Site of overseas repatriation landing

On August 15, 1945, the Pacific War ended with Japan's surrender. It is said that there were more than 6 million Japanese who were in foreign lands at that time. In order to send these people home, the government decided on several ports of repatriation, including Hakata, Shimonoseki, and Maizuru. However, the port of Shimonoseki was chosen as an alternative to Senzaki because of the danger posed by sunken ships and mines dropped by the U.S. military in the Kanmon Strait. The first ship to be repatriated was the Koyanmaru (7079 tons), formerly of the Sekigama Liaison Line. On September 2, the month after the defeat, the first 7,000 repatriates landed at Senzaki Port. They were demobilized military personnel and ordinary people who had faced the tragic end of the war in foreign lands. In Senzaki, temples and schools were used as repatriation aid offices, first-aid centers, and lodging houses, and emergency barracks housing was built, but it was not enough to cope with the situation. Many repatriates were also accommodated in private houses near Senzaki and Shomyo-shi Station (present-day Nagato-shi Station). On the other hand, Senzaki Port was also filled with people returning to their home country of Korea. By the end of 1946, when Senzaki's role as a repatriation port ended, approximately 410,000 people had landed at the port and 340,000 had returned to Korea. It was a year or so of great turmoil. In the midst of the chaos of defeat, the people of this place welcomed us warmly and with joy when we stepped on the soil of our homeland, Japan. Many people visit Senzaki again to reminisce about those days.