Japanese Cemetery Park, Cemetery in Kovan, Singapore
Japanese Cemetery Park is a cemetery along Chuan Hoe Avenue in the residential Kovan area of Singapore. It is widely considered the largest Japanese cemetery in Southeast Asia, with around 910 tombstones ranging from plain stone markers to decorated columns and statues.
The cemetery was founded in 1891, initially serving as a burial ground for Japanese merchants and workers, many of them women, who lived and died in Singapore. After World War II it fell into neglect, and the Japanese community regained control of the site in 1969, later renaming it Japanese Cemetery Park in 1987.
During the Obon festival, the Japanese community gathers here to honor ancestors and leave offerings at the graves. The red-robed Jizo statues, protective figures from Buddhist tradition, can be seen throughout the grounds and give the place a distinctly Japanese character.
The park is on Chuan Hoe Avenue, off Yio Chu Kang Road, and can be reached by bus from nearby MRT stations. The paths inside are flat and easy to walk, and the site is open daily from early morning to evening.
Two of the trees inside the park are officially listed as Heritage Trees: one is a rubber tree that dates back to when the land was a plantation, and the other is a lychee tree, a species native to Japan that does not bear fruit in Singapore's climate.
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