Barefoot Gen and the History of Korea Under Japanese Occupation
Joonsang Jeremy Yu
Jjyu4@wisc.edu
Lit Trans 231
May 16th, 2014
Adam L. Kern
Back in the early 1900s, Japan had colonized many different Southeast Asian countries. Taiwan and Korea were few of the colonized country. I am a Korean student and I have witnessed a lot of hatred toward the Japanese government from the older generation in Korea. But, it is also interesting to see how manga became so popular in Korea and Taiwan. Both of these countries were colonized by Japan but these two countries were one of the first nations to have manga over in their country and many of their art-works were similar to those of Japan. Barefoot Gen is a story during the World War II and it tells us the story of survivors of Hiroshima and the aftermath of World War II. Keiji Nakazawa wrote Barefoot Gen and it has been translated to more than 30 different languages. Are there differences between the English and Korean translations? If there are, do these differences help to think through the question about why manga are popular in Korea when the Japanese had colonized Korea?
Koreans were under Japanese rule for a long time. It was officially signed as a colony on August 22, 1910, but Japanese had been planning this annexation from 1876 the Japanese-Korea treaty of amity. Japanese plan of annexation started with this treaty. This treaty allowed Japanese to come to Korean harbors freely and this marked the end of Korea’s status as a protectorate of China. Also later on October 8th, 1895, Japanese minister Miura Goro plotted the assassination of Empress Myeongseong. With the assassination, Japanese were able to control the economy and military power and made the Koreans sig...
... middle of paper ...
...apan Earthquake of 1923." Smithsonian. SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE, May 2011. Web.
Suh, Jungbo 동아일보,“[만화]’원폭 잔혹성 폭로’ 日만화 국내출간 : 뉴스 : 동아닷컴.” Dong A, 14 sept. 2000. Web.
Lee, Killdong. 조선일보, “겨울방학에 읽을만한 청소년 교양도서 – 책을 사랑하는 당신의 선택 북스조선.”. Chosun, 29, Dec. 2000. Web.
Brooks, Katherine. "The History Of 'Comfort Women': A WWII Tragedy We Can't Forget." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Nov. 2013. Web.
Caraway, Bill. "A New Relationship." Korea in the Eye of Tiger. Copyscape, 16 Dec. 2006. Web.
Napier, Susan. “No More Words: Barefoot Gen, Grave of the Fireflies, and ‘Victim’s History.’” In Napier, Anime, pp. 161-173.
Brooks, Katherine. "The History Of 'Comfort Women': A WWII Tragedy We Can't Forget." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Nov. 2013. Web.
Fukuoka, Yasunori “Koreans in Japan: Past and Present,” Saitama University Review, vol. 31, no.1, 1996.
Zeinert, Karen. Those Incredible Women of World War 2: The Millbrook Press, Brookfield, Connecticut 1994
Harris, Carol. "Women Under Fire in World War Two". BBC News. BBC, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2014
Pearson, Lester B. "Documents on the Korean Crisis." University of Manitoba. January 24, 1951. http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/canada_war/tribune/website/clippings/korea/Documents_on_the_Korean_Crisis1.shtml (accessed December 18, 2011).
The Web. The Web. 18 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/womenatwar.htm>. Reinhardt, Claudia and Bill Ganzel. "
Sorensen, Aja, Rosie the Riveter: Women Working during World War II. Retrieved from http://www.nps.gov/pwro/collection/website/rosie.htm, (n.d.)
Harris, Carol. " Women Under Fire in World War Two." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web.
"Women in WWII at a Glance." The National WWII Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2014.
1Encounter: A Novel of Nineteenth-Century Korea by Moo-Sook Hahn, Translated by Ok Young Kim Chang. Foreword by Don Baker. University of California Press, 1992. ISBN(s): Cloth-- 0520073800 Paper-- 0520073819
A Korean Solution? - "A Korean Solution?" Commentary. 01 Jun. 2005: 62. eLibrary. Web.
Japan was imperializing late nineteenth century to early twentieth century. Korea was a Japanese colony. After World War II, the Japanese had to get rid of the colony. North Korea became a Communist. South Korea wants to be democratic.
Women who worked factory jobs during World War II, faced a lot of problems. In Slacks & Calluses, the author brings attention to this. The women were degraded. They had to put up with ridiculous dress codes. They were made pariahs by other women. Some were not even seen as women. Yet, through all of the adversity and ridicule, these women became stronger because of their struggles.
6. Famous Koreans – Six Portraits by Mary Connor. Education about Asia, volume 6, number
Since the end of the Second World War, the shape of the relations between the nations in the Pacific region has stayed more or less the same way until the present. However, there has been one big changed that affected the situation in the Pacific region and it was the outbreak of the Korean war and the creation of a Communist North Korea. This brought a huge inevitable change in relations between countries in the region. The stability that was brought about with the end of the Second World War disappeared and a new type of tension appeared. This especially affected the relations between the Korea and Japan to a great extent. In the past few years, the two countries have been seeking cooperation for the common aim of keeping the security in the Pacific region but things did not always work out fine due to many reasons including the historic background of two countries. In this paper, the historical background, the chronology of main events, the development of the relations and the current situation regarding the security and cultural issues, between Korea and Japan will be examined and analysed, which will be followed by a conclusion.
Hubbard, Ruth. "The Social Construction of Sexualtiy." JSTOR. Duke University Press, 1996. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. (Class Source)
Kim, Soo-yeon. “S. Korea Raising Alertness against Influx of Foreign Capital.” Yonhap News. Yonhap News Agency, 24 Sept. 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2011