# The girl who erased herself to survive

> Nishikawa Miwa's Toronto Platform opener follows a Tokyo war orphan who trades her name for a chance at staying alive.
- Title: The girl who erased herself to survive · Variety | Shortify
- Summary: Nishikawa Miwa's Toronto Platform opener follows a Tokyo war orphan who trades her name for a chance at staying alive. Survival after the firebombing came at…
- Keywords: japanese cinema, tiff, war orphans, wwii, nishikawa miwa, entertainment, culture, girl, erased, herself, survive, Variety
- Source: Variety — https://variety.com/2026/film/festivals/nishikawa-miwa-children-untold-toronto-war-orphans-1236858495
- Author: Naman Ramachandran
- Published: 2026-09-12T13:30:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: japanese cinema, tiff, war orphans, wwii, nishikawa miwa, entertainment, culture
## Toronto opens with this
Nishikawa Miwa's "Children Untold" leads the Platform strand at the Toronto festival, a drama about Japan's abandoned war orphans.
## Tokyo in ashes
The story starts in the rubble of the WWII firebombing of Tokyo, a city where children were left to fend for themselves.
## A girl named Kotoko
She is 12, and she once dreamed of a life in music. The war takes that and leaves her shining shoes on the street.
## Shelter under the yakuza
Kotoko falls in with a band of orphaned boys who survive under the protection of a local yakuza clan.

> fall in with a band of orphaned boys sheltering under a local yakuza clan
## Erasing her old self
To keep going, Kotoko wipes out every trace of the person she used to be. The self becomes one more thing to trade.

> erase every trace of the person she used to be
## Built from real testimony
Nishikawa spent years with archival accounts of Japan's war orphans, asking how much of yourself you can give up before survival stops meaning anything.

> how much of yourself a person can give up before survival stops meaning anything at all
## Key takeaway

Survival after the firebombing came at a price: the children who lived often had to give up who they were.