5/24/2023 0 Comments Pachinko book cover![]() ![]() Her short fiction has been featured on NPR’s Selected Shorts. MIN JIN LEE’s debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires, was one of the “Top 10 Novels of the Year” for the Times (London), NPR’s Fresh Air, and USA Today. Struggling to find their place in Japanese society, Sunja’s family finds work in the pachinko business and attempts to build their lives in a new land. Many Korean-Japanese families today have some original ties to the pachinko industry. Those who run and operate pachinko parlors, many of them of Korean ethnicity, are looked down upon socially, but some parlors can generate immense fortunes. Pachinko is a popular type of adult pinball game, which originated in Japan in the first half of the twentieth-century. Min Jin wanted to acknowledge their stories when so much of their lives had been denied, erased and despised. While writing PACHINKO, Min Jin (who herself was born in Korea before moving to the United States) lived in Japan with her husband and son and interviewed dozens of ethnic Koreans about their family histories. ![]() Some never disclose their heritage, although it can follow them in their identification papers and government records. There is a long and troubled history of legal and social discrimination against Koreans living in Japan, even those who have partial ethnic Korean background. ![]()
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