Dear Japanese (ONLY 70 COPIES)
.jpg)
Miyuki Okuyama
Dear Japanese (ONLY 70 COPIES)
Photographs: Miyuki Okuyama
Text: Miyuki Okuyama
Publisher: Self-published
144 pages
Year: 2015
Comments: Handmade hardcover, 200 x 150 mm. First edition, 2015. Edition limited to 70 numbered copies. Design by Yumi Goto et Jan Rosseel. New.
Over three centuries of Dutch rule over Indonesian archipelago gave rise to a population of “Indo”, Dutch-Indonesians. When Japan attacked and occupied the former Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, in 1942, many Indo males were jailed, leaving their wives and daughters to fend for themselves. Those Japanese children are the fruits of relationships with Japanese based on love or economic need, while a few were from assaults. Some found out about their Japanese roots when they were around sixty years old, since the truth was often been kept a family secret over the decades.
During the Indonesian National Revolution, the Indo population had to escape to the Netherlands, leaving everything behind. For them, Japan was the enemy who stole their tropical paradise and killed many people. Many half-Japanese children grew up in the hostile atmosphere towards Japan. Also, for their mothers often married to ex-KNIL soldiers who went through the Japanese POW camps and the harsh forced labor, many Japanese children were raised under the adoptive fathers who were severely distressed. They were traumatized because their existence was taboo, brought shame to their families. Almost 70 years after the war, many of them are still searching for their fathers as an important missing piece of their identities, and are suffering from the lasting psychological effects of difficult childhood.
“Dear Japanese | Children of the war” is a documentary made with my personal perspective, portraying the offspring of Japanese soldiers and Dutch-Indonesian women, born during Pacific War in Indonesia, now living in the Netherlands.
At my first encounter with the group of Japanese offspring, their clearly Japanese features surprised me. Since none of my immediate family members were affected deeply by the war, this became my first tangible war experience. This photo documentary has been started with the aim at making visual archive of the Japanese war children from the eye of a Japanese immigrant in the Netherlands.
Presenting my idea of a photo project to them was already difficult, because of their sensitive existence, living within the Indo-European society in the Netherlands, where the anti-Japan sentiment still remains. However, when the disasters hit my home in north Japan in 2011, I finally decided to tackle this challenge connected to my land from afar. This project explores the war/post war experiences of being transplanted to/from ex-enemy country, and the formation of identity from one of the aspects of the war, the war children.
In the portraits, the models look straight into the viewers’ eyes beyond the lens. Their gaze challenges the viewer to see who they really are. A Dutch/Indo viewer might notice the dissimilarity of appearance to him, while a Japanese viewer might find striking resemblance to himself. Similarly, the ordinary Dutch landscapes may appear unfamiliar to the eyes of the photographer and the photographed. This is a subjective documentary on compatriots abroad, assembled from a personal perspective as a Japanese immigrant in the Netherlands, sharing with the models the complexity of having pride in being Japanese, coupled with feelings of alienation and guilt.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
more books by Miyuki Okuyama
-
Dear Japanese
by Miyuki Okuyama
sold -
Land of the Setting Sun (Numbered and signed, edt of 100)
by Miyuki Okuyama
Euro 30
more books tagged »japanese« | >> see all
-
A.D.1991
by Keizo Kitajima
sold -
And where did the peacocks go ? (Regular edition of 400 copies...
by Miho Kajioka
sold -
Trails (Signed)
by Takashi Homma
sold -
Sachin
by Nobuyoshi Araki
sold -
THE SEA, ... AND ITS LOVE
by Jun Kanno
sold -
ASAKUSA PORTRAITS (SIGNED)
by Hiroh Kikai
sold
more books tagged »limited edition « | >> see all
-
Room/ Rabbit (Signed)
by Daisuke Yokota
sold -
STUDIES OF FALL (EDT OF 150 SIGNED)
by Magdalena Wysocka
Euro 95 -
FOLD (edt of 500)
by Arina Essipowitsch
Euro 25 -
Fantastic Central (Signed)
by Chan Wai Kwong
sold -
TRANSITION (Signed and numbered, edt of 100)
by Sergej Vutuc
sold -
TOKYO 1992 (SIGNED)
by Daido Moriyama
sold
more books tagged »yumi goto« | >> see all
-
The Restoration Will (ONLY 87 COPIES)
by Mayumi Suzuki
sold -
Bird, Night and then (Only 55 copies)
by Kenji Chiga
sold -
The Restoration Will (CEIBA EDT)
by Mayumi Suzuki
sold -
I AND THOU (Signed and numbered, edt of 72)
by Mi-Yeon
sold -
Red String (ONLY 35 COPIES)
by Yoshikatsu Fujii
sold -
Snowflakes Dog Man (Regular edition Signed)
by Hajime Kimura
sold
more books tagged »reminders project« | >> see all
-
Happn (ONLY 56 COPIES - SIGNED)
by Kenji Chiga
sold -
Hodophylax (ONLY 111 COPIES - SIGNED)
by Michiko Hayashi
sold -
Snowflakes Dog Man (ONLY 69 COPIES - SIGNED)
by Hajime Kimura
sold -
In search of lost memories (Signed and numbered, edt of 33)
by Hajime Kimura
sold -
Hiroshima Graph - Everlasting Flow (Ltd edition of 75)
by Yoshikatsu Fujii
sold -
Tokyo Perspective (ONLY 50 COPIES - SIGNED)
by Kazuya Urakawa
sold
more books tagged »extremely limited« | >> see all
-
You could be in London, You could be in Vegas, But you're in B...
by Adam Murray & Robert Parkinson
sold -
IMAGERIE PAR RESONANCE MAGNETIQUE
by Thibault Tourmente
sold -
Hiroshima Graph : Rabbits abandon their children (ONLY 72 COPI...
by Yoshikatsu Fujii
sold -
Site
by Daisuke Yokota
sold -
Lili Rose Pink Paradise
by PES
sold -
FENDU/E (SIGNED AND NUMBERED, edt of 7)
by Bastien Deschamps
Euro 2000
more books tagged »out of print « | >> see all
-
Moments in between
by Jens Olof Lasthein
sold -
Seven Stories
by Robert Frank
sold -
Linger/ Teikai (ONLY 77 COPIES - SIGNED)
by Daisuke Yokota
sold -
Office
by Lars Tunbjörk
sold -
Fear of Leaving (LTD)
by JH Engström
sold -
DECEITFUL REVERENCE
by Igor Pisuk
sold
Books from the Virtual Bookshelf josefchladek.com