An Open Letter to the Emperor and Empress and Press Conference

On July 9, 2009, 8 organizations in Vancouver (those dedicated to peace causes and those representing some Asian-Canadian groups), including Peace Philosophy Centre, presented an Open Letter to the Japanese Emperor and Empress who are currently visiting Canada. Their visit to Vancouver is from July 12 to 14. The letter asks the Imperial couple for their support for our endeavours to keep Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and to help bring healing and justice to the victims of the Asia-Pacific War. A press conference was successfully held at the BCTF building in Vancouver, attended by 16 media. See at the end of this post for the full text of the Open Letter.

Kyodo News Agency reported the event immediately and the news was run in newspapers across Japan.

See here for the full text of the Kyodo news in Japanese and an English translation.

My friend and peacemaker Eiji Yoshikawa in Japan reported the event on his website, with photos.

The press conference was attended by the following media: Canadian Press/All Media Group/Metro Vancouver/CTV/CBC French/CBC News (Radio)/City TV/Vancouver Korean Press/Omni TV/Vancouver Shinpo/Media Q/Slangan Philippines News & Views/Sing Tao Daily/Fairchild TV/World Journal Daily/Global Chinese Press/CHMB AM1320

Here are links to the CBC , OmniTV and ALL TV news.

Here is my clarification that we did NOT ask the Emperor to apologize.
私たちはこの公開書簡で明仁天皇に謝罪を求めてはいません。一部の報道でそのような印象を与えていますが、それは間違っています。この書簡は天皇の平和への尽力を支持し応援するためのものです。説明および、書簡の本文（英語）をお読みくださればわかります。

Here is ALPHA's summary of media reports, with a link to the photo album.

Here is Tatsuo Kage's article in the August Edition of JCCA the Bulletin/Geppo with a detailed summary of the letter in Japanese. 日本語による報告、書簡の要約はこちらをどうぞ。

Below is full text of the Open Letter. （The only official letter is the one in English. There is Chinese translation, but there is no Japanese translation. この公開書簡はカナダの公用語である英語によるものだけを提出しました。中国語訳はありますが、日本語訳はありません。日本語訳が自主的にされている場合がありますが、公式なものではありません）

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Their Imperial Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan
c/o Consulate-General of Japan in Vancouver
800-1177 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
V6E 2K9

By Fax: 604-687-2236

July 9, 2009

Your Imperial Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan,

We are writing to you as some representatives of groups of Canadians that make up the rich diversity of this country: Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, and European. We hope you enjoyed your visit to Eastern Canada, and we would like to extend you our warm welcome to Vancouver, Canada’s gateway to the Asia-Pacific region.

With so many immigrants from all parts of Asia, we believe that Canada is an ideal place from which to promote peace and understanding among the Asia-Pacific nations. For example, Japanese-Canadians, along with people from other cultural heritages, have been working to raise awareness of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. Here in Vancouver, one of the first Article 9 groups outside of Japan raised funds to send Canadian delegates to the world’s first Global Article 9 Conference held in Chiba, Japan.

As Canadians with Asian connections, we also work together to heal the wounds of Japanese aggressions in the Asia-Pacific region before and during the Second World War, and to learn from the history of devastating wars to create a peaceful future together. For example, every year a group of Canadian educators travels to China and Korea to learn about the history of the Asia Pacific War (1931-1945), including the Nanjing Massacre and Japan’s military sex slavery system. A group of Canadian students also travels to Japan every summer to learn about the history of atomic-bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and these educators and students share their learning with the wider community when they return. Our aim is never to foster bitterness toward a specific country or group of people; instead, our goal is to create an environment for open-minded learning that transcends national borders and cultural differences.

While our educational activities have been well-received among communities in Canada, Asia and beyond, we have witnessed many non-reconciliatory responses from Japan to the global community’s efforts to help bring healing and justice to the war crime victims of this tragic chapter of history. The Japanese Parliament has yet to pass a resolution that fully admits and apologizes for Japan’s responsibility for the loss and suffering of the victims of the Asia-Pacific War, or to pass laws that stipulate compensation to those victims.

Canada is among the nations that are concerned with these issues. On November 28, 2007 the Canadian House of Commons unanimously passed a motion urging the Japanese government to take full responsibility for the involvement of the Japanese Imperial Forces in the system of forced "comfort women”, to offer a formal and sincere apology to these women, and to continue to address those who are affected in the spirit of reconciliation. Although Canada as a nation has not been perfect in addressing its own past wrongdoings, one of Canada’s achievements in this regard has been the compensation of Canadians of Japanese ancestry who were interned during the Asia-Pacific War. We would also like to see such redress offered Japanese government to the Canadian POWs captured in the Battle of Hong Kong and to the victims of China, Korea, the Philippines, and all the other countries and regions where Japan’s military committed war crimes. We would also like to see Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution remain as it is, as we and many people in Asia see Article 9 as Japan’s pledge to the world never again to engage in wars of aggression.

Your Imperial Majesties, we are aware and appreciative of how much you have demonstrated a commitment to peace and history issues. For example, your paying tribute to the Korean victims’ monument when you visited Saipan in 2005 was considered a gesture of reconciliation. When you visited China in 1992, you also expressed regret for the suffering that Japan brought to China during the Asia-Pacific War. Your words were a positive step toward healing a historical wound. Your 1993 visit to the Okinawa sites where tens of thousands of civilians died in the war was also appreciated by many people throughout Japan and beyond. We would like to appeal for your continued efforts to help bring healing and justice to the victims of atrocities committed by Japan before and during the Asia-Pacific War, and for your for support of the endeavours to keep Article 9 intact in the spirit of peace.

Thank you for your attention to our letter, and again, we would like to sincerely welcome you to Canada’s West Coast. We hope you will enjoy the beautiful sunshine, ocean and mountains of our land, and the rich and dynamic communities of our multicultural society.

Yours faithfully,

(Signed by the following organizations)

Thekla Lit
Co-chair, Canada ALPHA (Association for Learning & Preserving the History of
WWII in Asia)

Satoko Norimatsu
Founding Director, Peace Philosophy Centre


Tatsuo Kage
Member, Human Rights Committee of Japanese Canadian Citizens Association


Ellen Woodsworth
President, Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, Vancouver


Fernando P. Salanga
President, Philippine War Veterans & Ex-servicemen Society of BC


Jane Ordinario
Chairperson, Migrante-BC


Beth Dollaga
Chair, Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights


Kevin Sung,
Director, Korean Drama Club Hanuree

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I am happy that our letter got a lot of attention from the local and international media. I hope it will reach the hands of the Emperor and the Empress.

Satoko