Eclipse Rising W. Coast Roadshow & Solidarity Tour

Zainichi Koreans in the United States!
An LA Zainichi Korean Community town hall meeting
A working collaboration between Zainichi Korean, Japanese American, and Korean American organizations in the United States
Please join us:
• Date: Saturday, November 21, 2009
• Time: 4:00 – 6:00pm
• Place: Little Tokyo Service Center’s Casa Heiwa
231 E. 3rd St. (between Los Angeles St. and San Pedro St.)
Los Angeles, CA

Presented by Eclipse Rising w/generous support of Little Tokyo Service Center

Eclipse Rising is a community organization of, by, and for Zainichi residents in the U.S., in and beyond the Bay Area, to recognize and celebrate the rich and unique history of Koreans in Japan, promote Zainichi community development, peace and reunification, and work for social justice for all minorities in Japan and around the world.

Background:
Eclipse Rising started in 2008 when some Bay Area residents of Zainichi Korean background decided it was time to finally start a community organization to reclaim Zainichi Korean history and elevate our voices as a key vehicle to shape our own destinies with dignity.

"Zainichi" literally translates to "resident of Japan." This term pertains to any so-called "foreign resident" in Japan, including Koreans who lived in Japan as a result of Japanese colonization of Korea between 1910 and 1945, and their descendents, who historically comprise the largest minority group of Japan. Although multiple generations of Koreans (4, 5 generations now) have been born and raised in Japan, basic rights (even access to public compulsory education) are/can be denied to Zainichi Koreans legally.

Our wish is that Korean and other ethnic minorities in Japan who still suffer many forms of discrimination to this day can live in harmony and craft a blueprint for a truly multicultural society.

Our organization was formed to recognize and build on the history and legacy of our ancestors, and to work toward social justice for all minorities in Japan. We also work to establish a stable and supportive community for Zainichi Koreans in the United States, an increasingly popular destination for Zainichi Koreans seeking a ‘home’ after generations of searching.

The name "Eclipse Rising" is meant to counter the imperialist Japanese flag with the "rising sun." The Eclipse, though through few occurrences, is able to cover the sun completely and change the perspective. We would like to view the eclipse as a symbol of Koreans in Japan rising up against oppression.

Find our group on Facebook & Connect with us today, or contact us to join our mailing list!

A Jainichi Scholar Scrutinizes the ‘Unresolved Past of Korea and Japan’

“A Contemporary History of Deadlocked Thought” by Yun Kon-cha, Translated by Park Jin-u et al., Changbi Publishers Inc., 625 pages, 27,000 won;

“Winter Forest” by Yun Kon-cha, Translated by Kim Eung-gyo, Hwanam Publishing Co., 134 pages, 6,300 won

“It seems it`s my duty to leave some meaningful marks by facing and struggling with an era that produced the so-called jainichi (Korean residents in Japan),” said Professor Yun Kon-cha of Kawakana University. Professor Yun is known as the author of “Trend of Modern Korean Thought” and “Modern Ideological Deadlocks in Korea and Japan.” He recently published two books in Seoul, “A Contemporary History of Deadlocked Thought” (Gyochak-doen sasang-eui hyeondae sa) and “Winter Forest” (Gyeoul sup). The former was originally published by Iwanami Shoten Publishers in Japan last year; the latter, simultaneously published in Korea and Japan, is Yun`s first poetry collection. For “Winter Forest,” Im Heon-yeong, a literary critic and professor, wrote an introduction under the heading “A Diasporean Intellectual`s Search for Self.” This can also be applied to “A Contemporary History of Deadlocked Thought.”

Yun`s search for self, though belated and seemingly sluggish, was dramatic and thoroughgoing. Through the vast research by Yun, who has studied enormous amounts of material, we may be able to experience an intellectual shock and an amazing extension of our views to encompass Japan and jainichi by moving our eyes to jainichi, from where his research began. This is directly linked to the problem of inaction in addressing the issue of “Japan`s imperial system and Joseon (Korea`s pre-modern state name)” and “the founding of a unified Korea,” which remains an unresolved question from the decolonization process between Korea and Japan.

