Yoko Fighting Hunger - Pollstar News

Yoko Ono was in Tokyo recently to promote a campaign to fight childhood hunger throughout the world.

Photo: Tsutomu Fujita / Invision for Hard Rock International / AP Image

In Japan for the Imagine There's No World Hunger campaign Dec. 5.

She appeared at the Hard Rock Cafe in the Roppongi district Dec. 5 with Taiwanese rock band Mayday to talk about WhyHunger.

The group is trying to guarantee higher levels of child nutrition and sustainable farming practices in 22 countries by working with local community groups to help grow food and promote self-sufficiency.

During the presentation, Ono recalled her own childhood during World War II in Japan, when there often wasn’t enough food to provide three healthy meals a day.

Though she was born into a wealthy family, she was forced to flee Tokyo during the war due to American bombing raids.

She knew of people who either starved to death or died eating poisonous mushrooms collected in the wild.

“I know what it’s like to be hungry,” she said, and related stories about fellow school children sharing food.

“My husband and I really wanted to do something for the world, especially for the children,” she said. “Children have pride, too, so they don’t beg you, but they are in pain and they are starving.”

During the press conference, Mayday played its own version of John Lennon’s “Imagine.”