A firefighter in California will turn over a Japanese soldier's sword to his family in Gunma Prefecture through a Japanese-American interpreter.
Michael Ramos, 40, has offered to give back the sword to the family of Kindayu Kogure, who was drafted in 1944 and was in Taiwan when World War II ended. Kogure, the former owner of an inn at the Ikaho hot spring resort in Gunma Prefecture, died in 1988.
Mickie Grace, the interpreter, is to arrive in Japan today to hand the sword over to the Kogure family. Kogure's 72-year-old son, Kindayu, said he is looking forward to meeting Grace.
Ramos has said he received the sword from his step-grandfather. The sword had a strip of cloth with the original owner's address and name "Ikaho-machi 18 Kogure Kindayu" attached.