The Japan that Yun talks about can be very different from the Japan we know. While in high school he was surprised to find his name written in Korean style in the roll book and “desperately pleaded that it be changed to the Japanese style.” He graduated from Kyoto University but could not find a job. “With nowhere else to go,” he enrolled for a graduate program at the University of Tokyo and earned a doctorate at the age of 38. It was about this time that he acknowledged he was jainichi. Thereafter he desperately clung to studying modern Japan, especially Japan after its defeat in World War II, and jainichi. These days he is more devoted to the study of Korean society. He met Hong Se-hwa, a pro-democracy activist known as “a taxi driver in Paris,” and his friends in Europe around the time of the democratization struggle of June 1987. Around that time his passport problems were solved so he began traveling to Korea frequently. Hence he began to see the world through Korea.

The original Japanese title of “A Contemporary History of Deadlocked Thought” may be translated into “Deadlocked Experience of Thought.” Therefore, it is not anyone else`s story but a chronicle of the author`s own experience of journeying back and forth between Japan, jainichi and Korea, each with a different ideological soil. The book grasps the paths trodden by Japan, Korea (South Korea) and Korean residents in Japan since the defeat/liberation of August 1945 to the present primarily “as the ideological experiences imprinted in history” by looking at them through the eyes of the Korean residents in Japan, who are the “products of Japan`s colonial rule over Korea, the living witnesses of history and the most acute embodiment of Japan`s brutal rule over other nations,” and “the historical existences manifesting the absurdity of modern Japan in the most miserable shape.”

The “thought” discussed by Yun refers to the “desperate and repeated question as to how to live.” And what is most important in his quest of thought is “pursuing the greatest absurdity and task of the era.” He thinks the three pillars constituting the identity of Japanese people are “worship of the West, the imperial ideology, and disdain of Asia.” The worship of the West and disdain of Asia are the two sides of a coin, which are rooted in discrimination and prejudice against the heterogeneous others. The imperial system, “forming the nucleus of Japanese nationalism asserting uniqueness and superiority and performing the oppressive and exclusive function internally and externally,” was the mechanism that made these thoughts possible. Under this mechanism Korea and the Korean people were imprinted in the minds of the Japanese with the gloomiest and the most negative images. In this regard, Japanese imperialism and Korean issues are mutually interrelated and form the core of modern Japanese thought.

Japan should have jettisoned its emperor system and established a republican democracy when it lost the war. However, the United States applied ambiguous terms in the surrender process and colluded with the Japanese ruling forces. The occupying power thus allowed Japan to maintain its monarchial system for its convenience in governing Japan as a bridgehead for its Cold War strategy in the Far East. It suppressed by force Korean residents and the Japanese Communist Party, who opposed the system most strongly, and revived the prewar elite forces including Nobusuke Kishi. Such a “reverse course” taken by postwar Japan exactly corresponded with a series of events that occurred in the southern half of the Korean peninsula under U.S. occupation, such as the annihilation of leftists, the civilian struggles in Daegu on October 1, 1946 and in Jeju Island on April 3, 1948, the bloody suppression of the uprising in Yeosu and Suncheon, and the taking of power by Rhee Syngman and pro-Japanese forces. A broad scope of cross-examination simultaneously delving into these crucial events in Japan and Korea is the biggest strength of this book. Perhaps it has an effect of triple vision expansion.

Korea`s biggest ideological challenge is building a unified country. This aborted task is closely linked to Japan`s original sin of colonial occupation leading to Korea`s territorial division and the U.S.-Japan alliance, which the postwar Japanese intellectuals thoroughly ignored. Shigeru Nanbara who led the “democratization” of postwar Japan and even Masao Maruyama who is known as “a leader and victor of postwar democracy” turned a blind eye to the problems of Korea and Koreans. Yoshimi Takeuchi, who was sympathetic to jainichi issues, talked only about Japan`s invasion of China and evaded the issues of Korea and Korean residents in Japan. Their self-centered “great power chauvinism” is apparent in taking issue with the so-called 15-year war from Japan`s invasion of Manchuria to its defeat but brushing aside its reckless assault upon Korea since the Sino-Japanese War. Yun points out that even Professor Haruki Wada whom he highly regards reveals his limitations by failing to criticize the emperor system straightforwardly.

