• Revealing hardships: Yoko Abe (left), an author of Ainu descent, cries while holding the hands of Hideho Kindaichi, grandson of linguist Kyosuke Kindaichi, at the Ainu Culture Promotion Center in Tokyo in August. | KYODO
    Revealing hardships: Yoko Abe (left), an author of Ainu descent, cries while holding the hands of Hideho Kindaichi, grandson of linguist Kyosuke Kindaichi, at the Ainu Culture Promotion Center in Tokyo in August. | KYODO
  • SHARE

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.

In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

PHOTO GALLERY (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

, , ,