Editorial: Japan must pass relief bill for WWII civilian air raid victims on 80th anniv.

The Mainichi

a day ago

The Japanese government has yet to provide relief to people who suffered damage from air raids and other atrocities across the country during the Pacific War, and the Diet once again failed to act on this issue during the ordinary session that closed in late June.
These people are victims of a war initiated by the state. Nevertheless, the government has done nothing to compensate them. Such absurdities can no longer be left unaddressed.
A cross-party group of lawmakers drew up a bill over the issue. It includes a uniform lump-sum payment of 500,000 yen (approx. $3,300) to those who suffered physical and psychological wounds and disabilities. The bill also incorporates a fact-finding survey by the government over the damage wrought by air raids. Due to stalled coordination within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, where some lawmakers have strong reservations, the multiparty parliamentary group was unable to submit the bill to the Diet.
The victims of aerial bombings and other damage were significantly disappointed, as they had hoped for legislation this year, the 80th anniversary of the war's end.
The Japanese government has paid pension and other benefits to former military personnel and civilian military employees, as well as their bereaved families. However, it has not compensated other civilians except for survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The rhetoric employed to justify this was the "doctrine of endurance obligation" -- that members of the public must equally endure sacrifices and damage from the war. The Supreme Court in 1987 tapped this doctrine to dismiss a lawsuit over the great Nagoya air raids of late World War II, and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba recently stated in response to a Diet question that this precedent cannot be contravened.
There have, however, been changes in the judiciary's line of thought. In lawsuits filed in 2007 and 2008 by victims of the 1945 Great Tokyo Air Raids, the court did not cite the endurance doctrine as a reason for ruling against the plaintiffs, and urged a solution through legislation.
Regardless, the government has been slow to act. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has emphasized a 2005 agreement by the government and ruling parties that all postwar settlement measures would end with a project to provide consolation gifts to former Siberian labor camp internees.
Yet a system to pay special benefits to former Siberian internees was later established. The agreement cannot serve as a basis for denying any new postwar compensation programs.
The government's stance seems to betray its true concern: That providing relief to strategic bombing victims could expand the scope of compensation.
The cross-party bill does not cover bereaved families and war orphans, because it prioritizes Diet passage over truly sufficient provisions -- a painful decision by the victims of air raids and other wartime damage.
While those entitled to the lump-sum payments was expected to be around 4,600 people five years ago when the bill's outline was drafted, the number has now dwindled to about 3,200.
As the victims age, we have no time to lose. The relief bill must be passed swiftly into law.