Koreans in Japan

"Zainichi" redirects here. The word "Zainichi" refers in general to foreign citizens residing in Japan. For the book, see Koreans in Japan: Critical Voices from the Margin.
Zainichi Koreans
在日韓国・朝鮮人
재일 조선인 (north)
재일 한국인 (south)
Koreans in Osaka, Japan in 1938
Total population
1,000,000 (total population including Koreans with Japanese citizenship)[1]
  • 434,461 (only including Korean citizens living in Japan in December 2023)
  •  South Korea: 410,156
    (in December, 2023)[2]
  •  North Korea: 24,305
    (December 2023)[3]
Details[3]
  • Special Permanent Residents: 281,295 people
  • General permanent residents: 75,771 people
  • Technology/humanities/international services: 24,298 people
  • Study abroad: 14,906 people
  • Japanese spouse, etc.: 11,907 people
  • Family stay: 9,108 people
  • Permanent resident: 7,224 people
  • Business and management: 2,681 people
  • Specific activities: 2,013 people
  • Spouse of permanent resident: 2,109 people
Regions with significant populations
Tokyo (Shin-Ōkubo) · Osaka Prefecture (Ikuno-ku)
Languages
Japanese · Korean (Zainichi Korean)
Religion
Buddhism · Shinto/Korean Shamanism · Christianity · Irreligion
Related ethnic groups
Korean people · Sakhalin Koreans
Koreans in Japan
North Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl재일 조선인
Hancha在日 朝鮮人
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationJaeil Joseonin
McCune–ReischauerChaeil Chosŏn-in
South Korean name
Hangul재일 한국인
Hanja在日 韓國人
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationJaeil Hangugin
McCune–ReischauerChaeil Han'gug-in
Japanese name
Kanji在日韓国・朝鮮人
Kanaざいにちかんこく・ちょうせんじん
Transcriptions
RomanizationZainichi Kankoku/Chōsenjin
Part of a series on
Koreans in Japan
History
Culture
Enclaves
Organizations
In media
Discrimination
Restrictions of passage from the Korean Peninsula (April 1919–1922), the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, restrictions of passage from Busan (October 1925), opening of independent travel service by Koreans between Jeju and Osaka (April 1930), Park Choon-Geum was elected for the House of Representatives of Japan (February 1932), removal of restrictions of civil recruit from the Korean Peninsula (September 1939), public recruit from the Korean Peninsula (March 1942), labor conscription from the Korean Peninsula (September 1944), the end of WWII and the beginning of repatriation (1945), the Jeju uprising (April 1948), the Korean War (June 1950), the Home-coming Movement to North Korea (December 1959–1983), the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea (1965), (1977–1983), Japanese ratification of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1982), the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis

Koreans in Japan (在日韓国人・在日本朝鮮人・朝鮮人, Zainichi Kankokujin/Zainihon Chōsenjin/Chōsenjin) (Korean: 재일 한국/조선인) are ethnic Koreans who immigrated to Japan before 1945 and are citizens or permanent residents of Japan, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South Korean nationals who have immigrated to Japan since the end of World War II and the division of Korea.

They currently constitute the second largest ethnic minority group in Japan after Chinese immigrants, due to many Koreans assimilating into the general Japanese population.[4] The majority of Koreans in Japan are Zainichi Koreans (在日韓国・朝鮮人, Zainichi Kankoku/Chōsenjin), often known simply as Zainichi (在日, lit. 'in Japan'), who are ethnic Korean permanent residents of Japan. The term Zainichi Korean refers only to long-term Korean residents of Japan who trace their roots to Korea under Japanese rule, distinguishing them from the later wave of Korean migrants who came mostly in the 1980s,[5] and from pre-modern immigrants dating back to antiquity who may themselves be the ancestors of the Japanese people.[6]

The Japanese word "Zainichi" itself means a foreign citizen "staying in Japan", and implies temporary residence.[7] Nevertheless, the term "Zainichi Korean" is used to describe settled permanent residents of Japan, both those who have retained their Joseon or North Korean/South Korean nationalities, and even sometimes includes Japanese citizens of Korean descent who acquired Japanese nationality by naturalization or by birth from one or both parents who have Japanese citizenship.

  1. ^ "Koreans in Japan". Minority Rights Group. Archived from the original on 2024-09-03..
  2. ^ "令和５年末現在における在留外国人数について". Archived from the original on 2024-05-30. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  3. ^ a b "在留外国人統計（旧登録外国人統計） 在留外国人統計 月次 2023年6月 | ファイル | 統計データを探す". Archived from the original on 2023-12-18. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  4. ^ Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (July 2021). "国籍・地域別 在留資格（在留目的）別 在留外国人" [Foreigners by nationality and by visas (occupation)]. Archived from the original on 2024-09-03. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  5. ^ Hester, Jeffry T. (2008). "Datsu Zainichi-ron: An emerging discourse on belonging among Ethnic Koreans in Japan". In Nelson H. H.; Ertl, John; Tierney, R. Kenji (eds.). Multiculturalism in the new Japan: crossing the boundaries within. Berghahn Books. p. 144–145. ISBN 978-1-84545-226-1.
  6. ^ Diamond, Jared (June 1, 1998). "In Search of Japanese Roots". Discover Magazine. Archived from the original on September 2, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  7. ^ Fukuoka, Yasunori; Gill, Tom (2000). Lives of young Koreans in Japan. Trans-Pacific Press. p. xxxviii. ISBN 978-1-876843-00-7.