The Commission in Japan
Japan
Japan is located in Eastern Asia, an island chain
between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of
Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula
The Commitment in Japan
Nearly 1,750 Commonwealth war dead from the two world wars and eighty of other
nationalities are buried or commemorated in Japan in Yokohama War Cemetery. Of
the war dead, twenty members of the occupation forces from India and Pakistan who
have no known graves are commemorated on the Yokohama Memorial which is a
panel in a niche on the north wall of the Indian Forces Section of the war cemetery.
The Commission also maintains a post war plot of 171 non world war graves on
behalf of the British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand Governments. It is
intended primarily for the burial of
post-war Commonwealth servicemen
and is administered by an ad hoc
cemetery committee consisting of
representatives from the British,
Canadian, Australian and New
Zealand Embassies in Tokyo, whose
governments share the cost of
maintenance according to the
respective numbers of their burials in
the plot.
Yokohama War Cemetery
An urn containing the ashes of 335 soldiers,
sailors and airmen of the Commonwealth, the
United States and the Netherlands is also
housed within the Cremation Memorial in
Yokohama War Cemetery.
Historical note
The single 1914-18 grave in the war cemetery
is that of Colonel W R Morton, former British
Military Attaché, Tokyo, which was transferred
in 1972 from Gianji Temple Cemetery, near
Matsuyama on the Island of Shikoku.
Most of the casualties buried in the cemetery and all those commemorated on the
Yokohama Cremation Memorial died whilst prisoners of war in Japan following the
surrender of Singapore in February 1942.