Notes: I think the family may have provided an older photo of themselves, because the children look much younger than their stated ages. Left-to-right: father Han Sun-deok (43), son Beon-yeong (5), daughter Hyeong (8), son Michio (18), son Gye-yung (10), mother Go Jung-og (38). Unlike another pro-Imperial Japan Korean family which was featured in this newspaper, this one appears to have given most of their children Korean names.

The father worked at the Seoul branch of the Oriental Development Company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_Development_Company), which was a national enterprise of Imperial Japan spearheading the colonial exploitation of Korea, and was at one point the largest landlord of Korea. Today, the headquarters of Hana Bank stands where the father’s workplace used to be located.

(My translation)

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) May 14, 1942

The Unification of Korea and Japan Starts with the Japanese Language

Praise from Sumi Nishihara:
“The soft touch of the Japanese language cannot be tasted in the Korean language”

Located at 353 Sindang-dong, the home of Yasuhiro Nishihara (43), formerly known as Han Sun-deok, who has been working at the Seoul branch of the Oriental Development Company for 20 years, is also a home of the delightful Japanese language. His wife Sumi (38), formerly known as Go Jung-og, is a graduate of Seoul No. 1 Girls’ High School, so she must have a good command of the Japanese language. Her four children are all regular users of the Japanese language, in accordance with their surrounding environment. Their second son, Gye-yung (10), who attends Sakuragaoka National School (OP note: present-day Seoul Cheonggu Elementary School), does not know Korean at all. He is sometimes scolded by his mother Sumi for learning broken Korean at school, which is no laughing matter.

They use the Japanese language in their lives to such an extent that neighbors think the family is strange and ask themselves, “Are they really Korean?” When I visited their home, the husband Yasuhiro was not home, and the wife Sumi greeted me instead, dressed in her Korean clothes.

“It’s a way of utilizing waste,” she said. “My children scold me for wearing it, but I think I’ll wear it while I still have it,” she explained away without any shame.

“My husband and I got married eighteen years ago, so our eldest son Michio is now eighteen years old. Since then, my husband has stopped using Korean at all, and I thought it was a good thing. Now it has come to the point where we find it annoying to be spoken to in Korean. My husband, for example, always points to his children and says with joy that they will never have to learn Korean for the rest of their lives. But the trouble is, when my mother-in-law comes to visit, the children cannot communicate with their grandmother who fills them with nostalgia, so I have to translate for them. It’s a little funny to translate for them while the children ask me, ‘What did grandmother just say?’ But their grandmother lives in her hometown, Kaesong, and she only comes to Seoul from time to time, so she does not have influence on the children.”

When I asked her what motivated her to switch from Korean to the Japanese language, she answered clearly, “The Japanese language has a kindness that cannot be expressed in Korean. In particular, the language associated with women is unique, and that soft femininity is not found in the Korean language. That is why I believe that the Japanese language should be used by the superior people of the nation. As you can see, my daughter Hyeong (8) and my third son Beon-yeong (5) are playing with the children of the neighborhood, but do you know which ones are my children?”

I see! This is a form of thorough Japanization that goes beyond just regularly using, loving, and exclusively using the Japanese language. The slogan “The Unification of Korea and Japan Starts with the Japanese language” is completely unnecessary in this family. (Photo: the Nishihara family)

Source: http://www.archive.org/details/kjnp-1942-05-14

Reddit Post: (3) In 1942, one pro-Imperial Japan Korean family went to great lengths to force Japanese on their children, scolding a son for informally learning some basic Korean at school, making sure their Korean-speaking grandmother visiting them in Seoul from Kaesong did not influence them too much : korea (reddit.com)

Why am I posting this kind of content? Read my reasons here: https://exposingimperialjapan.com/2021/11/nostalgia-for-imperial-japan-and-its.html

（My transcription)

京城日報　1942年5月14日

内鮮一体は「国語」から

朝鮮語で味わえぬ柔らかい国語の感触
礼讃する西原澄さん

東拓京城支店に勤めて二十年、新堂町三五三西原康博（四三）＝旧名韓順得＝の家も嬉しい国語の家である。婦人澄さん（三八）＝旧名高中玉＝京城第一高女の出身、故にこそ国語は上手なはずだ。周囲の環境もあろうが、四人の子女も全部国語常用者ばかり。桜丘国民学校に通っている次男の啓隆君（一〇）などは全く朝鮮語は識らないで、かえって学校で怪しげな鮮語を覚えて母親澄さんから叱られたといった笑えない風景も時折はあるという。

近所の話によれば「あれが半島の方ですか」なんとなく不思議に思われる位の国語生活である。訪れると主人康博氏は留守。代わって鮮服の澄夫人が応待する。

「廃物利用というわけでしてね。子供達からは叱られますが、あるうちは着てしまおうと思っています」と夫人は悪びれずに弁解だ。

「主人と結婚したのは十八年前ですから、長男通雄は今十八歳です。その頃から主人は一切朝鮮語を使わなくなりましたので、私もよいことだと思いました。今では朝鮮語で話しかけられるのが迷惑と思うくらいになりました。主人などはいつも子供を指さして、この子等は一生鮮語を識らずに済むだろうと喜んでいます。だが困るのは主人の母が来たときで、子供らは懐かしいおばあちゃんとは言葉が通じないので、そこで私が通訳です。今おばあちゃんは何て云ったの…と子供らに聞かれて通訳する恰好はちょっと滑稽ですが、それでも祖母は郷里の開城に住んでいますので時々京城へ出て来るのですから、子供らに影響はありません」

そこで「朝鮮語から国語専用への動機は…」と問うと、夫人は明快に「国語には鮮語では表現の出来ない優しさがあります。殊に婦人用語は独得のもので、あの柔らかい女らしさは鮮語にはありません。だからこそ国語は優秀国民の使用すべき言葉であると信ずるのです。次女の瑩（八つ）も三男の繁榮（五つ）もあの通り御近所の子供と遊んでいますが、どっちが私の子供ですかお判りになりますか」

成程！これは国語常用よりも愛用よりもまた専用よりも全くの内地人化した姿だ。”内鮮一体は先ず国語より”はこの家庭には全く不必要な言葉である【写真＝西原さん一家】