Brian: the situation of Koreans in Japan has a very specific, long, and detailed history. While I am not fully conversant on it, I am familiar with the basics. Its beginnings go way back. About 1500 years ago, Japan conquered much of Korea, before losing it. There have been military actions back and forth throughout their histories, with Korea sometimes being a path for other invaders attacking Japan. And of course, Japan successfully invaded and occupied Korea for 35 years, between 1910 and 1945. Its integration into the greater Japanese Empire was so thorough that Japan even once considered moving its capital to Seoul, to act as a more central capitol to an Asia controlled by Japan.

During this occupation, Japan treated Koreans abysmally. Everything from basic discrimination to cultural genocide has been charged by Koreans against Japan during its occupation, and issues like comfort women continue to burn bright between the two countries.

But one action by the Japanese with serious long-term ramifications were Korean immigration into Japan and forced labor conscripts brought to Japan; there were around a million of the former and perhaps 700,000 of the latter, though some counts have as many as 2.4 million Koreans in Japan by the end of WWII. So many lived in Japan for so long that Japan was essentially their home country, and most of these people continued to live in Japan–perhaps two-thirds of a million Koreans. The number is much higher today. Many of these people today, despite having lived in Japan for generations, refuse to accept Japanese citizenship, and remain aliens in the land of their birth. For a long time, the status and registration of these people have been controversial; only recently have they won the ability to not have to be fingerprinted as part of the alien registration process.

Socially, I am much less of an authority of their treatment, but I have seen the issue on the fringes. Many Japanese have an unfavorably view of Koreans, seeing them as apt to be gangsters-slash-pachinko-parlor-owners, or otherwise associated with crime. Others see them as wealthy and shrewd businessmen, like Chinese merchants, owning restaurants and other businesses. I have heard claims by Japanese that Koreans have been given special privileges and concessions (sound familiar?), but I have not heard the side of the Japan-resident Koreans on such things. In many ways, there are parallels to the experience of Native Americans or African-Americans. And where Japan is often blind to the inappropriate nature of discriminatory, insensitive, and/or racially charged speech against non-Korean foreigners due to their inexperience with hearing objections to such things, they have somewhat more experience with Koreans. While there may be more discrimination and ill-will against Koreans, it is probably more muted and hidden, and thus stands out less.

There is also a recent popularity with things Koreans in Japan by younger Japanese women, who like Korean idols and singers. I have seen more Korean media, such as TV shows on cable or movies from Korea.

Beyond that, I really have little knowledge of the relationship, and would be interested in learning more myself. I should probably quiz some of my coworkers, who teach classes to Japanese and Korean students (we have a good number of Korean students, both Japanese-born and foreign students from Korea) and have heard discussion and read essays on such issues.

Uchinanchu: I agree fully on the fact that this poor girl has been put through hell; absolutely, rape is a terrible crime and my heart goes out for the young girl.

But what you have suggested here raises flags for me: you claim that there is a great deal of crime by Americans in Okinawa. That might be, but it might not. For example, most Japanese would probably say that foreigners in Japan in general are more likely to commit crimes; would it surprise you if I told you the opposite is true? For all of the bad news you see, for all of the press conferences people like Shintaro Ishihara hold and warn of terrible crimes by foreigners–the fact is, there is *less crime* among foreigners in Japan than there is by Japanese. The reports that say the opposite count immigration offenses as part of the total, and that is not a fair comparison: Japanese are not able to commit immigration crimes in Japan. But if you compare the crimes committed by Japanese with the same crimes committed by foreigners, you’ll find that the foreigners have a lower crime rate.

So, when someone comes up and says that American soldiers in Okinawa have committed so many crimes, my natural reaction is to ask: what evidence do you have? Have you seen statistics which compare American vs. Japanese crime rates in Okinawa, or have you just heard the news stories and got the impression that American soldiers commit so many crimes?

Imagine if every crime done by Japanese got into the newspapers, but few by Americans ever did; wouldn’t you have the reverse impression? And so many crimes by servicemen very much do get in the news. I remember reading a news report about an American soldier who was arrested for firing plastic pellets from a toy gun at a pizza delivery man. When Japanese people commit such crimes, is it reported in the national news?

My point is this: without statistics, we have no way of knowing what the truth is. Maybe U.S. servicemen do have a higher crime rate. Or maybe they have a lower crime rate, and you only think it’s larger because you read so many stories and hear so many people protesting.