The Japanese Studies Program

and Korean Studies Program

School of Social Sciences

Ateneo de Manila University

invite everyone to

Connections and Collaborations 

The Case of Japanese, Zainichi Koreans,

and Filipinos in Kyoto

A talk by Prof. Atsumasa Nagata
Department of Contemporary Business

Miyagi Gakuin Women's University 

March 4, 2024 - Monday
Faura AVR
5:00-6:30 PM

REGISTER NOW : bit.ly/Migration_04Mar24

Abstract

In Japan, academic studies have inadequately addressed how foreign migrants have connected with Japanese people and other migrant groups through social and cultural activities. This presentation focuses on how Filipino migrants form relationships with Japanese residents and ‘Zainichi Koreans’ by participating in local festivals, social activities. Zainichi Koreans immigrated from the Korean Peninsula during the Japanese colonial era and today make up approximately twenty percent of the population in Higashi-Kujyo. In recent years, this area has become an arrival city for Koreans entering Japanese society.

In 2012, a Filipino self-help community from the Cathedral Catholic Church in Kyoto-city began to promote social activities through the Kyoto City Multicultural Exchange Network Salon operated by a Catholic social welfare corporation known as House of Hope. Some of the Filipino residents, along with members of the Japanese community, formed a music group called Japinoy Sessionista to perform at the facility’s seasonal festivals. Some of the members also participate in the Higashi-Kujyo Madang festival, a local festival based on Korean cultural representations. These representations traditionally are performed in rural areas in order to pray for a good harvest and health on the Korean peninsula.

For the Higashi-Kujyo Madang Festival, new arrangements have been added to these traditional ritual performances. This presentation clarifies two Filipino movements, one is social activities mainly in the Kyoto City Multicultural Exchange Network, another is cultural activities like the Higashi-Kujyo Madang Festival. It outlines the process of how collaborations between Japanese people, Koreans and Filipino are being built through social and cultural activities. This process will be examined in light of Filipinos becoming the second visible minority group in this area.

REGISTER NOW : bit.ly/Migration_04Mar24