Lori Watt

Though rather short this monograph seems to do a fine job of putting the experience of the Japanese "Repatriates" into perspective from demographic, sociological and cultural angles. The irony in this experience is that while it can be argued that these people do not make the most sympathetic figures as a class, since they represented the sharp edge of the Japanese imperial project on the ground, the speed at which they became embarrassments to Japanese society is breathtaking. In the end the empire became a bad experience to be glossed over quickly, particularly since Japanese society saw fit to privilege the experience of being under siege from American air power as the key to understanding their experience of the war, leaving all the returnees in the category of an unwelcome reminder of a bad mistake. This is with the the possible exception of the agricultural colonists who were cajoled into moving to Manchuria, only to be abandoned by the Japanese colonial army and left to the tender mercies of the Soviet army and the assorted Chinese military forces.

As such, Watt uses the case of Tsukada Asae as something of an exemplar. One of Watt's interview subjects, this woman went to Manchuria to teach the school children of a farming community and survived by the skin of her teeth, driven by her desperate efforts to save her kids, though she mostly failed. She then went on to lead a life of remembrance and activism (in regards to the Japanese orphans left behind in China) before passing away at 90; always keeping a doll as a reminder of the child she almost got back home to Japan.

In the final analysis, Watt is not enthusiastic about the large-scale forced transfers of populations, though in this case, considering the trends of post-war society, this repatriation process was probably the best thing that could have happened to the Japanese expat population; this is compared and contrasted with what happened to the Germans of Eastern Europe after World War II and the French colonial population of Algeria after Paris washed their hands of that country.… (más)