Progress has been made in attempts to track down the original owner of a Japanese ceremonial sword surrendered in 1945.

Associate Professor of Japanese Studies Masako Gavin has at last had the chance to communicate with the current owner of the sword who was able to relay the story from his father.

The current owner was told that the surrender took place on one of the South Pacific islands, Tarawa, not in Singapore as was first thought; and that his father witnessed the surrender ceremony with the Japanese officer, to whom the sword belonged, accompanying his Lieutenant Commander, Nahoomi Suzuki, aboard HMAS Diamantina.

Diamantina visited Tarawa (in the Kiribati group) for three days in September 1945, en route to Ocean Island (now Banaba in the same group) to accept the final Japanese surrender on October 1. 

The U.S. Marine Corp had already captured Tarawa by then and as there was no Japanese presence, the officers in question would have been those who surrendered at Ocean Island.

Diamantina arrived at Ocean Island on September 30 and two Japanese envoys boarded that day to make preparations for the surrender ceremony. The following day, Lieutenant Commander Nahoomi Suzuki boarded Diamantina with three other officers and formally surrendered on the ship’s quarterdeck.

The original owner of the sword was one of those three officers but unfortunately the Australian Navy's Sea Power Centre in Canberra does not have any record of the two envoys who boarded Diamantina on September 30.

Dr Gavin was advised that the details of the surrender ceremony (with images) may be held in the Diamantina’s Reports of Proceedings but unfortunately no record exists. Dr Gavin has now approached the National Archives of Australia for a copy of the Diamantina's Japanese surrender logs.     

 - To be continued in next issue.