motivated others to pursue transnationally. An idea first proposed by the Korean Council for Women drafted for Military Prostitutes by Japan, a statue was to be built in front of the Japanese embassy in downtown Seoul, South Korea, to send a sincere yet grave message regarding the oppression of former sex slaves during the Japanese occupation of Korea.

As for a brief background introduction, from 1930 to 1945, during the colonization of Korea by Japan, many young women were forced to suffer as sex slaves by the Japanese soldiers in the “comfort stations”. These women were inhumanely abused against their will to satisfy the sexual desires and to improve their morale during World War II. The living conditions in these camps were unspeakably horrible, as their sanitation and nutrition were not taken proper care for. The women did neither dare speak out against them nor escape from them, because society would most likely have viewed them as unclean and unacceptable, as were the social perspective on the comfort women. Even after time passed, the victims hid the truth, until by the 1990’s when they started to give testimonials and the issue started getting a lot more attention. This idea of building the “Statue of Peace”, or the Pyeongwha-bi, shifted from Korea to the States, and was targeted towards the Japanese government for them to admit their falsehood and formally apologize to the surviving “comfort women”. This transnational idea, in my opinion, would fit well under the category of War and the Figure of the Refugee, as it represents a girl whose youth and life was destroyed by foreigners.

This idea was put into action on the 1000th weekly rally, also called the Wednesday demonstration, by a sculptor named Kim Woon-Sung. A statue of a 13-year old girl sitting across the Japanese embassy was erected on December 14, 2011. After 20 long years of protesting, former “comfort” women and their supporters would consider the statue to have great impact and meaning. It is impossible to ignore the distinct message and meaning of the new landmark, but the Japanese government chose to ignore it. Furthermore, they requested that the statue should be removed, as it denounces their dignity and international reputation. Of course, the Korean government refused since “The statue is a free and rightful expression by the victims and their civilian supporters” (koreanjoongangdaily.joins.com). Although some time has passed since Japanese occupation, people and government alike cared and supported these women because Korea, overall, was and still is a nationalistic country. Anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea was an elephant in the room, while animosity between the two nations was growing. Similar patterns were shown when a monumental plaque was installed in Palisades Park, Bergen County, New Jersey in 2010 for the memory of Korean women who were sexually enslaved at the average age of 13 by Japanese soldiers during World War II. Two delegations of Japanese officials came to the park lobbying to remove the monument: the first on May 1st, 2012, and the second on May 6th, 2012. These attempts at convincing the park authorities only deepened the animosity between South Korea and Japan on the issue on comfort women. In fact, their attempts to remove the monument spurred the movement to plan more such monuments around Korean-based communities across the United States. An example of this spread of idea is the unveiling of the “Statue of Peace” in Glendale, California on July 29, 2013. Another example would be Chang-Jin Lee’s work “Comfort Women Wanted” on one of the DOT Urban Art Program’s art display at 14th Street and 9th Avenue in Manhattan. As such, the movement was not only active in South Korea, but rather a transnational movement motivated by a single idea to commemorate the 20th year, or the 1000th week, of protesting for sincere admittance and apology.

As time runs out and does not wait for the comfort women forever, all they want is a sincere apology, not a financial compensation. How could they bid farewell to the world in which took their dignity and freedom from such a young age without having them restored? These monuments, based on the idea introduced before, symbolize the courage these victims of “comfort women” have shown in testifying their history to the world. This problem is not limited to Korea - other countries have experienced wars and sexual slavery – and must be addressed to stop it from happening again in the future. We live in a different world today than in the World War II era; while national security was above human rights and decency, human rights and dignity have the highest priority in the modern days. Just as Germany sincerely apologized and have focused on educating their children not to repeat the same mistakes, Japan should take a similar course of action for their soldiers’ crimes as a culturally and economically mature nation and a major Asian powerhouse.

