well as by donations from Japanese firms, including Sumitomo Corp. The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and many others. Agape now brings small veteran groups from Britain, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to Japan twice a year. On the trips, the FEPOWs come face to face with their old guards. Former soldiers, camp and prison guards often attend the Agape memorial service and meetings. Hiroshi Abe was a young officer in a railway regiment during the war assigned to the infamous Thai-Burma railway known to FEPOWs as the “Death Railway”. He attends the memorial every year to meet the soldiers. Abe's apology is printed in the Agape pamphlet: "I cannot deny that l am partly responsible for the deaths of many POW’s, and l apologise sincerely for what we did during the war." After many uphill struggles since the first pilgrimage to Japan in 1992. Agape has taken hundreds of FEPOWs to Japan's former war camp sites. Many FEPOWs express how their hated towards Japan has changed into love for the Japanese people. Holmes was awarded the O.B.E by Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on 28 April 1998. She attended the ceremony with her sons Daniel and Christopher. In the 2003, Holmes met the Emperor and Empress of Japan in Buckingham Palace, England. In 2018 she received the Order of the Rising Sun. In 2004 Holmes, Kosuge and some other members of Agape including Holmes' son Daniel Holmes went to Nanjing, China to apologise for the crimes committed and pain inflicted by her country men during the war. Holmes also has visited Malaysia, the Netherlands, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, United States, Canada and India holding meetings and lecturing at universities. References Lenley Albert; An interview with Keiko Holmes O.B.E, 31 May 2010 Clements, Ronald (2010). In Japan the Crickets Cry. Oxford: Monarch Publications. External links 1948 births Living people Aftermath of World War II in Japan People from Mie Prefecture