32 32 13 February 2021 | The Guardian Weekend13 February 2021 | The Guardian WeekendBut even when alone, none appeared eager to
discuss politics, or the three generations of the
Kim dynasty, who have ruled North Korea for
more than 70 years. “My intention wasn’t to
criticise Kim Jong-un’s regime,” Hayashi says.
“I just wanted to get a sense of the women as
people, their emotions and the environment in
which they found themselves.”
Hayashi resolved to rekindle the women’s
fading memories through her photography,
visiting each of their home towns to record
special places they had mentioned, which she
then reproduced on huge pieces of tarpaulin
fabric. They had appeared moved, but perfectly
still, when Hayashi showed them the original
photographs. “ But when I showed them the large
prints, their reaction was the exact opposite.
They were actively engaged in the photos.They touched them and walked around them.”
Minakawa sprayed cherry blossom-scented
perfume – a gift from Hayashi – on a print of
blooming sakura trees that the photographer had
shot in her home town of Sapporo.
“When they left Japan, they were convinced
they would be able to visit freely after a
few years, ” Hayashi says. “But that didn’t
happen. Most of their parents opposed their
decision to leave , but the women told them not
to worry, that they would see them again. In the
end, they were not even able to see their parents
before they died. They cry every time they talk
about this.”
Aiko Nakamoto moved to North Korea
with her husband in 1960, after marrying two
years earlier. Her home town is in Kumamoto
prefecture, south-west Japan. ‘‘I often went to
the shrine with my friends and played there when
I was little. I was 26 when I met my husband.
At fi rst, I didn’t realise he was Korean as his
Japanese was perfect. He was a really warm
person, and I fell in love .”
Nakamoto , whose Korean name is Kim Ae-sun,
has not returned to Japan since she left 60 years
ago, and is unlikely to. ‘‘Even one or two hours
would have been enough,” she says. “I just want
to visit my home town and the grave of my father
and mother. ‘’
Other women told Hayashi of their longing
for the families they had left behind. Fujiko
Iwase died in North Korea in 2018 ; in an interview
with Hayashi before her death she spoke about
her last meeting with her mother and sister, who
visited her in Tokyo before she left Japan. “We
believed we would meet again in a few years.
Since coming to Korea, I have never worked
outside, but I like knitting at home,” she told
Hayashi when they met at a cafe in Hamhung.
“My husband studied at university and became
a doctor. When you get older, you start thinking
about the old days in your home town. ‘’
Takiko Ide was one of the few women who took
part in the homecoming programme , in 2000.
“I met my husband when I was around 15,” she
says, “when we were both working as bus drivers.
My mother was against my marriage, because my
husband was Korean. We moved to North Korea in
1961 without telling her. I was her only daughter,
so she must have felt very sad and disappointed.”
She returned to Japan for the fi rst time in 39 years
to discover that her mother had died two years
earlier, aged 99. “ When I was fi nally able to visit
her grave, I apologised to her.”
Of all the women she interviewed, Hayashi
says she found herself most drawn to
Minakawa. “She was a very independent woman.
She chose to live with the man she fell in love
with and build the life she wanted at the age
of 21, even though that meant being separated
from her friends and family in Japan. She said
to me: ‘When I left Japan, I was focused on my
own happiness, but my mother was incredibly
concerned. It was only after I had children‘These women
have been
forgotten
in Japan.
Unless their
personal
histories are
documented,
their
experiences
will die
with them’Tsuruko Suzuki was born in Japan in 1929 and
left in 1960. ‘ Every time I feel sick, my Japanese
family naturally comes to my mind and I start
missing them so much,’ she says. Below: Suzuki
with fellow immigrant, Akiko Ota