[1] Yamamoto Otokichi, also known as "John Matthew Ottoson", was born in Onoura Villageint Chita District of Owari (now Mihama Town of Aichi Prefecture) in 1818.

Otokichi managed to survive the disaster and was washed ashore at Cape Alava on the west coast of the United States after one year and two months.

On 27 November 2004, Leong, together with Mihama Town and the Japanese Association, initiated the exhumation of Otokichi's remains at the Choa Chu Kang Christian Cemetery.

[1] Their work remained undisturbed by the British authorities as they could not read the Japanese inscriptions on the memorials and were too busy rebuilding the city.

Terauchi's tombstone and three other distinctive memorials in the cemetery were completed by three Japanese prisoners-of-war—carpenter Kunio Higashituji, and stonemasons Tomokatsu Mizuya and Tokiyaki Tetsuka—in April 1947.

A similar pillar on another corner of the west end marks the burial spot of the ashes of 79 Japanese who were executed in Malaysia.

As a consequence, when the Japanese surrendered in Singapore on 12 September 1945 to the Allied forces led by Louis Mountbatten they were represented by Itagaki Seishiro, commander of the 7th Area Army.

After the formal surrender, Terauchi, on learning that Mountbatten had expressed a wish to have his two samurai swords, flew from Saigon to Singapore to present them in person.

Terauchi was accused of war crimes and was imprisoned in Johor, Malaysia, pending investigations by the British, until his death in June 1946.

Fluent in Russian, he translated books written by realists, such as Ivan Turgenev, into Japanese while working as a correspondent for the Asahi Shimbun in Russia.

[14] Many of these women are said to have originated from the Amakusa Islands of Kumamoto Prefecture,[15] which had a large and long-stigmatised Japanese Christian community.

[dubious – discuss][16] Referred to as Karayuki-san (唐行きさん, literally "Ms. Gone-overseas"), they were found at the Japanese enclave along Hylam, Malabar, Malay, and Bugis Streets until World War II.

The Japanese Association of Singapore continues to maintain the cemetery, which since 1987 has become a memorial park for the appreciation of history and natural flora and fauna.

As a legacy of the history of Japan and Singapore, the cemetery park is often visited by Japanese students, veterans, residents, and tourists.

[1] The current caretaker is an Indian national named Mani who succeeded the previous tomb keeper, the late Lim Geok Qi.

Lim's adoptive father, surnamed Weng, found difficulty finding work when he first arrived in Singapore from China but was soon recommended for a job as a tombkeeper at the Japanese Cemetery.

When the young Lim came of age, he tried to seek other forms of employment but in 1960, his father fell sick and requested him to take over his duties as tomb keeper.