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PM apologizes to Japanese migrants to Dominican Republic
Monday, July 24, 2006
TOKYO, Japan (AFP): Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi offered a formal apology Friday to Japanese nationals who migrated to the Dominican Republic under false promises of a Caribbean paradise.
"The government sincerely reflects on its past and apologizes for how it dealt with those who migrated and experienced great suffering," Koizumi said in a statement.
Koizumi promised to compensate the migrants and to offer other aid, including assistance and education to older and poor descendants of the migrants.
Japan encouraged its citizens to emigrate after World War II as it struggled to feed a population that had grown with the return of Japanese from lost colonies.
Despite Tokyo's promises of lush tropical land in a sun-kissed paradise, the migrants to the Dominican Republic found stony plots unsuitable for farming.
Around 1,300 of the original emigrants remain in the country.
"The government gave comprehensive consideration to the Dominican emigrants issue and judged that a swift and broad-based resolution is necessary as the migrants themselves are becoming older," Koizumi said.
His announcement followed emotional pleas for help by the surviving migrants, who lost a compensation lawsuit last month because the statute of limitations had expired.
But the Tokyo District Court said at the time the government had not fulfilled its legal responsibility to conduct adequate research.
The government will work with the legislature to come up with the one-off payments to the migrants along with other forms of help, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said.
News reports said Tokyo is planning payments of two million yen (17,000 dollars) to each of the emigrants remaining in the Dominican Republic. The 170 plaintiffs in the unsuccessful lawsuit had sought nearly 19 million yen each.
Monday, July 24, 2006
TOKYO, Japan (AFP): Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi offered a formal apology Friday to Japanese nationals who migrated to the Dominican Republic under false promises of a Caribbean paradise.
"The government sincerely reflects on its past and apologizes for how it dealt with those who migrated and experienced great suffering," Koizumi said in a statement.
Koizumi promised to compensate the migrants and to offer other aid, including assistance and education to older and poor descendants of the migrants.
Japan encouraged its citizens to emigrate after World War II as it struggled to feed a population that had grown with the return of Japanese from lost colonies.
Despite Tokyo's promises of lush tropical land in a sun-kissed paradise, the migrants to the Dominican Republic found stony plots unsuitable for farming.
Around 1,300 of the original emigrants remain in the country.
"The government gave comprehensive consideration to the Dominican emigrants issue and judged that a swift and broad-based resolution is necessary as the migrants themselves are becoming older," Koizumi said.
His announcement followed emotional pleas for help by the surviving migrants, who lost a compensation lawsuit last month because the statute of limitations had expired.
But the Tokyo District Court said at the time the government had not fulfilled its legal responsibility to conduct adequate research.
The government will work with the legislature to come up with the one-off payments to the migrants along with other forms of help, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said.
News reports said Tokyo is planning payments of two million yen (17,000 dollars) to each of the emigrants remaining in the Dominican Republic. The 170 plaintiffs in the unsuccessful lawsuit had sought nearly 19 million yen each.