= The tragic tale how Korean food was appropriated as Japanese food =

— Korean 해물파전 haemulpajeon “seafood scallion pancake”

How much Korean food did the Japanese appropriate as Japanese food?

There is a backstory of this author who wrote the comprehensive research article below. Somehow, he found out about how the Japanese were treating ethnic Koreans in the city of Osaka. Upset by the injustice by the Meiji era inspired discriminatory crude behavior, he set out to determine the contributions made by Koreans in Japan forced to settle on the island by forced slave labor during the colonial period. The cultural thefts demonstrated the crass attitudes of the Japanese towards ethnic Koreans yet enjoying tastier Korean food taken as Japanese was quite unacceptable.

Because Koreans living in Japan were not officially Japanese, Koreans could not receive food handouts the American occupiers were providing to Japan. Koreans in Japan had to struggle immeasurably to survive somehow through cast aside leftovers, and yet somehow still succeeded in enticing the Japanese to eat more flavorful Korean based foods at “Josen ryori” restaurants.

Osaka claims 해물파전 haemulpajeon and 전복죽 jeonbokjuk abalone rice porridge as uniquely representative Osaka city food culture by claiming them to be Japanese food. All of Japan claims yakiniku to represent Japanese beef eating culture. But as the understandably upset author explains, all of it is thanks to the unrecognized contributions of Koreans teaching the Japanese how to eat better as well in a more sociable manner.

This study tells not just about food, but the sad history behind the appropriated food resources from forcing Korea to be a colony of Japan (through American government and finance banking support), especially transferring Korean beef as Japanese to make Japan appear to meet Western food standards.

The line between Japanese mistreatment of Koreans living in Japan and claiming Korean food to be essentially Japanese is unavoidably entangled in this forthright study. The following is just a summary of the full essay.

Sadly, the washoku myth is partially built upon such history of unacknowledged exploitation and tragedy.

Quotes:

— “Korean beef was a central component of Japan’s imperial expansion and a transformative ingredient in the attempt to modernize the Japanese diet at home.”

— “As the Japanese Empire began to expand in the early 20th century, Japan began to swallow up the human, economic and culinary resources of its growing empire.”

— “Although some consumers will recognize its Korean roots, yakiniku has been adopted and transformed in Japan, becoming one of its most beloved dishes.”

— “Moreover, yakiniku restaurants are becoming increasingly popular outside of Japan. Abroad, yakiniku restaurants are classified as Japanese-style barbecue with no mention of their Korean origins.”

— “Most importantly, yakiniku would encourage the practice of preparing and eating food around the same table — something common in Korea but not practiced as widely in Japan.”

Diaspora, Exclusion and Appropriation: The Cuisine of the Korean Minority in Japan
Christopher Laurent
University of San Francisco
2020
https://www.usfca.edu/journal/asia-paci … n2/laurent

While Koreans living in Japan are relegated to subaltern status, their food is expropriated and celebrated as part of Japanese society.

This essay aims to first frame the historical context to better understand the contemporary predicament of Koreans that immigrated to Japan during the colonization of the peninsula.

Second, it will argue that their cuisine is distinct from the cuisine of South Korea and the cuisine of Japan. Finally, it will broaden the discussion on culinary appropriation to assess what is at stake for marginalized communities.

The current predicament of this population is tied to the Korean Peninsula’s thirty-five years as a colony of Japan (1910–1945) when large numbers of Koreans migrated to Japan often coerced into forced labor.

The Japanese colonial project took great care to reproduce strategies of subjugation, colonial administration and racial hierarchy within their empire. This hierarchy, with Japanese at its apex, helped promulgate stereotypes that justified Koreans’ inferior status.

For example, after the 1923 great Kanto earthquake, rumors of Koreans poisoning wells prompted the massacre of thousands of Korean civilians living in the Tokyo area. These stereotypes — Koreans as unruly and prone to criminality — endure today in Japan’s popular imagination.

