54th Year of Soul Searching
Feb. 1999, Twelve giant German companies, IG Farben, Allianz AG, BASF AG, Bayer AG, BMW AG, DaimlerChrysler AG, DegussaHuels AG, Dresdner Bank AG, Fried Krupp AG Hoesch Krupp, Hoechst AG, Siemens AG and Volkswagen AG, have agreed to compensate slave labourers and other Nazi era victims. It was estimated that the total would be 2.5 billion. Deutsche Bank chief executive Rolf Breuer described the fund as a milestone, similar to 1.9 billion settlement reached by Swiss banks of Holocaust claims last year.
March 28, 1999, In Japan Tokyo, a controversial $12 billion yen national museum, Showa Hall Museum was officially opened. It is Japan's first museum about the WWII. However, inside there is nothing about Japanese war crimes - comfort wowen, Nanjing massacre, Unit 731, germ warfare, not even Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima etc. Kazuo Ohashi, a pacifist, was so outraged by Showa Hall he has filed a lawsuit with his supporters accusing the government of misusing tax money to build it. "It's a sham," Ohashi said. "The museum contains nothing about the war." His lawsuit is pending in a Tokyo court.
Apr. 1999 In a landmark settlement, giant steelmaker NKK Corp. agreed to pay US $34,000 to a South Korean man who was forcibly brought to Japan for slave labor during WWII. This is the second court-brokered settlement of such a suit. The first payment by a Japanese company to a plaintiff -- a bereaved family receiving payment from a company in the first case. Kim Kyung Suk, 72, filed his lawsuit in 1991 demanding 10 million yen in damages and an apology from the company. Though the court admitted NKK's wrongdoing, it dismissed any responsibility of the steel giant, saying the 20-year statute of limitations had already run out. His lawyer, Kazuyuki Azusawa, says the threat of losing a subway contract in Seoul may have prompted the settlement, "Japanese companies are not sincere,".
May 1999, Canada ALPHA is launching a electronic postcard sending campaign to support the Canada Federal Bill C-479 Recognition of Crimes Against Humanity Act. The purpose of the Bill is to mandate the establishment of an exhibit in the Canadian Museum of Civilization to recognize the crimes against Humanity as defined by the United Nations that have been perpetrated during the twentieth century. If this Bill is passed, then exhibits on the systematic and organized atrocities and crimes against Humanity committed by the Japanese military machine throughout Asia before and during WW II will be included in the national Musuem of Civilization.
Aug. 24, 1999 The California State Assembly approved the resolution AJR 27 by urging Japan to apologize for its wartime atrocities and offer individual compensation to American veterans, former sex slaves and other victims. They also passed laws extending the statute of limitations for WWII lawsuits to 2010. The resolution maintains that the Japanese actions are not enough, and calls on the Japanese government to issue a "clear and unambiguous apology." It calls on U.S. Congress and the President to also seek an apology and reparations from Japan.
July 1999 9 Taiwanese women forced to work as sex slaves are taking the Tokyo government to court demanding 10 million yen each in compensation and an official apology. At least 2,000 Taiwanese women were forced to work as comfort women but only about 40 disclosed their grief.
Aug 9, 1999 Japan's parliament voted 166 to 71 enacted bitterly contested legislation enshrining as national symbols the notorious rising sun flag and the imperial hymn Kimigayo as the national anthem. Comdemned by hundreds protesters demonstrated outside the building because of their connection with Japan's militarist and imperial past.
Aug. 27, 1999 In a 15-2 resolution, the U.N. Subcommission on Human Rights rejected Japan's reasons for denying government compensation to women forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese military during WWII. It stressed that under international law, governments are responsible for war crimes and other rights violations committed by their soldiers. The Japanese governments "shall, if the case demands, be liable to pay compensation".
Aug. 1999 Ralph Levenberg filed a class-action suit under a new California law that authorizes any World War II slave-labor victim to sue for compensation. The defendant is Nippon Sharyo, one of Japan's biggest makers of railroad cars. Levenberg is demanding compensation and a clear, no wiggle-room apology. Levenberg's lawyers already have other big Japanese corporations in their sights, including heavyweights like Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co. Both firms were named in a suit Levenberg filed earlier this year in a U.S. federal district court and both could face litigation under the new California law.
If companies in Europe are moving, however reluctantly, to close the final accounts of the war, their counterparts in Japan have not yet begun. At least 46 war redress suits have been filed in Japanese courts, Not one case has been won. According to attorney Yoshitaka Takagi, 3 cases have been settled out of court, including a forced labor case against steel giant NKK Corp. In 2 cases, the courts ruled that the plaintiffs had been wronged, though they declined to order restitution, saying it is up to parliament to decide whether and how to compensate victims.
