Mr. Pak and the Visibilization of Imperial Violence

Early on in this quarter, Christine mentioned briefly that the use on atomic weapons in Japan worked to erase from public memory their own war atrocities that they committed in China and Korea.  This issue of the invisibilization of violence was brought up for me while I read Barefoot Gen.  Nakazawa’s character, Mr. Pak, is presented as a victim of violent imperialist projects of Japan.  Through family dialogue, we come to understand how Mr. Pak’s life has been affected by the war: Japan colonized Korea and brought people over to work and fight for their side.  Mr. Pak’s experience is characterized by his uneven incorporation into Japanese society.  He has been separated from his family and is treated as a complete outsider.  This character is crucial to Gen’s survival and emotional well-being as he represents freedom from ideological slavery, and is also against the war.  This character piqued my curiosity about Koreans in Japan during this time.  In researching the Korean War, China’s and Japan’s presence in Manchuria, and Koreans and Chinese in Japan during this era, I am reminded again and again of the definition of racism that situates the subjugated victim of racism close to danger and death.  Both Japan’s imperialistic colonial role in neighboring countries and the U.S. involvement (sponsoring) of conflicts in this area during and after WWII demonstrates extreme states of racism.  Mr. Pak’s character is integral to visibilizing Japan’s cruelty and criminality during war times, especially on racialized subjects, for as Christine briefly mentioned, the victims of violent conflicts are endowed with an aura of blamelessness that can work to obscure internal, domestic mistreatment of people.