Japan's Soul Searching
Not only were the perpetrators not punished after the war, Nobusuke Kishi, who had served as the wartime czar of Chinese Slaves and spent 3 years in Sugamo Prison as a Class-A War Crimes suspect, even made all the way to became Prime Minister of Japan in 1957. Okinori Kaya, a Class-A War Criminal for life imprisonment, paroled in 1955, later became Justice Minister. Shigemitsu Mamoru, Class-A War Criminal sentenced to 7 years' imprisonment, became Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in 1954. The head of Unit 731, Shiro Ishii was permitted to continue medical research in Japan after the war. Ryoichi Naito, Ishii's right-hand man, founded Green Cross pharmaceutical companies, other Unit 731 leaders joined him there. Many directors of JNIH (Japan National Institute of Health) had served in biological warfare unit and involved in human experiments. Some went on to become Governor of Tokyo, Presidents of universities, Deans of medical schools, Heads of public health agencies, Head of Japan Olympic Committee, key position in Japanese drug and medical companies, lawmakers and industrialists.
Kobayashi Rokuzo - President - National Epidemic Prevention Institute
Nakaguro Hidetoshi - President - Defence Forces Medical School
Naito Ryoichi - President - Green Cross
Kitano Masaji - Chief Executive - Green Cross
Kasuga Chuichi - President = Trio-Kenwood
Yoshimura Hisato - President - Kyoto Municipal Medical University
Yamanaka Motoki - President - Osaka Municipal Medical University
Okamato Kozo - Dean - Kyoto University Medical
Tanaka Hideo - Dean - Osaka Municipal University Medical
Ishikawa Tachiomaru - President - Kanazawa University Medical
Kasahara Shiro - Vice president - Kitasato Hospital
Japanese veterans, war widows, families of those killed in action, civilians employed by the military, and citizens mobilized for the war, all receive generous benefits from Japanese government under the entitlement program.
In 1954, Japanese Public Officials Pensions Law was revised to assist War Criminals for pensions and compensation.
Japanese War Criminals received full military pensions and benefits from Japanese government,
But millions of their victims and families suffered, and continue to suffer in poverty, shame, chronic physical and mental pain, WMD Death Toll and WMD Injuries including Children continue to rise due to Japanese abandonded WMD weapons to this day .........
Japanese government officials and right-wingers, even some moderates, insist that all claims resulted from Japanese WW II transgression have been settled by the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty that Japan had paid the international Red Cross the equivalent of about $1 a day for missed meal and $1.5 per day for unpaid wages for PoW while the Allies agreed not to bring War Crimes charges against it, by citing the provision in Article 16 in which Allied nations agreed to waive all reparations in light of the postwar financial hardship Japan was experiencing. They also claim that Japan has paid a total of 27 billion dollars to 27 nations, transfer of Japanese capital equipment, facilities, other assets to nations abroad, and an apology was offered by Japanese Prime Minister Tomichi Murayama in Aug. 1995.
But his apology was only a personal one. He failed to make a formal and official apology in the so-called "No War Resolution". Only 26% of the diet members supported the Resolution and 47% were against it. Furthermore, the ex-education minister Seisuke Okuno managed to organize a national campaign and collected 4.5 million signatures against the Resolution. The revised version had the official apology deleted.
Critics also pointed out that the bulk of $27 billion did NOT come from its coffer. It was the relief funds the Allied sent to the PoWs in the Japanese camps throught the International Committee of Red Cross and they was illegally seized by the Bank of Japan in direct violation of the Geneva Convention. Japan only returned them to Switzerland as part of the 1951 San Frencisco Peace Treaty settlement.
The returned properties were looted by the Japanese Army. They were hardly any "reparations" but solely stolen goods.
Countless artwork, ancient antiques, valuable books and intellectual properties from China and other nations are still sitting in Japan's museums and private collections to this day.
Over 45 years, Japan systematically looted wealth of 12 Asian countries accumulated over thousands of years: currency, gold, platinum, silver, diamonds, gemstones, jewelry, cultural treasures, religious artifacts, art and antiques including more than a dozen solid gold Buddhas, each weighing more than a ton.
The looting and plundering, which was far more thorough than the Nazis, became the Japanese way to finance its brutal war. In China alone, Japan looted 6,000 tonnes of gold from Chinese capital Nanjing in 1938.
Far from being bankrupted by the War, Japan had been greatly enriched by the Plunder of Asia after the War.
Stolen Artifacts from Asia found in Japan
It is estimated that Japan had looted more than 2.7 million books from China. After the war only 158,873 books were returned.
