Nobody wants to live a life of adversity, but it does have a way of bringing people together. ¡°Trophy,¡± Son Myong A¡¯s drama about the modern experience of Japan¡¯s ethnic Korean residents (referred to as Zainichi in Japanese), captures a minority group that no longer faces the overt discrimination suffered by earlier generations. And that¡¯s kind of the problem.
Sanju (Arata Iura), the principal of a North Korea-affiliated elementary school in Tokyo, only has to look at the meager student intake to realize that community ties aren¡¯t what they used to be. The school can¡¯t even raise enough money to get its toilets fixed. At home, money is so tight that he¡¯s had to give up smoking and drinking ¡ª and now the washing machine is on the fritz.
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