Abandonment ほうき (放棄)

Japan hospital sets up drop-off hatch for unwanted babies

Only reason I’m writing about this is because as a hafu child it reminds me of something. In Japan after World War II, a lot of Japanese women got pregnant with American Soldiers. These children where abandoned, thrown away, and killed all because of the stigma of being half anything. These children were often called freaks and doomed to the life on the streets or death

I was actually in a movie that showed this when I was little child called “母たることは地獄のごとく 炎の女”. (I’m one of the kids who yells “Mommy, Don’t Die!” in a scene where Miki is really sick) It’s a story about hafu children after World War II who was abandoned by the Japanese mothers and the lady, Miki Sawada, who rescued and raised them with her devoted staff. Miki Sawada was one of the founders of Mitsubishi’s daughter. She basically sold everything she had to buy back the family estate that the state took from her after World War II to open this orphanage. The orphanage was called the Elizabeth Saunders Home because she was one of the first people to donate her money to this cause. Also this movie had a side story about a half Black /half Japanese guy who was trying to adjust in Japanese society even though they were still looked as an outsider and almost an abomination. He also found his mother and father and that, as you can imagine, didn’t end well. Japanese society can be cruel especially to hafu children back then… actually, I’m pretty sure they still get teased today… because in Japan even if you’re half… you’re not Japanese… and they let you know it every chance they get.

A lot of Japanese people like to write off hafu children born back then as “War Children” as if the women were all raped or something. It’s not true… maybe for some but most of those ladies probably fell in love with those American soldiers. Americans are so different from Japanese men back then that they probably got seduced quite easily. They probably loved and left them pregnant. Single mothers everywhere had a stigma at the time, but if they were Japanese kids they wouldn’t have been left by the women as these kids were. Some Japanese people write it off as, “Well who would want the kids of people occupying your city”. Well… frankly, I’ll tell you this… THAT’S BULLSHIT! I don’t care who the father is that’s still that woman’s child. Which means the child is still part of a family… How dare they think its okay to abandon a child because they don’t look exactly the way you want them! That’s sickening.

Frankly, I blame the old Japanese mentality for that. It’s “there” pride that was hurt, not these women, I’m certain most of those mother’s did not want to leave the child or kill it. But because of that old Japanese mentality of needing the purity of the race, these kids were left like trash. This prejudice of being different made these kids’ life a living hell. As if it was there fault for being half… The reason Miki Sawada cared was because she was more cultured, educated and was exposed to America. Not to mention an incident in which she was accused of abandoning a hafu child on a train. It wasn’t hers and she was cleared of all the charges. She tried her best to get those kids adopted in the US, because these kids were the untouchables in Japan.

I understand there mentality… but that doesn’t mean I have to accept it. That’s where I guess I’m different. Just because I understand, it doesn’t mean it’s excusable. I completely believe morality is something people can identify without the help of a higher being. I don’t believe in god and I still know in my gut when something is wrong. Perhaps it’s because I’m not into “group” thinking that I speak out. But frankly, that’s what I hate about Japanese culture at times. They have this weird superiority complex and think that “group” thinking is all great. Frankly, this superiority group thinking is how all those kids got left and how they justify cruelty.

There is this one part of the movie I recall that really got to me… it’s a scene where the mother is telling the half child (probably around 2) to go through the tunnel and see the “new” mommy. “The tunnel of separation” which still exists today at Oiso, Japan, is where the women left to abandon the kids and babies. I walked through that tunnel when I was little and I couldn’t help but cry going through it… because even if I was only 4 years old, I knew the implications of that tunnel. I knew that it was a place where your mom left you and there was nothing you say or do to stop her from leaving…

Frankly, I’m never going to understand how someone could abandon their own child…