Six former U.S. prisoners of war will make an eight-day visit to Japan from Sunday at the invitation of Tokyo, marking the first government-sponsored trip by American POWs aimed at promoting reconciliation and bilateral mutual understanding, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
The group of former POWs, aged 87 to 91, will be led by Lester Tenney, 90, a professor emeritus at Arizona State University and a survivor of the Bataan Death March, the infamous forced march in the Philippines.
The group will be accompanied by eight members of their families. They are scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama, and visit Kyoto and other locations during their trip, according to the ministry.