„Migration to Japan“ in documentary filmmaking
In his nearly two-hour long documentary, director Ko Chanyu connects the long struggle of Zainichi Koreans for formal recognition of Korean schools in post-war Japan with the death of the Sri Lankan woman Wishma Sandamali during detention at the Nagoya Immigration Center in March 2021. In his film, Ko examines in detail how legal and systemic frameworks, stemming from Japan’s colonial legacy, still manifest in discriminatory practices towards migrants today.
The film that is a plea for an open, multicultural society and peaceful coexistence has five chapters: It opens with the colonization of Korea (chōsen) by the Japanese Empire in 1910 and the legal vacuum affecting Zainichi Koreans with North Korean roots after the end of the Pacific War and the division of Korea. The first chapter highlights the decades-long legal battle over the certification of Korean schools (chōsen gakkō) – the subject of Ko’s first documentary Ai-tachi no Gakkō (Our School) from 2019 – as one facet of the discrimination against Zainichi Koreans in Japan. The following chapter explains the common root of the registration system for Zainichi Koreans in post-war Japan and current state migration policies, such as the so-called “Technical Intern Training Program” (ginō jisshū seido) that enables participating companies to commit serious human rights violations. Next, the documentary addresses the vulnerability of migrant children, as policy-makers do not account for their precarious situation in measures like compulsory education. Through a series of personal testimonies in the fourth chapter, the film bridges the gap from repressive refugee policies to violent conditions in detention centers. Finally, the film discusses the circumstances surrounding Wishma Sandamali’s death, thus closing the narrative circle of how actors of this racist system no longer see people as fellow human beings with equal rights, but as foreigners, whose dignity they do not hold in equal regard.
The screening is preceded by an introduction by migration researcher Dr. Megha Wadhwa, research associate at FU Berlin.
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Screen time: 114 min
Trailer with English subtitles: https://youtu.be/NrtvZZ8ygpU
Director’s Biography – Ko Chanyu is a director, author, poet, and playwright with a degree from Korea University in Tokyo. After serving as the editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Mire (Mirai), which focuses on issues related to Zainichi Koreans, he became a nonfiction author. He has published various books on Zainichi-Korean identity and experiences of discrimination. He is also a co-author of several anthologies. In 2015, he founded the media company Life Eizo Works and became its managing director. Additionally, he is a member of the board of the Journalist Club for Liberty (Jiyū Jānarisuto Kurabu).
His first documentary Ai-tachi no Gakkō (Our School), released in 2019, was ranked among the ten best documentaries of the year by Japan’s oldest film magazine, Kinema Junpo, and won the Nihon Eiga Fukkō Prize.
Location: Japan-Zentrum der LMU, Seminargebäude am Englischen Garten, Oettingenstr. 67, 80538 München, Room B001.
Fotos: @https://ningenda.jp/fourwalling/ und @Ko Chanyu