Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited a memorial near Tokyo on Monday that commemorates 60,000 civilian sailors who were commandeered by the Imperial Japanese Army and died while transporting military supplies and personnel during World War II.The emperor, who will abdicate in April, and his wife prayed for peace and offered a bouquet of white chrysanthemums at the monument in the city of Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture.During the war, most civilian vessels were requisitioned by the Japanese military and their crews were forced to transport weapons or conduct maritime surveillance. Fe…READ FULL ARTICLE
