Yoshie Arai (b.1931 in Tokyo) looks at a photograph of a railway in the neighbourhood where she lived in Tokyo before moving to North Korea. She sat in Japanese formal seiza style in front of the photograph made and brought to North Korea as a part of Noriko Hayashi’s project “Sawasawato”, and kept watching it. Yoshie Arai met her Korean husband when she was 18 and moved to North Korea with him in 1960.

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, Pyongyang (North Korea)

—

Yoshie Arai (rođena 1931. godine u Tokiju) gleda fotografiju željezničke pruge u dijelu Tokija gdje je živjela prije nego što se preselila u Sjevernu Koreju. Yoshie je sjedila u japanskom formalnom stilu seiza ispred fotografije koja je snimljena i donesena u Sjevernu Koreju kao dio projekta “Sawasawato” autorice Noriko Hayashi, i netremice je promatrala. Ona je upoznala svog korejskog supruga kada je imala 18 godina a zajedno su se preselili u Sjevernu Koreju 1960. godine.

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, Pjongjang (Sjeverna Koreja)