By Junko Horiuchi,
A photo exhibition on Megumi Yokota, who has become a symbol of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea decades ago, opened Wednesday in Tokyo, with organizers hoping images and items chronicling her 13 years in Japan will draw attention to the unresolved issue.
On display in the Nihombashi Takashimaya department store gallery are around 60 family photographs, including some taken by Megumi's father Shigeru, who died in 2020 at age 87, and her mother Sakie, 87, prior to their daughter's abduction by North Korean agents in Niigata in 1977 when she was 13 years old.
"I've kept all of Megumi's belongings as they are very important. Since her abduction, each item has become a precious memory," Yokota told an opening event at the crowded gallery that drew over 200 visitors.
"As long as I live, I'll believe that she'll come back," Yokota said, adding, "I hope the government will produce results regarding the abduction issue while I am alive."
She spoke alongside Akihiro Arimoto, 95, whose daughter Keiko was taken to North Korea at age 23 in 1983 after traveling to study English in London.
Arimoto, whose wife Kayoko died in 2020 at age 94, recalled that his daughter was determined to study abroad despite his opposition.
"No doubt she was tricked by (North Korean agents). She may not have realized that a dangerous world exists," Arimoto said.
Japan lists 17 people as having been abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. Five of them returned to Japan in 2002 and the other 12 remain unaccounted for.
Yokota and Arimoto are the only surviving parents of the 12.
A red kimono worn by Megumi Yokota in front of her home in Niigata on a snowy day in January 1977 is being displayed for the first time. She was abducted in November that year on her way home from badminton practice at her junior high school.
A summer dress handmade by her mother, a message card and an exchange diary she shared with a close friend in Niigata, as well as newspaper stories on the abduction issue are also on display, along with a video interview with Sakie Yokota.
Ahead of the opening of the exhibition, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, who doubles as minister in charge of the abduction issue, toured the gallery with Yokota as his guide.
"I again felt sorry that we could not bring (Megumi) home while (Shigeru) was alive," Matsuno told a press conference after visiting the event. He said he conveyed to Yokota the government's "renewed determination to resolve the abductions issue."
The exhibition through Aug. 14, which is free of charge, was planned by a group of neighbors who have supported the Yokotas over the years.
"We want to convey the tragedy of the abduction issue, the number of years that the family have suffered and the (mother's) keen wish to bring back her daughter as soon as possible," the group, Asagao no Kai, said in a statement.
