gyeongju, south korea - she spends hours a daywatching the japanese broadcaster nhk her bedsidetable is stacked with japanese magazines andfigurines in kimonos the walls bear pictures ofmount fuji

韩国庆州她一天花数个小时观看日本电视台nhk。床头柜上堆放着日文杂志和身着和服的小雕像。墙上挂着描绘富士山的图画。

shizue katsura, 96, is among 19 japanese womenwho are spending their final days in an unlikelyplace: a nursing home in south korea, where lingering anti-japanese sentiment has helpedkeep the women in obscurity

现年96岁的香贯静枝(shizue katsura，音)是在一个出人意料的地方度过人生最后时光的19名日本妇女之一：一家韩国疗养院。在那里，徘徊不去的反日情绪令这些妇女一直无人问津。

there is no use looking back on my life, katsura said home is where you are living japan is aforeign country to me

回顾过去是没有用的，香贯说。你生活的地方就是你的家。日本对我来说就是异国。

thousands of japanese women like katsura married korean men during japan’s colonial rule,which lasted from 1910 to 1945 when world war ii ended and korea was liberated, manystayed with their husbands in korea, while others fled back to japan, fearing violence fromthose looking to avenge the brutal colonial rule

在1910至1945年的日本殖民统治时期，有成千上万的日本女人嫁给了韩国男人，香贯是其中之一。随着第二次世界大战结束，朝鲜半岛获得解放，她们中有许多跟随丈夫留在了朝鲜半岛，有些则逃回了日本。后者担心，想报复残酷殖民统治的人会对她们动用暴力。

or, as in katsura’s case, they followed their husbands from japan to korea

还有一些人和香贯一样，跟随丈夫从日本来到朝鲜半岛。

once in korea, these women often discovered that their husbands’ families had found themkorean spouses in their absence many also lost their husbands during the korean war, whichlasted from 1950 until 1953

一旦来到朝鲜半岛，这些女性往往发现丈夫的家庭在他们离开期间已经为他们找好了本国配偶。也有不少人在1950年至1953年的朝鲜战争期间失去了丈夫。

by the time many tried to return to japan, it was too late japan and south korea did not re-establish ties until 1965, and, even then, some of the women had no relatives to sponsor theirreturn and resettlement

及至很多人试图返回日本，已经太晚。直到1965年，日本和韩国才重建外交关系，而即便在那时，有些女性也没有亲戚可以资助她们返回日本，在家乡重新安顿下来。

emotions run high when south koreans talk about their country’s historical disputes withjapan, especially the enslavement of korean fort women in front-line brothels for japan’simperial army during world war ii but society has paid little attention to these japanesewomen, some of whom were abandoned by their families in both countries and had to live withneither a korean nor a japanese passport

谈及本国与日本的历史争端，尤其是二战期间韩国慰安妇在前线的军妓所里被日本帝国陆军奴役的历史，韩国人往往情绪激动。但社会很少关注这些日本妇女。她们有些被自己在两国的家人同时抛弃，必须在既没有韩国护照也没有日本护照的情况下生活。

when they arrive here, they all have made-up korean names, said song mi-ho, head of thenursing home, nazarewon, which takes its name from the biblical nazareth one of the firstthings we do is to call them by their japanese names when this happens, they are in tears, asif they are getting their life, their identity, back

来到这里时，她们都有编造的韩文名字，疗养院负责人宋美河(song mi-ho，音)说。这家疗养院名叫拿撒勒院(nazarewon)，取自圣经。我们首先做的一件事就是用她们的日文名字称呼她们。当时她们流下了眼泪，就好像找回了自己的生活和身份。

once we give their real names back, it’s amazing how quickly they regain their japaneseness,the decorum, the way they fold their hands before them when they greet others, song said

一旦获得了原先的真名，她们恢复自己日本特性和礼仪的速度是非常惊人的，比如向其他人打招呼时双手交叠在胸前的方式，宋美河说。

while sitting in a wheelchair, katsura perked up when telling a visitor how she met a kindlykorean man more than seven decades earlier, when they worked in a power station in herhometown, ebetsu, near sapporo in northern japan

