Japan’s Emperor Naruhito began a weeklong visit to Mongolia on Sunday during which he plans to honour thousands of Japanese prisoners of World War II who were held under harsh conditions in the country. Naruhito’s visit marks the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII. In recent years, he has toured some of the places where the bloodiest battles and bombings occurred, including Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Hiroshima.
The emperor has said it’s part of his effort at atonement and remembrance of the tragedy of war fought in the name of his grandfather, Emperor Hirohito. While the vast majority of Japanese soldiers were taken to Siberia, around 12,000 to 14,000 ended up in Mongolia, which was fighting alongside the Soviets against Japan.
Most of the POWs were put to hard labour and construction work for the Mongolian government’s headquarters, a state university and a theatre that are still preserved in the capital Ulaanbaatar. The prisoners toiled under harsh conditions and scarce food. Japanese records show about 1,700 of them died in Mongolia.
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