This summer, I spent ten days in Tokyo and Osaka pursuing my Noland fellowship, “Same History, Different Narratives.” It builds on my earlier work through the Grills Fellowship, when I interned at the Imperial Palace of Manchukuo in Changchun, China. That site, originally built by the Japanese to legitimize their occupation, is now managed by the Chinese government as a center for patriotic education. In China, the Japanese invasion is remembered as brutal, unforgivable, and uniformly condemnable. But historical narratives are never singular or neutral. I went to Japan to understand how the same history is framed across the sea.

In Tokyo, I studied at the University of Tokyo, and visited memorial sites dedicated to WWII soldiers and the Tokyo National Museum, where I explored the current Japanese official postwar narrative of their occupation in Manchuria. I examined how Japan presents its wartime role in Manchuria through textbooks, newspapers, and official publications. While some memoirs and primary sources expressed remorse, the dominant national narrative minimizes or overlooks the violence of the occupation. Outside of research, I explored Japanese culture firsthand—walking through Shibuya, Tokyo Tower, and Sensō-ji Temple—to better understand the society that carries these narratives forward.

In Osaka, I visited the “Returners” Organization. It was founded in the 1980s by a Japanese orphan, Sadako Kurihara, to help Japanese orphans who were left behind in Manchuria after Japan’s 1945 surrender. These orphans, raised speaking northeastern Mandarin and immersed in Chinese culture, faced immense challenges readapting to life in Japan decades later. I interviewed 10 orphans and their descendants about identity, belonging, and the social struggles of returning “home” to a country that no longer felt like theirs. I am currently working on a documentary on their stories and experiences, combined with the scenery I filmed throughout my trip.