Many and cenotaphs are located outside of Japan for Japanese people who have died in war or other historical events. This article lists graves, tombs and burial places.
History
The oldest known Japantown featuring a Japanese cemetery is in Ayutthaya, Thailand, which was established between the 14th and 18th centuries. The oldest known Japanese national recorded by name and buried outside Japan is the early explorer Yamada Nagamasa.
Wars, particularly World War II, have accounted for a majority of the Japanese burial sites located outside of Japan. There is a cemetery for the Imperial Japanese Navy in Malta, multiple sites for POWs in Siberia, and many Pacific War sites, which include Japanese cemeteries, cenotaphs, and remains in the NanpÃ
 Islands, the Philippines, New Guinea, and other Pacific Islands. There have been multiple efforts by veteran organizations and the Japanese government to return remains to living relatives. The Japanese government's "Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare" conducted a public project to search and collect the remains of war dead to bring the remains back to Japan.
Monuments to victims of the United States' internment of citizens of Japanese ancestry are prevalent in the Western United States.
Location and names of cemeteries, cenotaphs, and tombs
Asia
Afghanistan
- Jalalabad outskirt, Gamberi park: Doctor Serve Nakamura Memorial Tower, built in Jan. 2020.
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Cambodia
China
India
- Imphal: Cenotaph for Japanese war casualties in the ).
- Worli, Mumbai: Mumbai Japanese cemetery; 3,000 Japanese lived in the Mumbai area to procure cotton in the early ShÃ
Âwa period. Most of the remains and property of the deceased were brought back to Japan, and the remains of only 30 people remain in Mumbai as of 2008.
Indonesia
Kazakhstan
Laos
- Vientiane Province, Nam Ngum Dam: The grave site of several Japanese engineers surveying possible dam locations who died in December 1960 when their boat overturned. The burial site is in close proximity to the dam.
Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia
East Malaysia
- Kota Kinabalu Japanese cemetery
- Kuching Japanese cemetery
- Labuan, Borneo, Labuan Peace Park: for the 12,000 men who died during the war in Borneo and the surrounding ocean area. Constructed by the Japanese government with the cooperation of government of Malaysia and the government of Sabah in September 1982.
- Miri Japanese cemetery (in Tun Datu Tuanku Haji Bujang College)
- Sandakan Japanese cemetery
- Tawau Japanese cemetery
Mongolia
To resolve the lack of labor, the Mongolian government requested to transfer POWs in October and December 1945, and approximately 12,318 Japanese prisoners were forced to work, from which more than 1,600 have died. There are 16 Japanese cemeteries including those listed below.
- Altanbulag Selenge Province Japanese cemetery
- Sükhbaatar Japanese cemetery
- Ulaanbaatar, and , for approximately 1,700 POWs who died after the war ended. They were constructed by the Japanese government in October 2001.)
Naruhito, Emperor of Japan, and Empress Masako mourning on 8 July 2025.
- Japanese cemetery
- burial (12 Japanese)
Myanmar
- Yangon Japanese cemetery: For Karayuki-san and Pacific War casualties. , a peace memorial to the approximately 190,000 Japanese who died during war. It was constructed by the Japanese government in March 1981 before being moved and expanded in size by the Myanmar government in March 1998.)
Nepal
- Mustang District: Toru Kondo () contributed to the development of the Mustang District.
North Korea
Cemetery and burial place of Japanese who lived in the South Korea area before and after World War II. There are 71 cemeteries and burial places in North Korea.
- Suburb of Pyongyang: ; 2,421 people evacuated to Pyongyang after the end of World War II, August 15, 1945, and died in the period of October 1945 to April 1946 due to cold temperatures and/or illness.
- Hamhung: Cemetery and burial place.
Philippines
One of the bloodiest battlefields of the Pacific War; there are many cenotaphs.
- Luzon: Approximately 270 cenotaphs in various locations.
Kalayaan â , to commemorate approximately 518,000 Japanese war dead in the Battle of Luzon. Constructed by the Japanese government in March 1973.
Russia (Asia region)
- Primorsky Krai: 146 Japanese cemeteries and burial places.
- Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai: Cenotaph of a deceased POW father and others.
- Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Oblast: Japanese cemetery, located midway between downtown and the airport.
- Smirnykh, Sakhalin Oblast: (Constructed by the Japanese government in November 1996.)
- Former , Kholmsk, Sakhalin Oblast: Cenotaph constructed at the location of a former Japanese cemetery, by affiliated Maokacho in August 1995.
- Nagornaya street, Nakhodka: Japanese cemetery.
- Listvyanka, Irkutsky District, Irkutsk Oblast, Khabarovsk: ; approximately 60,000 remembered as POWs in Siberia. It was constructed by the Japanese government in July 1995.
- Irkutsk Oblast: Cenotaph of approximately 40 buried.
