WWII

NMAG Director, Dr Andrew Moutu, received the relic on October 11^th. 

Representatives from the Japanese Embassy to Papua New Guinea were also present for the occasion. 

The war relic was discovered on 2 September 2019 by a construction crew working on the Australian government funded ANGAU Hospital redevelopment in Lae, Morobe Province.  

But there's a catch.

As part of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the two countries, the United States is granted the right to certain defense facilities. In exchange for the land, the Japanese government built several new helipads for the US military to use on its southernmost island of Okinawa.

Yet the handover has done little to assuage the ire of activists, who've campaigned for decades, to remove US bases altogether from Okinawa.

The 9,852 acres of land on the island of Okinawa, part of a territory officially referred to as the Northern Training Area, is in a large US military base complex on the Pacific island more than 960 miles (1,550 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo.

The US had turned most of Okinawa over to Japan in 1972 after controlling it from the end of World War II in 1945.

This is the largest return of US-occupied land since then.

Governor General Sir Michael said it is always a great honour and privilege to commemorate  Remembrance Day with the rest of Papua New Guinea in memory of the forefather's who had fought and the sacrifices they made during in WWII.

Mayors and city council members from Honolulu and Nagaoka on Friday joined the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in laying wreaths at Pearl Harbor.

Fireworks resembling white chrysanthemum flowers were launched at the end of the ceremony. White chrysanthemums are often presented at memorial services in Japan to honor the dead.