Japan's ODA (Official Development Assistance) to China begins at 1979 when China has finally began its open door policy for economic development after suffering 30 long years of irrational political turmoil. But China lacked capital while developed countries had large quantities of idle money.
Although ODA was often criticized as the "Checkbook Diplomacy", it has definitely provided great benefits for both sides. By helping China's infrastructural facilities, Japan has paved the road for its own Japanese company profitable business in China and thus helped to pull Japan out of years of economic stagnation as already shown in recent economic recovery. China in late 70s and early 80s, was still an energy export country. The ODA thus helped Japan diversify its energy import sources and reduce reliance on Middle East at that time.
Japan's ODA for China comprises 3 parts: long-term loans, free grants and technical assistance. The bulk of the ODA are loans. Total Japanese ODA to China is about US$ 30 billion. They were NOT free gifts. All ODA loans including the low interest must be paid back.
The 30 billion US$ ODA paid-back loans amount to only a fraction of the financial losses in China caused by Japanese 14 years of atrocious WWII, estimated in many Hundreds of Billions US $. The total loss could be Trillion US$ if the interest, direct and indirect monetary and properties damages, environmental and ecosystem damages, looted wealth, cultural assets, natural resources, and other tangible or intangible losses were included, not to mention 35 Millions Chinese casualties caused by Japanese indiscriminate killing, starvation and various diseases.
A close examination of the San Francisco Peace Treaty reveals that the reparations matter was merely postponed until Japan has the financial means to pay. It was never resolved.
However, according to Segraves, far from being bankrupted by the War, Japan had been greatly enriched by the Plunder of Asia after the War.
The Treaty had caused much controversial from the very beginning. After 54 years, the Treaty still remains very much controversial today.
In the San Francisco Peace Treaty (SFPT) process, the interests of Asian people and countries brutally victimized by the Japanese Imperial Army were mostly ignored.
Despite the protests by Asian countries most affected by the Japanese aggression, U.S. did NOT even invite China (both mainland-People's Republic of China and Taiwan-Republic of China) and Korea (both North and South).
Soviet Union, India and Burma refused to participate. 3 signatories from Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos) were actually representatives of the French colonial regime.
Only 4 Asian countries signed the treaty. Of these 4, Indonesia signed the treaty but never ratified it. The Philippines reserved its signatures and did not ratify the treaty. So in fact, the ONLY Asian countries that supported the SFPT were Pakistan and Ceylon, both colonies of Britain up till that time.
Furthermore, U.S. feared that Dutch's refusal of signing the San Francisco Peace Treaty might lead the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand to drop out as well, so on the day before and the morning of the treaty signing ceremony, U.S. principal negotiator, John Foster Dulles, orchestrated a " Secret Deal " with exchange of confidential letters between the minister of foreign affairs of the Netherlands, Dirk Stikker, and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida.
Yoshida pledged that "the Government of Japan does not consider that the Government of the Netherlands by signing the Treaty has itself expropriated the private claims of its nationals so that, as a consequence thereof, after the Treaty comes into force these claims would be non-existent."
The deal and letters had to be kept secret because Article 26 of the Treaty states that, "should Japan make a peace settlement or war claims settlement with any State granting that State greater advantages than those provided by the present Treaty, those same advantages shall be extended to the parties to the present Treaty."
In 1956, the Dutch did successfully pursue a claim against Japan on behalf of private citizens. Japan paid $10 million as a way of "expressing sympathy and regret." A year before, the British noted two other instances in which governments had made deals with Japan for reparations: a settlement with Burma that provided reparations, services and investments amounting, over 10 years, to $250 million; and an agreement with Switzerland that provided "compensation for maltreatment, personal injury and loss arising from acts illegal under the rules of war."
The letters were finally declassified in April 2000, by which time most potential claimants were probably all dead.
With the " Secret Deal " and by withholding documents, the U.S. has significantly contributed and played a major role in Japan's historical amnesia.
Japan subsequently signed treaties with other States, including the war claims settlements.
Both U.S. and Japan purposely ignored without honoring the provision of Article 26 and continues to deny its bounded responsibility to compensate its wartime victims to this day.
For details, refer to San Francisco Peace Treaty: Has Justice Been Served and Peace Secured ? , and A Just Peace ? The 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty in Historical Perspective
"Those of us who really believe in human rights believe that justice has not been achieved by the San Francisco Peace Treaty," said Lillian Sing, a San Francisco Superior Court judge.
