OSAKA -- A ceremony was held at a shrine in this western Japan city to return a Japanese flag belonging to a former Imperial Japanese Army officer, killed in action in Burma (now Myanmar) at the end of the Pacific War, to his bereaved family.

 

 
The ceremony was held on July 14 at Osaka Gokoku shrine in Osaka's Suminoe Ward, and the flag was returned to the family of Tatsumi Okabe from Kyoto Prefecture who died in June 1945 aged 30.

 

Inscriptions on the flag include Japanese letters literally meaning "pray for long-lasting good fortune in battle" as well as the signatures of 167 individuals, believed to be related to a clothing store where Okabe worked before his deployment.

 

The nonprofit organization Obon Society in the United States received a request from the grandchild of a former signaler who had kept the flag in their home in the U.K. for a long time. With the cooperation of organizations including Nippon Izokukai (Japan War-Bereaved Families Association), they located Fusako Okabe, 86, the eldest daughter of Okabe residing in Osaka Prefecture.

 

The ceremony was attended by family members including Fusako and Okabe's third daughter Yoshiko, 79, and others involved in the matter. The flag was returned to the family by Nippon Izokukai chairman Saburo Okakura, who received it from Obon Society co-founder Keiko Ziak. Okakura greeted participants saying, "We hope this return ceremony will serve as an occasion to think about peace and spread the wishes for lasting peace."

 

According to Fusako and others, Okabe enjoyed billiards, coffee and Western music. Fusako fondly recalled, "I remember him taking me to a bathhouse before he left for the war. I think my late mother will be pleased if we place it (the returned flag) on the family Buddhist altar."

 

(Japanese original by Kana Takagi, Osaka City News Department)