QuoteProject
Koreans are worried about the Japanese right-wing people, who tend to be against foreigners. But the Koreans in Japan aren't even foreigners. They are essentially culturally Japanese. If a family has lived in Japan for three generations, it's absurd to see them as foreigners.
Min Jin Lee
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote highlights the absurdity of labeling long-term residents as foreigners and reflects on cultural identity.

In this quote, Min Jin Lee addresses the concept of identity and belonging, specifically focusing on the Korean community in Japan. She argues that the perception of Koreans as foreigners, despite many having lived in Japan for generations and assimilated into its culture, is misguided. This statement challenges nationalistic attitudes and encourages a deeper understanding of cultural integration and the complexities of identity in a multicultural society.

Themes

IdentityCultureBelongingForeignersJapanKorea

In practice

Example use cases

During a cultural exchange presentation, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of understanding diverse identities.

More from Min Jin Lee

We're always observing, and we're cautious people. We really want attention, but at the same time, we're ashamed of wanting attention. All those bizarre qualities of being outside are necessary for being a writer.
Min Jin LeeRead
Twenty-five million people who live in North Korea are denied freedom in every respect of their lives. In short, they are hostages. Imagine 25 million hostages.
Min Jin LeeRead
My father was born on Christmas Day in 1934. He grew up in what is now part of North Korea. When the Korean War began, my father was 16, and he found passage on an American refugee ship,thinking he'd be gone for just a few days, but he never saw his mother or his sister again.
Min Jin LeeRead
I think it's not an accident that you don't have that many Asian American women writers who are breaking out. I don't think it's an accident that you don't have that many Asian American writers, either women or men. I don't think that immigrants are encouraged to become artists. That's very gendered and racialized and ethnicized.
Min Jin LeeRead
I've often felt like an outsider, not necessarily because I'm Korean, an immigrant, or female. I think writers are odd people.
Min Jin LeeRead
Education is a beautiful, liberating thing, but I think that tying in education and status, and the need to do well at every cost, is toxic.
Min Jin LeeRead

Similar quotes

If you aren't gonna say exactly how and what you feel, you might as well not say anything at all.
Johnny CashRead
There's a tremendous sense of shame that people who are lonely feel. I say that as someone who felt ashamed of being lonely as a child and even at points during adulthood.
Vivek MurthyRead
We can't win at somebody else's expense. We can only fully be satisfied when the other person's needs are fulfilled as well as our own.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
I've come to recognize what I call my 'inside interests.' Telling stories. And helping people tell their stories is a sort of interpersonal gardening. My work at NBC News was to report the news, but in hindsight, I often tried to look for some insight to share that might spark a moment of recognition in a viewer.
Jane PauleyRead
For millions of Americans who happen to be black or brown, that core bond of trust with the government that governs closest to you, is too often broken.
Joy ReidRead
Isolation offered its own form of companionship: the reliable silence of her rooms, the steadfast tranquility of the evenings. The promise that she would find things where she put them, that there would be no interruption, no surprise. It greeted her at the end of each day and lay still with her at night.
Jhumpa LahiriRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.