"Japan's historical amnesia is a result of collusion between the U.S. and Japan," said Mark Selden, a history professor at the State University of New York, " That collusion reached its height in the San Francisco Treaty of 1951." because the treaty becomes an obstacle to a full reckoning of the suffering Japan inflicted on other Asians and on American PoW.
Peace Treaty Locked Japan into a Flawed Present.
As Harvard Professor Akira Iriye had pointed out, U.S. used the San Fransisco Peace Treaty to turn Japan from a conquered and occupied country to its military ally aiming at responding to the communist countries, Soviet Union and China.
John Dower in his recent book, Embracing Defeat: "One of the most pernicious aspects of the occupation was that the Asian peoples who had suffered most from imperial Japan's depredations -- the Chinese, Koreans, Indonesians, and Filipinos had no serious role, no influential presence at all in the defeated land. They became invisible. Asian contributions to defeating the emperor's soldiers and sailors were displaced by an all-consuming focus on the American victory in the Pacific War".
San Fransisco Peace Treaty is therefore an un-precedented BIG Sell-Out of all countries in Asia by U.S.
In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of U.N. and of the war, Japan consideredand proposed a "No War Resolution" in an effort to reflect its past history. However, it was rejected by Japanese Diet mainly because it contained a formal official apology for its wartime atrocities. Only 26% of the diet members supported the Resolution and 47% were against it. Furthermore, the ex-education minister Seisuke Okuno managed to organize a national campaign and collected 4.5 million signatures against the Resolution. The revised version had the official apology deleted.
On Aug 15, 1995 Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama offered an apology to mark the 50th anniversary end of WWII. But his personal apology was NOT even passed by the Japanese parliament.
In Sept 1997 Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto also reiterated the apology. Again, his apology was NOT approved by the parliament.
In Oct. 8 2001 Japanese prime minister Koizumi, issued an apoplgy after visiting the Lugouqiao ( Marco Polo Bridge), site of hostilities that led to a full scale war invasion in July 7, 1937. However, the apology was simply based on and did not go beyond the wording used in a 1995 statement by Murayama. It was his personal apology and NOT passed by Japanese Diet.
This was exactly why in Nov. 1998, Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun ran a such naive headline: "We are fed up of saying sorry".
Japan also argues that individual victim cannot sue a state, and also argued that China had voluntarily give up the right of reparation from Japan in 1972 when Beijing and Japan established diplomatic ties. Although the Joint Communiqué and the Treaty have waived the state's rights to war damages, neither has ever specifically surrendered the rights of any private claims by Chinese citizens.
In fact, the obligation of States and the rights of individuals with respect to the violation of human rights cannot, as a matter of international law, be given away or extinguished by governments through peace treaty, peace agreement, amnesty or by any other means. This has been repeatedly affirmed in numerous resolutions passed by the United Nations over the years. (e.g. UN Resolution E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1999/16)
Professor Etsuro Totsuka of Kobe University in Japan has pointed out the following in his article Peace Treaty and Japan's Wartime Responsibility: Breaking the Treaty Defense :
1. Art. 3 of the Convention (IV) Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, signed at the Hague, on 18 Oct. 1907 stipulates, "A belligerent party which violates the provisions of the said Regulations (i.e., the Regulations of Land Warfare annexed to the Convention) shall, if the case demands, be liable to pay compensation. It shall be responsible for all acts committed by persons forming part of its armed forces."
This article of the 1907 Hague Convention was understood to have been customary international law and it was succeeded by Art. 91 of the Optional Protocol to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Japan acceded to it on Oct 21, 1953 and bound China in 1956. Therefore, It guarantees individual victims the right to compensation.
2. China is not a Party to the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Therefore, The treaty is not applicable to China.
3. The Treaty of Peace between Republic of China (i.e. Taiwan) and Japan of Apr 28, 1952 became null and void in accordance with the Sino-Japanese Joint Communique of Sept 29, 1972.
4. The Sino-Japanese Joint Communique includes no explicit provision, which waived the right of individual victims. The Japan Federation of Bar Associations had also made public its legal opinion that the Joint Communique did not waive the right to demand reparations for losses and damages sustained by Chinese nationals.
5. Art. 148 of the IV Geneva Convention reads "No High Contracting Party shall be allowed to absolve itself or any other High Contracting Party of any liability incurred by itself or by another High Contracting Party in respect of breaches referred to in the preceding Article." Therefore, if any military personnel commit war crimes of grave breaches under Art. 147, the responsible Parties could not be allowed to absolve itself from any liabilities including responsibility for compensation due to the crimes and other Parties shall not be allowed to relinquish the rights of the victims without compensation from the responsible state.
