In search of the father: experiences, identity and belonging of Sino-Japanese children born of the Second Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945) who ‘returned to the homeland’

This study examines the little-known experiences of children born of Japanese fathers and Chinese mothers who had consensual relationships during and after the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) in China, with a specific focus on those who migrated to Japan after the re-establishment of Sino-Japanese relations in 1972. These individuals, most of whom had been separated from their repatriated fathers after the war, had strikingly similar narratives about their father’s country as their ‘homeland’ and their migration to Japan as their ‘return’. Primarily based on oral history interviews conducted with eight individuals in Japan and China as well as on personal documents obtained from a Japanese law firm, this study analyses their experiences in comparison with other ‘children born of war’ – defined as offspring of local women and members of an enemy, occupation or peacekeeping force or child soldiers – in other historical and geopolitical contexts. The comparative analysis highlights their adversities due to their origin as well as the significance of the (often absent) father. By elucidating the particularities of the circumstances under which they were born and what they experienced in the specific post-war geo-political, socio-political and cultural context of China and Japan, this study probes how they came to construct positive notions of the father and Japan and the significance of the father in the formation process of their identity, belonging and life choices. These long-neglected stories of Sino-Japanese consensual relationships and familial love that transcended the national boundaries defy the rigid historical narratives that made wartime and post-war Sino-Japanese human interactions appear so bleak and narrow