Two events were held in Thailand earlier this year amid a lingering generation gap in public sentiment toward Japan.
The Japanese Association in Thailand carried out a memorial service in Kanchanaburi in western Thailand in mid-March to "pray for the souls of people who died during the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway and for world peace."
Attended by some 50 people, the ceremony was held at a cenotaph built by the Japanese military in 1944 for the many people who were mobilized and died as a result of harsh working conditions, malnutrition and diseases, including cholera and malaria, during World War II.