Flags with messages returned to bereaved families of WWII Japanese soldiers

April 6, 2018

Hikone, Shiga Pref.- Three flags with messages given to Japanese soldiers who went to World War II were returned to their bereaved families on Thursday, more than 70 years after the war.

The original owners of the flags were found by the Obon Society, a US civil group working to return Japanese soldiers' personal items to their families.

At an event held at Gokoku Shrine in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, the flags, which belonged to Takao Miyake, Yoshiro Nakano and Yasuhei Nakajima, all from the western Japan prefecture, were handed over to their families by a former US soldier's family and a British couple who possessed them.

Miyake and Nakano died in the Philippines when they were 28 and 22 years old, respectively, and Nakajima died in India at the age 25.

Jennifer Tripp, 42, the grand daughter of the former US soldier, told a press conference at the handover ceremony that she wants to tell young generations that it is possible to build peace together despite the past war.

Nakano's nephew, Ryozo, 63, expressed his surprise at the return of the flag. "I think (the spirit of) my uncle is happy returning home," he said.

The Obon Society said that as of February it had received over 1,000 flags with messages from beloved family members, friends and others around the Rising Sun in the center.

Rex Ziak, 64, coleader of the group and here for the event, said that he hopes to strengthen peace and friendship between countries that were once enemies through returns of such flags. Jiji Press