Since its debut in March 2022, Pachinko has wowed viewers with its well-drawn characters and noteworthy cinematography. The primary season of the multi-generational drama follows Sunja (performed by Minha Kim in her youth and Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung in her later years).
Sunja is a Korean lady who strikes to Japan within the Nineteen Thirties. She faces many setbacks, however her sturdy will retains her going. The sequence alternates between Sunja’s life and the story of her grandson, Solomon Baek (Jin Ha), who struggles within the aggressive monetary world of Japan within the Nineteen Eighties.
The sequence relies on a 2017 bestseller by Min Jin Lee. Though the e-book is fictional, it’s primarily based on actual occasions. Sunja’s character relies on Zainichi Koreans, a gaggle of Koreans who moved to Japan earlier than 1945 when Japan nonetheless managed Korea.
Each the e-book and the sequence take care of the discrimination and harsh remedy that Koreans, like Sunja, skilled in Japan. One of many actual occasions featured in season 1 is a tragic earthquake that formed historical past.
The 1923 Pachinko Earthquake Actually Occurred
Episode 7 of Season 1 shifts from Sunja’s story to Hansu’s (Lee Minho) life as a younger man in Japan. The episode portrays a serious earthquake that really occurred. On September 1, 1923, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the Kantō area of Japan, which incorporates Tokyo and Yokohama.
It led to the deaths of greater than 140,000 individuals. Greater than half of the brick buildings and plenty of concrete constructions had been destroyed. Tons of of hundreds of homes collapsed or burned down within the fires that adopted the earthquake.
As well as, a tsunami of over 39 toes excessive hit the world, destroying 155 houses and killing 60 individuals. These disasters devastated the area and had a extreme impression on the individuals residing there.
Whereas the earthquake and tsunami prompted immense destruction, one other tragedy occurred afterward. Within the chaos that adopted the earthquake, greater than 6,000 Korean civilians had been murdered in an occasion now often called the Kantō Bloodbath. False rumors unfold that Zainichi Koreans had been setting fires, poisoning wells, and planning riots.
The Japanese authorities has not accepted accountability for the deaths, blaming vigilantes. Nonetheless, households of the victims say the federal government is minimizing its position within the bloodbath.
Witnesses on the time reported seeing cops and even Japanese troopers attacking Koreans with weapons akin to swords and iron bars. Even 100 years later, the Nice Kantō Bloodbath stays a painful chapter in Japanese historical past.
These occasions have a profound impression on considered one of Pachinko’s predominant characters
The earthquake performs an necessary position in explaining Hansu’s background. He had deliberate to maneuver to the USA with a younger American household that he tutored. However when the earthquake struck, his plans had been shattered. Hansu survived the catastrophe, however his father didn’t.
Hansu managed to get the American household to security, however an explosion separated him from them they usually had been killed. He noticed many individuals struggling and making an attempt to flee the chaos.
The sequence additionally briefly touches on the Kantō Bloodbath, displaying Hansu listening to rumors of Korean prisoners escaping from jail and Koreans poisoning the water.
Whereas fleeing town, Hansu noticed a gaggle of Koreans being chased by a mob. Though a Japanese tried to assist them disguise in a barn, Hansu noticed the mob discover them and set fireplace to the barn, killing the Koreans inside.
These occasions clarify a lot of Hansu’s bitterness when he meets Sunja. His experiences through the earthquake and bloodbath, through which his fellow Koreans had been focused and killed, have hardened him. Pachinko showrunner Soo Hugh defined in an interview with Esquire: “The previous issues.
One of many issues we at all times talked about at Pachinko is the concept of the ‘different life.’ If that earthquake hadn’t occurred, or Hansu hadn’t lived in Yokohama, who would he be? He would not be the Hansu we all know.” If the earthquake hadn’t occurred, Hansu would have moved to the US and possibly lived a unique life.
He would by no means have turn into a service provider in Japan or met Sunja. Additionally it is attainable that he would have been a nicer particular person if he had not skilled such horrors as a younger man.
Hugh wished to incorporate the earthquake and the Pachinko bloodbath as a result of she felt that these actual occasions nonetheless matter at the moment, particularly with occasions just like the 2020 US riots. Lee Minho additionally spoke about Hansu’s journey, saying, “I do not essentially consider that the aim of our present is to teach individuals about historic occasions.
However each time these large occasions or disasters occur, we bear in mind the occasions, not the individuals who had been sacrificed. I hope that as we seize these moments within the present, we could be reminded of historical past…”
It’s seemingly that Pachinko will proceed to indicate historic occasions akin to World Struggle II and its impact on Sunja and her household. Nonetheless, the earthquake episode stands out as a key second, depicting one of the crucial tragic disasters in historical past.
Pachinko masterfully weaves collectively fiction and actual historical past, highlighting occasions that deeply affected Koreans residing in Japan. By means of characters like Sunja and Hansu, the sequence explores the lasting results of historic tragedies such because the 1923 Nice Kantō earthquake and bloodbath.
By weaving these occasions with private tales, Pachinko creates a strong narrative that emphasizes the resilience of humanity. As viewers watch, they’re reminded of the cruel realities of the previous and the energy it takes to beat such challenges.
Season 1 of Pachinko is on the market to stream on AppleTV+ within the US. Season 2 premieres on August 23.
