Subject: [cwj 100] Chinese Wartime Laborers Sue Rinko Corp and Japan Government
From: Corporate Watch in Japanese <cwj@corpwatch.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 11:20:46 -0700
Seq: 100
For more info on forced labor and Japanese corporations, see http://www.corpwatch.org/japan/domestic/#corphr Tuesday September 12, 2000 Chinese Wartime Laborers Sue Japan Government TOKYO (Reuters) - A group of Chinese citizens filed a lawsuit with a Japanese court Tuesday, demanding the government and a Japanese company apologize and offer compensation for slave labor practices during World War Two. The eight Chinese plaintiffs are seeking a total 175 million yen ($1.65 million) in compensation from Tokyo and Japanese transport firm Rinko Corp, and an apology to be run in newspapers, a court official said. The plaintiffs consist of six former laborers in their 70s, and the wife and child of a former Chinese slave laborer who died in April. The lawsuit said the seven Chinese had been forcibly brought to Japan around 1944 at the age of about 20 and forced to carry cargo at Niigata port on the Japan Sea coast. They argued that they had received no rewards for their work and little food was given to them. Rinko officials declined to comment on the suit. Apart from Tuesday's case, seven similar lawsuits have been filed with Japanese courts in recent years. A Japanese government report said Japan drafted some 39,000 Chinese into forced labor during the war to make up for a labor shortage, and about 6,800 of them died while working. Japanese bearings manufacturer Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp agreed in July to pay 30-40 million yen ($280,000-$374,000) in compensation to three Korean plaintiffs for forced labor during World War Two. A rising number of lawsuits have been brought against the government and individual companies by wartime laborers and prisoners, but with little success. Last May, nine Chinese nationals who said they were forced to work in inhumane conditions in Japanese mines during World War Two filed a 207 million yen lawsuit against the Japanese government and Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co Ltd., Japan's top zinc refiner. Several lawsuits have also been filed against Japanese companies in the United States seeking compensation for activities during World War Two, including class-action suits filed in California in February against trade houses Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsui & Co. FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Corporate Watch in Japanese is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. ------------------------------------- Corporate Watch in Japanese Transnational Resource and Action Center (TRAC) P.O. Box 29344 San Francisco, CA 94129 USA Tel: 1-415-561-6472 Fax: 1-415-561-6493 Email: cwj@corpwatch.org URL: http://www.corpwatch-jp.org ------------------------------------- ______________________ The Corporate Watch in Japanese http://www.corpwatch.org/japan (CWJ) mailing list is a moderated email list in English designed to connect activists campaigning against Japanese corporations and investments around the world. * To unsubscribe from the CWJ mailing list, send an email to majordomo@jca.apc.org with text "unsubscribe cwj". To subscribe to the CWJ mailing list, send a message to majordomo@jca.apc.org with the text "subscribe cwj" * The CWJ mailing list is NOT intended for wide distribution. If you would like to post messages from this list somewhere else, we ask that you first contact us at cwj@corpwatch.org ______________________