Introduction: Revisiting China After 54 Years

Abstract

In September, 1997, I visited China at the invitation of Nankai University in Tianjin. I had visited China on several occasions while I was at middle and high school, and at university, but my last visit had been in April 1943. These visits had been because my father was working on the staff of Chinese Airlines in Beijing, and my mother and elder sister had accompanied him to live in Beijing. Chinese Airlines was a Joint Sino-Japanese concern, but was in effect a national policy company under the control of the Japanese government. After December 1941, Japan had not only invaded China, but was, of course, also at war with Britain and the United States. My mother insisted on their returning to Japan, and my father agreed to this. He in fact returned to Japan a little in advance of the others, as my mother was ill, and stayed in Beijing with my sister. I was in my first year at university at the time. During the spring vacation I went to Beijing, and returned to Japan, bringing with me my sister, and my mother, who had now recovered. For 54 years from that time I made no visit to China. A feeling of guilt that our residence in Beijing was closely associated with Japan’s aggression in China was a factor in keeping me from revisiting the country.