Ceremony to Promote Japan-Britain Reconciliation Held

June 19, 2018

London- A reception ceremony to promote Japan-Britain reconciliation was held at the Japanese embassy in London on Monday with the attendance of former British prisoners of war during World War II and their families.

At the 22nd annual ceremony, some 200 participants paid respect to Keiko Holmes, a Japanese-born activist working to support former Far East POWs from Britain.

She was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays by Japan's government this spring.

"For the last 30 years working for reconciliation, we have faced many struggles and shared tears," Holmes, who heads a charity group called Agape World, said in a speech at the ceremony.

Holmes, 70, has invited a total of over 500 former prisoners and their families to Japan in the "pilgrimage of reconciliation" homestay program since 1992.

Among the participants in Monday's ceremony was William Frankland, a 106-year-old doctor who was captured in Singapore in 1942.

"I think she has done a marvelous job," he said.

According to the embassy, about 57,000 British servicemen were held captive and some 20,000 civilians detained by the now-defunct Imperial Japanese military. Jiji Press