Also in the second sentence of Art. 7 of the IV Geneva Convention reads, "No special agreement shall adversely affect the situation of protected persons, as defined by the present Convention, nor restrict the rights which it confers upon them.” Therefore, the guarantee under Art. 148 cannot be adversely changed by any other international agreements.
Therefore, these 2 articles clearly prohibited Japan and China to absolve Japan of the individual rights to compensation under the said Joint Communique, in particular, if it comes to the issue of grave war crimes.
In 1959, Yasukuni Shrine began to enshrine Class-B and Class-C war criminals. In 1978, under the Cover-Up of State-Terrorism by U.S. against Humanity, Japan secretly enshrined 1,068 war criminals including 14 Class-A War Criminals in Yasukuni Shinto shrine to be worshipped as national heroes. News of the secret enshrinement caused an uproar when it leaked out 6 months later.
In July 1996, on Japan's "Day of Armistice", known as the "Day of Surrender", the Japanese Royal Family and Prime Minister Hashimoto went to the Yasukuni Shrine to pay official tribute there. In doing so, they effectively bestowed the status of "National Heroes" upon more than 1,000 convicted War Criminals.
The Japanese ruling LDP party and right wingers even incorporated the worship as the national policy that the cabinet ministers should officially pay tribute to the Yasukuni Shrine. Japan Foreign Affairs Committee has even approved a motion on November 28, 1996 asking all visiting Heads of State to pay homage at the Yasukuni Shrine to their War Criminals.
Japan's "Peace Constitution Article 9" prohibits Japan from having an army. So, instead of an army, Japan has a Self-Defense Force (SDF). It was called an "emasculated" military force since it was forbidden to resort to military action unless attacked.
However, encouraged by US, Japanese Self-Defense Force is now the best equipped and most modern army in Asia. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Japan military spending in 2003 was US$ 46.9 billion, the 2nd largest in the world, even outstrips Britain's in total spending and manpower. Its navy is probably the 2nd largest in the Pacific.
Compared with most Shinto shrines, which were founded hundreds of years ago, the Japanese Yasukuni Shrine was a relatively recent affair. It was built by the Imperial Order of the Meiji Emperor in 1869 for the sole purpose to glorify Japan's imperialism. During WWII, Japanese Militarists took over the shrine. Yasukuni is a military war memorial to glorify its brutal past, anything but a symbol of peace. It grounds in central Tokyo include a museum devoted to glorifying Japanese militarism as a noble cause that tried to liberate Asia.
Ironically, Japanese Emperor Meiji, whose name Meiji originated from "Yi Jing (I Ching) " , A Chinese Classic , also took the name Yasukuni from a phrase in "Chunqiu Zuoshi Zhuan " (Shunju Sashiden) , another Chinese Classic , meaning "Bringing Peace to a Nation."
War / Colonial Brutal Invasion/War Dead:
Meiji Restoration - 7,751
South-West War - 6,971
War against China - 1874
Taiwan Punitive Expedition
( Taiwan Mudan Invasion ) - 1,130
War against China - 1894
Sino-Japanese War - 13,619
War against China - 1900
Boxer Rebellion - 1,256
War .inside China - 1904
Russo-Japanese War - 88,429
21 Demands - 1915
First World War - 4,850
War against China - 1928
Jinan Incident
( 53 Jinan Massacre ) - 185
War against China - 1931
Manchurian Incident
( 918 Invasion ) - 17,176
War against China - 1937
China Incident
( 77 Marco Polo Bridge Full Invasion ) - 191,250
War against China - 1941
Great East Asian War
( Asia Invasion WWII ) - 2,133,915
Total War Dead: 2,466,532
Of the 11 wars listed above, most of the Japanese wars were fought to invade and colonize China. The Russian-Japanese War was fought inside China in 1904 to determine who had more "Rights" to colonize China, ended with Treaty of Portsmouth.
Just a few paces from where Japanese PM Koizumi dropped a coin and prayed, is the Yasukuni museum. The museum portrays Japan as both the martyr and savior of Asia to drive "the foreign barbarians", to liberate and protect Asia from Russian Bolshevism and European colonialism. Pearl Harbor was "forced" by "a plot" by President Roosevelt. Japanese-led massacres, Korean comfort women, Chinese sex slaves, or tortured PoWs are not mentioned.
The Yasukuni Museum display shows Japan as a victim of a conspiracy by Western colonial powers and Japan was forced into war in self-defence to bring peace to Asia.
