As not everybody is able to attend events where they are likely to hear a Japanese apology for their part in world war II, it was felt only fair to allow people to read the following statements made by some Japanese people who endeavoured to apologise for the actions of their countrymen.
Click here to read this text in Japanese
A message to a Reunion of the Pacific Venture Trips
at the Trafalgar Tavern, Park Row, Greenwich
Tuesday, May 26h, 1998 from 7.00p.m.
This time tonight, the State Banquet hosted by Her Majesty The Queen is taking place at Buckingham Palace for Their Majesties The Emperor and The Empress of Japan. My heart is with you as I attend this remarkable event. This is the first State Visit since 1971. In 1971, there were only about 3,000 Japanese living in the UK, compared to 55,000 today. It was 25 years after the end of the war, but no one could think then that some 25 years later the desire to seek reconciliation and build bridge for the future would find its expression in a project like the Pacific Venture.
Within your own families, you may have heard about the terrible sufferings that your grandfathers and grandmothers had to undergo during the war. We Japanese, as a nation, feel deeply remorseful about it and sincerely apologise for it. We also recognise that we should never again repeat such a serious mistake. Hearing lessons from the past, we would like the young people of our two countries to know each other and become friends for the future. The friendship that the participants of the Pacific Venture build with their new Japanese friends will produce a solid assurance that the tragedy of the past will never be repeated.
My purpose this evening is not to try to tell you what a marvellous country Japan is. I am sure that the '96 & '97 Venturers can tell the '98 Venturers vivid impressions of today's Japan. To those who are going to Japan for the first time, may I say that you only have to keep your eyes and ears open and see and hear for yourself, to try to absorb as much as you can and make your own judgement.
Finally, I would like to pay my sincere tribute to all those who are devoting themselves so tirelessly to this venture.
SADAYUKI HAYASHI
AMBASSADOR
Click here to read this text in Japanese
The Fifth Memorial Service for the POWs of the British
Commonwealth and Former Allied Nations
Who Died in Japan during World War II
Date. 11:00 a.m., Saturday, August 7, 1999
Place: The British Commonwealth War Cemetery,
Kariba-cho , Hodogaya-ku , Yokohama.
During World War II, thousands of POWs from the British Commonwealth and former Allied nations were forced to labor in Thailand and other countries in Asia. Many of them were transferred to the POW camps in Japan to work as forced Labourers. The remains of 1,873 POWs who died in Japan are buried at the British Commonwealth War Cemetery in Yokohama.
It is regrettable that many Japanese today are either unaware of or indifferent to this important fact of history and to the significance of the Yokohama War Cemetery. Although it may be too late, we are convinced that it is our moral duty to express apologies for our war crimes and to pay tribute to the memory of those buried here.
Our first memorial service was held on August 5, 1995, the 50th Anniversary of the End of World War II. To the best of our knowledge, it was the first memorial service that has been initiated and sponsored by a group of concerned Japanese people. The service has since been observed annually on the first Saturday of August. We would like to take this occasion to humbly accept our war responsibility with a renewed spirit of peace in order to foster a true reconciliation between the former Allied nations and the Japanese. We also wish to fulfill our mission to teach the young generations about the truth of what happened in the past, so that they will assume the responsibility of being "channels of peace" in the coming 2lst century.
It is our sincere hope to continue this memorial service on the first
Saturday of August every year and eventually to make it a good tradition among
the conscientious Japanese. Every time we meet at Yokohama to remember the war
dead, we would like to reconfirm and renew our determination never again to
repeat the mistakes of the past. The Yokohama War Cemetery is the best
"Living history textbook" for us Japanese.
Takashi Nagase, former Japanese military interpreter
Kazuaki Saito, professor at International Christian University
Tsuyoshi Amemiya, professor at Aoyama Gakuin University