Okada Yoshiko — the Fate of a Japanese Actress in the USSR

Article in Elibrary

Received: 11/01/2022

Accepted: 11/25/2022

Keywords: USSR; Japan; NKVD (the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs); Okada; Sugimoto

To cite this article

Fesyun A.G. Okada Yoshiko — the Fate of a Japanese Actress in the USSR. // Lomonosov Oriental Studies Journal. 2022. N 4, p.132–148

Fesyun A.G. (Lomonosov Moscow State University)

Abstract

Basing on the documents from the investigation file, the paper displays the life of the famous actress of the Japanese Theatre and Cinema - Okada Yoshiko. Together with her beloved man - Sugimoto Ryokichi (who was the member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Japan), she crossed the Soviet-Japanese border in Sakhalin Island in 1938, hoping to start a new happy life in the Socialist country. Instead, they were immediately arrested and forced to “admit” that they came to the USSR with the spying purposes. After about a year Sugimoto war judges and shot, and Okada was sentenced for 10 years in the concentration camps. Nevertheless, she was not broken down, she managed to survive, come to Moscow and start working on the State Radio and for some Moscow theatres.