Tsuruko Suzuki (b.1929 in Yonezawa city) looks at the photo of her hometown of Yonezawa city in Japan. She quietly approached the print, shot and brought to North Korea by Noriko Hayashi as a part of her “Sawasawato” project, and kept looking at it without saying anything. Tsuruko has never been able to visit Japan since she moved to North Korea in 1960 with her Korean husband.
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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Tsuruko Suzuki (rođena 1929. godine u gradu Yonezawa) gleda fotografiju svog rodnog grada Yonezawa u Japanu. Tiho se približila slici, snimljenu i donesenu u Sjevernu Koreju kao dio projekta “Sawasawato” autorice Noriko Hayashi, dugo i netremice je promatrala, ne izgovarajući ništa. Tsuruko nije imala priliku posjetiti Japan od kada se preselila u Sjevernu Koreju 1960. godine sa svojim korejskim suprugom.

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)