Talk:Japanese orphans in China

Edit by User:Rajmaan

I don't know whether it is intentional or not, Rajmaan's edit was mixed with sourced contents and unsourced original research. Please provide a source supporting the following claim:

Because they had children fathered by Chinese men, the Japanese women were not allowed to bring their Chinese families back with them to Japan so most of them stayed. Japanese law only allowed children fathered by Japanese fathers to become Japanese citizens. However Japan lifted the restrictions on the women and citizenship for children born to foreign men recently and they have been migrating back to Japan with their Chinese husbands and children.

―― Phoenix7777 (talk) 02:16, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

There are dozens of sources from where I drew the information from, except I can't format over 20 references at a time.Rajmaan (talk) 03:14, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Unless you provide a source, I will revert your edit.―― Phoenix7777 (talk) 03:29, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Under Japan’s patrilineal citizenship laws at the time, Tami’s children, should they have been able to accompany her, would not have been entitled to Japanese citizenship because their father was Chinese.

While in the 1950s there were some attempts to repatriate these people, many children were ignorant of their Japanese heritage. Most of the women had children with their new Chinese husbands and could not abandon their offspring and families, which was the price of repatriation. The Japanese state therefore concluded that these women “chose” to remain in China and it was not until later decades that their real plight and suffering was recognized. The example of Shizuko illustrates this dilemma (page 28). She visited Japan in 1967 and wanted to stay to look after her sick mother, but this would have meant abandoning her four daughters in China at a time of great chaos, so she was compelled to return to China. At the time the Japanese state viewed such cases as “merely a woman who had married a foreigner and thus given up her Japanese nationality (page 27).” Yuriko Sakamoto’s story (pages 82 -84) highlights a different set of issues. She was trapped in Manchuria, while her husband was captured by the Soviets and survived several years of harsh treatment in Siberia before being repatriated to Japan. He searched for Yuriko, but presumed she was dead and reluctantly remarried. Only later did he discover she was alive and had also remarried having five children. However, because they had married outside Japan proper, the Japanese state did not recognize their marriage as legitimate and she was classified has having “chosen” to give up her Japanese citizenship. Her former Japanese husband wanted to get back together with her, but this was not possible and he eventually committed suicide in despair. She was eventually able to come to Japan in 1977 with her Chinese family.

Circumstances at the end of the war forced many Japanes ewomen to remain in China by marrying Chinese men.......Although they rebuilt their lives with their Chinese husbands and children, they never gave up their desire of returning to Japan. Their life in China was always temporary in their minds. Although when the long awaited chance to return to Japan came through, they often had to give up the opportunity for the sake of their husbands and children.

and women became wives of Chines emen out of desperation to assure survival for themselves or their families

the government did not include in the category of zanryû koji the Japanese women who were older than 13 at the time of Japanese capitulation. Although many of these women eventually married Chinese men, the Japanese government deemed them to be old enough (at the time) to decide their own life courses. Consequently, until 1993, the government ignored them.

Rajmaan (talk) 03:58, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Thank you for providing the quotes. However there is no description supporting the claim "Because they had children fathered by Chinese men, the Japanese women were not allowed to bring their Chinese families back with them to Japan". And you attribute the reason to the citizenship of children. However it is not correct. The source you provided says:

"At the time the Japanese state viewed such cases as “merely a woman who had married a foreigner and thus given up her Japanese nationality"

"However, because they had married outside Japan proper, the Japanese state did not recognize their marriage as legitimate and she was classified has having “chosen” to give up her Japanese citizenship."

So the real reason is that the Japanese women who married Chinese husband were considered to be no longer Japanese citizens.

More specifically, according to another source, Beijing Agreement on March 1953 stated that the person who can repatriate to Japan are "Japanese women who married Chinese husbands", "Chinese women who married Japanese husbands", and "Children of these couples". There is no mention of "Chinese husband who married Japanese women". Japanese women who married Chinese husbands are considered to be no longer Japanese citizens, so they are not allowed to repatriate. Japanese women who married Chinese husbands could repatriate with their children if they divorce their husbands.

To sum up, the reason why Japanese women who married Chinese husbands were not allowed to repatriate is their nationality not their children's nationality.―― Phoenix7777 (talk) 06:52, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

However, she would have to leave her baby son in China. The Japanese government did not allow the Japanese women's children to accompany them, because their chil- dren were Chinese according to Japanese law. In contrast, Japanese men could bring their children to Japan, because their children were legally Japanese.Rajmaan (talk) 13:17, 25 May 2015 (UTC)