Kinjo seeking information about her sister separated in Saipan

Kinjo seeking information about her sister separated in Saipan

Toshiko Kinjo asking the members from the South Sea Islands for information about her sister.


January 28, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

Eighty-one-year-old preschool director Toshiko Kinjo is looking for her sister who she was separated from during the war in Saipan. Her sister, Etsuko, was one year old at that time. Kinjo attended a meeting on January 27 in Naha City held by a plaintiff group that claims compensation for victims of the war in the South Sea Islands. Kinjo shared her experience of becoming a war orphan and getting separated from her sister, and she called for information.

Kinjo said, “I came here hoping to meet someone who looks like me. I feel connected to you all, seeing your activities and that you all lived in Saipan as well.” She further reported her story of being cared for by her relatives in Okinawa and not being able to look for her sister after the war, as well as episodes from the past 20 years in which she has repeatedly been mistaken for a Junior high school teacher. She continued, “I hope my sister is alive.”

Seventy-seven-year-old Hideko Soken from Uruma City, who also returned to Okinawa after losing her parents in Saipan, said, “I cannot recall anyone who looks like Kinjo-san, but there are orphans who were taken by Americans as well. I would like to contact them if any information comes up.”

The leader of the plaintiff group, Chieko Nozato, called for more participation at the court where an announcement for state compensation for survivors from the Battle of Okinawa and an oral argument for the compensation case take place on March 16, saying, “Let’s fill the court’s gallery seats.”

If you have any information, please contact Ryukyu Shimpo at 098(865)5158.

(English translation by T&CT and Sayaka Sakuma)

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