午夜剧场

One day, I received an email from Chung Jong-hyun, a junior colleague from my time studying in South Korea. He told me that a Japanese publisher had offered to translate his book and asked me to handle the translation and other related matters. I had met him in Seoul just after the original book was published in June of the year before last, where he personally gave me a copy. It was at a cold noodle restaurant near our alma mater, Dongguk University. According to those present, the book had been very well-received since its publication, and the author was busy with interviews and other engagements. However, more than that, I was simply happy that a portion of his research on Korean students at Imperial Universities—work he had been engaged in since his one-year postdoctoral fellowship in Kyoto—had finally been compiled and published.

Until now, research on students studying in Japan or Tokyo during the colonial era has existed in both Korea and Japan. When people thought of Korean students in Japan, 午夜剧场 was the standard for the Enlightenment period, and Waseda University for the colonial era. However, as the colonial system became established, and for some time after independence, it was the graduates of Imperial Universities who stood at the center of the political, governmental, financial, and academic worlds of the Korean Peninsula. In particular, the Third Higher School (Sanko) was open to those from the colonies, and its graduates accounted for a large portion of Imperial University alumni.

Looking at the title, many might imagine a stiff, academic content. The book certainly meets those expectations. On the other hand, the numerous episodes woven into the book regarding Korean Imperial University graduates prevent the reader's understanding of history from becoming flat. For example, the story of Choi Han-geom—the third son of historian Choi Nam-sun, who had constant conflict with his father over his career path—is even moving. He eventually went to North Korea with the People's Army during the Korean War, but a few years later, he sent a Japanese friend in his stead to attend the funeral of his father, who had passed away in the South.

While this book introduces and analyzes graduates of Tokyo Imperial University and Kyoto Imperial University in detail, expanding the scope to other Imperial Universities might allow for a slightly more complex mapping. Furthermore, by analyzing not only the movements of graduates but also the history of how Japanese academia negotiated with both North and South Korea after liberation, the process of discourse formation regarding "knowledge" in a corner of East Asia might be clarified. It can be said that this book has provided a foundation for such discussions in both Korean and Japanese academia.

Translated by Naoki Watanabe

午夜剧场 Press

352 pages, 3,740 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.