“Korean Schools in Japan,” a film that tells stories of 100 years of struggles against discrimination suffered by Zainichi, the permanent ethnic Korean residents of Japan, will be screened at two locations:
Saturday, Jan. 4, at 2 p.m. at Fruit of the Spirit Lutheran Church/Christ the King Lutheran Church, 2706 W. 182nd St., Torrance
Sunday, Jan. 5, at 4 p.m. at KIWA (Korean Immigrant Workers Alliance), 1053 S. New Hampshire Ave., Los Angeles (https://kiwa.org/)
Both screenings are free. The film is in Japanese with English and Korean subtitles.
Korean schools in Japan were established right after World War II, and in the early years, there were about 500 schools attended by 500,000 students. They were ordered by GHQ, the U.S. occupational force, and the Japanese government to close down. After a long struggle, today about 60 of them, from kindergarten to university level, remain.
In 2010, the Abe government decided that the high school education in Japan should be free; however, in 2013, Korean schools in Japan were excluded from the program. Local governments also started cutting funding for these schools.
This 2019 film was produced, written and directed by Ko Chanyu. It is presented through the courtesy of Education for Social Justice Foundation (www.e4sjf.org/).
This is the first of a film series presented by Pacific Asian Nuclear-Free Peace Alliance. The series explores the intersections of militarism, colonialism and gender. Donations would be highly appreciated.