The government will conduct a comprehensive survey this fall on the latest living conditions of war-displaced Japanese orphans repatriated from China and their descendants, with the aim of easing their educational and financial difficulties, a welfare ministry official said Monday.
The move will mark the first time in six years that the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has carried out such a survey on the lives of an estimated 6,000 Japanese "war orphans" and their families from China who now live in Japan.
After they were repatriated following Japan's normalization of diplomatic ties with China in 1972, many of these now-elderly people remain plagued by language difficulties and poverty.
The ministry will assess the result of the survey to shore up its assistance measures for them and their descendants, who likewise tend to grapple with adversities such as a lack of stable employment opportunities, said Yukio Tanabe, the ministry official in charge of assisting them.
Tanabe added the survey is essentially aimed at reviewing a batch of assistance measures the government has implemented since 2008 to help the orphans integrate into society. These include pension payouts and language-support projects.
It will also seek their feedback on a support system launched last year in which long-term spouses of war orphans are granted financial support in their post-retirement lives should their partners pass away.
The move also comes as Japan readies to mark the 70th anniversary of its defeat in World War II this summer.
Among the things the survey will ask the orphans and their families are their income details, employment status and language proficiency, as well as how they get along with neighbors, Tanabe said.
War orphans and their families are often isolated from their communities due to language barriers.