In a Museum film, Pearl Harbor is described as a "battle for Japan's survival," while one exhibit blames the 1937 Nanjing Massacre on the Chinese leaders who fled the city while ordering their men to fight to the death. After the fall of Nanjing to the Japanese, the museum notes, "the Chinese citizens were once again able to live their lives in peace."
The Museum also displays the first engine that travelled the infamous 415 km Railway of Death - Thai-Burma Railway without mentioning the savage death of 16,000 PoWs and 100,000 Asian Slaves, described by Cameron Forbes in his book Hellfire as " built on the Bones of the Dead", i.e. 300 death for each km.
WWII is called "the Greater East Asian War", invasion of China is described as "China Incident". The Museum displays a reconstructed Zero fighter and the Short Sword used by Gen. Korechika Anami who advocated to continue the War even after the 2 Atomic Bombs.
Okinori Kaya, a Class-A War Criminal for life imprisonment, paroled in 1955, and became Justice Minister. He was instrumental in getting a bill to the Diet that, if passed, would have turned Yasukuni into a national shrine. He kept the bill alive through 5 rejections until finally giving up in 1974. However,
in 1959, Yasukuni Shrine began to enshrine Class-B and Class-C war criminals. It had secretly enshrined 1,068 WWII Criminals including 14 CLASS-A War Criminals in 1978. News of the secret enshrinement caused an uproar when it leaked out 6 months later.
In Seoul, Kim Yun-ok said, "The Japanese soldiers enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine are the very ones who Raped our grandmothers."
More than 86 % of the enshrined Japanese soldiers were from WWII. Private Tadokoro Kozo of the 114th division said in 1971 interview, " There wasn't . ANY . soldier who didn't Rape. After things were done, usually we killed them ..... We didn't want to leave any trouble behind ....."
Nearly 21,000 war dead from Korea and 28,000 from Taiwan, most of them forced into war service under Japan's colonial rule, are enshrined at Yasukuni without their families' permission. The Taiwanese arrived in Tokyo said they want their relatives' names removed from memorial plaques there because it is "morally unpardonable that Murderers and Victims are honored at the SAME place."
In the past 3 years, Taiwanese went to Tokyo 7 times to protest against Yasukuni Shrine, demanding de-enshrinement of their family member of the forcibly conscripted war dead, insisting that "We are not Japanese ! We are the Victims of Japanese war crimes !", but without success in liberating their enslaved ancestral souls.
The "Return the Souls of our Forebears" protest delegation has come to the U.N. and brought with them are 2 old books that record the Japanese army employed the extreme brutal "Three All Policy : Burn All, Loot All, Kill All" in 1913 and 1914 against the Taiwan Aborigines who were resisting the invaders. A Japanese military photographic team followed the fighting, compiled its photographs into these " Pictorial Albums of the Punitive Expedition" and submitted them to the Japanese War Ministry as evidence of the army's "great military achievements".
The 2 albums now serve as undeniable proof of the Japanese army's war crimes. During its invasion and 51-year occupation of Taiwan, Japan killed more than 600,000 Taiwanese people, including large numbers of Aborigines.
For people in Asia, Yasukuni Shrine is a symbol of Japan's brutal militaristic past.
It is also a symbol of Japan's failure as a nation to collectively face its past war responsibilities.
It is not that the Asian do not want to forgive the Japanese. Unfortunately, it is many of the Japanese do not think they need to be forgiven.
Since the war, only Prime Minister, Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1985 and Ryutaro Hashimoto in 1996, have made the visit, only once. The torrent of protest was enough to persuade them not to make another. However, Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi, drawing sharp criticism from other Asian countries, visited war shrine the 5th time to the Yasukuni Shrine on Oct. 18, 2005 since he became prime minister.
Under Article 11 of San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japanese government was to "accept the judgements" of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Japanese government officials to a shrine that has deified war criminals violates the spirit of the Peace Treaty.
Japan has not yet signed the convention for the International Criminal Court, which tries War Criminals.
What is wrong about Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine to grieve for those who gave their lives for their country in the past war ? Here is the answer.
First in Feb., Japanese Osaka District Court ruled that the Koizumi's visit was made NOT as a private citizen but in his official capacity.
Then in Apr. 2004, Japanese Fukuoka District Court ruled that Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine has violated Constitution because it violated the separation of state and religion.
Also in Sept 30, 2005 Osaka High Court ruled Koizumi's shrine visits were a religious activity and Un-Constitutional. The Un-Constitutional Ruling stands since the Japanese government cannot appeal to the Supreme Court.
