Do you know about 'Pachinko'? Have you ever thought of Pachinko as gambling or game? Contrary to this popular perception, Pachinko was a tool which was owed livelihood of Koreans. The drama Pachinko deals with Zainichi, who is treated like gambling machine in Japan.
Who is Zainichi? In a broad sense, Zainichi refers throughout all Korean nationals and their descendants currently living in Japan. Generally, however, it means only Korean residents who came to Japan before the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan in 1965 and got qualification "special permanent residents" In other words, Koreans of Korean nationality who come to Japan after the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan are called "Korean living in Japan," and it is common to distinguish them from Zainichi. Their history boasts a long history of about 100 years, starting in 1910 when the Japanese forcibly annexed Korea.
So what is relationship between Zainichi and Pachinko? Zainichi, who abandoned the life of colonial Korea and came to Japan, was not welcomed in Japan either. The Japanese disparaged Zainichi as "Josenjing" and did not even guarantee them proper job and livelihood. Zainichi has tried many industries to survive, one of which is the Pachinko industry. Pachinko is marbles game in which the store owner gives a prize when a metal bead is shot and inserted into hole. Pachinko, which is easy to use and easy to operate, quickly began to spread to Zainichi society. However, Japanese considered the Pachinko industry an object of avoidance by reason that it is gambling and playing. Thanks to this, Zainichi could easily built entire Pachinko industry without competitors. Pachinko and Zainichi are best partner who went through the same situation at the same time, so the synergy between the two was great. Pachinko's popularity had grown day by day because it can benefit greatly from low barriers to entry and small amounts of money. Thanks to this, Pachinko has grown into a legal industry, being recognized as amusement business like Korea's Go-Stop. Currently, at least 60% to up to 90% of the Pachinko industry is operated by Zainichi.
From that point of view, the relationship between Zainichi and Pachinko can be said to be a correlation created by the situation of the time. Zainichi, who created something out of nothing, successfully settled in Japan. But Zainichi faces a new problem. It is the identity of the Korean people, which is forgotten over generations, and the perception of Japanese society that does not change. The drama expressed about such as this problem. The conflict between the old Sunja and Sonja, and the perception of Japanese society that Sunja has not changed since he was young and now. Sunja, the main character in the drama, is a typical Zainichi first generation who returned to Japan after being tired of life of colonial Korea. On the other hand, the current generation of Zainichi 3-4 generations have become more cases which are naturalizing to Japan than the first and second generations. It is known that why they naturalize to Japan is they have no identity for their hometowns, and to avoid discrimination. This happened because the Korean Peninsula has not interested in Zainichi issue in the past.
It is time to solve the problems of our people regardless of the North and South Korea. Now the world is showing great interest in Zainichi. This is because Zainichi's story is not a problem between Korea and Japan, but a problem that represents minorities around the world. At the end of the story, Pachinko makes to reader think. "What attitude have I had towards minorities?" "Did I not think of minorities as just disruptor of national majority?" For Zainichi's future in the future, divided homeland should become one, and people around the world need to form a consensus and solidarity. The first step for better world starts with a little attention. We should all unite with each other on issues of racism, minorities and starvation for a better world. This is because it is the duty of global citizens living in the global village.