I like to visit Sasebo’s former naval cemetery at Highasi Park from time to time, looking at ship memorials and enjoying the changing seasons there. It’s Japan’s largest naval cemetery and since the first burials in 1892, it’s kept alive the memory of 417 individuals and 60 ships or units that have called Sasebo home.

Being lost at sea, usually during wartime, means these are places where survivors and family member can hold memorials for their shipmates and loved ones. People visit throughout the year and leave offerings of cigarettes, water, tea, and alcohol, which the deceased would have enjoyed in life. Each stone has a story and for me, it’s a place to learn and connect with the naval history of my adopted hometown.

Some Memorial Stories

The joint memorial for Takao-class heavy cruiser Chokai and Yugumo-class destroyer Fujinami stand outs for commemorating two seemingly unrelated vessels with a shared fate. Chokai was scuttled after the famous Battle off Samar on Oct. 25, 1944, 81 years ago today. The cruiser had the rare distinction of being hit by an aircraft carrier’s primary armament in a gun battle before aircraft delivered a crippling blow.

Fujinami collected her survivors and scuttled the cruiser. Two days later, Fujinami was sunk by American aircraft and lost with all hands, both her own and Chokai’s survivor. This made for a total loss of 830 sailors from Chokai and 130 from Fujinami, with no survivors from either vessel.

A peculiar source of visitors for these many of these ship memorials are KanColle fans who come to pay their respects to their favorite Kanmusu waifu. If you don’t know what that means, it’s for the best.

While some wartime vessels still have annual gatherings to remember the dead, others are older and sit as quiet reminders that men once lived and died in the naval service. One of the Sasebo naval cemetery’s sadder peacetime tales is told by a forlorn monument to the first crew of Chidori-class torpedo boat Tomozuru.

Because of destroyer tonnage limitations set by the London Naval Treaty, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s solution was to build light torpedo boats that didn’t meet the minimum weight to classify as destroyers. They then loaded up the “not destroyers” with the heaviest destroyer armament available, making them unstable and dangerously top-heavy. Tomozuru was one of these vessels and capsized during a training exercise off Sasebo on Mar. 12, 1934, about a month after its commissioning. Only 13 of the original 113 officers and crew survived. This monument is for those lost 100.

This loss of life, and near loss of a vessel, resulted in a re-examination of existing and future ship designs to prevent a repeat occurrence and numerous destroyers and cruisers being pulled from service until the deficiencies could be corrected. Tomozuru itself would be repaired and returned to service; it was lost for the final time when sunk by American aircraft on Mar. 24, 1945.

A new memorial that caught my attention was for JS Asayuki (DD-132), a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Hatsuyuki-class destroyer decommissioned in 2020. It suffered no dramatic tragedy or loss of life, but sailed a million miles in defense of Japan and spent its 33 years home ported in Sasebo. I imagine many of her sailors still live in Sasebo and this is the ideal place to stop and remember the one and only “Glitter Venus.” (That’s the ship’s nickname, I can’t make that up.)

The most famous, in his day, sailor buried here may be Miura Torajiro. Miura was a 19-year old seaman from Saga Prefecture who served aboard protected cruiser Matsushima during the 1894 Battle of Yalu. Mortally wounded, his last words were to ask, “Has the enemy vessel sunk yet?” This would inspire a poem and later the song, “Yukan Naru Suihei” or “The Brave Sailor.”

The only individual foreign grave is for German sailor Christian Schmidt, who died of illness while his ship was in port and was laid to rest in 1899.

The Shanghai Incident memorial is a bit different, as it commemorates the 78 sailors who died in a specific battle, not a unit or ship. The Imperial Japanese Army’s 1931 invasion of China had unsurprisingly generated “strong anti-Japanese sentiment” in Shanghai. During a period of heightened tension and violence in late January 1932, ships and sailors from Sasebo were sent to reinforce Japanese ground forces in the city and held for two weeks before being relieved by the army. It may commemorate the dead, but the memorial is also a reminder of Japan’s aggressive military expansion in the 1930s which would lead to the nation’s downfall in 1945.

Before wandering through, I recommend grabbing a brochure from the visitor center. It contains a map with the memorials laid out along with some interesting bits of information about a few of them. The center also has photos and some models of ships commemorated here.

My personal connection to the cemetery stems from a joint Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and US Navy flower-laying ceremony in 2015; it was one of the first events I covered after being stationed here. It that helped set the tone for my tour and the relationship between our two services and the city.

SASEBO, Japan (Nov. 17, 2015) Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, commander, U.S. 7th Fleet, and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Vice Admiral Kazuki Yamashita, commandant, Sasebo District, lay flowers at the maritime defenders memorial at Higashiyama Park, Nov. 17, 2015. The flowers were laid to honor Japanese sailors who have died in the line of duty. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class David R. Krigbaum/Released)

Admiral Togo’s Influence on Local Cooking

Afterwards, I walked down hill to see the World War II air raid shelters in the hillside and catch the bus from Omiya bus stop to Matsuura Park Entrance bus stop at the arcade. To finish the cemetery visit right, I had the navy beef stew at Hachinoya.

Admiral Togo Heihachiro, whose statue guards the naval cemetery, is one of the great figures in modern Japanese history. To Japan and the world, he was the admiral that defeated Russia at Tsushima, the first time an Asian power bested a European in a sea battle. To future Emperor Hirohito, he was a mentor. Locally, he was part of Sasebo naval history as he commanded the ship that surveyed Sasebo harbor for the navy in 1883 and was the naval district’s 7^th commandant in 1899. To Sasebo City, he was also the man who brought them beef stew.

During his years studying in Britain, he developed a taste for beef stew and brought the dish back with him. This made recreating “navy beef stew” something of a local specialty in a nation only slowly discovering the joys of beef and is likely where Sasebo’s proud tradition of assimilating foreign foods from sailors began. Hachinoya’s interpretation is fairly sweet and the beef chunks melted in my mouth as I ate under a KanColle poster in the restaurant. A momento by the door caught my eye as I left; it was a small plaque from destroyer JS Asayuki, the “Glitter Venus.”

The cemetery is free to enter and has free parking but eating at Hachinoya costs money. It’s not a charity, but the prices are reasonable for the quality.

ADDRESS

Higashi Park Naval Cemetery
857-0842
182-1 Higashiyama-cho, Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture
Telephone 0956888397
Email. s-kaigunbochi@tvs12.jp
https://kaigunbochi.jp/

Hachinoya
857-0054
5 Chome-9 Sakaemachi, Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture
Telephone 0956244522
https://hachinoya.net/english/

REFERENCES

Wartime Tabular Movement of Tomozuru

http://www.combinedfleet.com/tomozu_t.htm

Serving the Fleet by Philip D. Eakins a& Thomas Smith

Kaigun by David C. Evans & Mark R. Peattie