Good
morning. I am Mike Mochizuki, director
of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies.
On behalf of the Asian Studies program at George Washington University,
I would like to welcome all of you to the 9th annual Hahn Moo-Sook
Colloquium.
As noted in your
program, this colloquium is made possible by an endowment created by the estate
of one Korea’s most honored writers, Hahn Moo-Sook. This colloquium is truly one of GW’s special treasures. Its aim is to highlight, examine, and
celebrate Korea’s cultural achievements, both contemporary and historical. For me, this colloquium not only confirms
how dynamic and how strong Korean studies is at GW, but also demonstrates how
important the humanities are in our Asian Studies curriculum.
Like many of
you, I had the opportunity last night to view Director Park Chul Soo’s funny
and bittersweet movie Kazoku Cinema, which depicts the making of a
documentary film about a dysfunctional family.
Mr. Park introduced his film by warning the audience about the movie’s
various surprises.
When I was
trying to find a seat with one of my colleagues in the crowded auditorium, I
was worried that I would not be close enough to read the English
subtitles. To my pleasant surprise, I
discovered that the dialogue in Kazoku Cinema is entirely in Japanese.
In the middle of
the movie, the film crew raises the issue of whether or not to mention that the
family that is the subject of the documentary is in fact a family of Korean
ancestry. They in the end decide not to
mention this fact and choose instead to stress the documentary’s
universality. With this, I felt that
the movie did a terrific job of alluding to the theme of this year’s colloquium:
“Crossing Borders.”
I would like to
close by thanking Ambassador Yang and the Freer Gallery for hosting last
night’s elegant reception. I would also
like to thank all of the lecturers and commentators
in today’s
program. And finally, I would like to
express my appreciation to the conveners, Professors Young-Key Kim-Rinaud,
Richard Grinker and Kirk Larsen, for all their hard work in organizing this
colloquium.