If you loved
Pachinko
Min Jin Lee · Book · 2017
What hooked you in Pachinko is the way the sweep of history becomes an intimate, generational portrait of human resilience.
Start with the source
Adaptation
Pachinko
Soo Hugh · Series · 2022
Films on the same thread
The Handmaiden
Film · 2016
Like Pachinko, this film explores the tension of living under Japanese occupation, grounding its atmospheric period drama in the complex power dynamics and personal secrets of its characters.
Suzume
Makoto Shinkai · Film · 2022
While Pachinko traces history through lineage, this journey examines the weight of the past and the necessity of confronting cultural trauma to protect the future of a nation.
Minari
Lee Isaac Chung · Film · 2021
This story mirrors the immigrant experience depicted in Pachinko, focusing on the quiet, steady strength required for a family to survive and establish a home in a foreign land.
Shoplifters
Hirokazu Kore-eda · Film · 2018
Much like the characters in Pachinko, this family exists on the fringes of society, relying on a deeply formed, chosen kinship to endure the hardships of their precarious reality.
Series on the same thread
Anne with an E
Moira Walley-Beckett · Series · 2017
You will recognize the spirit of Sunja in this protagonist, as both narratives follow an outsider fighting for dignity and belonging against the weight of restrictive social structures.
When Life Gives You Tangerines
Lim Sang-choon · Series · 2025
This drama captures the same lifelong endurance found in Pachinko, illustrating how personal love and resilience can persist through decades of societal and historical change in Korea.
The Apothecary Diaries
Series · 2023
If the historical backdrop of Pachinko drew you in, this offers a similar sense of navigating complex societal hierarchies, though through the lens of sharp, calculated palace intrigue.
Shōgun
Rachel Kondo · Series · 2024
This series echoes the historical gravity of Pachinko, focusing on the intersection of personal survival and political upheaval during a pivotal era of Japanese history and cultural clash.
Podcasts on the same thread
1619
The New York Times · Podcast · 2019
This investigation provides the essential historical context that informs the immigrant experience central to Pachinko, offering a broader look at how systemic forces shape individual human legacies.
Criminal
Vox Media Podcast Network · Podcast · 2026
Just as Pachinko explores the moral ambiguity of survival, this podcast examines the complex lives of people caught in the middle of systems that frequently fail to protect them.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is Pachinko based on a book?
Yes, the 2022 television series Pachinko is based on the 2017 novel of the same name written by Min Jin Lee. The book chronicles the experiences of a Korean immigrant family living in Japan across four generations and eight decades, beginning in 1911.
How long is the timeline covered in Pachinko?
The story of Pachinko spans eight decades of history. It begins in 1911 in Yeongdo, Korea, and follows the lives of a Korean family of immigrants and their descendants through four generations as they navigate life in Japan.
Should I read the book Pachinko before watching the show?
You can enjoy either version of Pachinko independently. The 2017 novel provides the original narrative of Sunja and her family, while the 2022 television adaptation depicts the same multi-generational saga. Both formats cover the same core history of the family across eight decades.
What is the main plot of Pachinko?
Pachinko follows a Korean family of immigrants across four generations. After a young woman named Sunja becomes pregnant by a married yakuza, she faces social ruin. Her situation changes when a Christian minister offers her a chance at salvation, setting the family on a new path.