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  USMC 1942   Charles DeRoller 2000  Justin Taylan 2003  Justin Taylan 2006 |
Location The Japanese Memorial is located at the summit of Hill 35 inland from the north coast of Guadalcanal in Guadalcanal Province in the Solomon Islands. During the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Americans designated this feature as "Hill 35" when assigning a numeric designation to each major hill on the north coast of Guadalcanal. During the Battle of Mount Austen, Hill 35 was part of the area known as "The Gifu" near the base of Mount Austen. The Wright Road was constructed around the base of the hill. Today, this location is often referred to locally as the "Japanese Memorial" or "Japanese War Memorial". Construction This memorial was created with privately donated funds from Japanese veterans and Guadalcanal believed family associations to commemorate the Japanese killed and missing during the Battle of Guadalcanal. Hill 35 was selected because it had commanding views over the battlefield areas and was easily accessible by road from Honiara. Japanese Memorial Dedicated in 1984, the Japanese Memorial became the the main Japanese memorial on Guadalcanal. The memorial consists of a pair of white concrete pillars and a fenced memorial area with views overlooking the north coast of Guadalcanal. The space between the two pillars overlooks Cape Esperance to the northwest. The Japanese Memorial hosts Japanese commemoration ceremonies and was visited by Japanese veterans and family members who often leave gifts or food offerings at the memorial to loved ones. The Japanese memorial is also open to the general public. Nearby is a bronze sculpture of a fisherman with a net over his shoulder facing the sea atop a white concrete block with a bronze plaque. The sculptor was Seiichi Takahashi a Japanese Army soldier killed on Guadalcanal. His home town donated the sculpture to add to the memorial when it opened in 1984. On August 7, 2002 during the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Guadalcanal, the first joint Japanese-Allied ceremony was held at the memorial attend by representatives from both countries and an American veteran was invited to speak at the Japanese memorial. Likewise, at the Guadalcanal Memorial (U.S. Memorial) a Japanese veteran was invited to speak. Sometime between 1998 to 2003 during "The Tensions" ("Ethnic Tensions"), the statue was used for target practice by one of the factions causing several bullet holes in the future. In late January 2008, villagers removed the statue and dragged it down the hill in an attempt to sell it for scrap metal but abandoned it and it was later restored. Today, the Japanese Memorial is open to the public and has a guard post and exterior fence to protect the grounds from vandalism or theft. References Solomon Times Online "Vandalism to Japanese War Monument" January 22, 2008 Thanks to John Innes for additional information Contribute
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