Japan’s World War II Orphans Tell Their Inspiring Tales Of Resilience And Recovery

TrendingDecember 21, 2021

Pursuing Musical Dreams

Even with the tough road ahead, Motoki found the strength to keep facing each passing day. Only that it took decades before she could fully have control over her life to chase after her dreams. At the age of 60, she enrolled in a higher learning institute to pursue her passion for music. Mitsuyo Hoshino shared a relatively similar experience to Motoki’s.

Hoshino vividly recalled the imperial celebrations staged by the Japanese government in November 1940. In the wake of the war, devoting their lives to the emperor and the ruling government was a virtue instilled upon the school-going children.

Trading Terrible Circumstances For A Worse Situation

Her little brother was there, too, as the bombs turned their neighborhood into rubble. The siblings eventually fled, and it was the last time they ever saw their parents again. That is also when their unjust journey started. Theirs was an experience like every other WWII orphan who faced the harsh cruelty of fending for themselves while living on the streets.

No one had, at the very least, any kind words to offer them. A majority were eventually rounded up by police and thrown in jail. When they left jail, it came at a higher price to their freedom because it simply meant trading terrible circumstances for a worse situation.

Tragic Sights For Children To Witness

Motoki and her brother weaved their way through heaps of charred bodies slumped by the roadside. The tragic sights all around that children should never have to witness filled her with regret. As they made their way through the smoldering fields to the unknown, she was overcome by feelings of condemnation.

Motoki blamed herself for not waiting for their parents and their deaths. The siblings ended up at their uncle’s home, and it started their arduous ordeal of being war orphans. They survived what is now considered one of history’s deadliest air raids that had claimed the lives of an estimated 105K people in a single night.

Eclipsed By Two Nuclear Bomb Attacks

The same year in August, the Nagasaki and Hiroshima nuclear attacks happened, and they soon eclipsed the effects of that fateful March 1945 day. In Japan’s postwar bid to rebuild, no one was addressing the impacts of the Second World War or even extending recovery efforts to the community as a whole.

The WWII orphans had long been forgotten because most ended up in orphanages or, even worse, sold for labor. Motoki found herself in an almost similar predicament where she worked as a maid for her uncle’s household of 12. In return, they paid for her schooling, but she never had anything close to typical home life.

A Documented History Of Abuse

A government survey conducted in 1948 revealed that there were 123.5K orphans all around the nation. Japan’s orphanages could only accommodate 12K orphans at the time, which meant that thousands were left homeless. A significant number escaped abusive situations in orphanages or while living with relatives. The only problem was that they ended up on the streets.

Most made the train stations their home because they could perform odd jobs there as well. They would collect cigarette stubs, polish shoes, and for some, pickpocketing helped them get by. The police would round up street kids on numerous occasions and send them to orphanages. Some were brokered to farms that were desperate for workers.

Struggling To Rebuild

Motoki’s cousins were verbally and physically abusive to her and her little brother. Even while faced with adversity, she understood that her relatives were just struggling to rebuild like everyone else. The government didn’t offer any support, and she found comfort in the assistance offered by her relatives despite it all.

She told The Associated Press that telling her story was a painful process, but she decided to keep speaking out against what war orphans lived through. She explained that as children, they didn’t have a voice to speak up and let alone against the government. Decades later, intense shame prevented many from talking about their past experiences.

Pursuing Musical Dreams

The Last Celebration

Taught to treat their wartime rulers essentially like gods is the reason why the nation staged a massive imperial celebration with all the pomp and color. Hoshino walked out of the noodle shop her folks owned in Tokyo’s Asakusa neighborhood to witness the spectacle. There were throngs of people waving Rising Sun Flags.

The highlight was a decorated tram that clanged by the streets decked out with banners glorifying the emperor. Other banners communicated the occasion’s theme, and it was all about celebrating the nation’s expansion and prosperity under the emperor’s stewardship. One year after the event, Japan breached Pearl Harbour.

Last Happy Moments

Even though the structure is long-vanished, Hoshino recounted vivid memories of playing outside the noodle shop with her little sister. She also talked about an excursion their family took to a department store. She holds onto the precious memories because they are the last happy moments from her childhood.

Hoshino was just 13 when she and her class escaped and took shelter at an evacuated Chilba temple located just out of Tokyo. The United States had just started launching firebombing attacks against Tokyo in 1944. She would later find out from her uncle that her folks and two siblings didn’t survive the March 10, 1945 event.

The Stigma That Follows

Hoshino and her two surviving siblings would then live with a succession of relatives. On one occasion, she fled an aunt’s house with her siblings, fearing that they were about to be sold off as workers. They found shelter at their grandmother’s home and later stayed with an uncle’s family, where she helped out as a farmhand.

With her childhood years left behind, Hoshino returned to Tokyo and struggled to get work. It was largely due to the discrimination she encountered everywhere, even from her in-laws. They found a way to always bring up the topic about her “dubious background,” including on one of the biggest days of her life—her wedding ceremony.

Drawing On Her Experiences To Enlighten Others

Hoshino had a tough time shaking off the negative connotations associated with being a Second World War orphan. It was a universal struggle for just about every WWII orphan because whispers always followed about what they had to do on the streets to survive. Some had no choice but to turn to petty crime.

Later, Hoshino carved out her niche through educational drawings. She shared tales about her past ordeals through drawings collated into publications for children. Soon, Hoshino had worked on 11 orphan-based stories in this format. The moving stories included one where a wartime orphan was asked what she would do if she had magical powers. The girl simply said that she would want to be with her mother.

Highlighting A System That Failed

Rikkyo University historian Haruo Asai, who is also a war orphan expert, says that the stories highlight a system that failed. Japan didn’t respect human rights during and post-war, and U.S. forces equally turned a blind eye to the situation during their seven-year stay.

Over 2,500 children related to the Imperial Army soldiers, farmers, and Manchurian railway staff ended up orphaned or displaced by the war. They were part of the estimated 400K Japanese families that had emigrated to the northern part of China when Japan had established a wartime state in the region.