At the end of Pearl Harbor anniversary events, after the veterans who fought back that day and fought during World War II are rightly honored, after the 2,403 American service member and civilian casualties from the day of infamy are memorialized, there is another remembrance.

This one takes place respectfully and somewhat quietly on Ford Island with the USS Arizona Memorial as a backdrop. This year, on Thursday, more than 50 people attended.

Since 2016, but not last year due to COVID-19 concerns, “Lives remembered: A tribute to the fallen of Pearl Harbor” has recalled the sacrifices of 2,403 service members and civilians — and 56 Japanese aviators and nine submariners who were part of the attack force.

The joint Japan-U.S. memorial ceremony emerged — still not without a bit of concern over reopening old war wounds — with the passage of decades of alliance and shared values with Japan and a desire to rebuild ties all the way back to Pearl Harbor, recognizing that once-bitter enemies have become the strongest of friends.

“May the world someday come to remember Pearl Harbor not just as a place where fierce war begins, but as a powerful symbol of the reconciliation and friendship which ensued — and the limitless potential (held) in our collective grasp for a better future,”said Yutaka Aoki, consul general of Japan in Honolulu.

Near a huge and historic banyan tree planted in 1917 and overlooking the sunken USS Arizona, Aoki noted the serene waters of Pearl Harbor and how, 80 years ago, a similar serenity was shattered by attacking planes that destroyed battleships and airplanes, “taking the lives of so, so many.”

“As the consul general of Japan (in) Honolulu, I humbly offer my deepest, most heartfelt condolences for the fallen here at Pearl Harbor,” Aoki said during his remarks.

The Japanese official noted that the stage was set for a greater humanity even during the war, with individual acts of compassion, even for a foe.

That included the “proper burial” given to Lt. Fusata Iida, whose damaged Zero fighter ran into a hill at Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay on Dec. 7 in what was believed to have been a kamikaze attack attempt.

The 28-year-old Iida was buried on base in a sand dune near the mass burial site of 18 U.S. sailors and a civilian killed in the attack. Iida’s remains were later returned to Japan. A marker memorializes his death.

Aoki noted the orders by USS Missouri commander Capt. William Callaghan to bury a kamikaze pilot at sea with military honors after the pilot crashed into the starboard side of the battleship in 1945. Some of the crew had wanted to just toss the enemy overboard.

That humanity could be demonstrated by Japanese toward Americans as well. Also in 1945, Shizuoka city councilman Fukumatsu Itoh, a devout Buddhist, buried 23 Americans who died in the midair collision of two B-29 bombers.

Itoh each year used a blackened canteen from the crash to pour whiskey on a makeshift cross in memory of nearly 2,000 Japanese who were targeted in the night bombing raid — and the fallen Americans.

Rear Adm. Timothy Kott, commander of Navy Region Hawaii, said in his remarks that the ceremony offers the opportunity “to consider how much the world has changed over the past 80 years.” The U.S. and Japan now are part of a “crucial alliance” with intertwining interests.

Since the end of the war in 1945, “the vastness of the Pacific Ocean seems to have only grown smaller,” Kott said. “New threats to peace and stability have emerged and most fortunately, new connections have emerged from former adversaries.”

Reconciliation over Dec. 7, 1941, has been a long, slow process that started to gain traction after the 50th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1991.

Retired Navy Capt. Kenneth Takao Saiki, a past president of the United Japanese Society of Hawaii and a ceremony attendee, said although “it’s been a number of years since the war began and ended — there’s still some animosity that’s felt, and as a matter of fact, on both sides because of events during and after the war.”

The “Lives Remembered” ceremony continues to help overcome past feelings, he said. Religious organizations that are Japanese-oriented participate. Saiki said seven bishops from Japanese Buddhist denominations attended Thursday.

The long-ago division has been painful for Japanese Americans such as Shinye Gima, who was born and raised in Hawaii, the son of parents who were from Okinawa. Gima, now 96, who was a teacher for almost 40 years in Hawaii, attended the Ford Island reconciliation ceremony.

Raised on Maui, Gima volunteered for Army duty in 1944 with the service needing Japanese speakers. His 308th Intelligence Service Detachment arrived on Okinawa in late April of 1945.

“I told myself, this is my roots. My parents came from here,” he recalled. “I was an American. My folks were Japanese but the issei generation (first-­generation immigrants) had a very difficult time. The land of their birth was at war with the land of their children. Just terrible.”

He added that, “I’m very glad to come here. This is my first time at the ceremony and it’s heartwarming to realize how close Japan and we have become — the U.S. and Japan. At one time we were enemies. Now we are strongest allies.”