Japan and China Grandfather of residual orphans, grandson leaving for Shanghai October 6, 12:03

A man who became an orphan left behind in China when he was 7 years old returned to Japan 42 years after going through many hardships, including the turmoil around the end of the war and the Cultural Revolution.

He built his life in Kumamoto, had children, got married, and had grandchildren.

One of his grandchildren will be involved in economic exchange work in Shanghai, China this summer.

In September, it will be 50 years since the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China, which prompted the man to return to Japan.

Over three generations, from China to Japan, and from Japan to China again.

What the man entrusted to his grandson, who is leaving for China, and what his grandson thinks.

(Kumamoto Broadcasting Station Reporter Takeo Baba)

A piece of paper presented by a man who was an orphan

A weekly gathering for orphans left behind in China and their spouses in Kumamoto City.

A handicrafts class was held at the exchange meeting in September, and five participants were happily talking in Chinese.

One of them, Mr. Hirou Shoyama, 84 years old.

He had a smile on his face and he was catching up with other people.

When Mr. Shoyama began to write on paper with a serious look on his face, he showed the paper to me, who was interviewing me.

"'Guo Fengxiang.' Kaku Houshou. This name was given by my adoptive father."

"Guo Fengxiang".

Mr. Shozan, a leftover orphan, survived his days in China under this name.

Thoughts on deceased family members and adoptive parents in China

"China orphans left behind" refers to Japanese children who were left behind in China after being separated from their parents in the chaos around the end of the war.

With the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1972, many orphans left Japan to return to Japan.

In Kumamoto Prefecture, 34 people from 26 households, including leftover orphans, live.

One of them is Mr. Shoyama.

Ms. Shozan was born in Kumamoto, and moved with her parents to former Manchuria, now Heilongjiang Province in northeastern China, when she was three years old.

In 1945, when he was 7 years old, the Soviet army invaded just before the end of the war.

His father worked as a teacher but was conscripted and interned in Siberia.

Mr. Shoyama was taken to a refugee camp after fleeing with his mother and his younger brother and sister.

His mother and two brothers died overnight during the freezing cold weather.

Mr. Shoyama said that he could not stop crying at that time.

His body was buried in a hole dug outside the camp by his neighbors.

Ms. Shoyama:

I woke up, but my mother and brother were still sleeping. Oh, he's passed away.' My father, mother, and brother.These three were unable to return to Japan."

After that, Mr. Shoyama and his younger sister were raised by different adoptive parents in China.

Zhuangshan became "Guo Fengxiang" and lived with her adoptive parents, who were her farmers.

He graduated from an agricultural mechanical school and became a teacher of agricultural economics.

Mr. Shoyama still holds in his heart the gratitude to his adoptive parents.

“If my adoptive parents hadn’t taken care of me, I would have died soon.

In the raging storm of the Cultural Revolution

But hard times come.

Cultural Revolution.

It plunged China into chaos and caused many casualties.

Mr. Shoyama, who was a Japanese child, was also targeted for hanging.

She recreated what she looked like at that time, bending forward.

"'Counterrevolutionary' was written on it, a large hat was put on it, and it was made to bend forward at 90 degrees. It was an hour at a criticism convention. It was very hard. During the day, I was forced to clean the toilet, and at night, I was made to write a letter of reflection, and I was slapped on the cheek."

In the midst of the Cultural Revolution was the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China.

His adoptive parents in China once told him that he could return to Japan.

However, her adoptive parents had no other children, so she chose to stay in China, saying, "I will not go back to Japan. I will always protect my adoptive parents."

Returning to Japan at the age of 49 Overcoming the hardships ahead

In 1979 and 1980, his adoptive parents passed away one after another.

Seeing his final moments, Mr. Shoyama thought that he had done a good job of filial piety.

In 1985, after learning in a newspaper that a survey was being conducted to find the relatives of orphans left behind in Japan, he took part in it.

The situation at that time was left in the archive footage of NHK.

The fact that he remembered that his name was "Ko-chan" and the scar on his right leg were the decisive factors in finding his relatives.

From ``Kuo Fengxiang'', he will start his life again as ``Shozan Kou''.

It was then that he learned for the first time that his father, whom he believed to be alive, had died on the way home from Siberian internment.

