The Origins and Plight of Senso Koji (War Orphans) in Postwar Japan

In Japan, senso koji (war orphans) are often identified as furoji (juvenile vagrants). The dominant image of senso koji is therefore a street child engaging in a variety of adult survival activities in such cities as Tokyo after the war's end. This essay aims to problematize this myth. In the first part, I reconsider the meaning of koji, sense) koji and furoji as socially "constructed" terms after the onset of the Meiji Era (1868-1912). In the second part, I focus on the voices and experiences of the majority of sense) koji, who were taken into their relatives' homes immediately after the loss of their parents. The war took the lives of many children. Sense, koji survived. However, it was only since the 1970s that they began to speak about their wartime and postwar experiences to fulfill their obligation. Did the wartime state truly "protect" the nation's children? Their ultimate goal seems to be to answer this question.