Oppressed Korean in Japan
Although North and South Korea have had close relationship with their neighbor, Japan, throughout the history, these relationships, unfortunately, have never been friendly. Despite the facts that Japan and South Korea are major trading and business partners, and that there are tens of thousands of tourists, entrepreneurs, and students travelling from one country to another, these two countries have always had many controversies and disputes on many issues between them. Even now significant degree of dispute remains, and serves as a cause of oppression of Koreans that dwell in Japan.
The history of Korean community in Japan started in the beginning of the last century. During the World War I (and also after it) there have been many volunteers who migrated to Japan. This vast migration was the inception of the Korean community in the country. The flows of the population continued when the Japanese forced Koreans to provide military aid during the Pacific War. As a result of these two phenomena, there are many Korean families living in Japan nowadays, and many of these families are in their second, or even third generation. 
The total number of Koreans dwelling in Japan is over seven hundred thousand people. But even though these Koreans have been living in Japan during all their lifetimes (and probably their parents as well), some of them might not even have received Japanese citizenship. The base of the story of these harsh relationships goes back to the beginning of the twentieth century, or as some researchers and historians believe (Keizo Yamawaki in particular), to the second half of the nineteenth century. First, Korean volunteers came to Japan in search of work, they became workers, paddlers, and craftsmen. But later, at the time of occupation of Korea in 1910, Japanese colonial plans were very severe, and Korea suffered immensely being deprived of welfare and peace. After many regulations imposed by Japanese government, life in Korea was becoming more miserable. That is why many Koreans, who could not stand the horrible humiliation of annexation took their chances and fled from the country. People from the Southern Korea were mostly escaping to Japan, and northerners were migrating to northern part of China. Those who escaped to Japan experienced very tough times, and approximately at those times the idea of oppression and discrimination of Koreans in Japan formulated.
Later, the flow of Koreans (mostly males) to Japan increased. Many males were leaving their hometowns and went overseas to get a good job. Many males even left their wives and kids, anticipating a better economic situation expecting them in nearest future. If these men succeeded and made enough money to support family, wives and kids moved to Japan, sometimes accompanied with in-laws. This vast migration into the country made natives dissatisfied, and therefore caused friction amongst the two peoples. The ones who considered themselves “insiders,” the Japanese, did not expect such a rush of “outsiders,” especially if they came come from the military occupied neighbor. The rush indeed was huge; the number of migrants has yielded eight hundred thousand by 1938. And as a result, Koreans, who migrated to Japan faced numerous severe oppression, antagonism, prejudice, and discrimination. Furthermore, during several following years, at the time of World War II, Japanese put Koreans into even more harsh conditions. They forced Koreans out of their homelands, and brought to Japan to toil in the factories. Since Japan needed labor force at those times, they decided to “employ” they neighbors, while native Japanese were at frontlines. In addition, the Japanese not only brought by force men from Korea, but they also sometimes took women with them to serve as “comfort women.” This way, before the end of World War II, there have been a great number of Koreans dwelling in Japan, some of whom involved in drudgery and others in prostitution. By the end of the war, there were over two million of Koreans in Japan.
 This historical background of the relationship between the two countries underlies all the disputes that occur today. However, even when Koreans began the vast migration, attitude already was very bad, as stated earlier. One of the examples of this scornful attitude towards the Koreans in the past is the massacre at the time of great Kanto earthquake, which occurred in 1923. Another example of this same scornful attitude is the present education policy in Japan, which implies that Korean graduates studying in Japan must take special qualification examination to be able to take admission tests to Japanese national university. For the Koreans, this policy is nothing more than an act of direct national discrimination, which simply prevents Korean young people from entering national Japanese universities. Unfortunately, this example is only one out of hundreds, which Koreans encounter while living in Japan.
I, as a study-abroad student from Korea, also feel this oppression even though I am not in Japan. Unfortunately, racial discrimination is not a surprise nowadays, that is why I face it quite frequently in the United States. Whether I go to the Movie Theater, or to a cafe, there is most of the times something about the personnel that makes me feel uncomfortable. And although there are many laws and regulations that aim at moderating race discrimination (if not quelling it completely), people still exhibit characteristic behavior circuitously.
