Perspectives

With Siberian POW aid law in the books, time is ripe to solve other post-war problems

"I wonder why it took so long to take such a completely natural step." So said one 89-year-old survivor of a Siberian prisoner of war camp after the Diet passed a bill to provide special benefits to former detainees passed into law on June 16. He asks a good question. Why did it take so long?

Members of the Zenyokukyo, an association of former POWs held by the Soviet Union in Siberia and Mongolia after World War II, have been calling on the Japanese government for compensation for more than 30 years -- decades which saw its membership go from a peak of over 100,000 to less than 1,000 today.

That the remaining members have finally seen their entreaties answered is probably up to the change in government last year, as the compensation law was backed by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).

While rejecting survivors' calls for compensation, courts have urged the Diet to enact legislation to provide aid to former POWs. However, the 2006 bill put forward by the then ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and their coalition partners New Komeito would have seen each survivor receive a flat 100,000 yen package. The compensation wasn't even cash, but travel vouchers to be given "in recognition of service," and the bill sparked opposition among former POWs.

The longest-serving POWs spent 11 years in the Soviet camps, and while the maximum 1.5 million yen "special payment" allotted to those men in the DPJ bill cannot be said to cover their earnings for that span, it does respond to the Zenyokukyo's demand for compensation in proportion to the time each detainee was held.

That the DPJ has overturned the attitude of past administrations that all post-war problems had been resolved is sure to have an influence on other issues. For example, groups of survivors of the Great Tokyo Air Raid who have sought aid through the courts are now planning to push harder for compensation legislation. Pressure to deal with the post-war problems that have built up both at home and abroad will likely build on the Diet and the government.

The new law is of great significance in that it obligates the government to work out basic policy on projects aimed at revealing the entire story of the Soviet camps, collecting the remains and personal effects of those who died in them, and mourning the deceased. Of the some 600,000 Japanese who were held in Siberia and Mongolia, about 80,000 are still living, with their average age estimated at about 88. There is no more time for delay. (By Toshio Kurihara, Cultural News Department)

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