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San Francisco Peace Treaty

The Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition includes members from across the API community, POWs, and others affected by Japan’s past atrocities.

Activists call for closer look at Japan’s wartime atrocities

By Neela Banerjee

Japan’s dubious past and its celebrated future are to be the subject of two simultaneous conferences planned for September.

The Japan Society of Northern California will host a two-day conference on the future of United States/Japan relations, along with a commemorative ceremony in honor of the San Francisco Peace Treaty — which officially ended animosity between the United States and Japan 50 years ago. At the same time, the Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition (RNRC) and the Asian American Studies Department of U.C. Berkeley will host a conference entitled “50 Years of Denial: Japan and Its Wartime Responsibilities.” Both events will be held the weekend of September 6 to 9.

“I have always thought about how badly the Japanese treated their prisoners and other Asians during World War II,” Co-chair of RNRC Clifford Uyeda said. “The Japanese government must give recognition to these deeds and an apology needs to be given.”

The RNRC wants to highlight the Japanese government’s continued denial of its atrocities during the War. These include their mistreatment of POWs, the rape of thousands of “comfort women,” the over 300,000 victims of the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, and other serious human rights violation which reached across 14 countries.

According to the RNRC, the Japanese government has invoked the San Francisco Peace Treaty as proof of having settled its obligations to the invaded countries. Yet, several countries — including China — were not even signatories of the Peace Treaty. There have been numerous court cases over the past 50 years that have tried to gain monetary compensation for Japan’s wartime violations, most of which have been unsuccessful. Recently, there has been much international outrage over the refusal of the Japanese government to revise Japanese history books to include the truth about these violations.

“The public may wonder why Asian American studies is involved in an issue so remote from its primary mission of teaching, researching and service to the Asian American communities,” Professor Ling-Chi Wang of U.C. Berkeley said. “The answer is as simple as it is compelling.”

Wang explained that recent census results show some 11.6 million Americans of Asian descent in the United States, of whom an overwhelming majority are immigrants from the East and Southeast Asian countries that were invaded by Japan.

“Of these immigrants, over 1 million reside in the San Francisco Bay Area, most of whom still carry vivid memories and scars of the war,” Wang said. “In other words, for the majority of Asian Americans, the Asia-Pacific war continues to haunt them in ways few Americans can understand and appreciate.”

The RNRC’s conference brings together scholars and eye-witnesses from Asia and the United States to share their research and experiences and discuss ways to seek an enduring partnership with Japan based on reconciliation and reparations.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

The Japan Society wants to celebrate the Peace Treaty because they say it paved the way for the “Era of the Pacific” — a period of unparalleled economic and political development between the United States and Asia. Their conference, entitled “The United States and Japan: An Enduring Partnership in a Changing World” will bring together international scholars, politicians and business leaders to speak on a wide range of topics, from the history of U.S.-Japan relations to the “Future of Security and Geopolitics in the Pacific.”

N. Bruce Pickering, Executive Director for the US/Japan 21st Century Project, the organizers of the conference, said that they are focusing not only on the future, but are also acknowledging Japan’s past in their conference. Pickering has met with members from the RNRC and has invited Judge Lillian Sing, a co-chair of the RNRC, and Mike Honda to speak on a panel about “the weight of history and the legacy of World War II.”

“We even have a link to the other conference on our Web site,” Pickering said.

Both Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush have been invited to the commemoration of the San Francisco Treaty signing.

The RNRC has members representing a wide spectrum of the Asian American community, all of whom have ties to the Japanese invasions during World War II. Recent high school graduate Iris Chang-Herrera grew up hearing stories about her grandmother having to hide from Japanese soldiers, but never learned anything about these issues in school.

“I have been trying to make sure the whole Sino-Japanese War is in the curriculum,” Chang-Herrera said. “It is important to educate about these things so it doesn’t happen again.”

RNRC member Robert Chen said that the conference is important in bringing the Asian American community together.

“We need recognition and resolution to move forward as a community,” Chen said. “Everyone has this in their family history. There is so much hate which needs to be let go.”