MINSK, 22 June (BelTA) - Ambassador of Belarus to Japan Ruslan Esin together with the heads of diplomatic missions of friendly countries laid flowers at the tomb of Richard Sorge, Hero of the Soviet Union, and at the monument to his multinational group of fighters for peace who gave their lives to fight the war, BelTA learned from the Belarusian Embassy in Japan.
"Today, like eight decades ago, Belarusians need the support of friends, and we have many of them around the world. We need to build bridges of friendship and cooperation between nations and in no case look at each other through a scope of sanctions, discrimination and prejudice," Ambassador Ruslan Esin noted.
On 22 June, Belarus commemorates the Day of National Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War. On this day 81 years ago the country faced the horrors of World War II. Belarus lost more than 3 million of its residents, or every third.
Japan also marks a sad date related to World War II at the end of June. On 23 June Okinawa Memorial Day commemorates the end of the battle from 1 April to 23 June 1945. According to different estimates, about 100,000 civilian lives were lost. In the run-up to the this date, on 16 June 2022, the head of the Belarusian diplomatic mission together with representatives of the Okinawan community honored the memory of children and residents of the prefecture who became victims of the war.
On the same day Ambassador Ruslan Esin met with Teruya Hisashi, one of the few survivors of the tragedy of the Tsushima-maru, the ship that evacuated children and civilians from the island and that was sunk on 22 August 1944. There were 1,661 people aboard, including 834 school-age children accompanied by teachers and parents. Only 280 people survived, 59 of them children. "War is bad for any country, whether it loses or wins. People must first and foremost love peace," Teruya Hiyashi said.
“The Belarusian land is all too well aware of tragedies of this scale, so it is important for us not to shun them. In 2020, Belarusian diplomats visited the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum where they learned about those tragic events. Then it was decided to replenish the exposition of the museum, which contains stones and minerals from many countries of the world, with an exhibit from Belarus. The idea was implemented in November 2021,” the Belarusian Embassy informed.
Today Okinawa is an interesting and promising regional partner for Belarus. It was here that Belarus delivered its first prefabricated wooden houses. Now the parties are negotiating deliveries of Belarusian linen fabrics and foodstuffs. “In addition to business cooperation, it has become a good tradition for us to honor the memory of innocent victims of World War II,” the Belarusian diplomatic mission in Tokyo stressed.
