Japan Pays War Orphans Compensation
A Japanese court has forced the Japanese government to pay individual compensation claims to Japanese war orphans from World War II:
A court Friday ordered the government to pay millions of dollars in compensation to dozens of Japanese who, as children, were stranded in China at the close of World War II.
The 65 plaintiffs claimed the government was responsible for their delayed return to Japan and upon their return, had failed to provide adequate support to help them reintegrate into Japanese society. They were each seeking $285,000 in compensation.
The plaintiffs were the children of Japanese military officials, bureaucrats and private businessmen who were sent to settle in China’s remote northeast. They were left behind by their fleeing parents as Soviet troops closed in at the end of the war in 1945.
About 6,300 people came back after ties between the two states was normalized in 1972, including 2,500 who were under age 12 when they were abandoned in China, according to Health Ministry official Hayato Igarashi.
Raised by Chinese who adopted them, most of them were too young to remember their Japanese names or those of their natural parents. Only some have been able to reconnect with their families.
This ruling makes me wonder if a Japanese court could make the Japanese government at least apologize for their “comfort women” policies of World War II? It just seems like a way to settle at least one thorny issue between Japan and it’s neighbors.
