Love triangles often hide stories of infidelity and lies, but the triangle formed by the Russian Klavdia Novikova, the Japanese Yasaburo Hachiya and his wife Hisako it only hides love and sacrifice.
During World War II, Yasaburo and his wife Hisako fled Japan and settled in Korea where they had two children. After the war in Europe and after the Yalta Conference, in August 1945 Stalin entered the war against Japan invading Manchuria, Korea and the Kuril Islands. Like many Japanese living in Korea, Yasaburo was accused of espionage and sentenced to 10 years in the terrible Siberian gulag. In that camp he met Klavdia Novikova, locked up for the terrible crime of " stealing to eat » dressed as «theft of socialist property «.
When both finished their sentences, her life took an unexpected turn:Klavdia returned to her house and found no one, her husband had abandoned her; Yasaburo, the victim of a bureaucratic error, had to stay in the Soviet Union as his name was not included among the Japanese prisoners to be repatriated to Japan. With no chance to return home, no news from his family for 10 years and thinking that his previous life was broken, Yasaburo Hachiya disappeared under the name Yasha Ivanovich . From the friendship born in seclusion, seasoned by loneliness, something deeper arose. At first, Klavdia was afraid to start a relationship with Yasha because what will they say He had been convicted of espionage. So, despite what her heart dictated, she put land in between and moved thousands of kilometers to a small town called Progreso . But Yasha did not give up. She followed her to Progreso and there, after much insistence, she got the yes. They married and lived happily for 37 years on a small orchard, some goats, and Yasha's jobs as a barber and acupuncturist.
Yasha and Klavdia
Their lives would change again in the 90s with the fall of the USSR. The opening to foreign trade made a local businessman coincide with several Japanese businessmen. He told them, as an anecdote, that in his town lived a Japanese who had been imprisoned in the gulag. The Japanese found his story curious and began to investigate his origin... until they found a brother of Yasha/Yasaburo and put them in contact. Yasha's world came crashing down when his brother told her that his wife Hisako and his daughter had survived and were living in Japan -his son died in Korea-. After 50 years, Hisako was still waiting for him. That news left Yasaburo confused, he did not know whether to stay and continue with Yasha's life with Klavdia or return to recover Yasaburo and everything he left behind. Klavdia decided for him: she gathered the few savings they had and got a passport for her husband, in addition to divorcing him so that she could recover her previous life.
Klavdia sacrificed her own happiness and insisted that she return to the arms of his wife she had waited so long for. In addition, with the pension that she would obtain in Japan, she would be able to access the necessary medical care for her delicate state of health.
His wife needed to hug him again and his daughter needed a father… When I let him go, I felt like half of my heart had been ripped out. It was no one's fault, just fate. He had suffered a lot and deserved better living conditions in his homeland.
Yasha and Klavdia
In March 1997, they said goodbye with a passionate kiss and both thought it would be the last time they saw each other... but it wasn't. Every Saturday they talked on the phone and Yasaburo sent gifts and money whenever he could.
A Japanese writer found out about that story and decided to write a book about that love triangle that was later made into a movie. The story shocked Japanese society and a collection was made to finance Klavdia's trip to Japan…. and the reunion took place. If the hug between Yasaburo and Klavdia was intense and emotional, the one between Klavdia and Hisako was no less so... words were not needed, the tears said it all.
Yasaburo and Hisako
Last September Klavida Novikova passed away. Her death went almost unnoticed in Russia, but not in Japan where she had become a symbol of love and sacrifice. After her death, an emotional farewell letter to Progreso written by Yasaburo arrived.
Source and images:The Siberian Times