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	<< Back "DAWN" Newsletter of The DAWN CENTER < Profile > Shinya Eiko : Acting Japan's History Haneko Inoue "Shinsedaryon," meaning "a life story," is a play in which a Korean woman, who came to Japan from the Cheju Island at the age of 15, tells the story of her life wearing her national costume "Chimachogori." This one-woman play has been performed more than 1650 times by a Japanese woman named Shinya Eiko. Shinya tells us why she plays a role of a Korean woman and why she thinks the play has steadily been supported by many people. A One-Time Militarist I graduated from a girls' high school in the spring of 1945 and started to work as a civilian war employee. My brother, who had been a university student, was forced to go to the front and served as a pilot at that time. Partly influenced by him, I was a militarist and firmly believed in Japan's victory in World War II. Even after I listened to the Emperor on the radio announcing Japan's defeat, I still insisted that 'kamikaze,' a divine wind, should blow leading Japan to a victory. To my disappointment, however, my senior officer said to me, "The war has ended and a new era has begun for us." The officer, who later became a university professor, had been a university student when drafted for military service. Even after he was appointed to second lieutenant, he objected to the war because he knew the actual war situation through overseas short-wave broadcasting. After the war, he invited me to attend a workshop, where I learned for the first time about the French Revolution, the birth of the Soviet Union and the democracy of the United States. A whole new perspective on the world opened up before me. The First Performance of "Shinsedaryon" I joined a theatrical company and visited primary schools throughout Japan, performing plays for children. I appeared on a major stage at least once a year. Around 1970, an underground theater boom reached Japan and I was asked to perform a one-woman play in a coffee shop in Umeda, Osaka. In those days, a friend of mine introduced me to a book titled "Shinsedaryon-a Life of a Korean Woman Living in Japan." I decided to perform a play based on the book and started to learn about the history of the Japan-Korean relations. In the course of reading books and so on, I was shocked by Japan's atrocities committed on Asian nations during the war. At the same time, I was deeply moved by the life of Korean women who were brought to Japan against their will and survived discrimination and hardships with an indomitable spirit. Hope for People's Conscience I have never advertised "Shinsedaryon" but people come through word of mouth. There have been continuous requests for the play, and I performed it in South Korea, too. Japan still has to take responsibility for what it did during the war, including the compensation for so-called comfort women who were forced to serve as prostitutes for the Japanese Army. I believe "Shinsedaryon" receives broad support because there are many who want to take the responsibility conscientiously and to pass unresolved historical problems on to the post-war generation. Therefore I am determined to continue performing without losing hope. by Haneko Inoue (From "Dawn" November 1997) Page Top Copyright (C) 2007 DawnCenter. All Rights Reserved.