Sept 3, 1999 A California based lawyer Barry Fisher urged the Japanese and U.S. government, Japanese companies to disclose wartime documents that would expose facts about the forced labor of American prisoners of war in Japan during WWII, whereas the German government recently disclosed papers that revealed over 500 firms were involved in the Holocaust.
Sept 13, 1999 500 American ex-PoWs used as slave laborers during WWII are seeking an apology and compansation. The lawsuit, which seeks nationwide class-action status, was filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, N.M., against five Japanese companies - Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., Mitusi & Co., Inc., Mitsubishi International Corp., Nippon Steel Corp., and Showa Denko, They used POWs to produce war goods between 1942 and 1945. Such actions are illegal under the Geneva Convention and various treaties that Japan's wartime government promised to honor. Eli J. Warach, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the lawsuit comes more than 50 years after the war because evidence and information withheld by U.S. agencies during the Cold War was only recently declassified. Several ex-PoWs also said U.S. officials warned them in 1945 and asked them to sign secrecy document not to discuss their experiences.
Sept 22, 1999 The Tokyo court ruled that it does not acknowledge the right of a foreign individual to seek compensation for war damages from Japan. The lawyer of 10 Chinese plaintiff, Hiroshi Oyama complained that the decision was based less on the law than on the judges' personal political views. The plaintiffs will appeal, said another of their lawyers, Harumi Watanabe. They demanded compensation for suffering caused by wartime biological experiments, the Rape of Nanking and the firebombing of Yong'an city. The Japanese government has acknowledged that during the war its Unit 731, based in the Chinese city of Harbin, conducted experiments with bubonic plague, anthrax and cholera on thousands of Allied prisoners of war and Chinese civilians.
Oct. 27, 1999 Members of the LA-based Simon Wiesenthal Center and the New York-based Alliance in Memory of Victims of the Nanjing Massacre met with Attorney General Janet Reno and Pentagon officials. The activists said US officials promised to persuade Japan to supply information about human experiments in WWII. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., sent a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi urging that his government release the documents. If not complied, Lantos said he plans to sponsor legislation in Congress that would declassify U.S. documents relating to WWII in hopes of finding information. Meanwhile, Cooper and other activists want Washington to modify the amnesty granted to Japanese veterans or express some regret. "If the U.S. will acknowledge its moral error perhaps that will inspire the Japanese to look at this black hole," Cooper said.
Nov. 4 1999 Japan's leading journalist Honda Katsuichi reflected on the Nanjing Massacre to the world through the internet. Click here to listen. He also discussed his new book The Nanjing Massacre: A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan's National Shame.
Dec. 7, 1999 On the anniversary of Japan's attach on Pearl Harbor, New York lawyer Edward D. Fagan, best known for his billion-dollar lawsuits on behalf of Jewish Holocaust survivors, filed a class action lawsuit against the Japanese industrial giants Mitsui, Mitsubishi Corp. and Nippon Steel Corp. on behalf of former prisoners of war who were used as slave laborers. A total of 18 class action lawsuits have already been filed in the U.S, with dozens more planned.
Nov. 8, 1999 US. Congressmen introduced Resolution H.3254 codifying WWII war crimes claims. H.3245 is a parallel bill to Resolution S.1856, introduced last Thursday in the Senate, to amend title 28 of the United States Code to authorize Federal district courts to hear civil actions to recover damages or secure relief for certain injuries to persons and property under or resulting from the Nazi regime and its wartime allies including Japan. It furthers the resolve of the U.S. Congress to bring proper closures to outstanding WWII civil liability issues.
November 10, 1999 Resolution S.1902 was introduced to review and examine wartime documents related to Japanese war crimes from 1931 to 1948, declassify them and released to the National Archive for public access. It is a parallel bill to a US Senate resolution S.1379 passed by unanimous consent in both the Senate and the House last year to declassify all Nazi war crime records through a similar interagency.
Dec. 17, 1999 German, U.S. and east European officials agreed to setup a US $5.2 billion fund to compensate Nazi-era slave and forced labourers, about $8,000 for each in a concentration camp and about $3,200 for each non-concentration camp forced labourer. Payment would start in the middle of year 2000.
Dec. 24, 1999 Japan finally announced that its government will spend US $27.7 million dollars to destroy all their Chemical Weapon left in China during WWII. It is estimated 700,000 - 2,000,000 Chemical Bombs still scattered in China. Many of them are corroded and leaking and have caused many causalities to the Chinese. As a signatory of Chemical Weapons Prevention Treaty, Japan is pressed by the International chemical weapon prevention organization to cleanup in 5 years, but the Japanese government said 10 years are required due to the large quantity of these deadly WMD Chemical Weapons. According to UN regulation, the chemical weapon must be destroyed by 2007.
