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Watanabe fights for interracial families
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Waterdrop Society of Korea Chairwoman Mika Watanabe
By Kim Se-jeong
By Kim Se-jeong
When Waterdrop Society of Korea chairwoman Mika Watanabe, had salt thrown on her in an Incheon street in the 1990s, she did not know why.
She later studied Korean/Japanese history, and decided to accept and endure the prejudice.
By the mid 2000s, she felt a different kind of prejudice against her and her family. So, together with friends who experienced similar discrimination, she decided to do something.
Watanabe, 53, was born on Tokyo. She first traveled to Korea in 1987 for a workshop on security. She was soon introduced to her future husband, and the two were married in 1988. In 1992, she permanently moved to Korea, where she now teaches Japanese language classes at a Seoul university.
She also founded the Waterdrop Society of Korea in 2009. Rep. Jasmine Lee of the ruling Saenuri Party was among its 40 founding members.
The group’s goal is clear: to make Korea an integrated society where there is no distinction between interracial families and the rest.
Watanabe is among the first marriage settlers.
“I had to suffer because of the history between Korea and Japan, but I was a Korean citizen,” she said. “Back then, the term ‘interracial family’ didn’t exist. Now, it feels like Korea is divided into interracial families and the rest. This makes me feel like I belong to a minority.”
Her feelings are shared among many other long-term settlers. They argue that the term “interracial family” is not a good representation of about 300,000 marriage migrants and their families. The say the term hinders them from being a fully integrated member of Korean society.
Policymakers also share this view. They acknowledge that marriage migrants are mostly long-term settlers and that policy must shift its focus from providing initial settlement assistance. They agree labeling the migrants hinders integration.
Many marriage migrants began arriving in the early 2000s. The numbers peaked in the mid-2000s, which is when the phrase “interracial families” was born. The term had a negative connotation because it often referred to those who failed in settlement or married life.
Watanabe’s group’s activities focus on two goals: empowering immigrants and educating youth about cultural diversity.
Every month, the society organizes a seminar for marriage immigrants in which a guest speaker talks about a chosen topic. Co-organized with Rep. Jasmine Lee’s office, the program has been well received because of the quality of its speakers.
A workshop on cultural diversity specifically targets high school students. A three-day session, usually during summer or winter, is designed to teach cultural diversity and how to interact with people from a different cultural background.
“On the third day, we cook, and that’s when people get really close to each other,” Watanabe said.
Her group also organizes a street festival ― a cultural presentation of about 20 countries. She said her group took special pride in this, because the event was the first of its kind here.
“Through all these programs, I hope to see prejudice disappear in Korea,” she said.