The city of Odate, previously known as Hanaoka, in Akita Prefecture and some citizens' groups are fostering grassroots exchanges with the families of Chinese workers killed in an uprising at a Japanese mine two months before the end of World War II.
The revolt, known as the Hanaoka Incident, occurred June 30, 1945, when Chinese workers at a labor camp near a copper mine staged an uprising against their Japanese supervisors, who were making them work under cruel conditions.
Five supervisors were killed and more than 400 conscripted Chinese workers are believed to have died.