A year ago, Songha Cho changed his professional name to plain and simple Songha — explaining that there is no appropriate kanji for Cho, though there is for Songha. That problem, the third-generation Korean-Japanese said, is just one of many complications faced in daily life here by people with Korean ancestry — a situation that leaves many, like him, confused about their identity.

"My father was a newspaper journalist and he loved brass-band music, and my mother was a top-class dancer with the Kumgangsan Opera Troupe, but after I was born they both gave up their artistic dreams to open a restaurant in central Tokyo's Ueno district. They wanted to be sure of giving me, their only child, a good start in life.

"Luckily, my parents taught me a lot about the history between Korea and Japan, and we'd often discuss it. And even though they had both traded creativity for security, they never insisted on me taking over the restaurant. In fact they encouraged me to be an actor."