Crisis in intercultural relations in Japan: Comparative study of quake-stricken Korean schools in Kobe and Sendai

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K21445
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: International relations; Sociology
• Research Institution: Waseda University (2015, 2017); The Toyo Bunko (2016)
• Principal Investigator: Kato Emi 早稲田大学, 政治経済学術院, 次席研究員 (60434213)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 多文化共生 / 在日コリアン / 国際文化学 / 地域社会

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research considers crisis in intercultural relations in Japan by studying the case of the Tohoku Korean School (TKS). Japanese government did not approve the application to the Disaster Relief Program from TKS damaged by The Great East Japan Earthquake. Furthermore, right after the damage Miyagi prefecture and Sendai city terminated subsidies for TKS. This research examines a historical construction of current logics of public assistance to TKS.
In the end, this research sheds light on the fact that public assistance to TKS is now accounted for not in ‘the logic of human rights’ but ‘the logic of the Nation-States’ alone. In consequence, TKS is forced to make excessive self-help efforts and suffers from a deepening sense of isolation. Finally, this article argues that the crisis in intercultural relations is more serious in local communities where the smaller number of Koreans reside such as Tohoku (Sendai) than where the larger number of them reside such as Kobe.

Free Research Field

国際関係論