Vagaries of History

This unassuming memorial is in downtown Helsinki, not far from the Presidential Castle. It tells about an almost unknown chapter in the wartime history of Finland. Back in 1943, the Imperial Japanese ambassador Sakawa and his Finnish hosts raised it to celebrate the friendship between our peoples. Japan was an Axis state and we fought against the USSR along with our then-friends, the Germans. No wonder this memorial has been forgotten. In fact it's miracle it hasn't been demolished.