From the Japanese intellectuals who simply define nation and nation state as “fallacy” and emphasize non-violence, tolerance, coexistence and reconciliation, Yun peeps at “an effort to free themselves from pressures of colonialism and nationalist issues” and also finds “the common illusion to shelve their responsibility as the wrongdoers.” Progressive intellectuals of the two countries once achieved a happy alliance during the democracy movement in Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. However, as reaffirmed afterwards through the history textbook controversies, comfort women issues, the rise of Korean “new rightists” and rapport by Japanese conservatives, “Japan basically has neither apologized nor compensated for its invasion and rule over Korea and the division of Korea, so the past history remains little liquidated.” Still worse, there seems to be little hope that this state of affairs will ever change in the future.

As for the argument by Park Yu-ha who has drawn applause from Japanese conservative intellectuals for her book “For Reconciliation,” Yun criticized it as “pseudo-rightist sentimentalism” showing no sympathy toward the national division of Korea and consequent sufferings. “Her logic is rough and shows a great deal of misunderstanding and distortion of historical facts,” he said.

Yun warned against hasty reconciliation, arguing that Park`s opinion welcomed by the Asahi Shimbun should probably be little different than the right-wing fascist Katsumi Sato`s view that “rejecting apologies should be the first step toward reconciliation.” The ultimate solution he suggests is that Korea should continue to demand Japan`s self-reflection and apology but without expecting its demand to be met. He says Korea should instead find the correct path to reunification and national prosperity on its own.

[ July 25, 2009 ]

今熱い！サンフランシスコ・ベイエリア発
Eclipse Rising 講演・レセプション

LA在住の在日コリアン求む！ （その他の方々も歓迎！）　
将来に働きかける次世代の‘草の根’の熱い声をお届けします!
　　　　

主催者：Eclipse Rising
　　　　支援団体：Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC)

日時：2009年11月21日(土) 午後4時〜6時

場所：Little Tokyo Service CenterのCASA HEIWA　　
231 E. 3rd St. (Los Angeles and San Pedro St.の間)

Los Angeles, CA 90013 (213) 473-3030

言語：日本語/English (通訳有)
連絡：eclipserising@gmail.com

Eclipse Rising はサンフランシスコ・ベイエリアを拠点とした在日コリアン団体でトランスナショナルな在日コミュニティの基盤を築き、在日特有の歴史性やアイデンティティの視点から、日本社会の公正そして朝鮮半島の平和的な統一を目指し2008年に発足。団体名のEclipse Risingは、日食が太陽を覆い隠す様に、抑圧の象徴である”Rising Sun”に対抗して立ち上がる在日コリアンをイメージして命名されました。Eclipse Risingは在日コリアン個人のリーダーシップを育み、在日の多様性を尊重し、 日本や米国、さらに世界のマイノリティーと連帯して差別と闘う活動を展開しています。

連絡先:
Email: eclipserising@gmail.com
Blog: www.eclipserising.blogspot.com
Facebook!にもグループがあります。　

New Ninja movie by zainichi director

from Japan Times:

Friday, Sept. 18, 2009

Ninja epic not all about action

By MARK SCHILLING
Staff Writer
Producers, both here and abroad, have been busy scouting film properties among the anime and manga of the 1960s and 1970s, from kiddie cartoon fluff such as "Yattaman" to the apocalyptic thriller "MW," created by manga maestro Osamu Tezuka.

Given the growing popularity of the originals around the world, the target audience is often not only nostalgic Japanese graybeards, but also young foreign fans.

Yoichi Sai's "Kamui Gaiden" would seem eminently exportable to these fans. Based on a classic manga by Sampei Shirato that ran in "Shukan Shonen Sunday" from 1965 to 1967 and then again in "Big Comic" from 1982 to 1987, "Kamui" has a hot-blooded ninja hero, played by the star du jour Kenichi Matsuyama, as well as action scenes galore, choreographed by Hong Kong-trained Kenji Tanigaki (see my June 12 profile at japantimes.co.jp).

