visiting russia in sado

my third annual trip to sado in the beginning of may started with just a short conversation with a local friend about my plan after the sado trip. whats on my mind was to visit a site of an amusement park which went bankrupt some years ago, named "Russian Village" (although i couldnt make it in the end). this conversation made him recall that there was a russian tomb in the island.

the root of russian tomb goes back to the russia-japanese war in 1904-1905. it seems there were plenty of casualties at the battle on the japan sea, and the tsushima current brought them to the island. people in sado first became confused but eventually they buried enemies' bodies. this fact was long forgotten from the history for about a century, but the embassy of russia uncovered it in 2001 and built a proper tomb for their loss during the war.   

and this is what they built

obviously, no descendants would notice it as its grave marker is written in japanese. it says "russian peoples tomb" by the way. and no descendants would even notice this tombstone is dedicated to russian casualties because of its appearance. 

whats funny about this tomb is that its not only russian descendants unfriendly to find and pray for their ancestors, but its even difficult for locals to find as it is built just behind a roadside small buddhist temple. in fact, we failed to find it in the beginning.

if any of you having russian background who have chance to visit sado island, make sure to stop by (if possible) :P