午夜剧场

This is the life story of Hide Miwa, a Japanese woman born in the Meiji era who married a White Russian who had fled to Japan due to the Russian Revolution (1917) and immigrated around 1920 to Java, a tropical island then under Dutch rule. She cleared land for a plantation in a foreign country, raised nine children, and lived in peace. However, with the outbreak of the "Greater East Asia" War and the subsequent occupation by the Japanese military, she was suddenly thrust into the turbulent waves of international politics. The entire family cooperated with their "homeland," Japan, but after the Japanese military was defeated and withdrew, she was left to bear the brunt of the blame from the returning Dutch. Hide and her husband were investigated for harassing Dutch people under Japanese rule, found guilty, and imprisoned.

I first learned of Hide Miwa's existence when I accidentally found a Dutch document mentioning her in a corner of an archive, and I became fascinated by this unknown woman. Although more than 20 years had passed since Hide's death, I was lucky enough to meet Lily, the only one of her nine children who remained in Indonesia. From there, I spent 15 years tracking down and interviewing other descendants scattered across the globe. As I fumbled to unravel her life, I discovered surprising romance, conflict, and a full spectrum of human emotions.

After being released from the Dutch prison, Hide briefly returned to a peaceful life, but living in an Indonesia that had ousted the Dutch and achieved independence was uncomfortable. Under the Sukarno regime's burning nationalism toward decolonization, radical policies such as the nationalization of foreign assets were implemented, and the lives of "outsiders" like Hide were affected. Having divorced her White Russian husband and remained stateless, Hide entered into a sham marriage with a young Dutch man to move to the Netherlands. However, she felt out of place there as well and decided to emigrate to the United States. Constantly facing the question "What nationality am I?", she spent her life in foreign lands. In her final years, she decided to return to Indonesia, where she had spent her most radiant days, and ended her tumultuous 86-year life there. It was the life of a pioneering woman who faced difficulties head-on and lived out globalism in practice, untethered by the boundaries of "nations."

Aiko Kurasawa

Iwanami Shoten

252 pages, 2,750 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.