Those expecting a fun two hours with campy chopsocky are in for a letdown, however. Shirato was a pioneering alternative-comics artist who injected "Kamui" with his own leftist politics, including a pointed critique of discrimination and inequality in Japanese society. Sai's screen version, with a script by Kankuro Kudo, is more on the entertaining than politicizing side, but it preserves the core of Shirato's dark, violent vision. In his Japan, outsiders are, not merely marginalized, but hunted and exterminated like vermin.

Sai is the right director for this story, if background and filmography are any criteria. A zainichi (ethnic) Korean, Sai has often examined the lives of minorities and social marginals in his films, from his 1993 comedy "Tsuki wa Dotchi Deteiru" ("All Under the Moon"), whose hero is a cynical zainichi cabby, to the prison comedy "Keimusho no Naka" ("Doing Time," 2002) and the zainichi family drama "Chi to Hone" ("Blood and Bones," 2004).

At the same time, Sai had not had much action experience prior to "Kamui" and the shoot, which began in April 2007 and wrapped in September 2008, was long and grueling. That effort is visible on the screen — and not always in a good way, with airborne battles that look a bit labored instead of lyrical, as though, after weeks of 20-hour days, everyone was running on fumes.

But energetic and inspired action moves are also on abundant display, many of which are supplied by Matsuyama as the inhumanly agile ninja hero. Also, compared with Kazuaki Kiriya's "Goemon," a recent period actioner with the weightless look and feel of a video game, "Kamui" packs far more of a visceral punch — the positive side of all that heavy breathing.

Kamui (Matsuyama) is raised by a ninja clan and becomes one of its strongest fighters, but feeling hemmed in by the clan's rules and yearning for freedom, he decides to leave it. The story proper begins after he has taken this fateful step and is being relentlessly hunted by his former fellow ninja as a traitor and renegade. After eliminating his pursuers one by one, he meets and befriends Hanbei (Kaoru Kobayashi), a fisherman whose rank in the social pecking order is almost as low as his own.

Hanbei, however, ends up being chased himself by the minions of Gumbei (Koichi Sato), a local lord who is convinced that his favorite horse has been killed by Hanbei. Kamui helps him escape and, in return, Hanbei takes him to the remote island village he calls home. There Kamui finds Sugaru (Koyuki), Hanbei's wife — and a runaway ninja like himself. Thinking Kamui has been sent to assassinate her, she tries to kill him and, even after he pleads his innocence of evil intentions, is slow to trust him. But Hanbei's teenage daughter Sayaka (Suzuka Ohgo) takes an immediate liking to this dashing stranger.

Then the island receives a visitor — a ship on the hunt for the killer sharks that infest the surrounding waters. The captain, Fudo (Hideaki Ito), is playing a double game, however, and pulls Kamui into it. Soon our hero is faced with a choice that could cost him his life.

"Kamui" thoroughly demythologizes the ninja of fabled secrecy and cunning, showing them as a closed society of absolute conformity and amoral duplicity. Quitting a ninja clan is like quitting the old Sicilian Mafia — you leave as a corpse or not at all. Also, once you are a clan renegade, you can never rest easy, since friends and lovers can suddenly reveal themselves as deadly enemies. Whom can you trust? The short answer, Kamui finds, is "no one."

This may sound grim, but Matsuyama, who made his breakthrough as the sweets-addicted detective L of the "Death Note" films, is an eye-riveting combination of feral grace and intensity as Kamui. Also, while flashing those wary-animal eyes, he gives the character a humanly likable and tongue-in-cheek comic side. Meanwhile, Hideaki Ito, so stiff as the pure-hearted skin-diver hero of the "Umizaru" films, delivers an exuberant stemwinder of a performance as Fudo, all toothy, menacing grins and hammy, vicious energy. One reference point is Gregory Peck as Ahab in "Moby Dick" (for the shared beards and borderline nutso affects). Another are the charmingly ruthless villains that were a specialty of postwar star Tetsuro Tanba.

A sequel is implied at the end, which is only right, since Shirato's manga epic has hundreds more pages yet to film. But if Sai wants to take a break who could blame him? Fortunately for us, he got "Kamui" in the can before he and everyone around him collapsed of exhaustion.

