Passing names
Koreans and Chinese in Kawasaki, 1971
By William Wetherall
First posted 28 March 2006
Last updated 28 March 2006
The following table shows data compiled in early 1971 on alias registration by aliens registered in Kawasaki.
The figures echo the differences seen between Koreans and Chinese, as seen in the 1959 counts. But they also show a split in the Korean ranks.
The 1971 data reveal that while only 14 percent of Kawasaki Chinese had registered passing names, some 58 percent of the Kankoku (Republic of Korea) nationals, but only 42 percent of the legacy Chosen national Koreans, had registered alternative names.
Not only do Koreans appear to be considerably less inclined than Chinese to use their primary legal names socially, but ROK-affiliated Koreans are much less likely than Chosen-affiliated Koreans to use their Korean register names.
Differences in levels of "racial pride"
From impressions I have gotten from people I have known on both sides of the Kankoku/Chosen divide, Koreans who have kept their Chosen affiliation rather than become ROK nationals are more likely to go to schools supported by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, where they are exposed to heavy doses of "pride in race" (minzoku no hokori).
DPRK-oriented Korean organizations in Japan have generally urged Koreans in Japan to use their Korean register names, and not to naturalize. ROK-oriented organizations, however, have generally not gone out of their way to stress "ethnic maintenance" (minzoku no iji) in the form of the use of Korean register names, and have been much more sympathetic toward the idea of becoming Japanese.