帰米二世との「国際結婚」 : 飯沼信子さんのライフ・ヒストリーを通して

Abstract

旧姓長田信子さんは、アメリカ軍に徴兵され極東での勤務を志願した飯沼星光さんと渋谷の富ヶ谷教会で結婚式をあげ、1953年9月に軍用船で海を渡った。彼女自身は戦争花嫁だとは思っていない。なぜなら星光さんはアメリカで生まれた二世ではあるが、幼少期から青年期までを日本で過ごしたいわゆる帰米二世であるからだ。日本人という同人種ゆえに国際結婚とは位置づけていないのである。しかし、アメリカ国籍をもつ日系二世のG・Iと、日本人女性との結婚は、敗戦後の国際結婚の歴史なかでも重要な位置を占める。飯沼信子さんのケースを取り上げることによって、研究上、焦点が当てられてこなかった帰米二世との「国際結婚」について考察していく。

Nobuko met Seiko Iinuma at the guest room of the Tokiwa dormitory of Jissen Women's University, Tokyo. Nobuko does not consider her marriage to be kokusai kekkon, which can be literally translated as "international marriage", since Seiko is a Kibei Nisei. Seiko was born in the United States to Japanese parents in 1926. His mother took infant Seiko to Japan and he was brought up in Kochi, his parents' hometown. Second generation of Japanese Americans are called Niseis, and further referred to as Kibei Niseis if they grew up in Japan before being repatriated to the United States as young adults. Even though Nobuko never thinks of herself as a War Bride, she is one by virtue of gone to the United States on a military ship in 1953. War Bride Studies seldom explore the cases of Japanese women marrying Kibei Nisei, even though it is well known that second-generation Japanese Americans were instrumental in bringing many Japanese women across the Pacific Ocean to the United States after World War II . This paper based on the life history of Nobuko Iinuma, and hopes to add a missing piece to the study of War Brides.