Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara officially apologized Thursday to a group of five former Australian prisoners of war for the hardships they endured at the hands of their Japanese captors.
Maehara met the five former POWs, as well as their family members and caregivers, at the Foreign Ministry.
His apology, however, was made behind closed doors with the media not allowed to observe, according to a ministry official. When his predecessor, Katsuya Okada, apologized to former American POWs last fall, he did so in front of the cameras.