Utoro, Uji

Utoro (Japanese: ウトロ地区, Hepburn: Utoro Chiku; Korean: 우토로) is a district in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The district has historically been populated by Zainichi Koreans (Koreans who arrived during the Japanese colonial period and their descendants) ever since they were compelled to work in difficult conditions in the area in 1943.

When Korea was liberated at the end of World War II in 1945, many Koreans across Japan could not afford the trip back to Korea or were apprehensive of returning to the significant instability and poverty on the newly divided peninsula. Around 1,300 people stayed illegally in the district as squatters. Despite poor conditions, Koreans from across Japan moved into the village, as it was somewhere where they could support each other.

In the 1960s, the company Nissan Shatai owned the land. It tried numerous tactics to have the villagers leave, but these efforts were rebuffed. In 1987, Nissan Shatai transferred ownership of the land to the private company Western Japan Development (西日本殖産). The company sued to evict the villagers in the late 1980s. The villagers eventually lost the case after a decade-long legal battle, although they continued to resist eviction efforts. With assistance from Japanese, international, and South Korean advocates, in 2010 and 2011 they purchased land in the district, which made them legal occupants for the first time.

Living conditions improved significantly over the following decade. Two new apartment blocks have since been constructed for the villagers. In 2022, the Utoro Peace Memorial Museum (ウトロ平和祈念館; 우토로평화기념관), a museum covering the history of the village, was constructed in the district. Doubt has been expressed that the district will continue to be a Korean enclave, as the population of Koreans living there has aged and the Uji government owns the housing on the lot. By 2021, the Korean population in the area was 90.