United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt described it as 'a date which will live in infamy' - 7 December 1941, the day the Japanese bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
Two kilometres north of the quiet little Wairarapa town of Featherston a small memorial garden marks the site of a riot that resulted in the deaths of 48 Japanese prisoners of war and one guard.
Once the tide had turned in favour of the United States and its allies, American troops began 'island hopping' through the central Pacific, taking one island after another. Japanese naval power was destroyed in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines in October 1944, and invasions of Okinawa and Iwo Jima followed.
Diplomats present their credentials to the Governor-General at ceremonies at Government House. In 2003 the Ambassador for Japan, His Excellency Mr Masaki Saito, responded to a wero (welcoming challenge) at Government House Wellington when he presented his credentials to Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright (2001–2006).
