On Tuesday, February 6, approximately sixty-two in person participants and twenty-seven online participants attended a hybrid panel discussion featuring a documentary film on human rights violations in Japan. The event, which was hosted by UBC Asian Library and the Department of Asian Studies, centered around the film Watashitachi wa Ningen da! ワタシタチハニンゲンダ! (We are Human!) which was produced in 2022 by director Ko Chanyu, a second-generation Zainichi (‘residing in Japan’) Korean journalist and filmmaker.

The film can be viewed here (CWL required): https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=12858063

This free public event, offered concurrently as part of UBC’s Arts Studies course, ASTU 201: Canada, Japan and the Pacific: Cultural Studies, highlighted the work of panelists with expertise on the history of contemporary issues of (im)migration, labour, and racism in Canada and Japan.

After watching a filmed interview by Director Ko, Dr. Ayaka Yoshimizu, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Department of Asian Studies & UBC-Ritsumeikan Academic Exchange Programs, moderated an enlightening discussion with panelists Dr. Christina Yi, Associate Professor of Modern Japanese Literature, Department of Asian Studies, and Dr. Evelyn Encalada Grez, Assistant Professor of Labour Studies Program, Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser University.

Dr. Yi addressed the history of Zainichi Koreans and the Japanese government’s policies towards them as the foundation for subsequent policies regarding immigrants and refugees. Dr. Encalada Grez presented on similar human and labour rights issues in Canada, notably the migrant farm workers who are an essential part of Canadian and BC agriculture, yet are subject to inhumane living conditions and restrictions of basic human freedoms.

The following additional resources were recommended for those interested in furthering their knowledge:

• Aitachi no gakkō = Korean schools in Japan (Director, Kō Chanyu, 2019)
• Migrant Dreams (Director, Min Sook Lee, 2016)
• Hāfu = Half (Film Producers, Megumi Nishikura & Lara Pérez Takagi, 2013)