Noriko Hayashi
North Korea, 2017
Dimensions: 128 mm x 182 mm
In 2013 I began a project about a largely unreported history – the stories of approximately 1,800 Japanese women who married Korean men in Japan and moved with their husbands to North Korea under a repatriation program that took place between 1959 and 1984. These women became separated from their families, and have since been unable to return to Japan.
The words on this notebook were written in 2017 during one of many visits to North Korea, while aboard the 23-hour overnight train that connects Beijing and Pyongyang. It records conversations I had with North Korean passengers who happened to share the same train car, and the meals we ate. It also contains words spoken by an elderly Japanese woman named Mitsuko Minakawa, whom I met in Wonsan. She spoke about her fond memories of Japan, such as the scent of acacia flowers and her recollection of songs, in a way that left a deep impression on me, and I later transcribed those words.
