The "Japanese war orphans " who remain in China―In comparison with those who returned to Japan ―

The term "Japanese War Orphans" refers to the Japanese children left behind in China as orphans by their parents who repatriated to Japan, and were later adopted and raised by Chinese foster parents. According to Chinese government figures, roughly 2,800 Japanese children were left behind in China after the war, 90% of which were in Inner Mongolia and northeast China.

The “Japanese War Orphans” lost the chance to re-contact their biological families because of the discontinuation of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. Even though the relationship between the two countries normalized in 1972, the search for Japanese orphans left behind in China was not official nor active until 1981. Starting in 1981, the Japanese and Chinese governments reached an agreement that they would work together to help the Japanese left in China to visit Japan and search for their biological families. As a result, many of these Japanese orphans, accompanied by their Chinese spouses and children, have returned and settled in Japan. As of August 2008, 2,529 orphans had settled in Japan.

Until now, there has been much research about Japanese war orphans who went back to Japan. However, as few people have recognized, there are some orphans who are still living in China because of various reasons. There is little research on these orphans and most of their actual life conditions are unknown.

In this paper, I shed light on these orphans who remain in China and compared them with those who have returned back to Japan. The framework of the “Life-Story” methodology is employed in the present investigation and the interviews were held both in Japanese and Chinese. This paper analyzes their narratives, focusing on the linguistic forms including deixis, and scrutinizes how the Chinese interviewer and the Japanese orphan interviewees interacted and negotiated their identities.