ABSTRACT
The ballad Ganpeki no haha (Mother on the quay) is based on the true story of a woman who waited in vain at Maizuru repatriation port for the return of her only son from internment in Siberia. The song became a hit in the 1950s and 1970s amidst two very different social contexts: the anti-war mood of the early 1950s and a period of nostalgia for traditional motherhood ideals in the 1970s. The Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum features this story. It exemplifies how postwar popular culture can feature prominently in heritage sites, and also create new relevance of war history among postwar generations.
