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This week, I'm going to recommend the aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol Huang.

This is the story of Kong's 10-year confinement in the Yodok prison camp in North Korea,

one of the more humane camps in the North Korean system, actually, designed not for political

criminals, but for their families. Spoilers, at one point a kid is going to drown in a septic tank after his teacher throws him in there.

It's fascinating, not just for the glimpse of North Korea it offers, but because Kang himself comes from a Zainichi family,

Japanese Koreans who went to the north hoping for a better life, but finding just the

opposite. Go to audibletrial.com slash Japan to claim your copy. Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast.

Episode 159, Best of Frenemones, Part 5.

In 1910, the Josan monarchy that had ruled over Korea since 1392 was snuffed out.

Korea was now officially a part of Japan's territory, a bona fide colony rather than just a protectorate.

Our goal today is to explore what that meant.

I should note that I will not be exploring the entire history of colonial Korea in its complete depth.

That's far beyond what we have room here for.

It's also a story of twists and turns and policy that really, I think, loses the human thread after a certain point.

So instead, my goal today is going to be to talk about the most salient features of 35 years of Japanese rule,

to give you some idea of what Japan's goals were in Korea, how those changed over time,

and how they impacted Koreans.

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