Possible future research leads
Dear All,
In the meeting last night at Duus library (4/23/12), the research group has collaborated our research together to come up with some possible research leads for making our prototype project going forward, and who’s tackling what. I have a few holes in my notes since I wasn’t able to jot down every little teeny detail (especially some last names), so for those of us who were at the meeting or are familiar with the subjects please feel free to add anything I missed:
Doihara Kenji- Starts in Japan, ends up in Manchuria, returns to Japan. He is known as the “Laurence of Manchuria”. Kenji is an all-around spy, opium runner, prostitute ring-engager, and a general. Kenji was convicted of war crimes at the Tokyo War Crimes trial & was executed in 1948. We have all of his charges, we just need the transcripts of the trial. Kenji is a big name in Japan, but not well known in USA. [Kyle Wojnar’s research subject]
Fumiko- Born in Manchuria to settler parents, spends several years in Sibera. She is later sent to a labor camp in Siberia, and repatriated to Japan in 1954. Fumiko and Sano’s stories are both related to Siberian labor camps, which may be useful.
Peter Sano- Grew up in Brawley (Central California). Goes to Tokyo to be adopted by Japanese parents, then goes to to Manchuria and is later sent to labor camps in Siberia, then returns to Japan after the war to work with the Occupation. Finally, after convincing the Americans to return his citizenship, Sano ends up in Palo Alto as an architect. His father was a minister in a Japanese christian church. In his bio, Sano has little discussion about the Occupation phase or his time in US (A major point in a potential interview must be to ask him about his role in the Occupation and his time in US). In his bio however, he did discuss his early 50s and recollected his time in Japan & Siberia. We believe he seems like a good candidate for the prototype because of his easy accessibility and wealth of information [Jeff & Brianna’s research subject]
Kazuko- 3 generations of her family lived in Manchuria. Her story is of escaping from Manchuria and arriving in Japan. Our job is to locate where they were in Manchuria, and where they came from in Japan.
Hagiwara Teiji- Teiji was living in Manchuria as an employee of corporations, and later worked for JETRO (Japan’s External Trade Organization). Teiji was in business after the war as well, in 1954. His biography is “Coming home from China”.
Tsuneo- Researcher at CRL during the war. His memoir is focused on participating in the construction of the Manchurian railway. His memoir is located on Melville.
Mei Niang- A Chinese fiction writer who wrote short stories and poems. Born in Vladivostok. Lived in Manchukuo for many years. Her husband died on a ship which capsized in 1948 en route to Taiwan as he was escaping China. Niang worked for a chinese film company, and was later purged as a former Nationalist collaborator. Even after this, she opts to stay in Communist China anyway. Her sole surviving child lives in Vancouver, and as far as we know, she was alive in 2006/7.
Taro Yashima- Leftist artist in the pre-war years. Yashima fled Japan to come to the US in 1935. As an artist, Yashima he created propaganda bills for the US war effort under the OSS. In 1943, he published a multilingual article about life in pre-war Japan called “The New Sun”, and later published a sequel title called “Horizon is Calling” (1947). Yashima is the father of Mako Iwamatsu, the famous actor. Mako born to one of Taro’s wives in Japan, and was left behind when his father fled to the US. In the early 1950s, Yashima began writing and illustrating children’s books under the pseudonym he had used in the OSS, such as Crow Boy (1956), Umbrella (1958) and Seashore Story (1967). Mr. Yashima returned to his home village of Nejime, Japan, visiting childhood classmates and other familiar scenes which he depicted in several of his children’s picture books. Along with film maker Glenn Johnson, they produced a 26-minute documentary hosted and narrated by Yashima, entitled Taro Yashima’s Golden Village.
Xavier Maruyama- Lives in Pacific Grove. His father was in Manchuria at the end of war, got out early, and started a campaign in 1945 to repatriate Japanese from Manchuria. His biography, written by his son Paul Maruyama, is entitled “Escape from Manchuria”.
V.K. Wellington Koo- Chinese representative of Guomindang to the League of Nations at the time of the Chinese Civil War, representative to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Ambassador to France, Great Britain, and the United States; participant in founding the League of Nations and the United Nations, and judge on the International Court of Justice at the Hague from 1957 to 1967. Between October 1926 and June 1927, while serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Koo briefly held the concurrent positions of acting Premier and interim President of the Republic of China. Koo is the first and only Chinese head of state known to use a Western name publicly. His grandson David Koo teaches astronomy at UCSC. [Dennis Wang’s research subject]
Kuramoto- Ambassadors in Russia talking about Soviet policy towards Manchuria. Tried to see life on the ground after the Japanese defeat & occupation in Manchuria.[Anthony’s research subject]
Avril Harriman- Ambassador to USSR. Good narrative of American interests in coordinating w/ Soviets about Manchuria. [Anthony’s research subject]
Possible other leads:
- Tanaka ___?___ (On Melville). [Kyle Wojnar]
- Ross knows about a possible lead- a Japanese intelligence operative who knew about the invasion of Manchuria prior to the event.
Our next task in the research group is to sketch out summary narratives of 5-10 pages based on where these people were, the jobs they did, the people they knew, etc. What kind of research do we do to develop an interesting prototype?
Our other-next tasks:
Soviets in Manchuria- (Anthony & Ross)
See if CIA has declassified OSS documents from 1945. May need to prepare FOIA request.
Tokyo war crimes trial transcripts & supplementary documents submitted as evidence. Look into National Archives of San Francisco, or Stanford. Look for sources somewhere in Bay area. [Brian Carolus, possibly Chris Frey in National Archives].
Talk to Paul Xavier in Pacific Grove- Dave De Leon
US/China “stuff”. Research persons involved in the arms sales gunrunning network to the Guomindang during the Chinese civil war. Arms deals b/w 1946-48. [Dennis]
Oh and by the way, last night we discovered another important topic….
KERMIT WASHINGTON PUUUUUUUNCH!!!!!! [See Youtube]
-Brian Carolus
