Listen to Episode 880 of Slate’s The Gist:
Subscribe in iTunes ∙ RSS feed ∙ Download ∙ Play in another tab
Slate Plus members: Get your ad-free podcast feed.
There hadn’t been an English-language novel about ethnic Koreans living in Japan until this year’s Pachinko. Author Min Jin Lee chalks it up to the complicated history of the Korean Japanese. They were colonized by Japan, they were forced or compelled to migrate, and they were targets of anti-Korean discrimination. But Lee was surprised to find that many Korean Japanese don’t see themselves as victims of racism. “They would actually see it as, culturally, their norm,” says Lee. “I think it’s very hurtful to think that you’re hated all the time, so you have to think of the story that you can live with.”
In the Spiel, are President Trump’s tweets worse than President Nixon’s paranoia?
Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus.
Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook.
Email: thegist@slate.com
Twitter: @slategist