Japanese war orphans set up monument to commemorate Chinese foster parents

At the end of the Second World War, a large number of Japanese war orphans were left in China and adopted by kind-hearted Chinese. To express their gratitude towards Chinese foster parents, war orphans from Kagoshima of Japan voluntarily set up a monument to commemorate their Chinese foster parents. On January 23, 2014, the unveiling ceremony was held in Kagoshima.

Located in Tenpouzancho Park, Kagoshima, the 2.45-meter high monument is inscribed with "deep gratitude towards loving Chinese foster parents", "long live the Japan-China friendship" and other inscriptions. About 60 people, including the consul-general of China in Fukuoka and representatives from political and business circles of Kagoshima, attended the unveiling ceremony. At the ceremony, a Japanese war orphan said that without the kind-hearted Chinese foster parents who extended a hand to children of enemies at that time, he would not stand there.

According to statistics, about 4,000 Japanese war orphans were adopted by Chinese foster parents. After the diplomatic normalization between China and Japan in 1972, most of them came back to Japan to look for their families, but they still kept close contact with their Chinese foster parents.