Mitsubishi Says Sorry For Using Captured American Soldiers As Slave Laborers

Car manufacturer Mitsubishi has become the first Japanese company to issue a high-profile and long-awaited apology for forcing the World War II prisoners of war (POWs) to work in horrendous conditions in its mines. The remorse for wartime atrocities and for using captured American soldiers as slave laborers was rendered at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles on July 19, just weeks before the 70th anniversary of Japan’s 1945 surrender.

“In keeping with the spirit of our company’s mission statement, today we apologize remorsefully for the tragic events in our past, and expressed our profound determination to work toward a better future,” said Hikaru Kimura, a senior executive officer of Mitsubishi Materials.

Mitsubishi has admitted to holding nearly 900 American prisoners-of-war when allied forces liberated its labor camps in 1945 during the final days of the war. 27 Americans died in the camps and others complained of lifelong health problems from grueling conditions, frequent beatings, poor sanitation, and lack of food and medical care.

“I’ve listened very carefully to Mr. Kimura’s statement of apology and found it very, very sincere, humble and revealing, and this happens to be the first time that we’ve heard those words and they really touch you at the heart. We hope that we can go ahead now and have a better understanding, a better friendship and closer ties with our ally, Japan,” said James Murphy, a 94-year-old American, who was given a customary deep bow of remorse by Kimura.

Murphy spent a year as a POW working at one of the mines operated by Mitsubishi’s predecessor company, Mitsubishi Mining Co., and described the experience as horrendous. “It was slavery in every way: no food, no medicine, no clothing, no sanitation,” he said adding while he had forgiven his captors, he still wanted the apology for his ordeal. “This is a glorious day. For 70 years, we wanted this”.

While an elated Murphy accepted the apology warmly, George Hill, a 89-year-old Burmese, criticized Mitsubishi saying words will never be enough and the apology leaves much to be desired.

“We left Burma via India and as we were arriving in Singapore the Japanese were surrendering in 1945. They wouldn’t accept that the war was over. I saw the PoWs who came from all over the place including Australia, Nigeria and other Commonwealth countries. They were starved and looked like walking skeletons. We brought dozens of them out of the Chanji jail and as they came out we transferred 22 war criminals into the same cells they had been kept in. The PoWs were in a bad state. I would never believe it if the Japanese came to say sorry for what they did to those people. I wouldn’t accept an apology – it wouldn’t be enough,” said Hill of Wolverhampton Burma Star Association, who served with the 1st Battalion of the Northampton shire Regiment in the Far East.

According to Kinue Tokudome, the director of the US-Japan Dialogue on POWs, around 12,000 American prisoners were taken to Japan and forced to work at over 50 sites to support Japan’s war effort. Nearly 10% of those prisoners died. The Japanese government issued two formal apologies to American POWs in 2009 and 2010.

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