- Kang Sang-jung
Kang Sang-jung (
Hangul : 강상중,Hanja : 姜尙中; born Nagano Tetsuo (永野鉄男) 1950) is a second-generationZainichi Korean political scientist and a professor at theUniversity of Tokyo .The third son of a Korean migrant from the
Masan area of Korea, Kang was born and grew up inKumamoto inKyūshū . He has described his childhood experiences in his autobiography "Zainichi" [For an English translation of sections of this book, see [http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2343] ] , published in 1994.After studying at
Waseda University , he was an exchange student at the University of Nurnberg,Erlangen in the thenWest Germany . His encounters with the families ofmigrant workers in Germany had a lasting influence on his understanding of Zainichi Korean identity.After returning to Japan, he was involved in the protest movement against the compulsory fingerprinting of foreign residents in the early 1980s. He lectured at
Meiji Gakuin University andInternational Christian University inTokyo , before being appointed to theUniversity of Tokyo .Kang's early work focused on the political and social thought of
Max Weber . He has written extensively on the subject of Zainichi Korean identity, nationalism and its problems, and the relationship between Japan and North Korea. He is also an enthusiastic proponent of Northeast Asian regional integration. [ [http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2014 Japan Focus ] ]Within the Japanese linguistic sphere, he is one of the most outspoken critics of
Japanese Nationalism andUnited States Imperialism . Related to this, he has been characterized in some right-wing Japanese magazines as being a "supporter" ofKim Jong-il . [ [http://www.bunshun.co.jp/mag/shokun/shokun0704.htm 諸君!_070401 ] ] Kang himself, however, vigorously contests this, and points out that his writings have consistently criticized dictatorships, both Right-wing and Left-wing. [see "Shukan Asahi" magazine, 15 May 2007] [For Kang's views on North Korea, see "The First Agonizing Steps Towards Stabilizing Northeast Asia", Japan Focus, 2002 [http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2319] , and "Overcoming Japan-North Korea Relations", Shueisha Publishers, 2002]His other major works include "Beyond Orientalism" (Iwanami, 1996), "The Perspective of Globalization" (Iwanami, 2001, co-authored with Yoshimi Shunya), and "Nationalism" (Iwanami, 2001).
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