Claiming that the state has failed to compensate civilian casualties of the Great Tokyo Air Raid of 1945, victims and their relatives filed suit against the government Friday, demanding a combined 1.23 billion yen in reparations and an apology.
The 112 plaintiffs, aged between 57 and 88, say the government's failure to recognize them has caused "decades of intolerable pain." The suit, the first of its kind, was filed the day before the 62nd anniversary of the March 10, 1945, firebombing of downtown Tokyo. The attack left some 100,000 people dead.
"The central government rewards former soldiers and their families with military pensions but ignores its duty to aid civilians who were injured or killed in the raid," said Taketoshi Nakayama, lawyer for the plaintiffs.