Professor Choi Seong-hee, a third generation Korean-Japanese resident in charge of historical research
NHK airs ‘Wings to a Tiger’… Coverage of Joseon students studying abroad and the Kanto Massacre, etc.
The final episode was very popular with a viewer rating of 18.7%… “Japan’s understanding of Korean-Japanese residents has improved”
“I still vividly remember when I was contacted to take charge of the historical research for a drama about the lives of Koreans during the Japanese colonial period. ‘This era has finally arrived. “I felt moved, a sense of duty, and a sense of responsibility at the same time because I thought, ‘Finally, the history of the Japanese colonial period is receiving attention.’”
This is what Choi Seong-hee (47, photo), a professor of international studies at Osaka Sangyo University and a third-generation Korean resident in Japan, who was in charge of researching the drama ‘Wings to the Tiger’, which aired on Japan’s public broadcaster NHK from April this year to the 27th of last month, said in a video interview with the Dong-A Ilbo on the 1st. .
‘Wings for a Tiger’ deals with the biographies of the first generation of female lawyers from the 1930s to 1960s. In particular, the main characters, the ‘Gang of 6 from the Class of 1932’, included Choi Hyang-sook, an international student from Joseon. In addition, the massacre of Koreans during the Great Kanto Earthquake and discrimination against Koreans living in Japan were also covered, and minor roles for Koreans also appeared.
NHK’s morning drama, commonly called ‘Asadora (morning drama)’, boasts a 63-year tradition. This drama was also so loved that the viewer rating for the final episode recorded 18.7%. It also attracted a lot of attention because it was the first time that a Korean protagonist appeared in an asadora like this.
Professor Choi said, “The turbulent lives of Koreans living in Japan, including Hyangsuk, do not conflict with historical facts. “So, I participated in historical research with the belief that Hyangsuk should not be depicted as a person who cooperated with Japanese colonial rule,” he emphasized. It was also emphasized that the production team showed great courage in producing this drama in a situation where historical revisionists and right-wingers were raising their voices. He continued, “After the drama aired, Japanese society’s understanding of Koreans living in Japan increased. “I felt greatly rewarded,” he said.
Professor Choi, who studies the Japanese colonial period, often visits Korea. Also, whenever he has the opportunity, he emphasizes to those around him that “it is my calling as a scholar to sow the seeds of friendship between Korea and Japan.” In fact, a Japanese college student who grew up with parents who had anti-Korean tendencies said that he learned a lot of things he didn’t know after listening to his ‘Modern and Contemporary History’ lecture in 2018, and that he cried profusely on the last day of the lecture. He also said, “It was a lecture that changed my life.”
Professor Choi visited Nara Prefecture in 2020 and studied letters sent by Korean students at Japan’s Women’s High School Normal School to Japanese scholarship recipients in the 1920s and 1930s. Most of them returned to Joseon, became teachers, and devoted themselves to nurturing younger students. He said, “As I read the letter, it felt like a Joseon woman from 100 years ago was asking, ‘Please record us in history, too.’”
Young Japanese researchers studying Korea, including Professor Choi, are trying to communicate with Japanese people who are interested in modern and contemporary Korean history through active lectures and social media activities. However, he said that the training of Korean-related professors and researchers in major Japanese universities is still insufficient, and called for the two countries to cooperate in the future to foster more researchers.
Professor Choi, who was born in Sapporo, Hokkaido Island in 1977, graduated from the Department of History at Tokyo Women’s University and went on to Hitotsubashi University, which is considered the ‘cradle of modern Korean history research in Japan.’ Here, he received a master’s degree for research on the Dong-A Ilbo’s Bnarod Movement (1931-1934) and a doctoral degree for research on secondary education during the Japanese colonial period in the 1920s and 1930s.
Reporter Lee Ji-yoon [email protected]
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2024-10-07 20:28:54