In August 1945, as Japan declared defeat, Russian troops entered North East China in an effort to liberate Manchuria after fifteen years of Japanese occupation. Japanese civilians who had been sent out to conlonize the vast lands of Manchuria had to flee to the ports to catch the last ships back to Japan. As the bombs dropped and the tanks rolled in many Japanese parents, in a desperate attempt to save their children, left their youngest with Chinese families in the hope that they would be able to return to claim them. Other children were left behind in the chaos of war. In spite of the brutal treatment meted out to the Chinese by their Japanese occupiers these war orphans were taken in by Chinese families and cared for as their own. For the Japanese settlers who returned to Japan all hopes of returning to find their lost children ended when China closed its doors under the new communist regime.~The Japanese government started a relocation programme in 1981, after relations between China and Japan had been re-established. They sponsored groups of "orphans" to visit Tokyo to search for their relatives. The "orphans" appeared on national television telling what little they knew of their past, driven to unravel the truth of what happened to them nearly 50 years ago. Since 1981, 1,700 have been reunited with their families and returned to live in Japan. We filmed the last two trips in 1991 and 1993.~ORPHANS OF MANCHURIA follows the stories of four "orphans" three of whom now live in Japan and one still in China who is planning to move to Japan. They talk about their early memories of separation, of having to hide or deny their Japanese identity, which could bring danger, even death, to them and their Chinese families, particularly during the Cultural Revolution.~We hear how some of them were recognized and claimed by their parents, how they have tried to come to terms with their past, the shock of moving from a Manchurian village to a tiny apartment on the outskirts of Tokyo, their intense desire to build a new Japanese identity in spite of the enormous problems of culture and language. But most "orphans", unable to find employment and living on government subsidies, find integration into Japanese life extremely difficult.~Eight year old Masao Nakajima was separated from his mother and sister at a railway station as they fled from the Russians. After wandering alone for miles across China, he was finally taken in by a Chinese family who adopted him. Masao's true identity had to be kept completely hidden as he pursued a promising career as an army officer. When he fell in love with a woman whose father was accused of working with the Japanese, he was forced to give her up and to stay in the army. Masao has not found any relatives and, although his own family does not wish to leave China, he now lives alone in Japan determined to build a new life for himself.~Kiseko Minamishima was five years old when she was separated from her family during a bombing raid and put in a Russian refugee camp. Eventually she was found a home with a Chinese family where she was lovingly cared for. On one of the relocation trips to Tokyo, Kiseko was recognized by her natural mother. She decided to return to live in Japan together with her Chinese foster mother, to whom she is devoted. Kiseko, a trained teacher, is only able to work as an office cleaner in Japan because of the language problem. She was not made welcome by her Japanese mother's family and when her natural mother recently died, Kiseko was deeply hurt that the family did not inform her of her mother's illness.~Two and a half year old Michiko Yamawaki was stolen while playing alone outside her home and eventually sold to a Chinese couple who adopted her. Her distraught parents were unable to find her as they had to flee Manchuria and return to Japan. By chance, Michiko kept a tiny red dress as the only momento of her childhood and brought this with her to Tokyo in 1991 on the trip to search for her relatives. Her Japanese mother saw the dress on television and was overjoyed to find her long-lost daughter. Michiko has now moved to Japan to be near her mother. Her son, married daughter and grand-daughter recently joined her.~Yang Yueqin never knew what happened to her parents as she was left behind when she was only two and a half. She and her Chinese family suffered badly during the Cultural Revolution when her father was denounced for rearing a Japanese daughter. She came to Tokyo on a recent trip to search for her relatives, but was unsuccessful. In spite of that, she is now preparing to leave China to start a new life in Japan where she feels she will be happier among her own people. <51mn>