在向访客讲述自己如何在逾70年前认识了一名和善的韩国男子时，坐在轮椅里的香贯瞬间活跃起来。当时他们都在位于她的家乡的一座发电厂工作，那是日本北部离札幌不远的江别市。

but she became taciturn when asked about her life in south korea

但是在被问到她在韩国的生活时，香贯变得沉默起来。

her husband died of alcoholism decades earlier, she said she once raised tobacco andlivestock in southwestern south korea, and then sold vegetables in the capital, seoul, beforefailing health forced her to move into the nursing home nine years ago

她说丈夫在几十年前死于酒精中毒。她曾在韩国西南部种植烟叶、养殖牲畜，后来到首都首尔卖菜。九年前，因为健康状况恶化，她不得不住进了这家疗养院。

my son, he died early, she said, declining to elaborate

我儿子很早就死了，她说，不愿讲述详细的情况。

a south korean philanthropist named kim yong-sung was operating orphanages in gyeongjuin southeastern south korea when he traveled to japan and saw what looked like koreanwomen protesting in front of the japanese emperor’s palace they turned out to be japanesewomen with south korean passports demanding that japan help them regain their citizenshipand return home

韩国慈善家金永成(kim yong-sung，音)在该国东南部的庆州开设了数家孤儿院。有一次，他在日本看到样貌像是韩国人的女性在日本皇宫前举行抗议活动。后来才知道，她们其实是持韩国护照的日本妇女，在要求日本帮助她们重新获得日本公民身份，以便返回家园。

kim opened nazarewon in 1972 as a way station for these women, providing them with lodging,as well as legal and financial aid a total of 147 returned home through nazarewon, the last onein 1984

到了1972年，金永成设立拿撒勒院，作为这些妇女停驻的小站，给她们提供住宿，以及法律和财务援助。总计有147人通过拿撒勒院返回了日本，最后一名是在1984年。

nazarewon has since bee a nursing home for women who either could not or did not wantto return to japan and had no family support

之后，拿撒勒院成为疗养所，收留的女性要么不能或不想返回日本，要么缺乏家庭支持。

after 70 years in south korea, some women preferred living here to ending up at a nursinghome in japan they like umeboshi, song said, referring to the ubiquitous japanese dish ofpickled plums but they can do without it, but not without the korean kimchi

在韩国居住70年后，一些人宁愿在这里生活，也不愿在日本的一家疗养院了却余生。她们喜欢吃梅干，宋美河说。这是日本的一种常见食物，为腌制的梅子。只不过，没有梅干她们也可以过活，而没有韩国泡菜她们就受不了。

more than 80 women have died at nazarewon during the past 35 years the average age of the19 current residents is 92 many suffer from alzheimer’s disease and were not available forinterviews

在过去的35年里，有超过80人在拿撒勒院离世。目前这19名居民的平均年龄为92岁。其中有不少患有阿尔茨海默病，无法接受采访。

the nursing home’s existence rankles some south koreans

这家疗养院的存在令一些韩国人耿耿于怀。

i still get angry calls, asking: ‘what do you think you are doing? don’t you know what thejapanese did to our fort women?' song said i hope what we do here will, in its small andsilent way, help heal the ties between the two nations

我还会接到一些愤怒的来电，质问：‘你觉得自己在干什么?你不知道日本人对我们国家的慰安妇做了些什么吗?’宋美河说。我希望我们在这里做的事，可以用它微小而无声的方式，帮助弥合两国之间的裂痕。

on a recent afternoon, nazarewon was shrouded in silence women sat motionlessly inwheelchairs, gazing at nhk on a large screen a few played a card game, counting their scoresin japanese but otherwise speaking korean azaleas blossomed in the front yard

不久前的一个下午，拿撒勒院沉浸在一片寂静之中。老人们一动不动地坐在轮椅里，盯着大屏幕上播放的nhk台。有几人在玩纸牌，用日语计算她们的分数，讲其他话的时候则用韩语。前院里，杜鹃花正在盛放。

i don’t know anything about politics, said katsura, who declined to discuss korean-japaneserelations what i do know is that if you do well to others, they will do well to you, too that’strue between people, between nations

我对政治一无所知，香贯说。她拒绝讨论韩日关系。我知道的是，如果你对别人好，他们也会对你好。不管是人与人之间，还是国家与国家之间，都是这样。