55th Year of Soul Searching
Jan. 2000 Officials in the Japan's 3rd-biggest city of Osaka said they had no choice but to let a nationalist group hold a conference, ironically in the Osaka Peace Center, with the theme "The Biggest Lie of the 20th Century" insisting that the 1937 Nanjing Massacre never occurred. The same citizens' group organised a screening of the Japanese film Pride - The Fateful Moment which depicts WWII leader Hideki Tojo as a heroic warrior rather than a Class A War Criminal at the same facility in 1998.
Voices dismissing or greatly playing down Japan's wartime crimes are regularly heard from Japanesee political, academic and media establishment. The governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, for one, has frequently called the Nanjing Massacre a lie. In the past Japanese cabinet ministers also frequently made similar public denying comments with some losing their posts over the statements. In January 1997, Seiroku Kajiyama, a LDP contender for the premiership, even claimed that "comfort women" had provided sex to Japanese troops "for money".
Jan. 19, 2000 U.S. Nebraska State Senator Don Preiester of Omaha and 12 of his Senate colleagues have introduced Legislative Resolution 298 (LR 298) condemning the atrocities Japanese military committed in the WWII and demanding the Government of Japan to offer formal apology and compensations to its victims. A similar resolution passed in California, namely AJR 27, which was introduced by Japanese American Assemblyman Mike Honda of San Jose.
Jan. 27, 2000 To underline that Germans intend to remain aware of Nazi evils, German government decided to build a monument just south of the landmark Brandenburg Gate. The monument will consist of a vast field of 2,700 close-set concrete slabs resembling stones in a graveyard. Jan. 27 is also Germany's annual Day of Remembrance for Victims of Nazism, established in 1996.
Feb 1, 2000 Resolution HR 3561 was introduced in the US House by Brian Bilbray. It is a parallel bill to the Senate Resolution S.1902, the Japanese Imperial Army War Crime Disclosure Act on Nov. 1999. HR 3561 & S.1902 are to create an interagency work group, fully funded for 3 years, to review and examine wartime documents related to Japanese war crimes from 1931 to 1948, declassify them and released to the National Archive for public access.
Feb. 2000 In a speech to Israel's Parliament, Johannes Rau, the German president said, "I ask forgiveness for what Germans have done - for myself and my generation, for the sake of our children and our children's children."
May 15 2000 Senate Resolution 174 was introduced. The resolution calls attention to the atrocities committed by Japan against the Chinese and others during WWII. It also called on the Government of Japan to issue a formal apology and reparations to the victims of its war crimes.
May 18, 2000 Trying to blunt fears of Asian countries about a resurrection of Japanese militarism, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori apologized for any "misunderstandings" for endorsing the nationalists' view that Japan is a "divine country" whose emperor has a pipeline to the gods, but he refused to retract his comments, which he said were meant to reflect "Japan's eternal traditional culture." The WWII invasions were fuelled by Shintoism, a religion which held that Japan's emperor had a mandate from the god to take over Asia. Defeated, constitution was rewritten to separate religion and politics.
But the old militarism lives on among Japan's ultraright, who glorify the country's war history and play down documented war atrocities. Japanese Prime Minister Mori made his statement Monday to a group of legislators and Shinto leaders in a speech marking the 30th anniversary of the Parliamentarian Conference for Shinto Politics League, of which he is a founding member. Opposition parties called for Prime Minster's resignation. Mr. Mori apologized again a week later and still refuses to withdraw it.
May 24 2000 Japanese Emperor Akihito started a state visit to the Netherlands, Dutch. To remind Japan of its war crimes and unfinished responsibilities, the Foundation for Japanese Honorary Debts (JES) organized a series of activities during the state visit, which were supported by many international peace organizations, including veteran and grassroots organizations from Japan, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, US and Canada. Many observers commented on these activities as a powerful moving force facilitating a new milestone in the international redress movement against Japan.
JES also sponsored the exhibition of photos and stamps in the Hague. Entitled "Unfinished Matters: The Other Face of Japan", the exhibition focused on the Nanjing Massacre, the Military Sexual Slavery, and the Unit 731 unit. The very first of its kind in Europe. To further enhance public awareness of Japan's unfinished business, JES organized protest marches in Amsterdam and Hague. to coincide with the arrival of Emperor Akihito. Joined by several hundred supporters, many put on the JES jacket imprinted "Pay Your Debts" in both Japanese and English.
July 6, 2000 German Parliament passed a bill setting up billions dollar slave fund for the Nazi-era slave and forced laborers. They formally apologized to the victims "for what Germans did to them". The vote on the compensation fund bill was 556-42, with 22 abstentions. It is being financed 50-50 by German industry and the government. It was signed on July 17 and formally established the 10 billions marks (US $7.5 billion) slave fund. More than 3,127 German firms have pledged money. "This closes one of the last open chapters of the Nazi past," said the German Chancellor, "We are setting down a durable marker of historic and moral responsibility."
