南洋廳
In 1947, Yao formally divorced Fukada. She had already published her first story for children in a magazine called "Ginga" ("Galaxy") in 1946. The story was about sensitive and resilient children suffering from the loss of their parents and siblings during the war. This was followed by "Jiro Buchin Nikki" which was first serialized in "Ginga" from January to December 1947 and then published in book form the next year by "Shinchosha". It is a full-length story of Jiro and his younger sister (nicknamed Buchin) repatriated from Japan's South Pacific Mandate, who have come to live in a village in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. Although separated from their parents and elder brother, whom they missed very much, they are comforted and encouraged by kindly rural people surrounding them.