A descendant of an Ainu resident of the southern part of Sakhalin Island has written about the hardships she faced because of her origin when her family fled to Japan in the aftermath of World War II.
Yoko Abe, 82, was born and raised in the Sakhalin village of Ochiho — which was once part of Japan but now belongs to Russia — in an area that was then called Minami Karafuto. She lived there until she was 15, when her family fled the village, now called Lesnoe, following the advance of Soviet troops in August 1945.
"I wanted to record what I experienced ... although some (of my relatives) opposed it," she says, recalling a wish she has had since her late teens.