The Japanese Embassy has organized a memorial ceremony in the Philippines to honor the roughly 1.5 million people who died in the country during World War Two. About two-thirds of them were Filipinos and the rest were Japanese soldiers and others.
The ceremony took place at a cemetery outside Manila on Thursday, the day Japan marks the end of the war.
About 200 participants, including Japanese expatriates, observed a moment of silence before a monument to the war dead and then laid flowers.
In the final months of World War Two, the now defunct Imperial Japanese military regarded the Philippines as the frontline of Japan’s defense against the Allied Forces and engaged in fierce battles with US forces. Local Filipino residents were caught in the crossfire.
One of the participants at the ceremony was a local woman who lost her Japanese grandfather in the battle. She told NHK that she was brought to tears when she thought about what must have happened to those who were killed. She said it is very important to ensure that people do not forget what happened in the war.
The Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines, Endo Kazuya, said that he paid respects to all of the people killed in the war. He expressed his resolve to continue strengthening Japan’s relations with the Philippines.