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 »extremely limited« | >> see all
-
M&M Line (Edt of 50)
by Robert Parkinson
sold -
Small Enough To Sit Under A Mushroom (Signed Edt of 30)
by Charlie Tallott
sold -
I don't want to disappear completely (ONLY 100 COPIES)
by Bérangère Fromont
sold -
A set of 26 books : JE SUIS UNE BANDE DE JEUNES
by Collective
price on request -
Isolation (Self) (NUMBERED, edt of 10)
by Joanna Epstein
sold -
ROME-MALIBU
by Ari Marcopoulos
sold
more books tagged »limited edition « | >> see all
-
PLASTIC LOVE (Signed ltd edition of 350 copies)
by Daido Moriyama
sold -
Whispering hope (SIGNED)
by Chikara Umihara
sold -
Mes jours (ONLY 100 COPIES - SIGNED)
by Gil Rigoulet
sold -
Reprinting the city
by Stephan Keppel
Euro 240 -
SO IT GOES (SPECIAL EDITION WITH PRINT)
by Miho Kajioka
sold -
DIRTY SCENES (First edition of 400 copies, numbered and signed)
by Katrien de Blauwer
sold
more books tagged »reminders project« | >> see all
-
Hodophylax (ONLY 111 COPIES - SIGNED)
by Michiko Hayashi
sold -
Tokyo Perspective (ONLY 50 COPIES - SIGNED)
by Kazuya Urakawa
sold -
Picture of My Life (signed)
by Junpei Ueda
sold -
Hiroshima Graph - Everlasting Flow (Ltd edition of 75)
by Yoshikatsu Fujii
sold -
Mišo Bukumirović (Only 91 copies)
by Hajime Kimura
sold -
Happn (ONLY 56 COPIES - SIGNED)
by Kenji Chiga
sold
more books tagged »japanese« | >> see all
-
Record of Anger and Sadness
by Hiroshi Hamaya
Euro 400 -
Red String (ONLY 35 COPIES)
by Yoshikatsu Fujii
sold -
Ipy Girl Ipy
by Tad Wakamatsu
sold -
Salome
by Tetsuya Ichimura
sold -
Sengoha/Après-guerre
by Shomei Tomatsu
sold -
Where cats were / Neko no ita basho
by Hana Takeda
sold
more books tagged »out of print « | >> see all
-
Pictures from moving cars
by Collective
sold -
SASANAMI
by Masao Yamamoto
sold -
Sol & Luna (SIGNED AND NUMBERED)
by Viviane Sassen
sold -
The Afronauts (ONLY 50 COPIES WITH PRINT)
by Cristina de Middel
sold -
Fast City (signed)
by Morten Andersen
sold -
Elite controllers (SIGNED)
by Antonio Jimenez Saiz
Euro 60
more books tagged »yumi goto« | >> see all
-
Snowflakes Dog Man (Regular edition Signed)
by Hajime Kimura
sold -
The Restoration Will (ONLY 87 COPIES)
by Mayumi Suzuki
sold -
I AND THOU (Signed and numbered, edt of 72)
by Mi-Yeon
sold -
Snowflakes Dog Man (ONLY 69 COPIES - SIGNED)
by Hajime Kimura
sold -
Hiroshima Graph : Rabbits abandon their children (ONLY 72 COPI...
by Yoshikatsu Fujii
sold -
Bird, Night and then (Only 55 copies)
by Kenji Chiga
sold
Books from the Virtual Bookshelf josefchladek.com