Aiko Nakamoto (b.1931 in Kikuchi city) sits in her wheelchair on a beach in Hamhung, in North Korea, looking at a photo of the ‘torii’ gate of the shrine in the Japanese town of Kikuchi, her hometown she has not been able to visit for more than half a century. As a child Aiko often played with her friends there. As soon as Aiko saw the photograph, shot and brought to North Korea by Noriko Hayashi as a part of her “Sawasawato” project, she started talking about her memory of the shrine and pretended as she was playing under its gate.

About 93,000 ethnic Koreans in Japan moved to North Korea during a repatriation program organized by the Red Cross between 1959 and 1984. Among them, there were about 1,800 Japanese women who accompanied their Korean husbands. Most of them have never been able to return to Japan.

Photo by Noriko Hayashi, Hamhung (North Korea)

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Aiko Nakamoto (rođena 1931. u gradu Kikuchi) sjedi u invalidskim kolicima na plaži u sjevrenokorejskom gradu Hamhungu i gleda fotografiju “torii” kapije svetilišta u Kikuchiju, svom rodnom gradu u Japanu kojeg nije posjetila više od pola stoljeća. Aiko se često, kao dijete, igrala s prijateljima upravo na ovom mjestu. Čim je vidjela fotografiju, snimljenu i donesenu u Sjevernu Koreju kao dio projekta “Sawasawato” autorice Noriko Hayashi, počela je pričati o svojim sjećanjima i pretvarati se kao da se igra ispod same kapije.

Oko 93.000 etničkih Korejaca koji su živjeli u Japanu se preselilo u Sjevernu Koreju tokom programa repatrijacije koji je organizovao Crveni krst između 1959. i 1984. Među njima je bilo oko 1.800 japanskih žena koje su pratile svoje korejske supružnike. Većina njih se nikada nije vratila u Japan.

Foto: Noriko Hayashi, Hamhung (Sjeverna Koreja)