Arrives at Kagoshima. Disembarks troops and passengers. Ceded to the USA as a war reparation. Scrapping completed by Iino Shoji.. Authors' Notes: [1] Allied occupation forces were responsible for the return of six million Japanese military personnel and civilians from Japan's defunct far-flung Empire.
In addition, there were over a million Korean and about 40, Chinese prisoners and conscript laborers and approximately 7, Formosans and 15, Ryukyu Islanders to be repatriated.
Some Allied and many former IJN warships, from aircraft carriers to kaibokan, were used to facilitate the enormous repatriation effort. Japanese vessels and crews were used to the fullest extent possible to conserve Allied manpower and accelerate demobilization.
Each ex-IJN ship first had to be demilitarized; guns removed or, in the case of large warships, barrels severed, ammunition landed, and radar and catapults removed, if fitted.
Japanese-run repatriation centers were established at Kagoshima, Hario near Sasebo, and Hakata near Fukuoka. Allied line and medical personnel supervised the centers. Incoming Japanese were sprayed with DDT, examined and inoculated for typhus and smallpox, provided with food, and transported to his final destination in Japan. Thanks go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan.
