Quotes About Culture

AN ANCIENT ANISE BREAD Buccellato

There was more to being something than just blood.

because she would not believe that she was no different than her parents, that seeing him as only Korean—good or bad—was the same as seeing him only as a bad Korean. She could not see his humanity, and Noa realized that this was what he wanted most of all: to be seen as human.

In Seoul, people like me get called Japanese bastards, and in Japan, I'm just another dirty Korean no matter how much money I make or how nice I am. So what the fuck?

People are awful. Drink some beer.

But she could not imagine clinging to Japan, which was like a beloved stepmother who refused to love you,

the stories of Koreans in Japan should be told somehow when so much of their lives had been despised, denied, and erased.

At work, nearly everyone was Korean, so nothing stupid was said about his background. At school, Mozasu hadn't thought that the taunts has bothered him much, but when the mean remarks had utterly disappeared from his daily life he realized how peaceful he could feel.

With a first name from a Western religion, an obvious Korean surname, and his ghetto address, everyone knew what he was—there was no point in denying it.

Like his brother, Noa, Yumi thought English was the most important language and America was the best country.

Noa didn't care about being Korean when he was with her; in fact, he didn't care about being Korean or Japanese with anyone. He wanted to be, to be just himself, whatever that meant; he wanted to forget himself sometimes.

In America, everything seemed fixable, and in Japan, difficult problems were to be endured. Shoganai, shoganai. How many times had he lheard these words? It cannot be helped. His mother had apparently hated that expression, and suddenly he understood her rage against this cultural resignation that violated her beliefs and wishes. Pachinko, p456

There was always talk of Koreans going back home, but in a way, all of them had lost the home in their minds for good.

Hansu did not believe that man was designed to have sex with only one woman; marriage was unnatural to him, but he would never abandon a woman who had borne him children.

I thought that no matter how many hills and brooks you crossed, the whole world was Korea and everyone in it was Korean.

Yumi felt that her three elder half sisters were as sexually indiscriminate and common as barn animals.

The good students, who were all Japanese, the ones he admired, wouldn't speak to him. They wouldn't even look at him. He believed that he could enjoy going to school if he were a regular person and not a Korean.

It wasn't that a white person couldn't comprehend what it was like to be in her skin, but Jay, in his unyielding American optimism, refused to see that she came from a culture where good intentions and clear talk wouldn't cover all wounds. It didn't work that way with her parents, anyway. They were brokenhearted Koreans—that wasn't Jay's fault, but how was he supposed to understand their kind of anguish?

I thought that no matter how many hills and brooks you crossed, the whole world was Korea and everyone in it was Korean. —Park Wan-suh

Parents weren't supposed to praise their children, she knew this—it would only invite disaster.

His presence would prove to the world that she was a good person, an educated person, a liberal person. Noa didn't care about being Korean when he was with her; in fact, he didn't care about being Korean or Japanese with anyone. He wanted to be, to be just himself, whatever that meant; he wanted to forget himself sometimes. But that wasn't possible. It would never be possible with her.

Japan is not fucked because it lost the war or did bad things. Japan is fucked because there is no more war, and in peacetime everyone actually wants to be mediocre and is terrified of being different.

Japan will never change. It will never ever integrate gaijin...But it's not just you. Japan will never take people like my mother back into society again; it will never take back people like me. And we're Japanese

too far away. All good marriages, the matchmaker supposed, but her sons were lazy. Not like Hoonie. After