'Enemy's children' found love in arms of Chinese parents

Thousands of young Japanese abandoned at close of war were taken in by mainland families

Sumie Ikeda is an energetic and sprightly 70-year-old Japanese woman who speaks fluent Chinese with a strong northeastern accent. She is a child of history, one of about 4,000 war orphans left behind by Japanese soldiers or civilians who fled to Japan in the aftermath of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).

"We are the enemy's children, but our Chinese parents adopted us and raised us up through hard times," Ikeda said during a visit to a care home for the elderly in Beijing on Thursday.