Over time, Koreans remaining in Japan inherited the ambiguous status of Zainichi, granting them long-term residency without giving them the same rights as Japanese nationals. They became outsiders living inside Japanese society.

In the last few years, hate speech and online bullying against Koreans have drastically increased. In this context, the food culture of Koreans has been a potent symbol of resistance and an economic resource.

In Zainichi Korean households, simple dishes like kimchi stew (kimchi tchigae) endure the test of time as a reminder that after three generations in Japan they will not be completely assimilated.

The vast majority of ingredients and food processing techniques that make Japanese cuisine what it is today came from continental Asia via the Korean Peninsula.

As the Japanese Empire began to expand in the early 20th century, Japan began to swallow up the human, economic and culinary resources of its growing empire.

During the colonization of the Korean Peninsula, Korean laborers migrated to Japan fleeing poverty in search of employment in a country in need of an inexpensive workforce. This exploited workforce was relegated to dangerous and undesirable occupations like working in mines and factories.

Economic constraints can be limiting but they can also be the source of tremendous culinary creativity.

Although few would credit them for such entrepreneurial genius, Zainichi Koreans in Japan have created a popular cuisine from the leftover scraps of Japanese consumers.

During and shortly after World War II, Koreans were notorious for illegally brewing unfiltered rice wine known as makkoli in Korean and doburoku in Japanese. Although for many Koreans this strategy was a means of survival, illegal brewing was met with violent repression by the Japanese authorities.

The dismantlement of illegal Korean breweries would periodically lead to lethal confrontations between Korean residents and the Japanese police. Although these events are all but erased from Japanese historical consciousness, moonshine is experiencing a revival among the Japanese working classes.

Zainichi Koreans have had to operate on the margins of legality to survive their exclusion.

Koreans had little recourse but to depend on the black market, as they were not eligible for food rationing.

Koreans had to contend with chronic food shortages for key ingredients like rice and had to come up with creative dishes to sell in order to make a living.

The Japanese consumer’s fondness for kimchi encapsulates Japan’s relationship with the food of the Zainichi community. In Japan, kimchi was originally known as Korean pickles (chōsenzuke).

Several factors contributed to the Japanese consumer’s adoption of kimchi. As traditional Japanese pickles decreased in popularity, Japanese producers began to make their version of kimchi, competing with each other.

In addition, the explosion in popularity of kimchi was also linked to the rise of the ethnic and health food trends in the 1990s in Japan. In particular, women consumers shifted from a dislike for pungent foods towards a craving for food with many health benefits.

The popularity of kimchi in Japan transformed it into a side dish staple and a main ingredient in stir-fries and hotpots.

To respond to increasing demand, Japan’s domestic production increased tenfold from 1980 to 2000. Japanese producers would eventually seek to export the Japanese variety of unfermented kimchi (kimuchi) to South Korea, their former imperial subject.

When Japan nominated kimuchi as its official Olympic food, this trade conflict with South Korea would morph in the so-called “Kimchi Wars.”

Cities with historically large Korean populations have also adopted the cuisine of Korean residents as their own. The city of Fukuoka’s proximity to the Korean Peninsula made it an ideal settling point for many Koreans.

One of the city’s specialties, spicy cod row (karashi mentaiko), is now considered a Japanese dish.

Also, the city of Osaka has by far the largest population of Zainichi Koreans and their influence on the local cuisine can hardly be ignored.

Savory scallion and seafood pancakes called chidjimi are common street food in the city and a likely precursor to Japanese okonomiyaki, a dish that is the pride and joy of Osaka residents.

Many of Osaka’s Korean residents hail from Jeju Island which still influences the city’s foodways. For example, the Jeju regional dish of abalone porridge (jeonbok-juk) is sold in many Zainichi Korean restaurants under the Japanese name awabi gayu.

Additionally, Tokyo’s Shin-Okubo neighborhood continues to have a lasting impact on the capital’s foodscape. Tokyoites visit Shin-Okubo for a taste of Korea’s most recent food craze born out of South Korea’s vibrant consumer market.

