Emperor, Empress Mourn Japanese who Died in Mongolia

   Ulaanbaatar, July 8 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Tuesday laid flowers at a cenotaph in Ulaanbaatar for Japanese nationals who died in detention in Mongolia in the aftermath of World War II.
   It is the first time that a Japanese Emperor has mourned at a site where Japanese people were detained abroad, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
   Before the cenotaph, which was built by the Japanese government, the Emperor and Empress bowed and observed a minute of silence under an umbrella as it was raining.
   The Imperial couple are on a visit to Mongolia from Sunday ahead of the 80th anniversary this August of the end of the war.
   After the war ended, some 14,000 former Japanese soldiers and others captured by the former Soviet Union were transferred to Mongolia. About 1,700 of them died there.

(2025/07/08-23:46)