ABSTRACT
This chapter compares the cultures of Sakhalin Koreans and Zainichi Koreans from 1945 to the 1950s, through the lens of Cold War-era decolonization. Post-war Sakhalin and Japan were both multilingual, hybrid societies, rendering it difficult to understand them using a unilateral historical approach. Shedding new light on these two under-researched Korean diaspora cultures from the perspectives of media, ethnic education, theatrical arts, and the recovery of national identity, this chapter analyzes previously unexamined materials such as local newspapers. Karafuto, on the southern half of Sakhalin Island, remained a Japanese territory until August 25, 1945, at which point it was home to an estimated 24,000 Koreans. They shared a history as migrants with Japan's 650,000 Koreans. For decades after the Second World War, Koreans in Sakhalin and Japan, under the influence of the socialist Soviet Union and capitalist Japan respectively, were restricted in their ability to travel. Within their closed national spaces, these two communities developed their own diaspora cultures. By analyzing various similarities and differences between the post-war trajectories of the two Korean communities, this chapter also stresses the importance of North Korea's influence on both diaspora communities.