A perfect example of unequal attitude to the Asians can be drawn from my experience during junior years at the university. That summer I wanted to apply for an internship in a nearby pet-shop. The position I wanted to take was a simple shop assistant, not even a consultant. When I found out about the position, I contacted the people from the shop via phone to learn more about the position. The first manifestation of discrimination was when person on the other side of the phone said that the position had been no longer vacant. Why had I taken it for discrimination? Because an acquaintance of mine called them several days later and, surprisingly, the girl on the other side had said that the position had been still vacant. What surprises me is that, do “those” people not understand that Asian applicants can possess the same skills as native Americans? Moreover, since the majority of Asian students who study abroad understand that they will have to encounter such discriminating oppressions frequently, they get prepared and work hard to perform much better than native Americans. Therefore, in many cases, foreigners are much more eligible for the job, but somehow employers fail to understand this phenomenon. They tend to make an immediate assumption that a person who came from the East is less skilled, less educated, less capable, and treat this person as an inferior class.
Eventually, I did go to the interview, regardless of their “respectful” decline. When I was waiting for my turn in the hall, I noticed that that the two guys, who were ahead of me, were too young for job. Namely, they were talking about “cool stuff” all the time. Their behavior was like that of the youngsters, who are not yet ready for adult life. As I saw their childish intentions, I understood that I have much more chances to get the job than either of the guys. I patiently waited for my turn, and then I was carefully interviewed, for about twenty minutes. The interviewer said she would call me back within a fortnight and that I did fit the position greatly. So I was almost pretty sure I would get the job.
As I later found out, there were about 4 people applying for the job, including the two “too young” guys, my acquaintance and me. Only one person out of the entire group was going to get the job. I was waiting for the phone call for a month before I called the shop myself. I found out that the position had already been taken, moreover, it was the acquaintance of mine who got the job. I was completely astounded when I was told about this. First, I know him, and I am completely sure that I was much more eligible for the job than him. I make such an assertion with confidence, because I know his attitude to work, and I know how unreliable and irresponsible he was. 
I was pretty confident that this acquaintance of mine would lose the job very soon. Even though he may have been a great friend, he is an awful worker, and his employers would sooner or later find this out.
As for their decision, I consider this to be a pure racial discrimination. According to the corresponding law, in the United States of America, a person applying for a job may not even state his/her sex, marital status, or race. Truly, what the employers are seeking is not a pretty young lady, or handsome unskilled guy, but they are looking for a person, who is capable of doing a particular job. Therefore, according to the law, prospective employers should not care at all about race, sex, or skin color. However, the reality is far from what the government wants it to be. In many cases, native white Americans would prefer to hire white Americans, in lieu of blacks or Asians. This tendency is obvious almost throughout the country, even when these employers pretend to be indifferent to other race.
There is also a psychological concept in my perception of the surrounding world. I have noticed that each time when I expect people to act in a particular manner (exhibit racial discrimination either openly or circuitously), this in vast majority of cases turns out to be true. In other words, the very act of oppression of discrimination does take place when I expect it. Moreover, when some people do not intend to discriminate at all, I still notice some minor characteristic features in their behavior that I think point to discrimination. 
Unfortunately, the example from my personal experience is only a little excerpt from the entire range of attitudes like this. Being an alien in a distant country, I now understand what  my compatriots feel (and have been feeling from the beginning of the last century) residing in Japan. For me, the initial nature of oppressions and antagonism, racial or national, is unknown, fortunately. I believe that the first step to antagonism and discrimination lies in the difference of looks of two people from distant lands. If an Asian or African goes to North America or Europe, he would definitely feel him/herself an alien there. The attitude of native in this case, might be absolutely natural. However, when a person goes to a neighbor country, just because of the unstable and deteriorating conditions in the home country, I believe that the natural reaction must be to help and support the naeghbor. Contrarily, the Japanese do not at all support or help Korean people who came to Japan, or reside there; instead, they oppress and discriminate the minority and exempt Koreans from many civil rights. And even though Japanese government representatives officially apologized for the massacres over the Korean people during the twentieth century, the real everyday attitude remained unchanged.
The oppression of the Korean people in Japan has been and still is a big issue nowadays. Since the World War I, till this very day, there are thousands of Korean residents in Japan, as well as in many other countries of the world, who face various oppressions, and racial discrimination. Being a Korean student in such a developed country as the United States, I understood that even here racial issues are not yet resolved and passed away. Anyway, who would like to be oppressed and humiliated?