TATEIWA Shinya Disability Movement / Studies in Japan 7: With People in South Korea

Africa Japan Forum are publishing information on Africa on our website and planning to publish their research regarding the issue of how societies deal with HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. Be that as it may, Asian countries are our neighbors, and communication with them has already commenced. It is easy for us to visit them, and for them to visit us. Also, as I will show in detail below, we have quite a lot to learn from each other. At present, we lay particular emphasis on strengthening our relationships with people from South Korea.
　　Below I shall write mainly about disabilities-related exchange between the two countries, based on my personal experience. Previously, I have had very little connection with South Korea and its people, though I knew that there had been some links between Japanese people involved in the disabled movement and Korean people. I visited South Korea for the first time in October, 2003 to give a lecture entitled "The Development of Independent Living Movement in Japan" at the International Seminar on Independent Living of People with Disabilities that was held in Seoul. CHONG Hee Kyong offered her services and interpreted my speech. I did not know her at the time, but, as I found out at the time, CHONG had come from South Korea to Japan to study and had graduated from the College of Community & Human Service, Rikkyo University in March, 2003.

Before leaving South Korea, she had been working in welfare services for people with disabilities and had already been collecting information on the disabled movement in South Korea. When she was enrolled in the undergraduate course in Japan she also worked as a personal assistant for the Tachikawa Independent Living Center located in Tachikawa-city, Tokyo. I have worked for the center as a member of the steering committee and director for about 10 years, but did not know her at the time. In 2007, CHONG came to our Graduate School of Core Ethics & Frontier Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, and began her historical and analytical research of the disabled movement in South Korea. At the time CHONG had already established close relationships with people with disabilities working in private organizations in South Korea (some of them later went to work for government-related organizations), as well as with university researchers. She also worked as a coordinator and interpreter in various events involving people with disabilities from South Korea and Japan. And, as I have mentioned

in section [6],

as our GCOE program commenced in 2007, we received the opportunity to use some of the budget allocated to us for international academic exchange.

■ 2008 - 2009

日韓障害者運動史懇談会写真

　　With CHONG as our coordinator, we first organized "Conference on History of Disabled Movements in South Korea and Japan" that was held at Ritsumeikan University on October 23, 2008. We invited three people from South Korea: KIM Desong (the Bureau Chief of DPI-South Korea, who has been one of the leading members of Revolutionary Disabled Movement since the 1980s), LEE Sangho (Member of City Council of Seoul, former Director of Yang-chon Independent Living Center), and JO Hanjin (Professor at the Department of Social Welfare, Daegu University). From the Japanese side, presentations were made by MISAWA Ryo (DPI Japan) and myself. The conference provided a good opportunity to share information and exchange opinions. Here is a part of the poster we made for the occasion:

　◇ Emancipation from the Disability!! Emancipation from the Disability!! This is the slogan that was always chented by activists of the South Korean Disabled Movement. What did they seek for, dedicating their lives to the movement, often risking them for the cause? What did people with disabilities in Japan and in South Korea learned from each other after a decade of mutual exchange? And what can we learn from each other in the future? Come to our conference

on October 23 and let us think about it together!◇

　　On May 10, 2009, we organized the "International Symposium: The Future of Support by People with Disabilities: Possibilities of Collaboration between Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea at Ritsumeikan Univeristy. The main objective was to have a lecture by CHEN Ying-Ju, who came from Taiwan with Duskin Leadership Training in Japan Program to visit

ILCs in Tokyo and Kansai. She also visited us at the Ritsumeikan University as a part of her training to learn about the support offered by the university to students with disabilities. The lecture was about the situation of people with disabilities in Taiwan, and it was a valuable opportunity to share information and exchange opinions between CHEN Ying-Ju and our graduate students. Also, CHONG made a presentation at the Symposium entitled "The Development of Independent Living Movement in South Korea and Collaboration with Japan: A Road to Collabolation in East Asia".
　　The three people from South Korea who visited us in October 2008 also attended the 5th Annual Convention of Japan Society for Disability Studies in Kumamoto Gakuen University with their colleagues from South Korea and had an exchange gathering with members of Japan Society for Disability Studies there as well. Some of the South Korean scholars had studied disability studies in the UK or the USA. Disability studies are recently gathering more and more attention in the country, attention of both the activists engaged in the movement and of the academic circles. This is the background against which the Society of Disability Studies of

South Korea

was established on November 3, 2009. I made a presentation, "The Progress of the Disabled Movement in Japan: a Few Words on the Joyous Occasion of Establishment of the Society of Disability Studies of South Korea

at its foundation conference in Seoul, introducing the history of disability studies in Japan that is also summarized in section [5]
　　Also, on November 2, the day before the conference, South Korea & Japan International Seminar on Euthanasia was held at the Parliament Members' Hall, in which some members of the South Korean Parliament participated. Author made a presentation, "What We Lose in Exchange for Death: Notes on the Introduction of the Situation in Japan (Presentation available in Korean).
『孝女――安孝淑』

　　During this seminar, KAWAGUCHI Yumiko, a graduate student of our Graduate School of Core Ethics & Frontier Sciences, also made presentation describing the situation in Japan. Also, during the same visit to South Korea we had an opportunity to visit the office of the ALS Association of

South Korea,

and also to visit AHN Hyosuk and her mother at their home in Seoul and talk to them. She, her sister and their mother, who has ALS, co-authored a book, the cover of which is shown on the right.
　　After returning to Japan, in order to show our gratitude to the people of South Korea for giving us the opportunity to exchange views and information with them, we created a report of the visit. At the same time, to develop our relationship further, we started a Korean mail magazine. Past issues are available at our website. (Those who would like to subscribe, please send me an e-mail. To my utmost regret, I do not know Korean at all, but will have your e-mail translated and will do the procedures needed for the subscription).

