Akiko: "Othering" and Martyrship

Perpetual Foreigner

Throughout his life, Noa is seen as "other." As a child, he was the kid without friends. At college, he was weirdly aloof. Outside of his family, he had no relationships, and even there he was the odd one out as the child of Hansu. Akiko was the first person to create a relationship with him, and to Noa was the first person to see him as a person and not just the weird kid. However, in this moment he realizes that this was never the case. His realization, combined with finding out that Isak was not his father, forces him to confront the idea that he's always been an outsider. This relates to how Koreans as a whole were treated in Japan. Despite being born in Japan and being almost indiscernable from a Japanese man, his ancestry immediately alienates him from the rest of the population, branding him as "other."

Martyrship

This also contributes to the idea of martyrship. Noa realizes that Akiko was dating him in order to show how good she is: nobody wanted anything to do with the weird Korean, but she was willing to be with him because she can look past his race. This martyrship convinces her that she is good, despite how she fetishizes and treats him as a Korean. This also relates to Japanese imperialism in that Japan (and its citizens, as we are shown) is convinced that it is on the right side. For example, Yoseb's former boss. Despite paying Yoseb less than a Japanese worker and the strict conditions in which Yoseb was forced to work, the boss was convinced that he was doing a good thing, because he was willing to stoop down and hire Koreans. Despite treating Koreans as lesser people, Japan was sure that it was being generous by even acknowledging them at all.