- Title: VARIOUS: Former U.S. POWs seek apologies from Japan
- Date: 14th September 2010
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (SEPTEMBER 13, 2010) (REUTERS) **FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY** JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTRY BUILDING JAPANESE FLAG ON TOP OF BUILDING JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER KATSUYA OKADA SHAKING HANDS WITH FORMER PRISONER OF WAR (POW) LESTER TENNEY PHOTOGRAPHERS POW SEATED LISTENING TO OKADA OKADA TALKING TO FORMER POWS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LESTER TENNEY, 90-YEAR-OLD FORMER PRISONER OF WAR, SAYING: "The biggest thing we ask for, is recognition that we exist. And one way of doing that is for the country of Japan to apologize for what they did to us during World War Two, which Ambassador Fujisaki has done on one occasion." FORMER POWS SEATED TENNEY TALKING TO OKADA (SOUNDBITE) (English) LESTER TENNEY, 90-YEAR-OLD FORMER PRISONER OF WAR, SAYING: "Yet we have been unable to obtain any recognition from the private companies. Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Japan Steel, Kawasaki who used, and abused POWs. Not the government, but private companies who did not give us proper food or medical care, and allowed the employees to beat us for no reason." MORE OF TENNEY TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) LESTER TENNEY, 90-YEAR-OLD FORMER PRISONER OF WAR, SAYING: "It is insulting, because what is happening is that by them keeping quiet, they hope we will die off, and all will be back to normal. It will never be back to normal." MORE OF TENNEY TALKING TO OKADA
- Embargoed: 29th September 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVADV1OQ8D9XBNL5U8UW38R7CREB
- Story Text: Six former U.S prisoners of war (POWs) and survivors of the Bataan Death March met with Japanese foreign minister Katsuya Okada on Monday (September 13) to request an apology from the government for forced labour and abuse by Japanese army during the World War II.
The war veterans and their eight family members came to Japan on Sunday (September 12) in the first Japanese government-sponsored trip of American POWs in a bid to reconcile the two countries.
Lester Tenney, a 90-year-old former POW who represented the group, told minister Okada that Japan should make a formal apology as its ambassador to Washington, Ichiro Fujisaki, did last year.
"The biggest thing we ask for, is recognition that we exist. And one way of doing that is for the country of Japan to apologize for what they did to us during World War Two, which Ambassador Fujisaki has done in one occasion," Tenney, from San Antonio Texas, told Okada during the meeting at Japan's foreign ministry.
In May last year, Fujisaki directly apologized to the former U.S. POWs who survived the 1942 Bataan Death March in the Philippines and held captive by Japanese Imperial Army.
Survivors have testified that 75,000 American and Filipinos were forced-marched about 100 kilometers (62 miles) under tropical heat without being properly given food and water, many sick with malaria or malnourished. Only 54,000 are estimated to have survived the march.
Tenney also requested Japanese private companies should make their own apologies, many who used POWs as forced labour in their factories or mines.
"Yet we have been unable to obtain any recognition from the private companies. Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Japan Steel, Kawasaki who used, and abused POWs. Not the government, but private companies who did not give us proper food or medical care, and allowed the employees to beat us for no reason," Tenney said
"It is insulting, because what is happening is that by them keeping quiet, they hope we will die off, and all will be back to normal. It will never be back to normal," he added.
The group is scheduled to meet with U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos on Monday. They will visit Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture and Kyoto before they return to the U.S. on next Sunday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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