In the middle of 1944, the United States started large-scale air raids, mostly by B-29 strategic bombers, on Japan. These air raids continued till the end of World War II on Aug. 15, 1945, including the atomic-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Almost all major cities across Japan were targeted.
In the March 10, 1945, air raid on Tokyo, carried out by 279 B-29s that dropped numerous incendiary bombs, more than 100,000 people are said to have been killed. Osaka also suffered several large-scale air raids in March and June 1945.
Survivors and bereaved relatives of victims of the Tokyo and Osaka air raids have filed compensation lawsuits against the government, arguing that they suffered from a war waged by the Japanese state. They ask why only former soldiers and survivors of the atomic bombings and the Battle of Okinawa receive relief, including a soldier's pension. In the Diet, opposition forces have submitted bills to provide relief to air-raid sufferers 14 times in 16 years since 1973, to no avail.