Missile Defense on the Peace Island

Missile Defense on the Peace Island


I just got home from 3-weeks in South Korea. It was quite a trip.
During my last two days I was visiting Jeju Island (about 500 miles south of the Korean peninsula) which is recognized by UNESCO as being a place of world class environmental quality and one that hosts many endangered forms of corals and other sea life. To say it is a jewel would be an understatement.

Soon after arriving our delegation of five activists, which included some real notables in the South Korean movement for democracy and peace, we were brought to the offices of Jeju Solidarity for Participatory Self-Government & Environmental Preservation. There we were shown a most impressive 50-minute video about the struggle on the island to stop plans by the federal government to build a Navy base on the south side of the island. Jeju calls itself the "Island of Peace" and activists wonder how a Navy base, hosting Aegis destroyers outfitted with missile defense systems, could be considered a compatible use.

Three villages have been approached to host the base and the first two turned the government down. By the time the third village was asked the government had decided to offer bribes of $100,000 each to the respected sea diving women who are known for searching the bottom of the ocean for sea urchins which they then sell to make a living. The third village, Gangjung, is predominately opposed to the base but the bribes created enough of a division to cause the government to say they will build the base in this village.

Gangjung, like the rest of Jeju island, is most famous for growing tangerines in this tropical climate. Tourism is the second industry as people come from around the world to experience the wonders of the lush volcanic island. A long walking trail takes people across the island and recently the government has removed Gangjung from the walking trail maps so they can limit the numbers of people who would see the active signs of resistance amidst the splendid beauty of the rocky seaside where the proposed Navy base is to be built.

When I asked activists who the government said they needed the base to protect against the answer was followed by much laughter: pirates they told me. The truth is that the US will be jointly using the Navy base with the South Korean Navy as a port to deploy Aegis ships that will be used to help surround the coast of China and to give the US the capability to choke off China's ability to import 80% of its oil through the Malaka Straight that flows right off Jeju Island.

The villagers of Gangjung do not see the Navy base as offering them much. Their local economy is thriving from the tangerine groves that are everywhere in the town and from the abundant numbers of tourists who come there to experience the seaside. In fact the Navy base would take significant portions of their village land now used for farming and would destroy the environment. The rocky shoreline would be covered with cement and the proposed base pier would extend to the edge of where the fresh water Gangjung River flows into the sea.

Kang, Dong Kyun, the mayor of the village and a key protest leader, told me that 70% of the drinking water for the community comes from the river and would surely be negatively impacted by the Navy base. Take away our water, he said, and you destroy the town.

Throughout the village you see many tall bamboo poles with yellow flags on them that say, "We desperately oppose the Naval base." But no one in the government wants to listen to them. They have tried all the usual steps of meeting with government officials, organizing protests, and they recently tried to recall their provincial governor in a special election but did not turn out a high enough percentage of voters to make the vote official.

They've now set up a camp along the rocky coastline where some are now holding a round-the-clock vigil. More tents will be erected in the coming weeks as construction is set to begin at the end of this year. When I spoke to the village people in their community center last night there were key activists from other parts of South Korea who are trying to help.

I was deeply touched by the good people of Jeju. Mayor Kang told me, "This is the land of our ancestors that we must pass on to the future generations. This village must not be used as a 'strategic' base but must be preserved. The government is dividing people against each other which is the worst thing of all. The long lasting people will ultimately win."

I told the mayor and the village people that because the proposed base would have Aegis destroyers homeported there, with missile defense systems on-board, that the Global Network must do all it can to help them with their valiant effort. Just as we did what we could to support the people in the Czech Republic last year in their effort to resist US missile defense deployments, we must do the same for Jeju Island. That is what solidarity means.

Who will speak for the fish, the coral, the rocks, or the water I asked? We must all do it.

It has been a remarkable journey to South Korea and one that I am proud to have taken. I have met splendid people who are doing their best to resist the destruction of their democracy by corporate interests, the destruction of their farming lands, and the expansion of militarism. There are many fights going on in the world that we all have to be concerned about, more than we can all handle I know, but every now and then one comes along that represents all of these important struggles in one bundle. That is Jeju Island.

