神奈川大学外国語学部英語英文学科です。学科の先生によるコラムマガジン「Professors’ Showcase」。今回は、社会言語学が専門の中村ジェニス先生による"A visit to Osaka’s Korean Town"です！

I am sure many of you are interested in visiting Korea. Isn’t everyone already taking Korean as their second foreign language? To prepare for your trip to Korea, you are probably working hard to get your Korean language skills up to scratch. However, if money is an issue that prevents you from jetting off to Seoul or Pusan, don’t worry. You can visit Korea without leaving Japan.

Japan is actually home to a few ‘Korean Towns’, so you can have an authentic taste of Korea right here. I am sure many of you are familiar with Shin-Okubo, but perhaps you are unaware of Osaka’s Korean town or Shimonoseki’s ‘Little Busan’ (Yamaguchi Prefecture). This article introduces Osaka’s Korean Town, which has become a popular tourist attraction in Kansai.

Since long ago, Osaka has been home to many Korean immigrants. Many Koreans live in the city’s Ikuno Ward, so this area has many shops that cater to Korean customers. The area’s most bustling street is called Korean Town. It is a long street lined with many shops selling Korean food and merchandise. Although it takes 20 minutes to get there on foot from the nearest station, the inconvenient location does not deter visitors from flocking to the area.

Osaka’s Korean Town is full of colors and flavors. In particular, the varieties of kimchi are beyond one’s imagination. Many shops pickle their kimchi, so the taste is probably authentic.

Osaka’s Korean Town is not just a tourist spot. Korean residents often shop here for their daily goods, so it is still a town that caters to the people who live in the area. Although many shops put up Japanese signs, some display bilingual signs in Japanese and Korean. Such signs show that some customers read Korean and not Japanese.

The Korean supermarket is one shop that you should not miss. It stocks a wide range of Korean products from snacks to kimbap and shoju. However, the main attraction is street food. Whether you fancy yangnyeom chicken, tteokbokki, kuroffle or cheese balls, the shops have everything to satisfy your craving. If you ever plan a trip to Kansai, Korean Town is worth exploring.

While the image of Japan as a culturally homogenous country is very strong, it is actually home to many little ‘foreign towns’. Osaka’s Ikuno Ward is only one of them. In Yokohama, we can experience a bit of China in Yokohama Chinatown and a bit of Europe in Yamate. To get a taste of South America, we can explore the Tsurumi district of the city. In Tokyo, there is a ‘Little Paris’ (Kagurazaka) and Islam Yokocho (Shin-Okubo) in Tokyo. ‘Overseas travel’ is actually fast and affordable because visiting these little foreign towns in Japan is easier than getting to the airport. If you don’t know what to do next weekend, I recommend visiting one.

記：中村ジェニス

中村ジェニス先生をもっと知りたい方はこちら！
「神大の先生　中村ジェニス准教授」

中村ジェニス先生のゼミを知りたい方はこちら！
「Multilingual Individuals and Multilingual Societies 研究」

中村ジェニスゼミナールが2022年10月の「Jindai Style」Vol.334で取り上げられました。p.9をご覧ください！

https://www.kanagawa-u.ac.jp/aboutus/publication/style/file/336.pdf