‘Shimon’: A Study of Discrimination Against Koreans by the Japanese

Kaz Takeuchi’s 27-minute “Shimon,” which will have a benefit premiere screening at 6 tonight at the TransAmerica/Occidental Auditorium, 1139 S. Hill St., is an eye-opener even for those aware that Japan has a long tradition of discrimination against Koreans.

The title of this well-researched Visual Communications production translates as “fingerprinting.” For decades, Japanese law has dictated that all Koreans, even though born in Japan, must always carry with them a pass bearing their fingerprints, a practice that harks back to Japan’s 1910-45 colonization of Korea.

Through interviews with civil rights activists and Koreans of various generations, we are reminded that citizenship in Japan is a matter of blood, not birth, and that even those Koreans who renounce their heritage in the naturalization process must accept that their offspring will be stigmatized by official documents stating their Korean ancestry through four future generations.

Shockingly, we’re told that none of the 30,000 Korean victims of the A-bombing of Hiroshima have been entitled to compensation; the small memorial to these victims, constructed by Koreans themselves in 1970, had to be built outside the boundaries of the Hiroshima Peace Park.

Confucianism and the art of pottery-making have come to Japan from China via Korea, yet so strong is the prejudice against the Koreans that those who “pass” often never reveal their true ancestry to their Japanese spouses and their children. Information: (213) 680-4462.