My mother was Emperor Hirohito's poster child

For Mother's Day, the story of how my mother and grandmother survived a Japanese PoW camp.

Domei News, then Japan's only news agency, dispatched reporters to the frontline in Asia and the Pacific. They sent home almost daily the Domei Photo News, which was distributed by the thousands to schools, factories, shops and public places. The Domei News photographer's task was simple: show the world how content our prisoners are. The photos were intended to appease organisations such as the Red Cross, and convince ordinary Japanese families that the war was being fought honourably.

Written for The Guardian in March 2014.

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