Finding a family in the fog of war

Thousands of former 'war orphans', Chinese-born Japanese children left behind when their parents returned to Japan in 1945, have spent their lives attempting to find their true antecedents. For one woman, that journey took more than 40 years and involved three changes of name, as Cai Hong and Shan Yi report from Tokyo.

One day in 1953, a policeman arrived at the home of Sumie Ikeda in Mudanjiang city in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang. He asekd yo speak with her mother, and requested that the 8-year-old girl leave the room so the adults could speak freely.

Ikeda complied, but hid behind a door to eavesdrop. The conversation stunned her.