Japan - more unequal

[rc-am]

At 11:08 am 2000-01-07 +0900, you wrote:
>>> ...and an offshore labour camp called Korea.
>>>
>>> Angela.
>> 
>> Except that Japan departed those shores in 1945, the moment the, uh,
>> "post-war" system that is now held in so low esteem began. If we want to
>> talk about the occupying power that had much more to do with both Japanese
>> and Korean development, we would do better to look to the U.S. Army and aid
>> development programs (esp. in Korea).
>>
>> All best,
>> Christian
>
>
>Didn't Angela mean all the japanese companies that delocalized their
>activity in Korea (but not only) for cheap labor  ???
>
>JC Helary

yes, and i should have mentioned as well the internal labour camp of
'ethnic koreans' in japan. (thinking here of Hick's _Japan's Hidden
Apartheid_.)

it seemed to me that any suggestion of japanese socialism -- or even of
egalitarianism in japan -- has to be premised on an ignorance and/or denial
of the place of korea and korean migrant workers within the japanese
economy.  moreover, it is much easier to arrive at a sense of an
egalitarian society, when those who are counted as citizens do not tend to
occupy the lowest rungs of the labour market, whether they're in japan or
offshore.

that's not to minimise the importance of the US occupation of japan and s
korea; but it is to indicate the hidden reasons for what the article in
question refers to as japan's 'egalitarianism' and 'socialism'.

Angela