At the age of 49, he returned to Japan with his wife, eldest son, wife, twin daughters, and second son, and started living in his hometown of Kumamoto.

It was a life in my home country that I expected, but what awaited me was a wall of language and customs.

After he returned to Japan, he started studying Japanese, but at the age of 49, learning the language was very difficult.

In Fukuoka and Kumamoto, he worked at a factory, in a dormitory for international students, and as an apartment manager.

Unable to adjust to life in Japan, he returned to China for over a year.

After overcoming hardships in Japan, the children who returned to Japan with them got married, and they had five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

I live a quiet life now.

Her younger sister, who was also an orphan and was raised by different adoptive parents, returned to Japan in 1999 and now lives in Nagoya.

Entrusted to my grandson who is leaving for Shanghai

It has been 50 years since the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China, which was the catalyst for his return to Japan.

There was good news in that milestone year.

From August this year, his grandson Shoichi Shoyama (30 years old) will be stationed in Shanghai for work.

Shoichi is an employee of Kumamoto City, working on economic and tourism exchanges at the "Shanghai Office" run by the prefecture and Kumamoto City.

Prior to his departure for Shanghai, Shoichi visited Shoyama's home.

Mr. Shoyama spoke.

"War is the worst. If it weren't for the war between Japan and China, I wouldn't have become

a leftover orphan

."

I want you to become friends with me. Shoichi is young, so you have to work hard."

And he talked about himself when he was 30 years old.

During the time when he was caught up in the storm of the Cultural Revolution, he was subjected to harsh words and violence.

For Shoichi, it was the first time he had heard about it.

Shoichi himself had grandparents and parents who were raised in China, and there was a time when he was puzzled by the differences in the home environment around him.

But as he grew up, his way of thinking changed.

Mr. Shoichi

“When I was a child, I felt uncomfortable with being different from everyone else, and there were times when I didn’t like it. I've come to think that I want to get a job that has something to do with, so now it's finally a dream come true."

Hearing Mr. Shoyama's story renewed his thoughts about his work.

“I am who I am now because of my grandfather’s painful and difficult experiences. I will do my best to make the most of my strengths.”

Two people hugging each other after taking a selfie with a smartphone.

He promised, "When the coronavirus calms down, let's visit the place where I grew up."

And Mr. Shoyama handed a book to Mr. Shoichi.

A self-published book (not for sale) that describes his life.

The title is "Ippitsu Nihon Ikoteki Shinsho (The Voice of a Japanese Orphan's Heart)"

written in Chinese and Japanese.

“My adoptive parents in China gave me a second life when I was an orphan. It

breaks my heart.Japan

is my motherland and my father.China is my second hometown and my mother.I love my mother as much as I love my father.

I sincerely hope that the pain caused by the war will never be forgotten for the rest of my life, that there will be no more wars in the world, that peace will be preserved, and that Japan and China will continue to live in harmony for generations to come.”

Interview postscript

Relations between the two countries are becoming increasingly severe over issues such as the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, the situation in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and human rights issues in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

In a joint Japan-China public opinion poll conducted last year by the Genron NPO, a Japanese private organization, 90.9% of the Japanese answered that their impression of China was "unfavorable" or "relatively unfavorable." It stays high.

On the other hand, China is Japan's largest trading partner and has strong economic ties.

Japan cannot move and will continue to be China's "neighbour" geographically.

For Mr. Shoyama, whose life was tossed about by the war between Japan and China, the phrase "Japan-China friendship" was more than just a slogan.

I myself lived in China for a while and felt that China is diverse and that people and countries are not necessarily equal.

I personally met a lot of interesting people.

Opportunities for interaction have decreased due to the new coronavirus, but I hope that the infection will calm down and people-to-people exchanges will become active again, leading to the stability of bilateral relations.

I felt that the words "Japan-China friendship" written in Mr. Shoyama's autobiography are words to send to Mr. Shoichi, who is leaving for China, and are also a message to the next generation.

Kumamoto Broadcasting Station Reporter

Takeo Baba　 Joined the station in

2007 After working at the Akita, Nagoya, International Department, and Guangzhou branch offices in China, he will be assigned to the Kumamoto station

as a military reporter

in 2020. Restoration and reconstruction from heavy rains in 2020, and expansion into TSMC, a major semiconductor company in Taiwan.

During the interview,

my favorite food is Chinese food.