Japanese war orphans tell of pain, shame and recovery

Children of the Sun, these children were not responsible for Japanese imperialism

please don’t stop.

keep sharing.

keep writing.

your story will remain as true history of japan.

Unfortunately current japanese government won’t accept the truth.

God bless each and every one of them

75 years too late! There is no shame in being an orphan and anyone who says otherwise is just being ignorant!

How awful!!! Anyone or any society who treats a war orphan that way is mentally ill.

So much cruelty aimed at the victims of a government's policies. People really do eat their own, don't they.

Might makes right (in the minds of those in power) is a universal. Fight the power. Wherever.

75 years latter very little has changed. Empathy not a strong point.

So basically the one Japanese orphan in China was treated well by his adoptive family, and the orphans within Japan were treated almost worse than animals by their own countrymen, and in some cases their own relatives.

As others have pointed out, empathy is severely lacking.

Earlier this year, I watched an hour long documentary on Japanese war orphans.

It was... disturbing and heartbreaking.

It is sad when your own government is done with you, disposes and abandons you. Humanity and a heart for people must be developed.

nippori nick:

So basically the one Japanese orphan in China was treated well by his adoptive family, and the orphans within Japan were treated almost worse than animals by their own countrymen, and in some cases their own relatives.

As others have pointed out, empathy is severely lacking.

When I first read the title, I thought, Oh, another story about Japanese orphans left behind in China. Yes, the irony. Had these orphans really been left in China, they probably would have had a much much better chance of being adopted by a loving family. As for Xi, the one who really was stuck in China, I'm glad to hear that he was well-cared for and that he, in turn, looked after his adopted parents. Love is not connected to race, nationality or blood.

75 years after Japanese imperialism what lessons have been learnt ?

instead of offering those orphans a home they were abandoned. Time to GSB and think for yourselves. Learn lessons from your own history

She is bearing a burden that does not belong to her. That burden and the shame belong to the leaders who started and ended that war. It is their burden, they should bear the shame she had to live through. THey set the conditions, not her

Not even third world countries treat one of their own like this.

How sad also a very strange and bizarre part of human nature.

If you hear of an orphan whos now grown and doing fine, wouldn’t you assume that they have been through 5 times what you have with 5 times less resources and support?

Instead nasty people sit around commenting on “dubious backgrounds”??

Weak cowards

Bullying and shaming culture is still strong in Japan today. The ugly unspoken aspect about life in Japan.

I feel so sad when I read about Japan’s war orphans, how cruel humans are. The horrors in this world gone mad is atrocious. Let us spread the awareness of these horrors around the world but I fear that a lot of people have not got a conscience to care.

'For years, orphans in Japan were punished just for surviving the war. bullied, left to fend for themselves..' How true. But it is not just happening in Japan.

Indeed, that is the kind of traumatic tragic aftermath of any war. For a most recent example, just look at the children in the refugee camps along the border of Syria. The worst sufferers are those orphans who have nowhere to go, no one to seek for any emotional help.

Does the world still want more war?

Bullying, shaming and ostracizing war orphans is not limited to Japan only. It happens in all countries who has survived the aftermath of wars. But the cruel effects of war on children and tragedy of abandoned war orphans is a seldom told for obvious painful reasons.

There is a seldom seen 1948 American movie called "The Boy With Green Hair." It's about a young small-town boy who becomes involved in a humanitarian school project to help war orphans in Europe and Asia, and in doing so discovers he too is a war orphan. He becomes troubled about this revelation and troubled to hear adults talking about preparing for another war.

The morning after the revelation that he is a war orphan, he finds his hair has turned green. He is ostracized by the townspeople, taunted and bullied by children and adults who wants to cut his hair. He runs away to a lonely part of a forest where he meets the spirits of orphaned boys and girls who confirms that he is a war orphan and tells him, with his green hair, he has a special mission to tell people that war is dangerous to children and damages them.

He decides to return home and submits to getting his hair cut. He later learns there are people who accepts what he says and wants him to go on saying it. With renewed determination, he is sure his hair will grow back green and vows to continue telling his special message.

It's a worthwhile movie for both adults and children to watch not only for its anti-war message, but its message against prejudice and intolerance as well.