Around 4,000 Japanese orphans were left behind in China by their parents, as World War II and the War of the Resistance against Japanese Aggression ground to a halt, in 1945, mainly in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin, and the Inner Mongolia region.

So, a group of 54 of these orphans came from Japan to a cemetery in Fangzheng county, near the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang, on July 13, to visit their former home and pay homage to the Chinese parents who adopted them and who are buried in the city.

In spite of the severe shortage of supplies, the adoptive Chinese parents took good care of the infants for anywhere from 10 years to two decades before they returned to Japan with the help of the Chinese government and the normalization of diplomatic relations with Japan.

The director general of a Tokyo support group for the returning Japanese, Ikeda Sumie, said they were here six years ago and that she herself considers Japan the motherland but China her home.

Ikeda Sumie during her visit to the cemetery of her adoptive Chinese parents in Fangzheng county, Heilongjiang, on July 13. [Photo by Wang Kai/Xinhua]

Former Japanese war orphan paying homage to adoptive Chinese parents in Fangzheng county, Heilongjiang, on July 13. [Photo by Wang Kai/Xinhua]