A GROUP of Japanese volunteers last week completed the renovation of a World War II memorial at Suicide Cliff in Marpi.
The group is Pacific War Memorial Association Inc. which is based in Chiba, Japan.
According to Morito Asai, one of the volunteers, there used to be more than 30 memorials commemorating war victims on Saipan and their families. But almost all of them were gone by 2017, he added.
It was a frequent tourist, Kenichi Nakajima, who asked Asai to help him organize an effort to renovate World War II memorials on Saipan.
“I agreed,” Asai said.
He then approached Kentaro Suzuki who owns an engineering and construction firm, Motys Planning, and asked if he could charge for the costs of materials and labor only.
Suzuki agreed, Asai said, adding that the project was funded by volunteers.
He said those involved in the renovation of the memorial at Suicide Cliff were also behind the renovation of the Last Command Post in 2018.
Morita Asai, right, and Motys Planning’s Kentaro Suzuki, third left, pose with other volunteers after renovating a World War II memorial at Suicide Cliff last week.
