ABSTRACT
This summarizes the conclusions of this study and provides a sociological analysis of the nature of the problem of the Japanese war orphans. Ultimately, the Japanese war orphans are a tragedy of modern warfare and the product of a gap in the modernization of Japan and China. The first half of this chapter explores the issue of Japanese war orphans as a tragedy of modern warfare, focusing on the following four points.
(1) Beneficiaries and victims of Japan's invasion of China
(2) People surviving in China as Chinese
(3) The awakening of Japanese identities after returning to Japan in the 1980s and emptiness
(4) The shadow of a warmongering nation
The second half of the chapter analyzes the issue of Japanese war orphans as a product of a modernization gap, with a focus on the following six points.
(1) Since the 1900s, Japanese national power has grown stronger than that of China, resulting in a reversal of power between the two nations.
(2) The Japanese war orphans’ return to Japan was immigration from poor China to affluent Japan.
(3) The pressure of Japanese class-based society
(4) Craving solidarity and Encountering setbacks
(5) The collapse of Japanese dominance from the 2000s onward
(6) The overlap between individual lives and the modernization gap
