Japanese Cemetery Park; Singapore

The Japanese Cemetery in Hougang Singapore is the largest in South East Asia; spanning over 29,359 square meteres and having a total of 910 tombstones which marks the graves of young Japanese prostitutes, soldiers and convicted war criminals executed at Changi Prison.

Map of the Japanese Cemetery Park

The Hinomoto Guardian Diety

He is also known as Kshitigarbha/Di Zhang;
The Japanese call him Jizo
 地藏

Tagajiro Fukaki, a Japanese brothel owner, donated the 7 acres of his rubber plantation which was used for the burials of young Japanese women who died in Singapore. In June 26, 1891, the then British Colonial Government granted the use of the land as a burial ground for Japanese residents to bury their dead. The cemetery, during the Secing World War was used to bury the remains of civilians and/or soliders who lost their lives to illness, old age or on the battlefield during the war.

Futaki Tagajiro's tombstone and grave

World War II Memorial

There are some notable tombstones in the cemetery, one of which belongs to Yamamoto Otokichi, who is also known as "John Matthew Ottoson", who came from Onoura Village in Chita District of Owari (known as Mihama Town of Aichi Prefecture today). In 1832 he was a sailor on board the "Hojun-maru" ship from Ise Bay to Tokyo. The Hojun-maru drifted out into the Toba sea in a storm. Otokichi managed to survive and was washed ashore at Cape Alava on the West Coast of United States of America after 1 year and 2 months. He travelled the world but the isolation policy of Japan at the time, denied him entry into the country. But even after being rejected by his own country, he was still a proud Japanese and helped in promoting the opening up of his country. He later became a trader in Shanghai and in 1862 he moved from Shanghai and settled in Sinagpore. He then married and settled down with his Malay wife and became the first Japanese resident on the island. He died in 1867 and the age of 49.

Yamamoto Otokichi's charnel housing his remains

Futabatei Shimei; a Japanese novelist

Field Marshal Count Terauchi

The Prayer Hall

This is probably one of my favourite tombstones in the Japanese Cemetery Park

Today the Japanese Association of Singapore continues the maintenance and management of the cemetery. In 1987 the cemetery was gazetted as a memorial park for its history and natural fauna and flora. The Japanese Cemetery Park is still visted by Japanese students, veterans, residents and tourist. It is one of the lasting legacies of Japanese history in Singapore.

The Memorial Plaza

A memorial for all those who gave donations for the Japanese Cemetery Park

Visitors can enjoy the tranquility and serenity of the park as you walk and explore the many areas of the park. Surrounded by a residential area, the Japanese Cemetery Park provides a quiet and peaceful oasis for those who want to leave the outside world behind. It may be a cemetery, but the graves and tombstones do not have any "creep factor" to them, in a way they add to the "zen-ness" of the park as if telling the living to sit, rest and worry less about the mundane.

The Japanese Cemetery Park is located at:

#825B Chuan Hoe Avenue, Sinagpore 549853

Operating Hours: 8:00am-6:30pm