In fact, the question of Constitution was settled in 1991 when Sendai High Court ruled that an official Yasukuni visit by a PM or the Emperor was Un-Constitutional under Article 20 of the national charter.
Koizumi defied logic, insisting that neighboring countries would not be offended by his Un-Constitutional shrine visits.
The visits marked a further step in the resurrection and legitimisation of the symbols of Japan’s Militarism.
The largest PoW suit was filed in Tokyo district court on January 30, 1995 by the Miami-based Center for Internee Rights. The suit, representing 33,000 U.S. military PoWs, 14,000 civilian internees and thousands more Dutch, British, Australians and New Zealand survivors, asks for an apology and $22,000 individual compensation from the Japanese government. After many court appearances and testimony this case will be decided by the Tokyo District Court in 1998. The final plaintiff testimony was given in Tokyo court on February 19, 1998.
Karn Parker, an international human rights lawyer fighting in the U.N. and Japanese courts over the last 4 years for the "Comfort Women" which Japan did not even admit until 1993, said Japan's refusal to compensate victims directly could partly be attributed to lack of pressure from other countries, especially the United States and China for political and economic reasons. "It does seem the Japanese government wants these old ladies to die one by one until the whole thing blows over," said Elaine Kim, an Asian Studies professor at UC-Berkeley.
However, things have finally started to change after the collapsing of communist Soviet Union, and the normalization of relationship between U.S. and communist China.
On Dec. 3, 1996, U.S. Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations (OSI) which has focused almost exclusively on Nazi war criminals despite its mandate to pursue BOTH Nazis and their allies, finally took its FIRST STEP toward redressing this imbalance by adding the FIRST 16 Japanese war criminal names on the "Watch List" (Holtzman Amendment) since it was legislated in 1978 for denying more than 60,000 Nazi German, Austrian, and Italian war criminals entry to U.S.
This is a tiny step the U.S. government recently made to correct its willfully blind policy toward Japan's war crimes but of great significance. As Kei-ichi Tsuneishi, a Japanese Professor at Kanagawa University, says "The decision is likely to shock and wake up the Japanese."
However, Japan is blocking probe of War Criminals and refused to cooperate with the Justice Department to put the names of several hundred surviving veterans on the Watch List.
"Japan is the ONLY country in the world from whom we seek assistance that does not provide it." said Eli M. Rosenbaum, director of the Justice Department’s office of Special Investigations. Rosenbaum said his office has been able to identify fewer than 100 Japanese suspects compare to 60,000 Nazi, Austrian, and Italian war criminals on the "Watch List"
"After the war, they were not punished, so why is the U.S. government dealing with this problem now ?" said Masao Okonogi, professor of political science at Keio University in Tokyo.
"This seems to me remarkably hypocritical. At the end of WWII, the U.S. occupying force was aware of the information about Unit 731 but deliberately exonerated the men in return for their agreement to be debriefed on the findings of their atrocious experiments. We agreed to Cover-Up their crimes." said John Dower, MIT professor and specialist on modern Japanese history and US relations.
On Jan. 4 1996, the U.N. Human Rights Commission released an official report, submitted by the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women by Radhika Coomaraswamy, on the wartime Sex Slavery, report by International Commision of Jurists, Geneva Comfort Women : An Unfinished Ordeal, and also another report by Special Rapporteur Ms. Gay J. McDougall in 1998 : Systematic Rape, Sexual Slavery and Slavery-like practices during armed conflict. The reports are founded on years investigation and recommends that Japanese government should assume state responsibility and
1. Acknowledge its violation of international law.
2. Make a public apology in writing to individual women.
3. Pay compensation to individual women.
4. Amending educational curricula to reflect true historical realities.
5. Full disclosure of related documents
6. Identify and punish, as far as possible, involved perpetrators
The support for the U.N. report is growing around the world.
Germany now appears to have regained the trust of her neighbors while in vivid contrast, the current resurgence of Japanese Militarism continues to invite suspicion from Asia.
52th Year of Soul Searching
On Sept. 17, 1987, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Redress Bill HR442 for the wrongful internment of Japanese American during WWII :
1. Acknowledge that the internment order violated basic civil liberties
and constitutional rights.
