Bagan Serai folk remember Japanese woman during Qing Ming

Finally found: Yuki’s grave which Khong repainted after discovering it at the Chinese cemetery in Simpang Ampat Semanggol, Perak.

IPOH: Every year during the Qing Ming festival, local residents along Simpang Ampat Semanggol would pay tribute to a Japanese woman known to have helped many people during World War II.

The woman, Yuki Yamasaki died on Sept 5, 1951, and was buried by local leaders at the Chinese cemetery along Jalan Kerian, Simpang Ampat Semanggol, reported mySinchew, the English portal of Sin Chew Daily.

Yuki lived in Bagan Serai for more than 10 years, said Khong Koing Chew, chairman of Kwong Kheow Seah, the organisation that looked after the Chinese cemeteries in the area.

“She was in Bagan Serai before the Japanese occupation and subsequently became a mediator between the Japanese troops and local residents.

“She was able to resolve many communal disputes and there were rarely any incidents of Japanese troops torturing the locals because of her mediation effort,” he was quoted as saying.

Khong said his 91-year-old uncle used to be a student at Yuki’s Japanese class for three days.

Fond memories: Khong’s uncle who attended Yuki’s class.

“My uncle can still recall Yuki wearing a kimono while conducting the Japanese class.

“She was very particular about manners and all the students had to bow to her before entering the class. Students who did not abide by the rules would be punished,” he added.

Khong said his uncle only attended the class for three days as the Japanese troops surrendered thereafter.

Yuki continued to live in Bagan Serai and did not return to Japan, he said, adding that she was later adopted by a local businessman and taught Japanese to the businessman’s three daughters.

The locals were grateful to Yuki as she helped rescue a group of children from Japanese soldiers through her mediation efforts.

The younger generation of several local families continued the practice of praying to her during the Qing Ming festival as she had no relatives here.

Khong said he heard about Yuki’s story but could not locate her grave until this year when he played Buddhist chants in Japanese.

“After discovering Yuki’s grave, I repainted it for easy identification as the cemetery has more than 1,000 graves with 70% of them being ‘old’ graves with rarely any visitors,” said Khong, adding that several of Yuki’s students had also passed away recently.