Pachinko (drama)

[thomas]

Has anyone watched the drama "Pachinko" (パチンコ)? More of a kdrama, it is the story of a family who leaves Busan for Osaka's Korean quarter in the early 20th​ century. Pachinko's narrative draws on the real-life experiences of the zainichi, people of Korean descent who form one of Japan's largest ethnic minorities.

Kim Sun-Ja (Kim Min-Ha) was born and raised in Busan, Korea in the early 20th century, while Korea was under Japanese rule. She falls in love with a man named Koh Han-Su (Lee Min-Ho). She can see that he is a powerful person and from a different social class from her, but she is unaware of his complete background. Meanwhile, a church priest named Baek Isak (Noh Sang-Hyun) comes to stay at the lodge run by Kim Sun-Ja's mother. When he learns of Kim Sun-Ja's situation, he tries to give her advice, but, when he experiences her unwavering conviction, he offers to marry her. Kim Sun-Ja soon moves to Japan and faces difficult times as a Korean immigrant living in a unfamiliar land. In New York in 1989, Baek Solomon (Jin Ha) is determined to succeed in the corporate world. A company wants to build a new hotel in Tokyo, but a Korean woman refuses to sell her land where the hotel is to be built. Baek Solomon offers to his bosses to travel to Tokyo and persuade the woman to sell her land to the hotel group. He also goes to see his family there.

https://asianwiki.com/Pachinko_(Drama)

Although playing in Japan and featuring a substantial Japanese cast, the drama has barely merited a mention in Japan, one of the countries that inspired it. The eight-part drama, currently streaming on Apple TV+.

‘A difficult time’: why popular TV series Pachinko was met with silence in Japan

Experiences of zainichi, brought over as labourers, highlights bitter historical legacy between South Korea and Japan that still lingers

www.theguardian.com