Singer Tokiko Kato Returns to Harbin for Homecoming Performance; 1st Performance Since 1981

By Shotaro Demizu / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

14:47 JST, August 25, 2025

HARBIN, China — Singer Tokiko Kato held her first concert in Harbin, China, since 1981 on Saturday night.

Kato, 81, was born in Harbin during World War II, and moved to Japan with her family after the war.

At the concert, she performed “Tooi Sokoku” (My distant homeland), a song she said expresses her feelings for Harbin, to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the war and underscore the importance of peace. Her deeply emotional performance received a huge round of applause.

According to Kato and her older brother Mikio, 87, their four family members — excluding her father, who was serving in the military on the Korean Peninsula — were in Harbin when the war ended. They left Harbin in September 1946 and returned to Japan by ship in the following month. “The Soviet soldiers took our food, but they didn’t take our lives,” Mikio said. “We were truly lucky.”

Referring to Japan’s history with China, she said, “Being born in Manchuria was a painful fact.”

She last performed in Harbin in 1981 after diplomatic relations between Japan and China had been normalized. However, she wanted to sing there again, with the hope of promoting friendship between Japan and China. Negotiations with the Chinese side took place, and her second “homecoming performance” was realized.

Kato performed the concert with the local symphony orchestra. “I had always dreamed of performing with the symphony orchestra, and it has finally come true,” she said to the audience from on stage. “I truly want to express my gratitude to the city of Harbin.”