Families of WWII Soldiers Who Died in Bashi Channel Mourn at Ceremony in Southern Taiwan

By Masatsugu Sonoda / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

15:14 JST, August 4, 2025

PINGTUNG COUNTY, Taiwan — A memorial service was held Sunday at Chaoyin Temple in Pingtung County, southern Taiwan, to commemorate Japanese soldiers who died in battle during World War II in the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines.

About 160 people, including family members of the soldiers and those engaged in Japan-Taiwan relations, attended the service and offered prayers for the repose of their souls.

At the ceremony, Munetoshi Yoshida, 83, a priest from Ogi, Saga Prefecture, recited sutras. His father was the captain of the destroyer Kuretake, which sank in the Bashi Channel. Kazuyuki Katayama, representative of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Taipei Office, equivalent to an embassy, read out a condolence message from Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Takamaro Fukuoka.

Hatsue Yoshioka, 80, a resident of Tokunoshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, lost her father, who was a lance corporal in the Imperial Japanese Army. Attending the ceremony for the first time, she released photos of her father, as well as of her late mother and brother, into the sea from a sandy beach overlooking the strait.

“This is the first time all four members of my family have gathered here. War destroys families and makes people miserable,” she said, emphasizing the value of peace.

The Bashi Channel was a major supply route connecting Japan and areas to the south during the war. Nicknamed “the graveyard of transport ships” due to intense U.S. military attacks that sank Japanese ships one after another, it is said that over 100,000 people lost their lives in the channel. Some of the remains drifted ashore to southern Taiwan, where local residents cremated and buried them.

In September, Japan plans to conduct a search to excavate the remains of the war dead.