- 15 Mar 2003
- 1,209
- 47
As you might have gathered from Hachiko's posts, or if you have turned on the TV in Japan the last week or so, the issue of the Japanese citizens abducted by N.Korea some twenty years ago is huge news.
This time it is because some of the abductees' famlies members left behind in N.Korea this past year and a half since the first group was repatriated, came back to Japan a few days ago. These new "returnees" were children of Japanese people abducted some 25 years ago. The fate of a good number of other adbucted Japanese is still unknown.
Where to start with this one...Well, first with a term that has been thrown around a lot for the recent children of abductees who have joined their parents in Japan. The term we are seeing a lot in Japan is 帰国 (kikoku) which means "returning to one's home country." In this case, Japan.
Perhaps a linguistal mirror to how Japanese view themselves...The children and young adults who arrived in Tokyo on Friday/Saturday, in English at least, could not be "returning to one's country of origin." Their country of origin is N.Korea. They were born to at least one Japanese parent in N.Korea. Since they have never been to Japan before, it is impossible to "return" to someplace you have never been.
I know this is more of an emotional usage of the term "returned." As in returning something that was lost or misplaced, but adding those emotions into the mix raised some interesting questions...
God knows why, but what happens if these young people don't like it in Japan and want to return to N.Korea? (gasp). They have never been to Japan, have no experience with Japan, and speak only basic Japanese. The pressure they must be feeling is huge. For one family, their elderly father (70'ish) is still in N.Korea and refuses to leave (he is a deserter from the US Army and is convinced he will be locked away for ever if he came to Japan). They are followed by cameras all day long and hounded wherever they go.
What if one or more decide to call it quits and "return" home? All this diplomacy and hard work that people have put into this deal - the fallout would be huge.
However, perhaps out of respect, no one has raised this issue on Japanese TV.
As an aside 帰国(kikoku) is also used in talking about Japanese children born overseas who come to Japan for the first time. Again, I have a lingustical issue with claiming something is returning to a place the have never been, but I think it goes a very long way toward showing an insular mindset.
The announcement came out today that two of the children have been given new Japanese names. A legal issue for all new immigrants and something that still ticks me off, but it seemed voluntary at least.
The last thing I'll touch on is the meeting between Koizumi and Kim Jong-il. Koizumi went to N.Korea to pick up the children and to try and get more information about other abductees, their fates, and if there are more. He also gave N.Korea a bunch of food and medical aid.
However, he came back with nothing extra. Yes, he did come home with the above mentioned family members, but he was expected to bring back much more. The families of the still-missing are pissed off and mad Japan and Koizumi was made to look such the fool.
However, and news organizations did not touch on the fact that while negotiations about more information concerning adbuctees were going on, the children scheduled to go to Japan were still on the ground and at the airport in N.Korea. Koizumi was in a very weak position. He could have pushed too far for too much and Jong-il could have changed his mind, decided the children were not going to Japan and the trip would have turned into a great disaster. Jong-il had Koizumi by the short ones and both knew it. The result was that Japan, in short, ransomed the children for a bunch of food and medicine. IMHO, this wasn't a warming of relations gesture as far as N.Korea was concerned - it was a trade.
This time it is because some of the abductees' famlies members left behind in N.Korea this past year and a half since the first group was repatriated, came back to Japan a few days ago. These new "returnees" were children of Japanese people abducted some 25 years ago. The fate of a good number of other adbucted Japanese is still unknown.
Where to start with this one...Well, first with a term that has been thrown around a lot for the recent children of abductees who have joined their parents in Japan. The term we are seeing a lot in Japan is 帰国 (kikoku) which means "returning to one's home country." In this case, Japan.
Perhaps a linguistal mirror to how Japanese view themselves...The children and young adults who arrived in Tokyo on Friday/Saturday, in English at least, could not be "returning to one's country of origin." Their country of origin is N.Korea. They were born to at least one Japanese parent in N.Korea. Since they have never been to Japan before, it is impossible to "return" to someplace you have never been.
I know this is more of an emotional usage of the term "returned." As in returning something that was lost or misplaced, but adding those emotions into the mix raised some interesting questions...
God knows why, but what happens if these young people don't like it in Japan and want to return to N.Korea? (gasp). They have never been to Japan, have no experience with Japan, and speak only basic Japanese. The pressure they must be feeling is huge. For one family, their elderly father (70'ish) is still in N.Korea and refuses to leave (he is a deserter from the US Army and is convinced he will be locked away for ever if he came to Japan). They are followed by cameras all day long and hounded wherever they go.
What if one or more decide to call it quits and "return" home? All this diplomacy and hard work that people have put into this deal - the fallout would be huge.
However, perhaps out of respect, no one has raised this issue on Japanese TV.
As an aside 帰国(kikoku) is also used in talking about Japanese children born overseas who come to Japan for the first time. Again, I have a lingustical issue with claiming something is returning to a place the have never been, but I think it goes a very long way toward showing an insular mindset.
The announcement came out today that two of the children have been given new Japanese names. A legal issue for all new immigrants and something that still ticks me off, but it seemed voluntary at least.
The last thing I'll touch on is the meeting between Koizumi and Kim Jong-il. Koizumi went to N.Korea to pick up the children and to try and get more information about other abductees, their fates, and if there are more. He also gave N.Korea a bunch of food and medical aid.
However, he came back with nothing extra. Yes, he did come home with the above mentioned family members, but he was expected to bring back much more. The families of the still-missing are pissed off and mad Japan and Koizumi was made to look such the fool.
However, and news organizations did not touch on the fact that while negotiations about more information concerning adbuctees were going on, the children scheduled to go to Japan were still on the ground and at the airport in N.Korea. Koizumi was in a very weak position. He could have pushed too far for too much and Jong-il could have changed his mind, decided the children were not going to Japan and the trip would have turned into a great disaster. Jong-il had Koizumi by the short ones and both knew it. The result was that Japan, in short, ransomed the children for a bunch of food and medicine. IMHO, this wasn't a warming of relations gesture as far as N.Korea was concerned - it was a trade.