In the mid-1950s, Britain's relations with Japan were still fragile in the aftermath of the war and Japanese residents of London felt a strong desire to heal the wounds.
It was against this backdrop that the then-Japanese ambassador's wife, Fukiko Nishi, set up an organization of Japanese women to improve Anglo-Japanese understanding and relations.
Nishi learned from a previous stint in Australia how to use the often-sidelined Japanese wives as a form of diplomatic soft power.