[bootlegga]

Quote:

Canada has accepted the Japanese government's apology for the treatment of prisoners held during the Second World War for five years after the Battle of Hong Kong.

An official statement of regret was delivered in Tokyo on Thursday by Toshiyuki Kato, the Japanese parliamentary vice-minister for foreign affairs.

Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney and a delegation from the Canadian Veterans of the Battle of Hong Kong travelled to Japan for the apology and a ceremony on Thursday.

"This important gesture is a crucial step in ongoing reconciliation and a significant milestone in the lives of all prisoners of war," Blaney said in a release. "It acknowledges their suffering while honouring their sacrifices and courage."

More than 50 per cent of the Canadians sent to defend Hong Kong, then a British colony, against the Japanese invasion during the Second World War died, either during the 17½-day battle or during the years of imprisonment, hard labour and deprivation that followed.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird responded Thursday in Ottawa to the apology.

"The terrible pain and heavy burden of the Second World War have given way to a mutually beneficial, respectful relationship between Canada and Japan as mature democracies - a legacy of all who served in the Pacific campaigns," Baird said in a statement.

"Today's apology will help in healing as our two great countries move forward."

The allies' battle to defend Hong Kong ended on Christmas Day in 1941, and the survivors were imprisoned either until their death or the end of the war. They were imprisoned in Hong Kong until early 1943, and then in Japan until liberation in September 1945.

Of the 1,975 Canadians who went to Hong Kong, more than 1,050 were either killed or wounded, says Canadians in Hong Kong, a booklet published by Veterans Affairs Canada.

The delegation to Tokyo this week also visited the graves of Canadian soldiers at the British Commonwealth Cemetery at Yokohama.

http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/home/canad ... s/c69f8b48

About damned time they apologized officially...

[DrCaleb]

bootlegga wrote:

About damned time they apologized officially...

+1 to that!

[Gunnair]

A little late. Not accepted.

[Thanos]

Took way too long and probably still isn't very sincere anyway. Acceptable for diplomatic purposes but it still falls into the "whatever" category.

[Tricks]

Gunnair wrote:

A little late. Not accepted.

This.

[Lemmy]

I don't think you can apologize for something someone else did. Just like apologizing to our natives from centuries-old wrongs or Mulroney apologizing to Japanese Canadians for WWII internment. It's a nice gesture by the current Japanese government, but the apology had to have come from those who committed the wrong to mean anything...and they're all long-dead.

[bootlegga]

Lemmy wrote:

I don't think you can apologize for something someone else did. Just like apologizing to our natives from centuries-old wrongs or Mulroney apologizing to Japanese Canadians for WWII internment. It's a nice gesture by the current Japanese government, but the apology had to have come from those who committed the wrong to mean anything...and they're all long-dead.

That's one of the reasons they waited so long - to avoid compensation.

If Japan had had to pay compensation for all of the 'comfort women' the military used, it could have been very costly, nevermind all the others who might want to sue for compensation. That was why they hid behind the 1952 treaty for so long and refused to acknowledge guilt in anything. So they just waited until the vast majority of potential claimants passed away before issuing anything official.

The list of victims of Japanese aggression in Asia is unfortunately a very long one.

[commanderkai]

Thanos wrote:

Took way too long and probably still isn't very sincere anyway. Acceptable for diplomatic purposes but it still falls into the "whatever" category.

Hear hear.

[jeff744]

bootlegga wrote:

Lemmy wrote:

I don't think you can apologize for something someone else did. Just like apologizing to our natives from centuries-old wrongs or Mulroney apologizing to Japanese Canadians for WWII internment. It's a nice gesture by the current Japanese government, but the apology had to have come from those who committed the wrong to mean anything...and they're all long-dead.

That's one of the reasons they waited so long - to avoid compensation.

If Japan had had to pay compensation for all of the 'comfort women' the military used, it could have been very costly, nevermind all the others who might want to sue for compensation. That was why they hid behind the 1952 treaty for so long and refused to acknowledge guilt in anything. So they just waited until the vast majority of potential claimants passed away before issuing anything official.

The list of victims of Japanese aggression in Asia is unfortunately a very long one.

That sounds remarkably like the US apology to the natives, it took longer to apologize for something just short of a genocide than it did for apologizing to Japanese-Americans interned after Pearl. Hell, it even took Canada forever to apologize for residential schools, the few alive are elderly. There is a lot governments have to apologize for, just because you were on the winning side of wars doesn't mean all your own past wrongs are righted.

[Hyack]

They have refused to apologize or accept any responsibility for this and many other atrocities committed by the leaders of their armed forces and government officials for more than 60 years now. So why are they suddenly apologizing now? What ulterior motive does Japan have to now bring up this subject, there have been no major changes to their government as far as I know lately so I am wondering what they expect to gain from this long overdue apology.