DiscoverEurope Japan Research Centre PodcastsThe Men Who Came In from the Cold Japanese Captives in Siberia and the Making of Postwar Japan
The Men Who Came In from the Cold Japanese Captives in Siberia and the Making of Postwar Japan

The Men Who Came In from the Cold Japanese Captives in Siberia and the Making of Postwar Japan

Update: 2017-10-11
Share

Description

On 15 August 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s defeat in the Second World War to millions of his subjects. “Enduring the unendurable”, the nation was now to start on the road of peace and rebuilding. Yet for over 600,000 Japanese soldiers, the war was not to end on that August day. Defeated and captured by the Soviet Red Army in northeast China, these former soldiers were put in freight trains and taken to Soviet forced labour camps. For years they worked in various industries alongside Soviet prisoners and foreign POWs, longing for the day of return to their motherland. They underwent a well-planned propaganda education program that called them to stage a communist revolution upon return to Japan. Perhaps because of this education, they were greeted with suspicion and for many years struggled to take back their rightful place as Japanese citizens. In this talk, I trace the circuitous journey of the ‘Siberian internees’ from Manchuria to the Soviet camps, from camp to camp within the USSR, and finally back to the US-occupied Japan. Based on a large number of archives in Japanese, Russian, and English, I view the internees’ experiences as a transnational phenomenon, an event in global history, and not as a mere chapter in Japan’s recent past as it has been known for decades of postwar history. This seminar took place at Oxford Brookes University on 11 October 2017.
Comments 
Top Podcasts
The Best New Comedy Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best News Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New Business Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New Sports Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New True Crime Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New Joe Rogan Experience Podcast Right Now – June 20The Best New Dan Bongino Show Podcast Right Now – June 20The Best New Mark Levin Podcast – June 2024
In Channel
Anime is (Not) Cult: Gainax and the Limits of Cult Cinema

Anime is (Not) Cult: Gainax and the Limits of Cult Cinema

2017-11-2201:06:41

Aesop’s Fables in Early Modern Japan

Aesop’s Fables in Early Modern Japan

2017-11-0801:20:57

“Unhappy” and Isolated Youth: Representations and Experiences of Hikikomori in Contemporary Japan

“Unhappy” and Isolated Youth: Representations and Experiences of Hikikomori in Contemporary Japan

2017-11-0101:05:04

Empathy, Social Realism, or just Love Troubles? On Japanese “Little Songs”

Empathy, Social Realism, or just Love Troubles? On Japanese “Little Songs”

2017-10-2502:03:58

The Men Who Came In from the Cold Japanese Captives in Siberia and the Making of Postwar Japan

The Men Who Came In from the Cold Japanese Captives in Siberia and the Making of Postwar Japan

2017-10-1101:30:53

The Mouth of the Cave and the Giant Voice

The Mouth of the Cave and the Giant Voice

2017-04-0546:41

Successful and Sorry: How high income Japanese women construct themselves in marriage agency ads

Successful and Sorry: How high income Japanese women construct themselves in marriage agency ads

2017-03-0838:09

How do the past, present and future interact in post-3.11 Japan: Examining the ‘future past’ in the SF manga Coppelion

How do the past, present and future interact in post-3.11 Japan: Examining the ‘future past’ in the SF manga Coppelion

2017-03-0101:20:29

I never said it would last forever: On Contemporary Japanese Cinema

I never said it would last forever: On Contemporary Japanese Cinema

2016-11-2256:46

Dowa Project Policies as unfinished human rights business – from Dotaishin to Ikengushin

Dowa Project Policies as unfinished human rights business – from Dotaishin to Ikengushin

2016-11-1653:33

Japanese Language Education, Welfare and Motivation

Japanese Language Education, Welfare and Motivation

2016-11-0201:07:21

Translating Bashō

Translating Bashō

2016-10-1901:21:42

Special Forum: Dynamics of Japan’s Ageing Prison population

Special Forum: Dynamics of Japan’s Ageing Prison population

2016-10-1249:09

Early 20th Century Japanese Buddhist Perceptions of Western Imperialism and Why they Matter

Early 20th Century Japanese Buddhist Perceptions of Western Imperialism and Why they Matter

2016-02-0301:31:23

Reaching Out to the Buddha in Modern Japan Psychotherapy and Buddhism as Two Sides of a Coin

Reaching Out to the Buddha in Modern Japan Psychotherapy and Buddhism as Two Sides of a Coin

2015-11-2601:01:40

The Insentient Companion Some Thoughts on Dolls, Robots and Significant Otherness

The Insentient Companion Some Thoughts on Dolls, Robots and Significant Otherness

2015-11-1801:18:24

The smile of Buddha and the laughter of the Zen master

The smile of Buddha and the laughter of the Zen master

2015-10-2801:26:35

The Modernity of Didactic Literature for women in the Tokugawa Period

The Modernity of Didactic Literature for women in the Tokugawa Period

2015-04-2201:00

Reflections on the division between the sacred and the secular in contemporary Japan: The case of life-cycle rituals

Reflections on the division between the sacred and the secular in contemporary Japan: The case of life-cycle rituals

2015-03-1157:34

Women’s Memory of Hollywood Cinema in Post-war Japan

Women’s Memory of Hollywood Cinema in Post-war Japan

2015-03-0401:04

loading
Google Play
Download from Google Play
Castbox
Download from App Store
usUnited States
00:00
00:00
x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

The Men Who Came In from the Cold Japanese Captives in Siberia and the Making of Postwar Japan

The Men Who Came In from the Cold Japanese Captives in Siberia and the Making of Postwar Japan

Europe Japan Research Centre