July 12, 2000 Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp. a Japanese machine-toolmaker has reached a settlement with 3 South Koreans who served as forced laborers during WWII. settled a lawsuit filed by the South Koreans in Sept. 1992. It is the first time that a compromise of this kind has been made at the Supreme Court. It is the third such settlement, following a compromise between Japan Steel Corp. and former Korean workers recruited during WWII. Kensuke Imura, president of Nachi-Fujikoshi, said in Toyama that the company will pay the Koreans "settlement money," but he did not specify the amount. The plaintiffs had sought a total of 20 million yen in damages, 5,200 yen in unpaid wages and a public apology.
About 60 lawsuits seeking compensation payments for forced labor during the war are being heard throughout the country.
Aug. 15, 2000 Nine members of Japan Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's Cabinet went into Yasukuni Shrine and bow deeply before its altar to offer their prayers. The Prime Minister himself, already under fire for comments that stirred memories of Japanese Militarism, stayed away. Among those honored at the Yasukuni Shrine are the Japanese war-time prime minister, Hideki Tojo, and many other Japanese military leaders convicted of WWII war crimes. For people in Asia, Yasukuni Shrine is a symbol of Japan's brutal militaristic past.
Sept 4 2000 Shintaro Ishihara, the governor of Tokyo prefecture, turned a hitherto boring annual earthquake drill into one of the largest military exercises most Japanese have seen since WWII. More then 7,000 uniformed soldiers participated in the streets of central Tokyo with tanks and helicopters. Many questioned the need for a military drill on this scale. "Ishihara wants to change the Constitution and turn Japan into a big military country again." said Atsuo Nakamura, an opposition member of Paliament. Japanese Prime Minister visited the basement command room of Japan's Self defence Forces to monitor the drill.
Oct 14 2000 In room 103 of Tokyo district court, Japan was at war with her own History. It was the first testimony of its kind, former Japanese soldier of notorious Unit 731, Yoshio Shinozuka, 78, told the court he participated in mass production of cholera, dysentery and typhoid germs. He also assisted in the vivisection of Chinese civilians during WWII. He said one of his reasons for testifying was disappointment with the government's efforts to come clean about the war. "What I have done was something that nobody should have done as a Human Being." he said.
Nov. 2000 The first case of its kind to be tried in Chinese courts, Xia Shuqin is suing Asia University professor Osamichi Higashinakano and writer Toshio Matsumura for distorting the truth about the Nanking Massacre. Xia is also seeking compensation and public apology from Matsumura, author of "Big Doubts about the Nanking Massacre," and the Tentensha Publishing House for printing the two books.
Nov 7 2000 Since Japan has refused to compensate British PoW of Japan for their suffering in WWII, and time was too important for the aging vets to waste it on prolonged legal fights, British Government announced its own compensation for PoW, £10,000 each, at a cost to British Government of 180 million £. Canadian governmnet did the same in 1998, paid up on its own to each PoW Cad $24,000.
Nov 29 2000 Major Japanese construction firm Kajima Corp. agreed to set up a US 4.6 million fund to compensate 986 victims of WWII slave labor worked in Hanaoka mine. 418 out of 986 Chinese died due to the brutal conditions. However, at the same day Kajima issued its own statement that :
1. The payment of $500 million yens was not the result of a case settlement, but financial assistance to the aging plaintiffs on humanitarian ground in the spirit of Sino-Japanese friendship;
2. Kajima is not admitting any guilt or accepting any legal responsibility of the death or injuries of the plaintiffs;
3. The death of many plaintiffs were caused by illness or harsh wartime conditions.
All three points above were blatant lies. The Global Alliance demands that Kajima Corporation to retract its Statement by Feb 12 2001 and continue with appeals to other Kajima clients and world communities to pressure Kajima. About 60 suits have been filed against the Japanese government or Japanese companies for compensation for slave labor during WWII.
Dec 7 2000 Japanese court rejected a lawsuit filed by nearly 80 aging Filipino women demanding apology and US 9 million in compensation for being forced to work as sex slave. Some of the women were as young as 10. "I will fight till I die," said plaintiff Carmecita Ramel. "They are all criminals, the Japanese government." Last week the court also rejected a former Korean sex slave's demands for compensation. approx.400,000 women were forced to work as sex slave by Japan in WWII.
Dec 27 2000 President Clinton signed into U.S. Public Law 106-567, the "Intelligence Authorization Act for F/Y 2001," in which the the original S 1902 of "Japanese Imperial Government Disclosure Act of 2000" is included as Title VIII. It now allows the public for the first time in over 55 years to have access to hitherto classified U.S. documents which are expected to shed more light upon the extent of the war crimes committed by the Japanese Imperial Government during WWII. But some researcher remain skeptical because the law's "national security" exemptions.