The mother of Kazuhira Miller was a Japanese woman who previously lived in Tokyo. In World War II, during her mid-teens, Tokyo was bombed by the United States on March 10, 1945, which killed both her parents. With a third of the city left in ruin, she was forced to live with her cousin in Yokosuka for the remaining period of the war. After Japan surrendered following the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she and her cousin turned to prostitution in order to survive the post-war period, during the town's occupation by American forces. It was through "servicing" the troops that she became pregnant by Colonel Miller, a GHQ officer under the command of General Whitney. Miller treated her like a wife and she kept a photograph of him, but he ceased contact with her when he eventually re