Korean+War+Interview+Project+Jay+Kim+C+Block

=**Korean War Interview**= =**Jay Kim**=

Interview with my Grandma: 79 years old 1. When did you go to Japan, how were you able to go to Japan? Where did you go to Japan? She went to Japan when she was 1 or 2 years old. She does not remember. She told me that she was able to go to Japan before the War because of her dad’s business. She went to Tokyo. She was in Japan until around 16 years old. 2. What were some of the treatments you received from others? Were you discriminated? Did you proudly announce that you were Korean? She tells me that Japanese aren’t straight foreword and they will not discriminate Koreans in the outside, but in the outside they might. She said she was not treated as a Korean, because she looked like an Asian that could only speak Japanese, so she was considered a Japanese in her neighborhood. 3. Was the government in anyway strict on you, do you think the stories that others have told are exaggerated? In what ways did it feel different from being in Korea? She does not believe the government was strict on Koreans in any ways. She only believes these occurrences are only exaggerated because of hatred against Japan. She thinks the victims of the wars would like to sue Japan. She did not know anything in Korea then. 4. Did it feel as if Korea was a colony or a part of Japan? In what ways? It still felt as if Korea was still a country. 5. When World War II started was there anything special in Japan? In fact, she says that one of the most special things that happened was receiving presents. She received lots of presents when the Japanese won battles in the Pacific and the Chinese zones. She remembers receiving squishy balls(like racquet ball) and she also remembers receiving flowers in school and the streets. 6. Before Hiroshima and Nagasaki, did you feel as if Japan was superior? Why or why not? She says that she felt as if Japan was undefeatable. She mentions that although they might have felt as they were undefeatable, at the same time they still were air raids in Tokyo. She told me that she wore this cotton like hat that came all the way down the shoulders. The main reason it was made was to protect individuals from dusts of falling houses. She also mentions that it also helped block the sound from going into the ear. Another thing it was used for was a safety protection against buildings falling apart. She said that she often went to safety zones during raids. She mentions that not a lot of people died because they were in safe zones a lot. She also mentions that she could not really go to school because of this war. It was hard for her, and sometimes she mentions that safe zones were outside the city in the rural areas. 7. How was did the news of Hiroshima and Nagasaki arrive? What did your family do? Where there any damage to your dad’s business? The news arrived by people. Her family went to another city nearby as told from the above statement. She said that her brother, sister and her were left in Japan to study. Their parents returned to Korea. During the war her dad was fired and he worked on the streets selling simple stuff. 8. After WWII was there anything special that happened in your family? They were just split and the Japanese went back to their regular lives. 9. When and how did you get back to Korea? If you had a house in Korea, what happened to it? Her brother decided that they should go back to Korea, so they did. So they did by boat. She mentions that this is where everything becomes hard. She said that they were scammed. Someone scammed her brother a price of a house, which was held by cash somewhere. She mentions that she does finally get to Seoul to meet her family. Her parents house in Korea was gone. Even after they returned there were air raids, and her brother almost died in an air raid. The house he was in(alone to go to school) was destroyed too. Her parents were worried and he showed up a few days later. Someone else saves him. She also mentions that he was all dirty, but he did not take off his cloth for warmth. She said that his brother died from too much exposure to dirty particles. 10. In what ways has Korea changed? Was there anything different from what you saw in the beginning? Well she doesn’t remember anything from her young childhood, but when she moves to Japan to Korea, she mentions how everything seemed to be similar except the technology. She said that there was a big technology gap between Japan and Korea. She said that while the Koreans lived off of woods(for fire) the Japanese used gas. 11. Have you wished anything changed? If you could have changed the past, what would you have changed? She said that she would have not went to Korea until she was finished with her education. She said that she could not get education in Korea because her brother was scammed getting home(stated above). She said there was enough money for her brother to go to school. She believes that if she worked in Japan, she would have been more successful. 12. What do you remember the most? Why was it significant? What she remembers most is from Question #9, this is significant because this is the first times she faces tragedy, and this is first proof of her life starts getting hard. Another thing she told me was what she saw in the lakes and rivers. Apparently she was cooking food, so she didn’t tell me in detail what she saw because we were going to eat, but she told me that she saw dead bodies on the river floating.
 * SUMMARY WITH INTERVIEW QUESTIONS**

media type="file" key="interview with grandma.mp3"
 * Original Interview - My mom and aunt is also in the kitchen helping Grandma cook while i interview her**

Although most of the interview's testimony fits in with what I have learned about the experience of civilian, some parts do not fit with what she said. In our studies, it mentioned how Japan was very superior and how Japan did not receives attacks; however, from what I learned from my Grandmother's interview, Japan was constantly attacked and there was constant air raids in big cities in Japan.
 * Analysis Questions: **
 * 1. How does your interviewee's testimony fit in with what you have learned about the experience of civilians?**

Yes, war has effected their testimony a lot. Not only do the major events add up to their change in destiny but even minor long lasting events. She could have educated and become successful, but not only does she come back to Korea, but her life in Japan was a failure at that time. She could not study even then, and some people could not be educated.
 * 2. Using your background knowledge try to contextualize their testimony. How do you think major events of the war affected their life at the time?**

Well obviously she was in Tokyo, Japan and she went to the rural areas and safe zones during air raids.(She noted that almost everyone survived these raids) 
 * 3. Hypothesize or explain how your interviewee was able to stay out of danger.**

**Essay:**
 * How has the interview added to your understanding of the war? How do you think it will help us better understand the Korean War?**

Although most people would say that their story's setting was at Korea, all the way, my grandmother didn't have a similar story to the rest of the people. I noticed how most Koreans(from those generation) set a bad picture of Japanese; however from my interview, I learned that the Japanese were fair. There were no law restrictions, Koreans were not labored. Like Mr. Osterweil said, the military has more control over the battlefields, than the government of Japan. In their own country, the Japanese could not do any harm on those that were foreigners to them. Although they may be foreigners they were treated pretty much equally. We see it in history over again over again. Such as the colonization of North America. This added on to my knowledge on how the Japanese would think about Nanking and the occupation in Korea. It feels as if only the individuals are responsible, and most individuals probably got away with it. There is no need for the Japanese to say sorry to the Koreans, even the government of Japan could not control it back then, so why should the Japanese pay for it? They were banned to keep a military after World War II. That itself is a reasonable punishments, but the Koreans are going too far on it. From the interview, another thing learned was that, the technology in South Korea was way behind. Even after the Korean War. Grandmother mentioned how the Japanese used gas stoves to cook, and the Koreans used wood. She said that that wasn't the only one, but in particular it was easy to distinguish, because it was used daily. I would still say the Koreans are conservative and because they are, it is damaging their technology development. As for the Japanese, they tried to catch up with Western culture and tried to adapt to the new century. Even as Korea developed, there was a certain limit to which they developed. All public schools in Korea have a dirt field in front of them. This was something that the Japanese established in Koreans adapted it to their country. The trains roads were also built by the Japanese, which also adds on to modernization. The Japanese also destroyed a lot Korean culture. Not only traditions, but historical sites. This is another reason to modernization. Many of the ways Koreans view Japanese are biases. My grandmother was nationalistic, yet still she believed that the Japanese were very kind and they treated them like any other(although she felt as if they were holding their feeling against her). Growing up in another perspective, you learn that things may be biased in different ways.