I hope that once we get the Jeju Island video, expected in a few weeks, that all of you will get a copy from us and show it in your community. I promise that everyone who watches it will be moved beyond tears about the beauty and the wonder of the island of peace. We must help bring the struggle on Jeju Island to the world.

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
http://www.space4peace.org
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://space4peace.blogspot.com (Blog)

Rest in Power, Gina Hotta, Executive Producer, APEX Express on KPFA Radio

Eugina Haruko Hotta (Gina, or "G" of APEX Express)
June 15, 1953-September 29, 2009

This is a tribute to the 1 person responsible for securing a platform for the progressive voices of the minorities of Japan in the Bay Area - Gina Hotta, a fierce advocate for social justice and particularly the empowerment of the Asian & Pacific Islander voices through media and organizing. She produced APEX Express on KPFA in Berkeley for 20 years - and 10 of those years, she consistently went out of her way to ensure representation of zainichi & Okinawan voices, as well as the progressive Nikkei voices on her show that also played a key role in illuminating the vibrant API hip hop scene, and before, the Asian-American jazz explosion and the cultural dimensions of the Third World organizing struggles of which she was part.

It also surfaced, unfortunately only after Gina's passing, that she was a staff of Japan Pacific Resource Network (JPRN) and an integral member of the larger progressive JPRN community in Japan and the US. Located in Oakland, JPRN is a respected ally organization of Eclipse Rising since founding.

Eclipse Rising represented at the Memorial held to celebrate and honor the life of this amazing sister & comrade, Eugina Haruko Hotta in Oakland. Here are some quotes from the speakers that together convey the depth of her humanity and the depth of her commitment to social justice - it is no wonder that she was always there to make sure that groups like Eclipse Rising had a venue to inject our voices into our communities.

Some folks who spoke moving words in her memory and honor were:
Ann Hotta, Gina's sister
Penina Taesali
Jeff Chiang
Brenda Wong Aoki
Greg Morizumi, member of the Eastside Arts Alliance and Eclipse Rising ally "Papa G"
...and many more, but here are listed (in order of appearance) those whose excerpts are quoted below.

"Gina was very proud of her blue-collar experiences"

"She wanted us to envision a better world, grounded in the past - the past was very important to her... she was very proud of her Japanese-American heritage, but at the same time, openly critical of Japanese imperialism. She was a staunch internationalist, and she identified with the Third World communities"

"She was the alchemist of all social movements..."

"...a builder of bridges, alchemist of light"

"1 thing about Gina is, when she got your back, she REALLY got your back, period. NOT just about an issue, but por vida she was with you all the way. How many people can you really say that about anybody, really?"

"It is said that she is the single most responsible person for the creation of a generation of API media warriors today"

Eclipse Rising is honored for the opportunity build upon the platform to speak out to the Bay Area community that she was instrumental in securing for us. We will always carry your legacy in our hearts... Travel well, sister Gina.

Deepest condolences to the Hotta family and we together mourn a loss of a dear spirit in our community. Thanks to every one with their time, energy, artistic talents, food, and other skills that put together a truly touching Memorial Service.

--Eclipse Rising

NK Candlelight Vigil Event Oakland 2009

This event was co-sponsored by a number of Korean American & zainichi organizations of the Bay Area and also hosted by Oakland Asian Cultural Center. Amazing program, opened by Christine Ahn, with performances by Dohee Lee, Chamesori, and Eclipse Rising...and amazing testimony of stories from the Korean War, the division, from young queer voices to survivor elders....these are the Corean voices for an END TO THE KOREAN WAR! PEACE TREATY NOW! Photos taken by Eclipse Rising, eclipserising@gmail.com

http://web.me.com/flowergold/Site/NK_Candlelight_Vigil_Event_Oakland_2009.html

Koreans in Japan may be granted suffrage

Koreans in Japan may be granted suffrage
DPJ administration begins to reveal gestures towards Asia-policy focus and possible “gift” towards Korea surfaces
http://img.hani.co.kr/imgdb/resize/2009/0922/125349892208_20090922.JPG

