Japanese get more WWII remains from Papua

JAYAPURA - Family of Japanese soldiers killed in the Second World War have been in Indonesia to receive the remains of men recovered from the site of a battle in Papua province.

Japan Daily Press reports that in a ceremony, which included a three-hour cremation, residents of Puay village gave six Japanese family members about 9,000 bone fragments of 134 Japanese soldiers.

The cremated remains are to be returned to Japan later this week and placed in a cemetery dedicated to the numerous unknown Japanese soldiers that died overseas during the war.

In 1964, the Japanese government began facilitating such repatriation efforts from a number of locations, including Papua.

It is estimated that Japan lost 180,000 soldiers on New Guinea island during the Second World War. [RNZI]