On the eve of the 103rd anniversary of the founding of independent Czechoslovakia, the Czech Embassy in Tokyo commemorated this important event by laying wreaths at the monument of Czechoslovak legionaries in Fuchu, at the suburb of Tokyo.

The commemorative ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Japan, Mr. Martin Tomčo, who was accompanied by Ms. Daniela Ryugo, Professor at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies who was recently awarded the prize of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Gratias agit, and a group of leading Japanese historians - Mr. Nagayo, Mr. Shinohara and Mr. Fukuda, who specialise in the history of Czechoslovakia between the World Wars. The monument commemorates five Czechoslovak legionaries who perished in Japanese hospitals or on a ship when returning to Czechoslovakia in 1918 and 1919. Czechoslovak legionaries, who successfully fought against the Bolsheviks in Russia, were warmly received in Japan and wounded legionaries were given medical treatment. The author of the monument is academic painter Pavel Holý from the Military Historical Institute of the Czech Republic.

Cemetery in Fuchu