Our research focuses on how the various historical experiences produced by migration and exchange with Japan (the interior region at that time) and the “South (Southeast Asia)” (or “South Seas”) between the 1920s and 1950s, especially with Indonesia, were “back-flow” to the region in subsequent eras.

So far, the history of Japan and the “South” has been mainly discussed together with the history of Japan’s expansion into the Southeast Asia. In our research, we will not focus on the concept of Japan’s “southward expansion”, the reality of the military government and corporate activities in the South, but on the individuals and organizations that existed in each of those periods with their own conflicts and contradictions, and we will recount their historical experiences together with newly discovered historical documents.

At present, we have begun researching individuals such as writer  HAYASHI Fumiko , photographer KANAMARU Shigene , the publisher of The Java Daily, TSUKUDA Koji , writer and entrepreneur  MIHIRA Masaharu (MIHIRA Seido), remaining Japanese soldiers and second and third generation people, and organizations such as Asia-Nanyo Foundation, the Taiwan Governor’s Office, and the National Vocational Guidance Center. In the future, we would like to expand our research horizon to include a wider range of people and organizations.

Through these studies, we hope to locate the meaning of “back-flow” based on the various experiences of people who lived through the “rough waves” of history not only in the framework of Japanese history, but also in the broader history of East Asia and the world, and apply it to a variety of research, education, and social activities.

We would be very grateful if you could provide us with valuable historical materials and information on these matters.

Research representative: SOKOLOVA-YAMASHITA Kiyomi

Co-researchers: ISHIKAWA Noriyuki, ITO Masatoshi, MACHIDA Yuuichi ,and TORIUMI Saki