A new display of items related to Japan's role in World War II has just opened at the Imperial War Museum in London following a major renovation.

The display, which focuses on the end of the war, has as its centerpiece a Zero fighter plane that was discovered in a jungle on Taroa Island in the Pacific Ocean, 50 years after the conflict.

Historian Ian Kikuchi, who helped to curate the objects, said the plane was pushed off the runway in 1943 when the Japanese realized they did not have the resources and parts to keep it flying.

The Zero's aluminum shell is in bad shape, pocked by bullet holes and worn down by the jungle elements.

Kikuchi said the museum decided to display the plane for the first time because its skeletal appearance vividly symbolizes how the Japanese empire crumbled toward the end of the war.

"The Zero stands for early Japanese victories and also later defeats. This example of the Zero is visually arresting and intriguing," he said. The plane was acquired about 14 years ago and was stored outside London.

Other items on display for the first time include the British flag that was flown over municipal buildings in Singapore when Japan surrendered in September 1945. This was the same flag hidden by British forces when Singapore was captured by Japan in 1942.

The Imperial War Museum in London has just undergone a £40 million ($68 million) transformation that took 1½ years. The museum tells the story of the people who have lived, fought and died in conflicts involving Britain and the Commonwealth since World War I.