2. Make a formal apology to the Japanese American for the internment.
3. US $1.37 billion in compensation - $20,000 to each survivor.
4. US $50 million fund to educate the American public about the internment.
In 1988, the Japanese Canadian also successfully managed to get
1. A formal apology from Canadian government to Japanese Canadian.
2. Canadian $291 million compensation fund - $21,000 each in compensation.
3. Canadian $50 million educational fund.
However, Cliff Chadderton, chairman of the National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada, has been trying unsuccessfully for the past 12 years to get compensation from Japan for the Canadian PoW since 1985. The PoW were captured by the Japanese on the Christmas Day 1941 in Hong Kong. They spent four years of extreme hardship as slave labourers. Many died in the Japanese prison camps. Mr. Chadderton said, "It is a legal debt owed by the Japanese".
Dec. 12, 1998 Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy said Canada has lobbied Japan unsuccessfully on the subject for some time. The government decided that time was too important for the aging vets to waste it on prolonged legal fights, so it paid up on its own to each PoW Cad $24,000.
During the 14 years brutal WWII invasion into China, Japan not only manufactured huge quantity of WMD Biological Weapons, it also mass produced WMD Chemical Weapons by its top-secret Chemical Weapons research facility Unit 615. Japan had used these destructive weapon in more that 2,000 battles against the Chinese and caused great civilian casualties. It has been estimated that 700,000 - 2,000,000 Chemical Bombs most of them loaded with mustard gas and many of them corroded and leaking, are still scattered in China.
Tokyo finally acknowledged the existence of WMD Chemical Weapon Unit 516 and is now helping to preventing the disaster, on the quiet. But Japan's efforts already come too late for approx. 2000 Chinese had already been injured by these abandoned deadly WMD Chemical Weapons.
On Feb. 9 1997, as a signatory of Chemical Weapons Convention banning chemical weapons, Japanese government finally proposed that it may plan to build a large factory in Northern China to destroy these deadly weapons. After the treatment the extreme poisonous solid remainder - Arfrodic must be transported back to Japan for disposal. So far there is no concrete agreement. International chemical weapon prevention organization has pressed Japanese government to cleanup the weapons in 5 years, but the Japanese government said may need 10 years due to the large quantity of these deadly WMD Chemical Weapons. According to UN regulation, the chemical weapon must be destroyed by 2007.
Many deaths resulted e.g. owing to the poison gas released while dredging the Songhua River in Heilongjiang Province, and poison gas leaked out during sewerage construction on Guanghua Avenue in Mudanjiang City etc. Victims of these deadly WMD Chemical Weapons are now suing Japanese government and demanding compensation. The will be hearing in Tokyo court in July, 1997.
On Feb. 12, 1997 Mrs. Li XouYing, a Nanjing Massacre survivor, who is now 79 years old, tearfully recalled in the Tokyo court about the atrocities she had suffered 60 years ago : She was 19 years old with 7 months pregnancy. To avoid being raped, she forcefully smashed her head against the brick wall determined to suicide. She didn't die but fainted. After she woke up, she found herself lying on a cot. Then a Japanese soldier came to rape her. She again fought fiercely. Other soldiers came and used their bayonets keep stabbing her again, again and again for a total of 37 times during the fight. She lost her 7 months old fetus. She was later rescued by Mr. Magee and miraculously she survived. Magee used his camera and recorded her terrible conditions on film.
The 20-minutes film is now being used as the proof in the lawsuit against the Japanese government. Ms. Li and 9 others including some 731 survivors went to Tokyo to testify. "Japanese Government MUST apologize and compensate for the massacre." demanded 79 years old Mrs. Li in the court, "I want the whole world to known that it was such an In-human War." Their trip to Japan was organized and sponsored by a group of 200 courageous and conscientious Japanese lawyers, scholars and others so that the Japanese can be better educated through the court hearing.
The lawsuit is supported by the Society to Support the Demands of Chinese War Victims (SuoPei). Other SuoPei cases are:
* Forced Relocation to Japan, and Forced Labor
* Comfort Women
* Pingdingshan Incident: 3,000 people were massacred in Liaoning Province. The pretext for this slaughter was reprisal for cooperating with guerrillas in the resistance movement.)
* Abandoned Poison Gas and Bombs
On March 20, 1997 the U.S. Justice Department added 17 more names to the "Watch List" (Holtzman Amendment) barring these Japanese War criminals from ever entering U.S.
On March 27, 1997 the Center for Internee Rights (CFCIR, Inc.), representing former PoWs and civilian internees brutalized by Japanese forces, turned over 100 additional names of suspected Japanese war criminals to the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. the "Watch List" (Holtzman Amendment) has more than 60,000 Nazis, Austrian, and Italian war criminals , but has only 33 Japanese names added since 1996.