» Japan’s new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama listens to a question from a reporter during a press conference at his official residence in Tokyo Sept. 17. (REUTERS)
An opening for one of the greatest aspirations of Korean permanent residents in Japan, local voting rights for foreign permanent residents, to become a reality may be appearing.
While attending a Korean-Japanese cultural festival in Japan on Saturday, Ozawa Ichiro, secretary-general for the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) administration, met with Grand National Party (GNP) Lawmaker and Japan-Korea Parliamentarians’ Union Chair Lee Sang-deuk and told him “something must be done” about the issue of giving local voting rights to foreign permanent presidents. Ozawa said that he would settle the matter during the National Diet of Japan’s regular session. Japanese media reported that Ozawa apparently intends to present legislation as early as the regular session of the Diet convening in Jan. 2010.

However, opposition has been expressed not only by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), but also by conservative DPJ representatives and the DPJ’s coalition government parter, the People’s New Party, who view the extension of local voting rights to permanent residents as “rocking the foundations of the country.” As a result of these sentiments, attention is focusing on whether core DPJ figures in favor of extending voting rights, including Ozawa, Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio and Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya, will be able to break through the conservative opposition to pass the legislation.

Perhaps leery of creating friction early on, the DPJ simply distributed a one-page statement to reporters Sunday without explaining the content of the discussion.


At a debate among party heads last month, Hatoyama said that the DPJ was “integrating opinions for and against the extension of voting rights, but the time is coming when we must think about the future and act in the most forward-thinking way.”

In a Sept. 11 meeting with leaders of the Korean Residents Union in Japan, Ozawa said, “I have always been in favor of extending voting rights to permanent residents, and we will definitely decide on a plan at next year’s regular session of the Diet.” In Feb. 2008, during his time as DPJ president, Ozawa met with President Lee Myung-bak during a visit to South Korea and declared his intention to work toward the extension of voting rights.

Analysts are saying the future-oriented approach from core DPJ members comes from the determination that the administration could clearly show its position of Asia-focused foreign policy by offering a “gift” to the South Korean government, which has been calling for the extension of local voting rights to ethnic Koreans in Japan. Indeed, during his meeting with Rep. Lee, Ozawa showed a desire to resolve pending issues between South Korea and Japan, saying that the new DPJ administration would like “to make relations with South Korea into a relationship of real trust rather than a mere formality” and that it was “definitely possible to resolve fundamental issues” between the two countries.

The DPJ has presented legislation on local voting rights for permanent residents on several occasions in the past, together with the New Komeito Party and the Japanese Communist Party, but LDP opposition prevented them from coming to anything. If related legislation does pass the Diet, some 870,000 foreign permanent residents in Japan, among them 430,000 “special permanent residents,” including unnaturalized South Koreans and North Koreans living in Japan, will be able to exercise voting rights in local elections. However, the Federation of Korean Residents in Japan, which informally represents the North Korean position within the country, has been reluctant to campaign for local voting rights because of a perceived loss of ethnicity.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

Quarterly Zainichi Film Festival:::100 Years of Crossing Between Busan and Shimonoseki: Three Generations of Zainichi Koreans

Eclipse Rising and EastSide Arts Alliance present

100 years of Crossings Between Busan and Shimonoseki:

Three Generations of Zainichi Koreans

Sunday, September 6th at September 6^th 1PM

Eastside Cultural Center

2277 International Blvd. at 23^rd Ave., Oakland

(510) 533-6629

About the film: The documentary takes us back to the history of Korean migration to Japan; their lives under the colonial rule and after the liberation are exposed through the narratives of 1^st and 2^nd generation Zainichi Koreans in Shimonoseki, Japan.
The film then takes a turn to the 3^rd generation Zainichi Koreans who cross the straits,just as their 1st generation grandparents did, but in a reverse course - from Japan to Korea.

Eclipse Rising is a US-based Zainichi Korean group founded in the winter of 2008, by Zainichi Koreans who came together in the Bay Area to recognize and celebrate the rich and unique history of Koreans in Japan, promote Zainichi community development, peace and reunification, and work for social justice for all minorities in Japan and around the world.

e-mail: eclipserising@gmail.com blog: www.eclipserising.blogspot.com Find us on Facebook!

