British Army veteran who fought against Japan visits Tokyo’s national cemetery

British Army veteran Richard Day, who fought against the Japanese in the Burma Campaign during the Second World War, took part in a memorial ceremony at the national cemetery in Tokyo to stress the importance of reconciliation (Mari Yamaguchi/AP)

A British Army veteran who fought against the Japanese in the Burma Campaign during the Second World War has laid flowers at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Tokyo in a memorial ceremony to stress the importance of reconciliation.

Richard Day, 97, who survived the decisive 1944 Battle of Kohima in north-east India – where Japan fought to capture the then British-controlled territory – stood up from a wheelchair, placed a wreath of red flowers on a table, and saluted the souls of the unknown Japanese soldiers at Tokyo’s Cihdorigafuchi National Cemetery.