Sources:

http://panoramapsu.com/2016/04/wounds-comfort-women-unhealed-80-years/

http://typehost.com/article/pyeonghwa-bi-peace-monument-seoul-south-korea

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/nyregion/monument-in-palisades-park-nj-irritates-japanese-officials.html

http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2945683

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Peace

Parents and grandparents

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Vovo’s necklace as described in Notebook #1

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Notebook #1

Name: Rinka Yoshida Age:18 Place of Birth: Japan Place that feels like home: • Physical:China • Cultural: Japan Rinka Yoshida, who currently studies at UCSD, is a prime example of Im(migration) and Citizenship. As the child of a Japanese mother and a Chinese father, she sports a light brown hair color atop of her dominant Asian black hair that matches her deep dark eyes. Despite the inconvenience of migration and the emotional conflict that it has caused her she still smiles. She smiles with emotion, never forced, never fake. She laughs gallantly and as she does her almond shaped eyes squint just a bit, and in that bit, they appear to almost disappear. She is confused by common American currency and basic English language yet she exceed in mathematics and can hold a conversation in 4 different languages. Her mind is unbound from territorial lines. While she takes pride in being Japanese and gloats about China,, a birth certificate and a passport, such socially constructed ideals, do not define her power to learn and to live. Rinka has transitioned between living in Higashikurume in Tokyo, Japan and the Haidian District of Beijing, China. She was born in Tokyo Japan on October 26, 1998 because of her mother’s wishes for her to be Japan-born. This desire came from a notion within Japanese culture in which foreigners are not completely welcome into everyday society and the social ladder. This skepticism is what drove her family to move to China. Before she was born her father already worked in Beijing, this was only because work opportunities in Japan had caused her father to quit his job in Tokyo and begin a business in China. In Japan, it is more difficult for a Chinese person (or any foreigner) to advance in the social ladder unless their assets and abilities exceed that of a common person. Limited opportunities would have made it impossible to pay the education fees that the family now carries. Japans own instability was also a factor in her family’s immigration to China. The decade before the start of the 21st century Japan was under an economic recession that caused people to lose their jobs and others to be subject to minimum wage and underemployment. The recession also began to see the highest percentages of population decline that is present until today. There is a lack of money and living space that has caused the Japanese population to increasingly plummet. This, and the fact that Japan is a non-immigrant country making it difficult for foreigners to climb the social ladder prompted her family to move to China because social conditions were not beneficial to the family finance. China, was being China. Being a large nation by the 2000s, it was predominantly settled into the model that it is today. The population is large and job opportunities can be both found and created. Rinka moved to China at the age of two once her father was financially stable and his business was functioning how it was meant to. Unlike in Japan, her father had all the opportunity to build a business as long as he had the ability to do such a task. China being in a prominent role of advancement and being the center of a large work force is the prime location to draft a business plan. In terms of social conditions, China would not segregate her father like Japanese society did. Rinka, while still being of a young age, did not particularly revolutionize a nation or change the outlook of certain peoples beliefs. She did however; live through the hardship of acceptance and rejection based on citizenship. The reason her mother wanted her to be born in Japan was because Japanese culture calls for a stricter society. It is not uncommon for the birth citizens to pick the outlier- a foreigner- and reduce their chances of success. Not necessarily out of malice but because it is rare to see foreigners dwelling in Japanese society. Rinka does not even carry her father’s last name because (which is the status quo for children) because it would set her as an outlier in Japanese society. However, this had a negative effect when she moved to China. Chinese people did not willingly accept her into their culture and approve of her because of her name. She was not identified as a Chinese and therefore treated differently. The complete opposite scenario from her father who was accepted into China but pushed aside in Japan. Although they are physically close China and Japan have different standards and morals based on their own very distinct cultures. The common factor is that they both share a particular distrust to foreigners, as do most other nations of the world. The idea is that whether she identified with China or Japan was reliant on other people’s opinion of her. The basis of her life is founded on other people’s beliefs of who she should be based on checkmarks on a piece of paper. People have constructed societies where what matter is facts on a card. Living in the same place, studying the same material, speaking the same language, why would a person with the last name “Chan” be treated any differently from a person named “Yoshida”. That is the cruelty of im(migration) and citizenship. You have to fight the battle of, do you really belong? Feeling unwanted is tough. That is a tough feeling to deal with for someone so young.

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NOTEBOOK 1

Hallyu is a common word used to describe growth of Korean pop culture in East and Southeast Asia: Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The term means “Korean cultural wave,” which first created by Beijing journalists in mid 1990s. Influence of Korean pop music, TV drama, and movies in China has been great since 1990s and it still continues. Korean entertainment not only attracts Asian fans but also expands popularities in western countries. For an example, “Gangnam Style” by PSY hit over 2.7 million views on Youtube, has spread worldwide gaining interest of Western populations that have not known of Korean pop culture. Thus Gangnam Style has become the symbol of Hallyu that effectively influenced in Western countries.

