Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean BoyhoodIn this autobiography, Richard E. Kim paints seven vivid scenes from a boyhood and early adolescence in Korea at the height of the Japanese occupation during WWII, 1932 to 1945. Taking its title from the grim fact that the occupiers forced the Koreans to renounce their own names and adopt Japanese names instead, the book follows one Korean family through the Japanese occupation to the surrender of Japan and dissolution of the Japanese empire. Examining the intersections of Japanese and Korean history that influenced Korea-Japan relations at the time, Lost Names is at once a loving memory of family, an ethnography of Zainichi Koreans in 1930s Japan, and a vivid portrayal of human spirit in a time of suffering and survival. |
Contents
Crossing | 3 |
Homecoming | 22 |
Once upon a Time on a Sunday | 58 |
Lost Names | 87 |
An Empire for Rubber Balls | 116 |
Is Someone Dying? | 143 |
In the Making of HistoryTogether | 160 |
Authors Note | 197 |
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air-raid shelter apple arms B-29 Superfortress baby big boy cakes cheek chief of police Chinese church class leader comes courtyard crying Danny Boy dark door eyes face farmer father says feel friends front gate go home goes grandfather grandmother hand head hear inside Inspector Japan Japanese teacher Kamikaze keep kitchen Korean detective Korean literature laughing look lost lunch box maid Manchuria mother nods orchard police station policeman Pyongyang quickly river rubber balls saber sack says my father Search of Lost self-defense company Seoul shakes shouts silent sister skates smile snow soldiers someone Soviet Union standing straw mats sure tears tell thing Thought Police told town trying turn uncle understand voice waiting walk watching wearing white rice wine wooden words young