2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The Islanders' memories and the History of the Exchange by Sea between Japan and Korea : About the Korean Shipwreck Victims off at the bay of Ashibe in Iki Island
| Project/Area Number |
17530406
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Sociology
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| Research Institution | Nagasaki Wesleyan University |
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Principal Investigator |
WATARI Akeshi Nagasaki Wesleyan University, Faculty of Contemporary Social Studies, Professor (60158681)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
SHIMURA Tetsuro Yamaguchi Prefectural University, Faculty of Social Welfare, Professor (50264982)
KOBAYASHI Tomoko Fukuoka University of Education, Faculty of Education, Associate Professor (10325433)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2005 – 2007
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| Keywords | IKI ISLAND / KOREAN SHIPWRECK / MEMORY / NARRATIVE / RECORD / REMAINS / MEMORIAL / FORCED MOBILIZATION |
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| Research Abstract |
This study deals with the maritime accidents off the island of Iki killing the Koreans on their way home from Japan right after the World War II. Between September and October 1945, repatriation ships carrying the Koreans left Japan for their homeland. However, they never made it to their destinations; a strong typhoon hit and annihilated them off the island of Iki, Nagasaki Prefecture, claiming hundreds of lives. While shipwrecks around this area were not uncommon, these particular accidents were not officially recorded nor publicly talked about. That is not the only reason this research focuses on these cases; the tragedy exposes through the facts and the stories told by the witnesses the complex relationship between the Japanese and the Koreans and the mixed emotions toward each other at the end of WWII magnified by the extreme condition.
For three years, the sites of the wrecks were closely examined, the residents of Iki were interviewed, the archives on the incidents were uncovered, and whereabouts of the victims' remains was investigated, and the historical records on the diplomatic relationship between Japan and Korea was examined.
Several new facts have surfaced through this research: (1) The shipwreck victims in Ashibe Bay had been thought to be the drafted laborers who were affected by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and were regarded as such during the session of the Japanese Parliament, but it is untrue. (2) While the number of casualty was thought to have resulted from the reluctance of the islanders to help the Koreans, some of the residents actually might have rescued the survivors. (3) Some of the remains rest under the memorial monument, while others are enshrined at Konjoin Temple in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture; however there may lie more remains yet to be discovered.
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Research Products
(8 results)