■ 2010

　　On January 19, 2010, I was invited to the Special Education and Multi-Knowledge Convergence held in Daegu University, where I gave a lecture entitled "Issues We Need to Simply Push for / Issues to be Pursued Carefully" ([Japanese]／Korean). After briefly introducing our current activities (refer to [6]), I also mentioned that the ongoing debate in Japan on education for children with disabilities is related to the conflict described in [２]. Also, guided by KWAK Jeongran, who had studied in the Graduate School of Daegu University and has been working in the areas of research and education there since,

and who also had had training in Japan, I

had a chance to visit the University's Support Center for Students with Disabilities and the Independent Living Center in Daegu City, where I had an opportunity to interview people working there, watch a documentary about the movement on the internet, and also received a photo book and other documents.

　　In April 2010, AN, with whom I met in South Korea in 2008, entered the Graduate School of Core Ethics & Frontier Sciences and decided to live for the period of her studies

with her mother

in Kyoto. Also, LEE Wook, who had graduated a university in South Korea and had been working at a welfare facility for the elderly since, entered our graduate school, at the same time starting to work for a social welfare facility in Kyoto, "Family of the Heart: Homeland House, Kyoto", a facility inhabited by many elderly

Koreans permanently residing in Japan (the so-called Zainichi). The picture on the right shows LEE making a presentation in Kyonggi University in May, 2010. These three students from South Korea, while pursuing their own

research at our graduate school, are also very energetically engaged in the translation of our website into Korean. ABE Yasusi, who had studied at the Graduate School of Daegu University, and KIM Wooja, who had studied at the Graduate Scholl of Ewha Womans University, also help us with this work.
研究空間〈スユ＋ノモ〉写真

　　On the basis of these activities, from May 27 to 30, 2010, we conducted an academic international exchange program with South Korean scholars. Myself and nine others - students, post-graduate fellows, and also CHONG and LEE, who shouldered the planning, the communication with the South Korean side and also worked as interpreters - visited South Korea. Graduate students and research fellows from South Korea and Japan made presentations and discussions at Research Machine "Suyu+Trans" ??? on May, 27, and at Kyonggi University on May, 29. On May, 28, members conducted interviews and other activities according to their interests and research themes. I made a presentation, "Fights over the "Limits": Analysys of the Past Decade in Japan [Korean and Japanese]", at the South Korea Social Welfare Politics Association Convention at Yonsei University. I also had meetings with people in South Korea on academic exchange programs we are planning to hold in South Korea in the fall of 2010, and at Ritsumeikan University in the beginning of 2011.
　　At exactly the same time, on May 31, the Korean translation of our book, Ars Vivendi: Sociology of Disabled People Living outside Families and Institutions

was published. A party was held to commemorate the publication, and I was given the opportunity to give a presentation entitled "The Era of this Book, and the Future".
　　Below is a quote from the Preface to Korean translation of Ars Vivendi.

『生の技法』（韓国語版）表紙

　　"We greatly respect the disabled movement of South Korea for its bold resolution its achievements made

in such a short period of time. We also respect the Korean people who led and supported the movement

and believe that there is much for us to learn from them. People with disabilities and the movements of the two countries have already learned a lot from each other. The academia has been lagging behind, while people not related to the scientific world, such as one of the authors of this book, ASAKA Yuho, have already developed strong relationships with Korean people. In 2008 ... discussions

between the graduate students and the faculty of GCOE "Ars Vivendi" on one side and Korean researchers and activists both in South Korea and Japan on the other finally began as a part of our project

. Communication and cooperation between South Korea and Japan have shown great progress during the last two years. Many South Korean students have come to study at our graduate school, following CHONG Hee Kyong's footsteps. We are receiving more and more invitations to participate in conferences and research meetings in South Korea. We hope that we shall learn to understand each other even better, and conduct discussions together. And we shall be more than happy if this book proves useful for this collaboration."

　　Our Graduate School of Core Ethics & Frontier Sciences could receive some university funds for the purpose of dissemination of the results of our research abroad and promotion of international academic exchange. Using this funding, we plan to increase our academic exchange with other countries further

and strive to make our research better known around the world. I shall report our results in this area in the near future.

★Notes are available in Japanese only

■ Bibliogaphy(Japanese)

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◇Shin'ya Tateiwa　 ◇立岩真也　 ◇Disability Studies

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