Post-war Repatriation to Japan: citizenship, identify and integration, 1945-1956.

The repatriation of 6 million Japanese citizens after the 1945 defeat was a drawn out, laborious and often traumatic process, and a defining aspect of Japan's first post-war decade. This research project aims to uncover the processes of repatriation, attitudes towards and of the repatriates, and notions of citizenship and identify in Japan's formative post-war years. It is significant not only because historical scholarship has mostly overlooked post-war repatriation but because it seeks to find the nexus between national identity and the institutional constraints of citizenship and border controls. Through refereed articles and a monograph, this project will result in a better understanding of the early post-war history of Japan.