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Elizabeth Saunders Home
Location
1152 Oiso, Oiso-machi, Naka-gun, Kanagawa-ken 255-0003 Japan
Information
Type	Orphanage
Established	February, 1948
Founder	Miki Sawada
Affiliation	Christian
Website	Elizabeth Saunders Home

Miki Sawada with orphaned children at Elizabeth Saunders Home, circa 1950.

Elizabeth Saunders Home is a Christian orphanage located in the Oiso town of Kanagawa prefecture, Japan.

History

Elizabeth Saunders Home is an orphanage in Japan established in 1948 by Miki Sawada, a Mitsubishi heiress, with the original intent of housing bi-racial children, typically those born between men of the occupying US Armed Forces and Japanese women, who were abandoned by their parents and ostracized by Japanese society immediately after WWII.

The orphanage was created on the former property of the Iwasaki (founder of Mitsubishi-see Yataro Iwasaki) family's detached residence located in Oiso, which had been confiscated by the Japanese government in lieu of property tax payment during WWII. Miki Sawada bought the land back for 4 million Yen that she managed to collect, in part by selling her personal property.

The name Elizabeth Saunders was adopted in honor of the first donor to the orphanage soon after reacquisition of the land, during which time Miki Sawada, having spent all her money, was struggling to run the orphanage. Elizabeth Saunders was a member of the Anglican Church and had spent 40 years in Japan as a governess prior to WWII, and upon her death (Japan, 1946) asked that her will be left to charitable causes. Miki Sawada never met Elizabeth Saunders, and received her donation through an intermediary some time after her passing, in October 1947. However, Elizabeth's charity enabled Miki Sawada to register her orphanage as a Non-Profit Organization for the first time, and opened the door for future charitable connections.

According to Miki Sawada's autobiography, "黒い肌と白い心" (literally "Black Skin, White Soul"), while she was on a train in Gifu prefecture of Japan in the earlier part of 1947, the dead body of a black baby wrapped in layers of newspaper and cloth fell from an overhead compartment onto her lap. By this time Miki Sawada, who was married to an ambassador of Japan, had traveled extensively prior to WWII, during which time she had also volunteered at one of Dr. Thomas John Barnardo's orphanages in England. Nevertheless, according to her biography, this incident with the deceased baby was what ultimately made her decide to open Elizabeth Saunders Home.

St. Stephan's School

In 1953 Miki Sawada opened an elementary school for the children at Elizabeth Saunders Home to attend. It was named St. Stephan's School, "Stephan" also being the Christian name of her third son that died in a naval battle in Indonesia during the WWII In 1959 she expanded the school to include a middle school. In 1993 the school started accepting students from the general public. St. Stephan's School is a member of the Association of Christian Schools in Japan, a Protestant organization.

Reconstruction of Elizabeth Saunders Home

During 2009, Elizabeth Saunders Home was rebuilt.

Alumni

There is an Old Boy's club that was established and is run by the Alumni of Elizabeth Saunders Home, and they also maintain a website.

Elizabeth Saunders Home in the Media

A Japanese documentary was made in 2009 about Elizabeth Saunders Home featuring some of the children that grew up there, titled "トンネルの向こうは僕らの楽園だった。" (Lit. "Beyond the Tunnel was our Paradise.") The title refers to the tunnel that one usually passed through in order to get to the home. The documentary was hosted by Anna Tsuchiya, an actress and singer who herself grew up in Japan as a "hafu" (Japanese euphemism for "bi-racial"). The documentary followed some of the former orphans' lives after they left Elizabeth Saunders Home and went out into the world. It was first shown on-screen then later broadcast on TV in 2010.