is a Japanese term referring to residents of

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

(North and South) and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

in the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The original term literally means "third country's citizen".

Concept

In the immediate aftermath of the war, the legal status of Korean and Taiwanese nationals in Japan was not clear. The occupying American force enjoyed immunity from the Japanese legal system. Some Korean and Taiwanese people in Japan insisted that, since they were from liberated countries, they were no longer under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Imperial government. This resulted in many underprivileged Taiwanese and Korean people previously living under colonial rule forming criminal gangs such as the Yamiichi (闇市), a black market which was against the rationing system which continued after the war. The occasional clashes of these gangs and Japanese police were widely reported by the newspapers at the time. One such incident was the

Shibuya incident The was a violent confrontation which occurred in between rival gangs near the Shibuya Station in Tokyo, Japan. The years after World War II saw Japan as a defeated nation and the Japanese people had to improvise in many aspects of daily life ...

. Many of these rioters were referred to by the term "Sangokujin", which was invented by the American administration. Soon, many Japanese began to associate the term Sangokujin with the criminal behavior of ex-colonial residents. As the country became more stable, the term became something of an anachronism and was mostly forgotten. However, the use of the term was revived when the nationalist

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Metropolitan Governor

Shintaro Ishihara was a Japanese politician and writer who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the radical right Japan Restoration Party, he was one of the most prominent ultranationalists in modern Japanese politics. An ultranat ...

used it in an April 9, 2000 address to the

Japanese Self Defense Forces The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, th ...

(JSDF). In the speech, Ishihara suggested that the JSDF would be needed to suppress Sangokujin criminal activity in the event of a catastrophic disaster in Tokyo.CALVIN SIMS (2000
Tokyo Chief Starts New Furor, on Immigrants
New York Times :I referred to the "many ''sangokujin'' who entered Japan illegally." I thought some people would not know that word so I paraphrased it and used ''

gaikokujin is a Japanese word for foreigners and non-Japanese citizens in Japan, specifically being applied to foreigners of non-Japanese ethnicity and those from the Japanese diaspora who are not Japanese citizens. The word is composed of two kanji: and ...

'', or foreigners. But it was a newspaper holiday so the news agencies consciously picked up the sangokujin part, causing the problem. :... After World War II, when Japan lost, the Chinese of Taiwanese origin and people from the Korean Peninsula persecuted, robbed and sometimes beat up Japanese. It's at that time the word was used, so it was not derogatory. Rather we were afraid of them. :... There's no need for an apology. I was surprised that there was a big reaction to my speech. In order not to cause any misunderstanding, I decided I will no longer use that word. It is regrettable that the word was interpreted in the way it was.'There's No Need For an Apology': Tokyo's boisterous governor is back in the headlines
," ''TIME Asia'', April 24, 2000. The governor later stated, "What is wrong with calling Sangokujins 'Sangokujins'?" Ishihara insisted that the term is a neutral reference to the

Zainichi comprise ethnic Koreans who have permanent residency status in Japan or who have become Japanese citizens, and whose immigration to Japan originated before 1945, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South ...

population for his generation. This has provoked much discussion about the

political correctness ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...

of the term and whether or not colonialism of Korea and Taiwan is by itself an act of robbery of resources and native cultures.

References

{{Ethnic slurs Shintaro Ishihara Ethnic and religious slurs Racism in Japan Anti-Chinese sentiment Anti-Korean sentiment in Japan

Concept

See also

References