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Article

18 Oct 2015

Author:
Nikkei Asian Review

Japan: CEO revealed Korean roots to inspire youths facing bigotry in Japan

SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son has long been discriminated against by Japanese because he is ethnically Korean. ...   Even in his early childhood, he received verbal and physical attacks from Japanese classmates. In kindergarten, he was jeered at for being Korean. Once, another child cut his head open with a stone. Even today, he finds himself the target of malicious comments on the Internet. ... "On my passport and foreign resident registration card, my real surname is written as Son and the Japanese family name is Yasumoto. ... Even today, a number of celebrities and professional athletes use Japanese family names in their chosen professions. It is not my intention to criticize such a practice. But I decided to go against the tide and become the first among my relatives to use Son as my family name.