Moon of Homesickness

Japan too celebrated the harvest moon with a "Moon Viewing Festival." Millions of Japanese came out to gaze skyward, to dance and feast in honor of harvest home. Some remembered that in Japanese tradition the moon also symbolizes homesickness. Outside the cream-colored Russian Embassy in Tokyo, 3,000 men & women, mostly elderly farmers, marched slowly back & forth, bowing as they passed the big iron gate. In their hands were small white banners decorated with moons. One banner was inscribed: "Oh moon, tell me where my son is now?"

The marchers were members of the "Federation of Families for the Speedy Return of Japanese Soldiers in the Northern Areas." To the Russians they presented a humble petition: "It is full moon now. We are sure that our soldier sons are looking at the same moon, worrying about us as we are worried about them. We ask for your humane consideration."

Behind the plea was a core of heartrending statistics. At war's end, some six million Japanese soldiers and civilians had been stranded overseas. The U.S., Britain and China had repatriated four and a half million. The Russians still held one and a half million. Of these, 800,000 were veterans of the Kwantung Army, who had been captured by the Russians in Manchuria. Their whereabouts was a mystery.

There were three possibilities: 1) they had been pressed into slave labor in Siberia; 2) they were being held in Soviet hands to make sure that the U.S. could never use them in a war against Russia; 3) they were being held for use by the Russians themselves, either as a fifth column for Japan or as mercenary shock troops. The Soviet failure to repatriate Japanese prisoners was clearly a violation of the Potsdam Agreement. General Mac-Arthur had offered ships and aid to bring the missing Japanese home. But negotiations had broken down when the Russians refused to discuss military prisoners.

One Japanese had no difficulty in being repatriated. He was Sanzo Nosaka, Japanese Communist leader (TIME, Feb. 18), who has spent the last 16 years in Russia and China.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.