Pachinko

The Korean Japanese, or zainichi, in Pachinko struggle with their dual identity of being both Korean and Japanese in a country that, during the timeframe of the book, systematically stigmatized and discriminated against Koreans and Korean culture.

Noa thinks that the answer to this dilemma is to give up one’s dual identity and choose the “good” identity. He has learned that the definition of a good Korean is being a good Japanese, and hiding his stigmatized Korean identity as best he can: “As a child, he dressed like the wealthier Japanese and not like the ghetto children next door. Above all the other secrets that Noa could not speak of, the boy wanted to be Japanese” (176). Since many Japanese and Koreans have few physical differences differentiating them (thus emphasizing the artificiality of racial distinctions), it is not too difficult for Noa to pass as Japanese. When Noa learns that Hansu is his birth father, his monolithic thinking cannot allow him to see how both Isak and Hansu are his father. Rather than grapple with this complexity, Noa forsakes his family and is reborn as Japanese, conforming to the approved lifestyle.

Mozasu, however, has no desire to assimilate into a similar role: “Mozasu did not intend to be a good Korean. What was the point in that?” (244). His experience of being bullied makes him want to fight back. When he finds an alternative to fighting by working in the pachinko parlors, he is reborn, though in a different way than Noa. He no longer feels the need to assimilate into any role. Pachinko is an undesirable occupation, according to the Japanese, and so Mozasu feels free to succeed without having to conform. He sends his son, Solomon, to international schools so that he can give Solomon a broader worldview, one beyond the racism that Mozasu himself was subjected to. Although he is disappointed that Solomon chooses pachinko for his career, he understands his son’s desire to remain in Japan. He knows that for Koreans living in Japan, employment opportunities are limited, no matter how American one’s college education, because Koreans living in Japan will always be discriminated against. If Solomon wants to be both successful and still live in Japan, he must choose one of the only employment opportunities available to Korean Japanese at the time: working in the pachinko business. Solomon, who is practical, smart, and hardworking, chooses the best way to survive and thrive, as his family has done for generations.

While a minor character in the novel, Pachinko includes a middle-school boy who can’t pass as Japanese, like Noa, and can’t fight back against bullies, as Mozasu does, as one of its characters. When his yearbook is full of expressions such as “Die, you ugly Korean,” he succumbs to that obliterating pressure (372) and takes his own life. These comments are written by young children who have learned the racism of their monolithic culture. They have listened to generational voices that say anyone who is Korean must have impure blood, and now they too spout the same ideology. They have turned school into a very different kind of educational environment, an environment where young Koreans learn to hate themselves and hate their culture. The parents of the dead child want the classmates to be held accountable to their words. Pachinko shows that the entire culture must be held accountable for its legacy of systematic discrimination.