Dear Japanese

Dear Japanese documents the offspring of Japanese soldiers and Indonesian women, born during the Pacific War, now living in the Netherlands.

More than three centuries of Dutch rule over Indonesia archipelago gave rise to a population of “Indo”, Dutch-Indonesians. When Japan attacked and occupied the former Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1942, many Indo males were jailed, leaving their wives and daughters to fend for themselves. Japanese children were born as the fruits of relationships based on love or economic need, while a few were from sexual assaults. Some found out about their Japanese roots when they were around sixty years old, since the truth was often been kept a family secret.

During the postwar chaos of Indonesian National Revolution, the Indo people had to escape to their unknown homeland, The Netherlands. For them, Japan was the enemy who stole their land and killed many people. Many half-Japanese children grew up in the hostile atmosphere towards Japan. They were traumatized because their existence was taboo, brought shame to their families. Almost 70 years after the war, many of them are still searching for their fathers as an important missing piece of their identities, and are suffering from the lasting psychological effects of difficult childhood.