Located in Hougang, this is the largest Japanese cemetery in Southeast Asia and the burial ground of Singapore’s early Japanese community.
A quiet residential neighbourhood in Hougang holds an important legacy of the Japanese in Singapore.
The sprawling 30,000-square-metre Japanese Cemetery Park contains nearly 1,000 graves of Japanese civilians in Singapore and soldiers mostly from the early 20th century.
Early Japanese
Founded by three Japanese brothel-keepers, the cemetery was built in 1891 as a burial ground for karayuki-san, or Japanese women brought here for prostitution, many of whom died poor and destitute.
Over the years, other Japanese civilians were buried here, mostly during the pre-war years. The cemetery was a burial ground until 1947, and became a memorial park in 1987. The Japanese Association of Singapore oversees its upkeep.
The well-kept park also holds the ashes of Japanese soldiers, marines and airmen killed during World War II, as well as the remains of Japanese war criminals who were executed at Changi Prison.