Published Paper Details:

This paper examines the historically rooted and socially reproduced traumas experienced by Zainichi Koreans--ethnic Koreans residing in Japan whose presence largely originates from migration during Japan's colonial rule of Korea (1910-1945). Drawing upon historical scholarship, contemporary academic literature, journalistic investigations, and mental-health research, the study argues that Zainichi trauma is embedded in colonial violence and sustained through postwar legal marginalization, structural discrimination, and contemporary hate speech. These traumatic experiences manifest socially and psychologically and are transmitted intergenerationally through narratives of loss, stigma, and survival. The paper analyzes major domains of trauma, including wartime forced labor and atomic bomb survivor exclusion, postwar juridical liminality, discrimination in education and employment, identity erasure, and political scapegoating. It further reviews empirical evidence linking discrimination to adverse mental-health outcomes and highlights community-based coping and resistance strategies. The paper concludes with policy recommendations emphasizing structural redress, historical acknowledgment, and culturally responsive mental-health interventions.