I Wish I Could Be Japanese
dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda · 1992
The struggle for identity and acceptance can lead individuals to abandon their true selves in order to fit into a society that marginalizes them.
Plot
The film deals with the rights of Japanese-Koreans -born in Japan but without Japanese passport or nationality- and the social rejection that they face if they don’t integrate completely, abandoning their Korean identity. The film’s main thread is the story of a Korean man, who in the times of the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula, is sent to Japan to fight along with the Japanese in the Philippines, but after the war and fearing discrimination, creates a Japanese identity for himself and manages to get married and have children without his family ever knowing about his origins for 50 years until he is arrested in 1985 for forging official documents and in suspicion of being a spy from North Korea. (…) © timegoesbyin.wordpress.com/tag/i-wanted-to-be-japanese
Why watch
"I Wish I Could Be Japanese" poignantly unearths the painful complexities of identity and belonging, weaving a personal narrative with broader sociopolitical themes. Hirokazu Kore-eda's documentary style captures the raw truths of cultural duality, leaving viewers to reflect on the burdens of secrecy and societal acceptance.