- Amur Oblast: Cenotaph of approximately 41 buried.
Singapore
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Taiwan
- Tainan: 's Japanese columbarium. The former Japanese cemetery () before was exhumed and displacement took place in 1997. The tomb of Akashi Motojiro was then moved to the cemetery () in Sanzhi District, Taipei, other remains were moved to Houkakuji temple in Taichung.
- Sanzhi District, Taipei: tomb of Akashi Motojiro
- Taipei: Tomb of Mr. Rokushin ()
- Taipei: , Japanese cremated remains morgue
- Tainan: Tomb of Yoichi Hatta and his wife.
- Kaohsiung: Japanese cemetery in
- Hualien County:
- Hualien County:
- Pingtung County : At Bashi Channel, Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Kuretake (), transport Tamatsu Maru and many other ships that were attacked by the United States Navy during Pacific War time. This area was called the in Japan, where more than 100,000 were killed in action. Japanese veteran survived for 12 days and was saved in August 1944. He self-funded the construction of the Chouonji temple in 1981 to memorialize compatriots. In August 2015, 60 families of the deceased, Taiwanese, and Japanese attended the ceremony.
Tajikistan
Thailand
Uzbekistan
There are 13 Japanese cemeteries in Uzbekistan.
Vietnam
- Há»Âi An: Há»Âi An Japanese cemetery memorializing 30 years after the Sakoku and the Japanese started foreign trade by the red seal ships. As a result, Japanese residents of Vietnam could not return to Japan and died there.
Africa
Madagascar
- Two cenotaphs of four Japanese Imperial Japanese Navy killed in Battle of Madagascar in Antsiranana, named Diego-Suarez prior to 1975. First cenotaph for two of four Japanese was constructed in 1976 by the Japanese embassy. Second cenotaph of four was constructed by voluntary efforts of war veterans in 1997.
Oceania
Australia
- South Pacific Memorial Park, cenotaph of South Pacific war dead and ossuary built in May 1970.
New Zealand
Northern Mariana Islands
- Banzai Cliff, North end of Saipan: for 43,000 Japanese killed in action and 12,000 citizens killed in the war regardless of nationality including Japanese migrants to the Saipan, Tinian, Guam islands until the end of the war in 1945. It was constructed by the Japanese government with the cooperation of the Northern Mariana Islands government in March 1974.
Papua New Guinea
- Wewak: , It commemorates 130,000 Japanese killed in action and 50,000 residents killed in the war. It was constructed by the Japanese government with the cooperation of Papua New Guinea in September 1980.
- Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago: , 200,000 killed in action at the Battle of Rabaul. It was constructed by the Japanese government and the in September 1980.
- Guadalcanal: Solomon Peace Commemorative Park, built in 1998.
North America
Canada
Dominican Republic
United States
- Bronx, New York City: Woodlawn Cemetery. Tomb of Hideyo Noguchi, JÃ
Âkichi Takamine, and , and others.
- Brooklyn, New York City: Cypress Hills National Cemetery. Tomb of , representative of former Sony, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, in New York, and others.
- Colma, California: Japanese Cemetery. Contains three Kanrin Maru crew members who died during the first Japanese Embassy to the United States, and others.
- Honolulu, Hawaii, Kakaako Waterfront Park: cenotaph of victims of the Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville collision.
- Makiki, Honolulu, Hawaii: Makiki Japanese cemetery built in the early 1900s by Japanese immigrants and the first cemetery of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
- Manzanar, Owens Valley, Inyo County, California: Tomb and cenotaph is near to the visitor center. The cenotaph was built on 15 cent donations from each family in the camp in August 1943. It also holds the remains of six unidentified people.
- Queens, New York City: Mount Olivet Cemetery. Tomb of , who founded the with JÃ
Âkichi Takamine in 1914.
- Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony, Placerville, California: Grave of Okei Ito, the first known Japanese woman to be buried on American soil. Died 1871.
- Willow Grove Cemetery, New Brunswick, New Brunswick, New Jersey - , Kijiro Hasegawa (é·谷å·ÂéÂÂéÂÂ), Kosuke Matsukata (æ¾æ¹èÂÂä»Â), , Otojiro Irie (Ã¥Â
¥æ±Âé³次éÂÂ), Shinjiro Kawasaki (å·Âå´Âæ°次éÂÂ), Tatsuzo Sakatani (éª谷éÂÂä¸Â) and Died young eldest daughter of and his wife.
South America
Bolivia
Brazil
Peru
Europe
Malta
Russia (Europe region)
United Kingdom
- Wales: Cenotaph of the Hirano Maru that was shipwrecked by U-boat on December 5, 1918. The wooden cenotaph was renewed with stone cenotaph on its 100th anniversary on October 4, 2018.
See also
References