Discussion
On March 24, 2026, the 301st Japan Specialist Seminar was held from 12:30 to 14:00 in a hybrid format at the GL Room of Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University, and online via Zoom. At the seminar, HONG Jeongeun, a research professor at Osaka Metropolitan University, presented on "Commemorative Practices of Zainichi Korean Women in Jesa," examining how jesa, the household tradition of ancestor veneration, is being transformed as the Zainichi Korean community becomes more diverse.
In both Korea and Japan, jesa has been significantly affected by urbanization and COVID-19. Since the 1990s, Japanese scholarship in cultural anthropology and geography has analyzed jesa as a practice that shapes Zainichi identity through its continuity and widespread observance.
The presentation noted that jesa in Japan has become simplified through fewer offerings and more streamlined procedures, while women's participation has increased in baerye (拝礼), ritual bows traditionally performed only by men. Whereas about 80% of Zainichi households practiced jesa up to the 1980s, by 2022 only 20% continued it "as before," with simplification, reduced frequency, and discontinuation becoming more common. The presenter identified changes in the social environment and generational structure, as well as increased marriage with Japanese people, as major causes of this transformation. Interviews also revealed the gender-discriminatory character of jesa, complex feelings about passing it on to the next generation, and a communal sense among Zainichi who continue the ritual, suggesting that Zainichi identity is shifting from "oppositional" to "fluid."