In the last few years, cheese spicy chicken stir-fry (chīzu takkarubi) has been a popular dish most restaurants will serve to consumers in search of novelty.

Yakiniku, or grilled meat, restaurants are by far the most emblematic culinary contribution of the Zainichi Koreans.

Facing marginalization, Zainichi Korean immigrants opened eateries that were the precursors of these grilled meat restaurants.

In restaurants, the invention of the smokeless grill (muen rōsutā), a device that would draw smoke away from customers, was a revolutionary innovation. It would transform yakiniku restaurants from smoke-filled dens to places where the whole family could eat.

Most importantly, yakiniku would encourage the practice of preparing and eating food around the same table — something common in Korea but not practiced as widely in Japan.

Today, yakiniku has become one of the most popular meat dishes in Japan. In the early days of the colonization of Korea, Korean beef was a central component of Japan’s imperial expansion and a transformative ingredient in the attempt to modernize the Japanese diet at home.

Meat-eating in Japan was also popularized in great part through Korean owned yakiniku restaurants. These restaurants serve small pieces of meat grilled by customers at the table.

Grilling your meat at the table became a way to save on labor costs in the kitchen and provided an entertaining activity for patrons.

Scholars unanimously agree that Zainichi Koreans started these restaurants.

Originally, these restaurants were classified as cuisine from the Korean Peninsula (chōsen ryōri).

To distance themselves from the negative connotation, Zainichi Korean restaurants changed the name of their cuisine to yakiniku, which literally means grilled meat in Japanese. The drawback of this permutation is that it concealed its Korean origins.

The erasure of Korean culinary contributions to Japan operates in a similar way to Zainichi Koreans adopting Japanese names to avoid discrimination.

Today, yakiniku is celebrated as part of a growing fascination with popular Japanese eateries (b-kyū gurume).

Although some consumers will recognize its Korean roots, yakiniku has been adopted and transformed in Japan, becoming one of its most beloved dishes.

Moreover, yakiniku restaurants are becoming increasingly popular outside of Japan. Abroad, yakiniku restaurants are classified as Japanese-style barbecue with no mention of their Korean origins.

The strategic deletion of Korean influence allows the restaurants to add value to its food thanks to a global hierarchy of cuisine where Japan reigns supreme.

This tactic allows the restaurants to charge more than what it would as Korean barbecue.

Japanese chain restaurants like Gyu-Kaku have tapped into this lucrative market taking away an essential resource from a group with few opportunities in Japan.

Culturally, it erases the contribution and the presence of Zainichi Koreans validating the narrative that Koreans have not contributed to Japanese culture.

The cuisine of Zainichi Koreans is part of a larger system of cultural exploitation.

However, in order not to undo the myth of national homogeneity, the dominant group must expropriate these contributions to make them part of the nation.

This process of erasure and plagiarism, often presented as cultural borrowing, is not an accident as it follows similar patterns of dominance and power in societies that continue to internally exploit minority groups.

The Japanization of the cuisine of Korean residents in Japan operates similar dynamics to the Britishization of the cuisine of South Asian residents in the United Kingdom.

This process of culinary appropriation follows similar patterns in former colonial societies that prevent minorities from capitalizing on their cultural production and erasing their contributions to the national culture.

In Japan, younger generations of consumers are not readily aware that some of their favorite foods were developed in marginalized communities.

When a group has the power to exploit, discriminate, belittle and prevent upward mobility, taking the food culture of a marginalized group and making it the food of the dominant, this amounts to more than mere cultural borrowing.

Food culture does not evade this framework as it is subject to similar dynamics of exclusion, discrimination and racism.

Patterns of subjugation that were devised during colonial times persist today in Japanese society erasing the presence of Koreans and pushing them to the margins.

Korean barbecue constitutes a poignant example of how food developed by marginalized groups becomes celebrated as the cuisine of the dominant group.

Members of the dominant group make a fortune with resources developed by marginalized groups, while the same group struggles to make a living from these same resources.