Subject: [cwj 94] Japanese lawyer seeks justice for Chinese victims of WWII aggression
From: Corporate Watch in Japanese <cwj@corpwatch.org>
Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 12:09:16 -0700
Seq: 94
For more info on forced labor and Japanese corporations, see http://www.corpwatch.org/japan/domestic/#corphr September 5, 2000 Japanese lawyer seeks justice for Chinese victims of WWII aggression BEIJING, Sept 5 (AFP) - A Japanese lawyer is in China preparing the ground for court cases seeking justice for victims of Japanese atrocities more than half a century after the end of World War II. Toshitaka Onodera, a Tokyo-based attorney, is one of the arrangers of a seminar to be held in China next month to heighten awareness of the plight of Chinese victims of Japanese imperialism and seek ways to compensate them. "We are taking up this case in gratitude over the courage of the Chinese victims who chose to stand up," Onodera told reporters during a briefing Tuesday in Beijing. China was one of the main victims of Japanese aggression in the first half of the 20th century, and when the confrontation erupted in full-scale war between 1937 and 1945, at least 15 million Chinese, mostly civilians, lost their lives. The seminar, to be held in a museum at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing where a minor military incident set off the Chinese-Japanese war in 1937, will feature scholars speaking on subjects ranging from the treatment of the war in Japanese textbooks to ways to help war victims. Arranged by Japanese and Chinese lawyers, it will also be a chance to discuss ways to proceed with court cases against Japanese corporations that used forced Chinese labor during World War II. Four Chinese Americans and five Chinese nationals last month sued Japanese conglomerates Mitsubishi and Mitsui in Los Angeles, claiming the companies enslaved thousands of Chinese citizens during World War II. Onodera has yet to decide how many more cases will be pursued in the courts. But more than 40,000 Chinese are believed to have been sent to Japanese work camps during the war, with 5,782 documented cases of workers forced into slavery by Mitsui and some 2,100 by Mitsubishi, according to Chinese activists. A California law passed in 1999 that allows cases arising out of World War II slave labor issues to be filed until 2010, has been crucial in bringing the lawsuit to the US, while courts in Japan and China are too politically controlled to result in a favorable verdict. Onodera said on Tuesday that he hoped there would be parallels between Chinese forced-labor cases and cases against German corporations accused of using slave labor during the Nazi era. The American Jewish community was effective in lobbying the US administration into action, and a similar role could be played by the large number of US citizens of Asian descent, he said. Onodera, an experienced human rights lawyers who has previously defended ethnic Koreans' rights in Japan, said he is paying expenses out of his own pocket to help Chinese victims of his country's imperialist past. He said it is a cause he has pursued since 1994, when he was first alerted to China's anger over the unresolved issues of World War II. That year, Japan's Justice Minister Shigeto Nagano said the 1937 Nanjing Massacre -- in which China says 300,000 civilians were slaughtered -- was a hoax, triggering angry demonstrations in Beijing. The justice minister was later sacked for his remarks, but much more needs to be done, according to Onodera. By addressing the issues of more than 50 years ago, Japan will also be helping itself, he said. "Without any clear idea what was done by Japan, and who were the victims and the assailants, Japan will never come to terms with its history," he said. 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. ______________________ 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 ______________________