Osaka

In Osaka, home to the largest Korean Japanese community, Sung learned about ethnic discrimination against Korean descendants in Japan. The Osaka Korea Town Museum, which opened on April 29 last month, preserves the history of oppression and resistance of the Korean descendants in Japan.                               

Chungja Bang, from the Osaka-based Japanese Military “Comfort Women” Issue Kansai Network (in short, Kansai Network), provided a guided museum tour and other historical sites related to Japanese colonialism. The Kansai Network supported the effort to install the San Francisco “comfort women” memorial, Women’s Column of Strength. In November 2017, the Kansai Network led a petition campaign to support the adoption of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ Resolution 415-17. This petition campaign demonstrated that the Osaka mayor’s intention to sever sister-city ties with SF and his opposition to the SF “comfort women” memorial did not reflect the wishes of all Osaka residents. More than a hundred Osaka residents and thirty-seven organizations endorsed the petition, which was then presented to Mayor Lee on Nov. 21, 2017, along with messages of support from more than twenty Osaka residents and major labor unions in Osaka, Tokyo, and Chiba. On Nov. 22, 2017, Mayor Lee signed Resolution No. 415-17, retroactively authorizing the San Francisco Arts Commission to accept a gift of the SF memorial, Women's Column of Strength.  

Sung met other activists in Osaka working to eliminate discrimination in Japan, including Chanyu Ko, a documentary filmmaker. Ko’s second documentary, We Are Human! (2022) was nominated for the March 2023 NY International Film Awards’ Best Documentary Feature finalist category. His first documentary, Korean Schools in Japan (2019), received the 24th YWCA Justice and Peace Award for great media content in South Korea in 2020. Thanks to Hyon Tae Kim, executive director of the Korea NGO Center, and Kwang Min Kim, an activist and scholar, for sharing the history of the Korean Japanese diaspora in Osaka and their tireless work.