Fred Armisen Discovers He Is Actually Korean | Finding Your Roots | Ancestry®

SNL alumni Fred Armisen is left startled after learning the story of his mysterious grandfather.

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[Brian-rtbb]

"[Fred Armisen] discovers he is actually Korean" sounds like the premise of a Portlandia sketch

[hyunchung]

Fred's grandfather didn't just "assume a Japanese identity." At that time, Korea was occupied by Japan and Koreans were forced to take Japanese names and Japanese nationalities. That is why some Koreans who immigrated to the US during the Japanese occupation of Korea ended up in internment camps during the Second World War because Americans assumed they were Japanese because of their nationalities. I wish they researched this a bit more.

[kendrasong]

My father in law was born in 1930 in South Korean and as a child was stripped of his Korean name and heritage and customs because of the Japanese occupation! He had a Japanese name. Was forced to learned the culture and Japanese language and become basically Japanese. So many books out there about this time in history which was quite horrible. there are a lot of people out there in same boat.

[elvinabarclay]

The history between Korea and Japan is intense and worth learning.

[Grandesecole]

Japanese forced Koreans to use "Japanese Names" during colonial rule. I am happy for Fred that he found his true roots.
I am a Korean, and loved Freds work for a very long time. Welcome Home !

[yourthoughtsarenotyours]

2:00 It's '1923 Great Kantō earthquake', In order to deflect blame from the government for the devastation caused by the terrible natural disaster, the Japanese government demonized Koreans with false rumors and had crowds and police massacre Koreans en masse so that the public's anger would be directed at the innocent Koreans, not the government. Wikipedia has also documented the event on a page called 'Kantō Massacre.'
In 2011, 88 years after that tragedy, another massive earthquake, '2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami' struck Tokyo, Japan. What happended this time? South Koreans voluntarily raised money and sent nearly $70 million in relief to Japan. And a popular Japanese newspaper wrote an article that cleverly excluded South Korea from the list of countries that had sent relief money, listing only other countries.

[danchen]

As an Asian, 21 seconds into this video when they showed a picture of his grandfather I could have told you he was Korean and saved everyone the time. Lol.

[davidk]

2:00 the famous Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa witnessed the devastation after the 1923 earthquake and the massacre of thousands of Koreans in its aftermath, and he never forgot the awful images. It resonated in his films which at times had vivid depictions of slaughter and heaps of corpses.

[Lightlinefisherman]

wow he literally is a product of history. tensions between korean and japan were perpetuated by japan colonizing korea in early 1900s. every korean family knows and talks about this because it eventually connects to the korean war and why we are seperated today.

[be.ttubee]

Fred Armisen must come to South Korea and can meet his Korean relatives because Koreans usually maintain their family registry very well and he can also put his name into his grand father's family registry. Not a joke!

[leighrogers]

I recommend the book ‘Pachinko’…for anyone who hasn’t read it. It gives you an insight into the times.

[TheOctaviusLee]

The Korean Delegation would like to pick, Fred Armisen

[thereisa]

I swear I used to say he looked mixed-Korean, and people told me he was part Japanese so I was like, "aah okay" - Some faces just look like family.

[Ares]

My grandmother was the same. She was Korean but lived in Japan. She was given a Japanese name as a child but of course her real name was Korean.

[실버블렛-gj]

Not only during the Japanese colonial period but during the three kingdoms period (when Korea was divided into three kingdoms: Shila, baekjae, and goguryeo) Shila united the three kingdoms and many baekjae people fled to Japan. Koreans taught Japanese how to farm. Even Japanese emperor admitted in 2001 that he has baekjae ancestry. Modern Japanese are a mix of ancestors who emigrated from Korea and China, jomon, and Ainu.

[kewltony]

Ethnic Korean Choo Sung-hoon was born in Japan, like his parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. Despite this, he was only given Japanese citizenship when it was required for the Olympics as he was the country's judo champion for his weight class and after changing his name to Yoshihiro Akiyama. You might know him as the MMA fighter Sexyama.

[jigglypuddin]

His grandfather was a zainichi Korean. You can tell from a mile away 😂. It feels so great to resonate with this and to be proud of my korean roots despite my somewhat Japanese upbringing. While it was very hard finding my cultural identity as a half Korean American with zainichi Korean family, once I had learned more about Korea and embraced that side of myself, I became so much more at ease 😊

[powers]

The founder of Kyokushin Karate, Mas Oyama also changed his name around the same time. Mas Oyama's original name was Choi Yeong-eui. He was also Korean.

[KoreaUnmasked-jyzl]

Fred, if you read a novel titled Pachinko, you'll learn a lot and gain deeper insights about things, especially if you are interested in knowing what happened.

[OrionTube]

Many famous celebrities and athletes in Japan are of Korean descent.. they had to suppress sharing any of that due to shame from the public there..