15-16th December 2019 “Transnational Asians in the 21st Century” Workshop

On 15-16th December 2019, The Global Asia Research Center, together with Waseda Institute of Korean Studies and Korea Foundation, presented a graduate student and next-generation scholars workshop titled: “Transnational Asians in the 21st Century”. Prof. Kyungmook Kim initiated the project to gather professors and PhD students working on a variety of topics such as ethnic minorities in and across East Asia, cultural heritage identity, education, language, history, and more. The professors and PhD students came from different countries and fields, building upon research presentations conducted at a similar international workshop held at the University of Auckland last year. This workshop aimed to continue and strengthen last year’s rich and diverse academic/practical discussions.

The presentations of the students were divided in two sections, spanning two days. On 15th December, the workshop started with the organizers’ panel, introducing the chair (Prof.Kyungmook Kim, Waseda University) and the panelists (Prof.Changzoo Song, The Auckland University; Prof.Kohei Kawabata, Tsuda University; Prof.Rika Lee, Chuo University; Prof.Tae-sik Kim, Masaryk University; Prof.Woong-ki Kim, Hong-ik University). As experts in their fields, they were the lecturers and the discussants of the workshop.

In Section A, Eline Delmarcelle (Waseda University) presented her ongoing research on the naturalization strategies of foreign residents in Japan. After that, Kunisuke Hirano (University of Michigan) shared his findings from his fieldwork at a newly-built Korean international school in Japan. The two speakers sparked the interest of the audience and received many comments during the Q&A time. The professors suggested potential further developments for the research and shared their personal experiences and observation as foreign residents in Japan and educators at international schools.

After lunch break, there were two short lectures by Prof. Changzoo Song (The Auckland University) and Prof. Tae-sil Kim (Masaryk University). Prof. Changzoo Song spoke about how food from different cultures became popular outside their home countries and was transformed to different versions by the locals. He especially talked about the Horumon culture, which was the practice of eating giblets that first started with yakiniku, a style of barbecue that came to Japan via Korea. Meanwhile, Prof. Tae-sil Kim (Masaryk University) lectured about two diasporic spaces of Vietnam in the Czech Republic: at the grocery stores and on social media. The two lectures received great attention from the participants and many questions regarding how the professors became invested in their fields of study and how they conducted their research.

In the afternoon section, the professor and young scholars had a deep discussion on “How national/ area studies must change to transnational/ transborder studies?” Prof. Kyungmook Kim expressed the strong need to ask the question in this time and age. Everyone participating had the chance to introduce themselves, their research and their opinions on the question, as well as the workshop. After the discussion, all attendants were invited to a reception party, where they could become close with people working in similar fields and enjoy the Horumon culture.

On the second day, the presenters were divided into three sections in three different rooms. In Section B, Nguyen Thuy Hang (Waseda University) shared her findings from her ethnographic study of labor migration to Japan of Vietnamese IT professionals. Meanwhile, Frank Zhao (Waseda University) presented the analysis of his field trip to Thailand to study the integration between new Chinese immigrants and indigenous ethnic Chinese. In Section C, Yuki Tsuruzono (Waseda University) spoke about the alien registration and the Chinese residents in Japan during the occupied era (1947-1951); while Safa Choi (Waseda University) showed the role that the Japanese Red Cross played in how Japan accepted remittances from North Korea. In Section D, Satoko Yang-Nagayama (Hitotsubashi University) presented her study on the resistance to discrimination and the possibility of solidarity of Zainichi Korean women. Kang-ryol Chung (Hitotsubashi University), in the same section, talked about his study on the bifurcation of socio-economic status of Zainichi Koreans.

During the sections, the young scholars, professors, and audience had plenty of time to not only discuss their research, ask questions and come up with possibilities for future research directions, but also exchange advice on career prospects.

On the final day, the participants also had the chance to meet with Japanese-Korean rapper MC Funi aka Jeong-Hoon Kwak as he shared his experience growing up and living in Japan, through stories and music.

After lunch breaks, many of the attendants visited the Rohingya Photo Exhibition that was being held on Waseda campus.

The organizers and participant scholars gathered again in one seminar room to share their feedback on the workshop and discuss possible future directions. It is hoped that more workshops will be held in the future with universities in Japan and other countries.