Is Japan distancing itself from ‘reconciliation visits’ by families of American POWs?

Descendants of US POWs have had visits curtailed, prompting one advocate to claim Tokyo plans to scale back such visits and downplay its wartime past

‘Downgrading the visits tells us that the Japanese government does not understand the process of reconciliation,’ she said

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Members of a right-wing group visit the Yasukuni Shrine. Photo: AP

Published: 5:30pm, 4 Sep 2019Updated: 6:00pm, 4 Sep 2019

The Japanese government plans to scale back annual “reconciliation visits” for World War Two Allied prisoners of war, their widows and children, according to a US-based scholar who accused Tokyo of seeking to downplay “war crimes” and deflect attention from the issue of forced labour.

Mindy Kotler, director of Washington-based Asia Policy Point and an advocate for Allied prisoners of war, said eight children of American POWs had their visits to Japan cut from one week to four days.

In previous years, the delegation was met by the foreign minister himself, she added. This year, they were greeted by parliamentary vice-minister Kiyoto Tsuji.

“Downgrading the visits tells us that the Japanese government does not understand the process of reconciliation and the toll that trauma takes on men and the families,” Kotler said.

“It tells us that the Japanese government wants to be simply done with all this history. It says that Japan believes it deserves its glorious history and any of the country’s mistakes should be relegated to footnotes or tombstones.”