The Tokyo District Court last week rejected a damages suit filed against the government by elderly war-displaced Japanese from China. The ruling is not only harsh but also appears blind to history. It turned down the plaintiffs' argument that the Japanese state should compensate them for failing to swiftly bring them back to Japan after World War II and to provide adequate support after their resettlement in Japan.
The families of war-displaced people such as these had moved to Manchukuo, a puppet state established in 1932 by Japan, mainly as farmers under Japan's colonial policy. Many children were orphaned in the chaos at the end of the war and later raised by Chinese. The ruling took the position that the Japanese state's policy was not responsible for those children becoming "war orphans." Instead, it blamed the behavior of Soviet soldiers and "criminal activities" by local people.
The ruling is in stark contrast to two earlier rulings: The Kobe District Court, which in December 2006 awarded 460 million yen damages to 61 plaintiffs, noted that the state's policy was a merciless one that slighted people's lives. Although the Osaka District Court in July 2005 had rejected the plaintiffs' request, it admitted that the state's colonial policy and war policy were responsible for their becoming war orphans.