 They went as far as the Ōmura detention camp, a processing center for migrants repatriating from former territories of the Empire of Japan, but finding themselves unable to return to Korea as they had planned, they settled down in Sapporo, Hokkaidō.At that time, Lee's older sister had been left behind in Karafuto; in his later works, he describes the traumatic impression this left on him.From Sapporo's West High School, Lee advanced to Tokyo's Waseda University, where he studied literature.