I believe Hallyu relates to globalization and labor circulations because global popularity of a specific culture can be found in wave of Korean pop culture and the labor circulation of entertainment system in the nations where influenced by Hallyu. For China has gained interest in Korean culture mainly through Korean drama and k-pop, the export of Korean drama are remarkably increasing. Thus Korean entertainment industry is focusing on spreading Korean culture worldwide by branching its offices abroad. Moreover, Korean celebrities tend to directly work in Chinese entertainment industries through appearing on actual Chinese shows. Globalization of Korean culture popularity shows potential growth of Korean corporations because positive impression of Korean culture increased company sales by absorbing Hallyu effect worldwide. Thus Korean market uses Hallyu as successful tool to increase sales in abroad and it actually works well. Korean electronic companies are taking advantage of Korean dramas by exposing their products in drama that are commonly exported to Southeast Asia and in K-pop artists’ concerts by providing their products as sponsorship.

Hallyu not only encompasses Korean media products but also disseminates cultural aspects of Korea. “Chimaek” is a term combined of word chicken and Maekjoo, a Korean word for beer. Eating the combination of fried chicken and Maekjoo is a popular drinking culture that Korean adults commonly consider two menus as a single menu. Chimaek has been popularized in China by an influence of K-drama called “My Love from the Star,” because it appears as the main character’s favorite menu. Circulation of tradition of Korea to China shows the influence of Hallyu through the media. An introduction of Chimaek even increased Korean beer exports to China by 200 percent in March 2014. Through this phenomenon, the Chimaek has been grown as an essential part of Korean tourism. With increasing number of Chinese tourists in Korea, tourism companies offer travel programs that include visiting actual scene of K-drama that became popular in China. It stimulates tourism industry in Korea to target Chinese travelers using Hallyu as its one of the method of promotion.

The transnational circulation of Korean pop culture in Southeast Asia has been a good source of promoting friendliness of Korean culture. Hallyu is more than just popularity of Korean media in other nations but it also represents the power of culture that even affects nations’ economy.

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Notebook Assignment #1

My maternal grandmother, Margarida, immigrated to the United States when she was eighteen years old. Our family comes from a chain of Portuguese controlled islands in the Atlantic, called the Azores, specifically the island of Sao Miguel, commonly referred to by our people as A Ilha Verde, or the green island.

Grandmother was raised in a small port city on the island called Ponta Delgada. It has grown considerably since then, but when she was a child, Ponta Delgada’s tiny port was the only source of significant trade on the island. Our family was far from wealthy, but the few items of luxury Grandmother can remember having growing up, came from the port.

One such item was a beautiful, gold-plated rose necklace.

Margarida’s father, my great-grandfather, vovu, bought the necklace for my great-grandmother, vovo, when she fell pregnant for the first time. It was brought to Sao Miguel by a trader from mainland Portugal, and in that way vovu believed it represented his own origins, as they build their new life together.

When vovu passed away and Grandmother decided to leave the island and start over in America, vovo gave her the necklace to remember her family by.

She always kept vovo’s necklace with her, and when I left home, the first woman in our family to go away to college, Grandmother passed the necklace on to me.

This necklace was forged in Europe, in a small jeweler’s shop in mainland Portugal. It was brought by a Portuguese trader by ship to the Azores, a small Portuguese territory. My grandmother brought it to a Portuguese immigrant community in Fall River, Massachusetts, and later, when she learned English, married my grandfather, an American by birth, and started her own family, it came with her.

The necklace has been in my family for nearly eighty years, passed from one generation to the next, and for us, it’s a beautiful, golden reminder of where we come from and where we’re going. But it is also a tiny piece of our heritage, which has witnessed the alterations to our language and culture over time, first through colonialism, then through immigration, and finally through assimilation.

Today, four generations later, I wear vovo’s necklace, the product of that change. And someday, I will pass it on to my daughter or granddaughter, and I have no doubt that, through her life, it will be witness to still further changes, in who we are as a people, and as a family.

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