Japan Group of War-Bereaved Families Ends Overseas Memorial Tours

Bangkok, March 15 (Jiji Press)–Nippon Izokukai, a Japanese association of war-bereaved families, has ended its overseas memorial services that lasted more than 30 years, due to the aging of participants. Participants of tours organized by the association visited countries where their family members died in war to mourn the deceased, and interacted with local people. For the final overseas memorial trip planned by the group, about 60 people in their 50s to 80s from 23 prefectures toured Myanmar for five days from Friday. They visited Yangon, the biggest city in the Southeast Asian nation, and the central Myanmar city of Bago. On Wednesday, a memorial ceremony was held at a cenotaph in Yangon. Participants also interacted with children at a local elementary school built with support from the Japanese organization. A memorial trip to Myanmar had not been conducted since fiscal 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and political instability in the country. About 137,000 people died in Myanmar during World War II, due partly to the impact of the 1944 Battle of Imphal, in which the former Imperial Japanese military tried to attack Imphal, northeastern India, which was a hub for the Allied powers in the war. Among the participants of the final tour was Takako Yamamoto, 82, from the city of Amami, Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan. Her father, Yukio Azuma, died at a field hospital in northern Myanmar at the age of 32 in August 1944. Azuma went to war while his wife was pregnant with Yamamoto, leaving a message that he wanted to see his yet-to-be-born baby as well as two candidate names for the child, one for a boy and one for a girl. Before her death 12 years ago, Yamamoto’s mother bought many books about Myanmar as she wanted to visit the country to mourn her husband. “I wanted to take her to Myanmar,” Yamamoto said. Still, Yamamoto said she is really happy to be able to come to Myanmar. It is regrettable that this would be the final tour organized by Nippon Izokukai. The organization launched its overseas memorial services in fiscal 1991, organizing trips to areas including the Philippines, China and Pacific islands, where fierce battles were fought. A total of about 16,600 people participated in the tours. Following the end of the memorial trips, the association plans to expand exchanges with younger generations in areas that became battlegrounds during war, mainly through a storyteller program to pass down memories. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]