One of the most significant cultural exchanges between Australia and Japan has been completed with the return of more than 3300 boxes of priceless records seized during World War II.
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In July, the National Archives of Australia announced it would return the commercial records, journals, posters, catalogues, meeting minutes, shipping records and personal photographs.
The records, created between 1899 and 1941, were seized by Australian authorities under laws preventing trade with the country's enemies following the outbreak of war.
Measuring more than 800 metres, the records have been held by the federal government since the 1950s, including the National Library and the National Archives of Australia.
They were shipped to Tokyo this year.
On Tuesday, a ceremony to mark the exchange was held at the home of Japanese ambassador to Australia Sumio Kusaka, attended by National Archives of Australia director-general David Fricker, National Archives of Japan president Takeo Kato and Australia-Japanese Foundation chair Murray McLean.
The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate the most recent gift, and Japan's government returned records of Australian prisoners of war who died in the sinking of the Japanese auxiliary ship the Montevideo Maru to Australia.
Mr Fricker said he was moved by personal photos of Japanese communities living in Australia before the war as well as catalogues of children's toys and other products sold by Japanese businesses here.
He said state archives existed not only to store important records, but also to act as custodians for memories and national artifacts.
"It is very unusual for an archives to want to give away its records, very unusual," he said.
"This is certainly a unique gift in the experience of the National Archives of Australia, since its beginning.
"That's because in archives we value every record for the stories that are told and for the memory it contains.
"It's not something we do lightly but in this case we knew the memories contained in these records told a very powerful story about the enduring friendship that exists between Japanese people and Australian people.
Mr Kusaka told the ceremony the exchange was a product of the cooperation and partnership that had been re-established between Japan and Australia over more than 50 years of business and cultural ties.
"The National Archives of Australia was entrusted to preserve these valuable documents and have gratefully done so for 60 years," he said.
"These records will no doubt be an invaluable snapshot of the history of business activities of Japanese enterprises in Australia.
"It will now be possible to obtain a broader understanding of Japanese people and their businesses in this country in the early 1900s, providing us with considerable insight into the very early stages of trade and business relations between our two nations," he said.
