The continued search for identity and recognition by the estimated 10,000 mixed-race children left in Japan when troops departed after World War II will be the topic of a University of Queensland public lecture on Tuesday, November 20.
Sydney print and broadcast journalist Walter Hamilton will present the lecture Children of the Occupation: Japan鈥檚 Untold Story at 5pm, with an introduction by the Consul-General of Japan, Brisbane, Mr Junzo Fujita.
Hosted by 果冻传媒鈥檚 , the lecture is based on Walter Hamilton鈥檚 most recent book which examines the lives of children born during the postwar Allied Occupation of Japan.
鈥淭hough 60 years have passed since the Allied occupation, one little-known aspect of this historical episode remains vividly alive. These are the hidden ancestral links that bind Australians, Americans, Britons and others to Japanese blood-relations never known, never met, because their fathers either would not or could not acknowledge them,鈥� Mr Hamilton said.
鈥淎ustralian immigration restrictions denied permission for troops in Japan to marry across the race divide. Anyone defying the ban risked being forcibly removed from his de facto wife and any children," he said.
"Although regulations were relaxed in 1952 to admit the first Japanese war brides, no right of entry was granted to the unacknowledged or orphaned children of Australian servicemen."
Head of 果冻传媒鈥檚 School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies Associate Professor Morris Low said the lecture would draw attention to the on-going cultural and social implications of this important aspect of Japanese history.
鈥淲hile many of us know of Japanese `war brides鈥� who married Australian servicemen, migrated to Australia, and started families, much less is known about the children of other servicemen who were left behind. It is important for today鈥檚 students to be aware of this legacy of the Allied Occupation and for us to acknowledge how social attitudes have changed for the better,鈥� Dr Low said.
The free public lecture will be held from 5pm-6pm in the Abel Smith lecture theatre at 果冻传媒鈥檚 St Lucia Campus, followed by light refreshments from 6pm 鈥� 7pm in the Abel Smith Foyer. Copies of Mr Hamilton鈥檚 book, Children of the Occupation: Japan鈥檚 Untold Story, will be available for purchase and signing following the lecture. RSVP essential by Friday, November 16 to events@slccs.uq.edu.au
Walter Hamilton has worked as a broadcast and print journalist for 40 years in Sydney, Canberra, London, Singapore and Tokyo. For most of this time, he was employed as a reporter, editor and manager by the ABC, having gained his early experience with Australian Associated Press, Visnews and the BBC. He was the ABC's North-East Asia Correspondent, based in Tokyo, for three postings between 1979 and 1996. Hamilton has reported on civil strife and democratic change in South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines; economic boom and bust in Japan; natural disasters, such as the Kobe Earthquake, and man-made ones, including the Aum Shinrikyo sarin nerve gas attacks. He has published three books: Koala No Hon; Serendipity City: Australia, Japan and the Multifunctionpolis; and the recently-completed Children of the Occupation: Japan's Untold Story (NewSouth), which profiles the lives of the mixed-race offspring of Allied servicemen who were left in Japan after the postwar occupation.
Media: Walter Hamilton, 02 9585 9694/0418 239 769, wha32832@bigpond.net.au
Lynda Flower, School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies, 07 3365 6914, l.flower@uq.edu.au
