Go

by Kazuki Kaneshiro

serious expression and continued. “They finally got me. The government’s power is a terrifying thing. You have to be pretty fast to outrun it.”

Jeong-il would say something cryptic like, “A lone person devoted to reading novels has the power equal to a hundred people gathered at a meeting.” Then he’d continue, saying, “The world would be a better place with more people like that,” and smile good-naturedly.

To protest the Vietnam War, where it seemed like only black and brown people were being sent to the front lines and dying, Hendrix played America’s national anthem on his guitar like this: Scree scree screee screee screeee screeee Waaah waaah grraaah grraahh Squeee squeee squeee Gagagaaah gagagaaah gaah gaah

“Not a bad thing to know something about darkness. You can’t talk about light without some knowledge of darkness.

The young cop would be so informed. Then he would ask, “Do you have your alien registration card?” Japan used to have a law called the Alien Registration Law, which oversaw the foreigners living in Japan. Although “oversaw” had a nice ring to it, the law was basically there to put a collar on so-called “bad” foreigners. Despite being born and raised in Japan, I was still considered a foreign resident, so I was required to be registered as one and have an alien registration card. You were supposed to have this card on your person at all times and not having it could get you a year of

Sometimes I wish my skin was green or something. That way, the good people will come closer and the haters will keep their distance.

How can you call us Zainichi without so much as a second thought? We were born in this country and raised in this country!