Eastside Arts Alliance is dedicated to nurturing and supporting the work of the Lower San Antonio District's African American, Latino/Chicano, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Indigenous artists and cultural workers, many of whom have not found a home within Oakland's mainstream arts community.

ESAA Website: www.eastsideartsalliance.com

Suggested Donation: $7-15

Film is in Japanese (and partly Korean) with English subtitles

DIRECTIONS:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&address=2277+International+Blvd.&city=Oakland&state=CA&zipcode=94606

From BART, get off on Fruitvale BART and walk several blocks west on International Boulevard or walk 1 block north to International Boulevard and take 1R bus west to East Side Arts Alliance. For travel planner link,http://tripplanner.transit.511.org/mtc

Winner of Nuclear Peace video short

The winner of 2009 Swackhamer Video Contest founded by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation was teenager Erik Choquette of Santa Barbara. In this age of nuclear proliferation and constant tensions between major world powers, the American public really needs to push for an end to nuclear weapons and war once and for all! I hope the world is listening to our youth, who will be inheriting the world rigged with nuclear weapons unless we take some serious action to end this crisis.

Please take a look at this amazing 3min. footage of the winning video (to the right or click on title of this post for the link to the video) and check out the website for other winners and honorable mentions in the contest.

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17-year-old Wins
National Peace Video Contest
For Second Year Running

July 15, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE :

Contact: Steven Crandell, 805 965-3443, scrandell@napf.org

SANTA BARBARA -- Teenager Erik Choquette has created a remarkable animated video to claim the $1,000 first prize in the 2009 Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest for the second year in a row.

Called The Nuclear Genie, the three minute video uses inventive graphics to connect nuclear weapons history with a way to “get the genie back in the bottle” through public participation in the democratic process.

The top three videos, as well as the four receiving honorable mention, can be viewed on line at:

http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/programs/awards-&-contests/video-contest/2009/winners.htm

Choquette, 17, had a clear strategy for this year’s competition. “I focused on a call to action and how this issue has influenced our society for so long,” he said. “It's an issue that many people simply ignore, never fully realizing, or wanting to realize, the possible effects of using a nuclear weapon again especially in our modern society.”

There were 120 videos submitted to this year’s Swackhamer competition. They displayed a variety of approaches from animation to claymation to live action drama. There was even one nuclear disarmament rap – “War on Nuclear Warheads” – which ended up getting Honorable Mention

“The judges and the staff of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation were all overwhelmed at the research, creativity and countless hours that went in to each of the videos,” said Rick Wayman, Director of Programs for the Foundation and contest coordinator. “It was difficult to pick the winners for this year’s contest; there were many videos contesting for the top spots. We honor each and every one of the entrants for their commitment to the cause.”

Choquette enters his senior year at Santa Barbara High School this fall. It promises to be a very busy time in his life.

“I'm applying to roughly 9-10 major film schools like USC, NYU, and UCLA. My dream school is USC, but it's going to take a lot to get in. For now, I'm starting to focus on narrative filmmaking. I'm starting production soon on a film I wrote several months ago which will act as an application film for colleges, but also as a film to enter into festivals.”
Second prize, and $750, went to the animated video, "Numbers of Destruction" by Tyler Short of Portland, Oregon. Third prize, and $250, was awarded to "Beautiful World" by Calvin Brue of Fergus Falls, Minnesota.
All videos had to be three minutes or less.
The topic for the contest was: “Breakthrough: Putting the Nuclear Genie Back in the Bottle -- How can we achieve a world free of nuclear weapons by the year 2020? Once this is achieved, how can we make sure that the “nuclear genie” stays in the bottle forever?”
The video contest will be held annually. There will be an announcement about the next contest in March 2010.

Please contact Steven Crandell, 805 965-3443 for interview requests and information.
OLAR.
Steven Crandell
Director of Development & Public Affairs
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
PMB 121, 1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 1
Santa Barbara, CA 93108-2794
805-965-3443
www.wagingpeace.org