Japanesesness, Multiple Exile and the Japanese Citizens abandoned in China

Abstract

This paper considers the case of the zanryu koji and zanryu fujin- Japanese women and children abandoned in China through war-and their lives in both China and Japan as conditions of exile. It examines how their separation from the Japanese mainland meant that they were unable to develop the markers of Japaneseness, and the consequences of this for their return to Japan, where they continue to live in a second form of exile.