Ran's experience was not unique. Thousands of Japanese orphans were left behind in China at the end of World War II. While some of them were offspring of Japanese soldiers, most of them came from ...

She is one of an estimated 2,800 people known as “war orphans” in Japan. Kawamoto was about three years old when she was adopted by a Chinese couple. She cannot remember her original name ...

It accommodated a monastic order, a school for non-Japanese children and an orphanage. After World War II, the property was utilized for the Mary orphanage as well as a kindergarten, among other ...

Historians and researchers across Japan are now feeling a sense of urgency. Many war orphans are in their 80s and time to talk to them ahead of the war's 75th anniversary is running out.