On June 27 1997, Frits Kalshoven, a legal expert, Dutch professor emeritus at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, appeared as an expert in international humanitarian law suit filed by 46 former Philippine sex slaves in 1993 seeking 20 million yen each in damages for being forced to serve as "Comfort Women" during WWII.
The Japanese government insisted that individual war victims cannot sue a state based on international law and the postwar peace treaties have already settled the issue. Kalshoven pointed out that Article 3 of the Hague Convention of 1907 clearly implies, although it doesn't spell out, that individuals have rights to claim compensation against a state.
On June 23 1997, Kalshoven also appeared as an expert witness in another damages suit in which 8 former Dutch PoWs and civilian internees, are demanding 2.2 million yen each.
Chinese citizens have for years been barred by their government from making claims for compensation from Japan. The number of surviving victims has continued to fall. The few alive are now more than 80 years old.
In July, 1997 the Nanjing municipal government finally decided to trace massacre survivors, victims and witnesses. With the help of 10 thousand high school students including some Japanese student reps from 14 schools of Japan as summer camp activity, about 2630 survivors were found. The Nanjing City Notary Association also issued them with certificates in batches. Hope the Nanjing government will soon do more to help survivors in their endeavor to obtain justice.
On July 25 1997, Resolution HCR 126, condemning Japan for its atrocities in WWII is also being introduced by Congressman Lipinski, Stump, and others. It calls for the Japanese government to :
1. Formally issue a clear and unambiguous apology.
2. Immediately pay compensation to all the victims of Japanese WWII war crimes.
The bill was cosponsored by 78 members of House of Representatives. Over 12,000 petitions had been gathered from every State in the Union in support of this legislation and over 50 veterans and military and human rights organizations are supporting HCR 126. Although it did not pass in the 105th Congress, a similar resolution will be introduced as soon as the 106th Congress is started in 1999.
On August 11 1997, 108 Chinese filed a law suit involving the former Japanese Imperial Army's germ warfare in Tokyo District Court demanding $9.39 million compensation and apologies from the Japanese government. This was the latest in a series of court cases against Japanese WWII crimes. Kouken Tsuchiya, the plaintiffs' chief lawyer, said they needed such long time to gather evidence before filing suit because the Japanese government had covered up the germ warfare. The Japanese Imperial Army carried out germ warfare despite a ban under the 1925 Geneva convention.
On Sept 22, 1997, Japanese steelmaker, Nippon Steel Corp. and the families of 11 Koreans have reached an out-of-court settlement for a lawsuit filed 2 years ago for using them as forced labor during WWII. The company will pay more than $163,000 in "condolence money" to each of the victims. "We are not completely happy with the settlement, but we wanted to focus more on the positive side -- the fact that a Japanese company is paying money for the victims and their memorial services," Akihiko Oguchi said. The families, however, plan to continue their legal fight against the Japanese government. Nippon Steel and many other corporate giants today, have said they only operated under government orders. Companies, including NKK Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kajima Corp., face similar lawsuits.
In Germany, the Federal Compensation Law for slave labour were established in 1953. Claims are valid for damage to health, persecution and for being kept in prison-like conditions.
On Oct 7, 1997, 37 Japanese lawyers and scholars of a group established earlier this year, including lawyer Koken Tsuchiya, the former head of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Hosei University Professor Yoko Tajima and novelist Ayako Miurars, will push for legislation that would make Japanese government directly compensate foreign WWII victims. The group will urge a nonpartisan group of Diet members to introduce 2 bills, One bill would be aimed at investigating "violations of international humanitarian law" committed by the Japan before and during WWII. The other would enable a provisional payment by the government to the comfort women.
Nov. 1997, South Korean National Assembly decided to prohibit entry of war criminals into South Korea.
On Dec. 10, 1997 the Tokyo District Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chinese former slave laborers during WWII. The lawyer Takashi Niimi said the group will appeal. In February, Judge Sonobe angered the plaintiffs when he, during an oral hearing, suddenly announced that the court would wrap up its deliberations without questioning the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs immediately filed for dismissal of the judges, but the Tokyo High Court rejected the motion. "An unjust ruling like this has not only hurt the Hanaoka victims," he said, "but also has downgraded the credibility and dignity of the Japanese justice system."
The plaintiffs claim that 986 Chinese were forcibly brought from China to Hanaoka copper mine in Akita and were slaved into hard labor for Kajima-gumi, the predecessor of Kajima Corp. In June 1945, the Chinese revolted and were soon rounded up and tortured. In the end, 113 Chinese died by torture. They sued the giant construction firm in June 1995, demanding 5.5 million yen each in damages for malnutrition, slave labor and torture.