Hi podcast listeners, it's Anne here.

One of the finalists for this year's National Book Award is Minjin Lee for her novel Pachinko,

which is a sweeping story of four generations of a family of Korean immigrants in Japan.

And the backstory is just as interesting as the book itself. Minjin grew up Korean American, and she thought she knew her ancestors,

but then she moved to Tokyo.

I talked to the Korean Japanese.

I met dozens of them.

I've met Korean Brazilians, and I've met Korean Peruvians.

I've met Korean Russians.

There's like so many different kinds of Koreans.

They're entirely different than almost any other Korean population in the world.

From 1910 to 1945, all these Koreans went to Japan,

either as economic migrants or as forcible labor.

So you go to Osaka, and there's a whole area where all these Koreans lived.

That used to be called Ikkaino, and now it's called Ikuno.

And it's in Surahashi Station.

They would have stalls, and the stalls are operated mostly by women.

And they're usually working class women, and they sell things like dried squid, Korean spices. They sell socks.

And I would interview all these women who work there and they all talked about some

grandmother or great-grandmother who did this. And they often had jobs that were so stunningly

difficult.

So for example, you would live in maybe like a 200 square foot house.

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