Mitsubishi Materials of Japan apologized on Sunday to American prisoners of war (POW) whom it used slave labor in its more than 50 mines during World War II. Hikaru Kimura, an official of Mitsubishi, said sorry at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
But of the 12,000 POWs, only one made it to the rite, although Mitsubishi located two POWs, reports CNN. Ninety-four-year-old James Murphy had to travel from his home in Santa Maria, California, for the rite, reports NPR. He worked for a copper mine owned by Mitsubishi for one year, from 1944 to 1945.
He worked for Mitsubishi Materials' predecessor, Mitsubishi Mining Company, which was a supplier of minerals used for the production of the Zero fighter jet that the Japanese Navy used between 1940 and 1945. When allied forces liberated Japan's labor camp in 1945 during the last days of World War II, Mitsubishi still held almost 900 POWs, according to Kimura.
Besides American POWs, British, Chinese, Korean and Filipino prisoners also worked forcibly in Japanese mines. Unfortunately, the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco bans American POWs from filing lawsuits for compensation, but Mitsubishi is facing lawsuits in China and South Korea for compensation.
Murphy described what he went through as "a complete horror" and "slavery in every way," quotes Associated Press. However, Murphy survived the ordeal, and he believes since he is one of the few survivors, "I find it to be my duty and responsibility to accept Mr. Kimura's apology."
He is hopeful that the apology - a first for a Japanese corporation for the atrocities committed during the war, although the Japanese government had previously said sorry - would result in closure and end the decades-long problems the former POWs and their families face. Historians hope other Japanese firms would follow Mitsubishi's example and also apologize.
Of the 12,000 American POWs sent to Japan to work at its mines, about 10 percent died, said US-Japan Dialogue on POWs Director Kinue Tokudome. The move by the Japanese government to repair the damaged cause by its wartime brutality is seen by experts as part of a bigger move to project military power overseas which is banned by Japan's post-war charter.
The Japanese Diet, through efforts exerted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, gave the country's army and navy limited powers to fight in foreign conflicts. It is a first since the second world war ended.
