JAPAN: Kidnapped 24 years ago by North Korea, five Japanese have made an emotional return home. Masayuki Kitano reports
It seemed like a dream. That was how Fukie Hamamoto described her feelings when she and her husband, Yasushi Chimura, came home yesterday to Obama on Japan's west coast, 24 years after being kidnapped by North Korean agents who gagged them, stuffed them in sacks and took them by sea to the reclusive communist state.
"Thank you all so much. For so many people to gather to welcome us, it seems like a dream," Hamamoto (47), told an assembled crowd of old friends, family and local dignitaries.
Smiling broadly even as she wept, Hamamoto clasped her former classmates and accepted huge bouquets. Chimura, mixing tears and grins, did the same, then shook hands with several friends.
It was a dream shared by three other Japanese as they arrived to warm welcomes in their home towns two days after setting foot in Japan for the first time in 24 years.
Further north, on the small island of Sado, fellow abductee Hitomi Soga was far more sombre, but equally moved."I am very happy," she said. She was snatched with her mother at the age of 19 in 1978 as they returned from a shopping trip. "I now feel I am dreaming. Everything from people's hearts, the mountains, rivers and valleys look beautiful. The skies, the earth and the trees are singing 'Welcome back' for me."
In the coastal town of Kashiwazaki, returning abductee Kaoru Hasuike said his joy knew no bounds. "There's no limit to my happiness at being able to step on the earth of my hometown, Kashiwazaki, after 24 years," said the tall, thin Hasuike, accompanied by his wife, Yukiko Okudo.
The two were kidnapped together and they married in North Korea, where they have two college-aged children.
The five, who sported North Korean badges on their lapels, are the only known survivors among 13 Japanese whom Pyongyang admits were kidnapped to teach Japanese language and culture to its spies. North Korea says the other eight are dead.
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, apologised for the kidnappings at a summit with the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Junichiro Koizumi, last month, clearing the way for the resumption of talks on normalising ties and setting the stage for the five to return.
All five have left children, and in Soga's case, an American-born husband, behind in North Korea. Their return there will probably take place sometime next week.
Soga sobbed when she was reunited at his home with her father, Shigeru, whose health problems had prevented him from travelling to Tokyo. Soon, though, they were joking as she made him promise not to drink too much to celebrate her return.
Chimura prayed at a family altar to his mother, who died in April. Hands trembling as he offered incense, Chimura managed to say: "Mother, I've finally come home," before words failed him.
Smiles returned later when the five tucked into meals of raw fish, sushi and beer with their families.
On the surface, much may seem unchanged since Hamamoto and Chimura last walked the streets of Obama, nestled on Japan's western coast and looking out across the Wakasa Bay towards North Korea. Time though has not stood still.
"I think he will feel the weight of the passage of a quarter of a century," said high school teacher Shinji Morimoto, who was Chimura's classmate in grade school, ahead of the reunion.
Hamamoto and Chimura were married in North Korea and have left a daughter and two sons there.Morimoto said earlier he felt relief when he saw his friend on television among the five abductees who stepped off their plane in Tokyo on Tuesday to be reunited with their families.
"When I saw him coming off the plane, I recognised him immediately - even his hairstyle was the same," he said.
Residents of Obama, a quiet backwater with a population of 33,700 and known for its many ancient temples, aquatic delicacies and its lacquer chopstick industry, say they want to preserve its tranquility for the returnees.
"I think we need to keep things quiet and not raise too much of a fuss, since not all [the people who were abducted\] have returned and neither have the children," said Michiko Chimura, who is not related to Yasushi but went to the same schools.
Many Japanese are angered by Pyongyang's account of the deaths of the other eight abductees, suspecting that some or all are either alive or were victims of foul play.