Decolonization and the Subversion of Korean Women in Japan

<p>This paper discusses gender in the doburoku struggle in the immediate post-colonial period. The struggle was over the production of doburoku, an illegally brewed alcohol produced by Koreans in Japan.</p><p>At the time, over 60% of school-age Korean women were not enrolled in school, and 90% were illiterate. As a result, they could only find employment in the lowest status, lowest paying jobs. Moreover, under the Kyowakai’s rule in Japan, imperial power penetrated everyday life, denying Koreans the right to enjoy elements of Korean everyday life including production of doburoku. Nonetheless, there is evidence that Korean women “bootlegged” doburoku, in a form of small-scale resistance.</p><p>After “liberation,” Korean women embarked on a women’s movement, seeking solutions to domestic violence and establishing literacy education. Women were finally able to learn to read and write the Korean language, and study history, increasing knowledge of their situation.</p><p>Background factors related to the production of doburoku included the following: 1) poverty and a shortage of jobs; 2) liquor production culture of Koreans and the impact of the “liberation” from colonization; 3) profiling of Koreans by the police and prosecutors; and 4) gender factors.</p><p>Male leaders of the Korean movement in Japan argued that Koreans in Japan, as a “liberated” people, should terminate doburoku production. However, women, continued to produce doburoku and made it a means of earning a living. This led to the struggle over doburoku with a women’s group taking the lead in both the struggle and negotiations. In some regions, women made the police apologize and won job offers, and commitments to increasing workplaces.</p><p>Amid the impact of the “liberation” from colonization, the doburoku struggle can serve as an important reference point for “anti-imperialist feminism” which opposed post imperial Japanese power which generated ethnic discrimination and gender discrimination. The struggle also brought to light gender differences in approaches to daily life.</p>