Bonus Episode: Introducing the Zainichi Music Project

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Hi everyone, it's Yukimi Song. Thank you for tuning in today. If you are new here, welcome! I'm the creative mind behind the YouTube and podcast show The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song. It's a space where I sit down with fellow pianists, educators, composers, and other artists to talk about where classical music is heading. Over the past 6 seasons, The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song has grown into a real community. Artists, educators, students, and music lovers who show up for thoughtful, honest conversations about our field. It has truly become one of the most meaningful parts of my life, and if you haven't listened to any past episodes yet, you can visit thepianopod.com with Yukimi Song to start exploring, whether you want deep conversations, artists' stories, or a fresh way of looking at classical music today. For my longtime Piano Pod listeners, I'm excited about today, and honestly a little nervous, to share something new and very personal. Alongside everything I already do as a pianist, educator, producer, and writer, I'm stepping into something that feels like the most natural next chapter for me. I'm starting a long-term creative project called the Zainichi Music Project, and I am thrilled to share that it has been approved and sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, an organization that truly champions artists like me. It's a huge step even though it's just the beginning, and it feels like the exact green light I needed to finally move into a journey I have been circling for decades. This episode also marks the launch of my new Substack podcast, Zainichi Music Project with Yukimi Song. Since this is the very first episode, there is no intro music No theme. Nothing. Nothing fancy. It's just me speaking to you as a friend. And honestly, that feels right. Starting simple feels true to where this project begins. Before I go further, I want to share something I rarely talked about publicly, a part of my identity that shaped everything, even when I wasn't speaking about it. I am a third-generation Zainichi Korean. My community, generations of Zainichi Koreans, didn't end up in Japan through immigration. We were brought into Japan's orbit through its imperial rule over Korea. Under colonial law, Koreans were labeled as imperial subjects. It wasn't full citizenship, but it also wasn't immigration. It was the reality of being part of a colonized population with no real choice in the matter. Here's the part that's important to understand. After World War II, everything changed abruptly. Japan rebuilt itself as a homogeneous nation, and in that process, the limited legal status Koreans held under colonial rule disappeared. By the time the San Francisco Peace Treaty took effect in the early 1950s, right in the middle of Korean War and the division of the peninsula, Zainichi Koreans were left with no recognized citizenship at all. Overnight, we became effectively stateless. Starting from my parents' generation, we were born and raised in Japan, yet we grew up inside a fragile legal and social framework shaped by forces far beyond our control or understanding. This is what makes the Zainichi story unique. We didn't arrive in Japan by migration or choice, yet we were never fully included in the society we were born into. We weren't treated as immigrants, and we weren't recognized as citizens, not by Japan and not automatically by either Korean state. We lived in an identity gap created by history. So for generations, Zainichi Koreans have lived entirely in Japan, but always in an in-between space shaped by history, politics, and silence. Present but unseen. Living our whole lives there, yet never fully anchored or recognized. That is what makes our story so distinct. This is the heart of why this project matters to me. If you want to hear more about my story, the statelessness, the two names all Zainichis were given at birth, all of it, I've written about it in my Substack essay, "Behind the Mic: Reclaiming Voice Through Sound." You can find the link in the show notes. So all of that brings me to this moment. The Zainichi music project, The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song will grow over the next few years as a living archive. I will be researching, commissioning new piano works to Zainichi Korean composers, recording performances, interviewing scholars, descendants, and artists, creating documentary material, and eventually presenting screenings and public lectures. I know it's a big goal, but I'm excited. Now, my goal is to bring music, history, and lived memory into one space—something honest, human, and grounded. This is a long journey, and today is just the very first step. So thank you for listening, and thank you for being here as this new chapter begins. If you would like to follow the project, Please follow the Zainichi Music Project on Instagram or TikTok or both. And if you want to support the work, read the essays and follow the podcast version, you can subscribe on Substack, Zainichi Music Project with Yukimi Song. For those listening through The Piano Pod feed, as a bonus episode, please continue following our regular biweekly show, and if you can, I'd be so grateful if you could also support this new initiative by subscribing to the Zainichi Music Project podcast and Instagram and TikTok accounts. More soon, and thank you again for being here. Happy Thanksgiving!

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You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com.