SAPPORO—Japanese citizens who remained in Sakhalin, or Karafuto, after World War II can visit Japan once more after years of uncertainty.

The first group of 12 and their families touched down on Sept. 4.

This marks five years since the health ministry last hosted the annual delegation. Any hopes of travel were previously halted by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

On Sept. 7, the temporary returnees offered flowers at a communal gravesite in Sapporo and paid their respects to their parents who were unable to return to Japan.

Koji Matsumoto, 78, is one of them.

“My father used to say, 'I want to go to Japan to die,’” Matsumoto lamented in Japanese before the grave.

His father worked in Karafuto's coal mining industry and even though he wanted to return to Japan, he was not allowed to do so for many years after being told to “pass on his skills,” according to Matsumoto. 

"You have to be strong," he recalls his father telling him after a young Matsumoto came home after a fight with a classmate.

After his mother, who was born in Tokyo, passed away when Matsumoto was 11, he raised his two younger sisters while doing household chores with his father.

In 1974, his father died at the age of 68.

Matsumoto himself suffered from cancer in recent years and underwent repeated surgeries until last year. 

While sick in bed, he would think to himself, "I want to go to Japan one more time before I die." 

No small feat, it turns out. Before it was suspended during the pandemic, a direct flight put Sapporo about an hour and 30 minutes from Sakhalin. However, it still has not resumed service because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. 

Matsumoto's trip took two days, requiring that he fly to Japan via Vladivostok and Beijing.

“I am really glad I could come,” he said.

He and the rest of the group are currently visiting relatives, places of interest and sightseeing before they fly back on Sept. 10.

October will bring two more batches that comprise a total of 13 individuals and their families. The oldest of this year’s temporary returnees is 90 and the youngest is 64. 

Members of the generation who lived through years of war are decreasing; the majority of temporary returnees were born in Sakhalin to Japanese parents and lead lives there and in Russia. 

The Japan-Sakhalin Association, a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization, was commissioned by the ministry to support temporary and permanent returnees to Japan.

Hiromi Saito, chair of the association, said that the meaning of the temporary return is changing.

“Due in part to Japan-Russia relations, Sakhalin and Japan have become increasingly distant,” Saito said. “In this context, they are strongly seeking to reaffirm their ties with Japan.”

Shizuko Sato, 78, a resident of Poronaisk, a town in Sakhalin, is the leader of the latest temporary returnees.

The name of Sato’s mother, Yuki, is inscribed at the gravesite.

Yuki wished to return to Japan, but was unable to do so and died at the age of 58, Sato said.

“I felt these five years that I could not come to Japan were very long,” Sato said as she laid flowers on the grave.

The communal gravesite was built by the Japan-Sakhalin Association in 2016 with donations.

Some of the remaining Japanese who returned to Japan permanently are buried there, and the names of those who died in Sakhalin despite longing to return to Japan are also inscribed.

The seagulls featured on the headstone represent the wish that the souls of the departed can freely travel back and forth between them.

“I hope the world will be at peace,” Sato said. 

In 1905, the portion of Sakhalin that falls south of 50 degrees north latitude became a Japanese territory following the Russo-Japanese War. Immigration was promoted and the population reached 400,000 at the end of 1941.

However, on Aug. 8, 1945, the Soviet Union broke the neutrality pact and declared war. Ground battles and attacks continued until Aug. 23. An estimated 4,000 people were killed.

Many Japanese immediately fled the island under the emergency evacuation plan after the Soviet Union's invasion. Others left via collective repatriation under the U.S.-Soviet agreement that began in 1946. 

Despite the ongoing exodus, the mass evacuation was terminated after July 1949. Although it temporarily resumed after the Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration in 1956, many slipped through the cracks. 

It is believed that more than 300 citizens were left behind.

The Japanese government began the program organizing temporary returns home in 1990.

According to the health ministry, 112 people had permanently moved back to Japan by the end of 2023. This includes those returning from Sakhalin and other areas of the former Soviet Union.