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Paper short abstract

This paper focuses on a regional art festival in southern Kyoto and analyzes the process by which the city's diversity expands through 'reconciliation' that transcends conflicts among minorities.

Paper long abstract

In the southern part of Kyoto, there was Buraku, a community located at the lowest rung of Japanese social hierarchy. Since the Meiji era, Japanese imperialism brought Korean as subjects from its colonies. The labor demand generated by Kyoto's kimono dyeing industry and civil engineering projects, represented by the Shinkansen, contributed to the rapid formation of a Korean community in the area.

After the war, the Japanese government aimed to repatriate residents from former colonies to their home countries and strip them of Japanese nationality and citizenship. Furthermore, both the North and South Korean governments encouraged repatriation and urged people to acquire their respective citizenships. As a result, immigrants from Korea not only faced discriminatory treatment from the Japanese society but also had to compete with existing minority groups for market opportunities and welfare resources. Korean residents had to deal not only with conflicts with local but also with disputes within their own communities. These multiple political divisions created significant difficulties for Koreans living in Japan.

From the early days of immigration, they have worked to preserve their homeland culture in new regions, but cultural expression also became a focal point of political struggle. By the 1990s, they began organizing local festivals as symbolic movements within their communities. There were two key figures in the leadership. One was a musician from Korea, and the other was a person with a physical disability. During difficult times, they supported each other and, while addressing common challenges, expanded the character of the cultural festivals to encompass a broader sense of 'diversity.'

One of the highlights of the festival is a theatrical performance that combines Japanese and Korean percussion instruments. Historically, Japanese drums have been associated with the leather industry of marginalized and discriminated communities.

This paper mainly focuses on the significance of the festival held in the area known as 'Higashi-Kujo Madang' and analyzes other artistic expressions produced in this region—such as film, photography, dance, and essays. The author argues that urban diversity expands not only through welfare policies and human rights movements but also through the process of 'reconciliation.'