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  some14some at 07:44 AM JST - 21st September

  Home-work for legal experts, result is known...but always good to be optimistic !

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  mikihouse at 09:10 AM JST - 21st September

  What? the government is responsible for the reparation caused by bombing by another country? How about suing the government for going to war? Dream on morons

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  mindovermatter at 10:33 AM JST - 21st September

  This is ludicrous....

  This is so typical of this country.....

  Why you're at it, why don't you go ahead and file a suit for losing face because of the surrender...?

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  Sarge at 10:51 AM JST - 21st September

  Hey, they just want to remind the Japanese government to not repeat the mistake of starting wars they cannot win.

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  JeffLee at 11:20 AM JST - 21st September

  Did the majority vigorously oppose the war at the time? Or did were they complict in their silence? I suspect the latter.

  Remember, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

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  serindipity at 01:06 PM JST - 21st September

  Where do these nuts come from? By this logic, every person in the world is entitled to compensation for war grief because war has effected everyone in one way or another. Idiots!

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  OgieDoggie at 01:59 PM JST - 21st September

  Hey let's have the survivors of the BATAN DEATH MARCH start sueing Japan then...it sure makes more sense to me.

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  martyman at 04:13 PM JST - 21st September

  The possibilities are endless for lawsuits. Think about the Okinawans that were semi forced (brainwashed) by the Japanese military to jump off the suicide cliffs because of the "American Demons" were coming.

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  Statistician at 04:47 PM JST - 21st September

  Stupid lawsuits are a trick the world has learned from the USA

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  realist at 05:14 PM JST - 21st September

  This LDP/Soka Gakkai Government does not give a hoot about wartime victims or any other victims. Expect to lose this lawsuit. The Courts are on the side of the Government. Id like to see some of the victims from Okinawa, who the J Government of the time tried to force to commit suicide rather than surrender, to also bring charges against the Government - they might have a better chance of succeeding.

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  Rekishika at 07:08 PM JST - 21st September

  Hmmm, an ... interesting ... idea to say the least, and one that predictably brings out strong emotions...

  Air attacks on cities were the hallmark of the war. Not just on and/or by Japan, all the major powers bombed each others' cities whenever they had the chance. The list is endless, Tokyo, Osaka, Nanking, Chungking, Singapore, Manila, Calcutta, London, Coventry, Manchester, Liverpool, Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Moscow, Belgrade, Rotterdam and countless others.

  As far as I know, none of the air raid victims have ever received compensation for being hit by an air raid. The main reason is that most of those cities were in fighting countries and had not surrendered on their own. It is important to understand that as far as I know all honoured requests for compensation and most asked for were about harm being done AFTER fighting between the people involved had stopped, for instance prisoners of war, Open Cities, civilians in occupied areas and so on.

  But this is not between countries, but about the protection from it's own country, making things even more interesting.

  To be sure, the Japanese government didn't exactly have the moral high ground in this. The Osaka International Peace Center has an excellent display of the various aspects of the bombings on both sides. The most important faults that can be attributed to the Japanese government were: failure to provide anything like adequate shelter, or even shelters that were comparable to those in European cities, and issuing instructions that were contrary to preserving the civilian's lives and health in case of an air attack (like going out on the streets and fight the fires while the raid was not over yet, an instruction that might save some of the war industry, but would clearly result in more casualties).

  But I think it's very unlikely that such a claim will be honoured. While on occasion democratic governments can be forced to admit that they were inadequate in their task of protecting the people and to pay compensation, I think this one is too far away to build a case, nor does there appear to be sufficient grounds for negligence to the point where compensation may be required.

  On the other hand, it is interesting to see that anyone who had connections with the military apparently WAS indeed compensated, and generously as that. In general, the rule is to compensate all people suffering the same hardships, or none. Though some exceptions apply (for instance, people putting themselves in harms way to save lives can get extra compensation on the ground of their actions), I'm not sure if that is the case here...

  We'll see what the outcome will be I guess.

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  proxy at 07:55 PM JST - 21st September

  Even if the Japanese wanted to give them money, I believe they are restricted from doing so by the "Treaty of Peace with Japan." There are a bunch of clauses regarding payment of victims. Money was indeed paid to POWs or their families, if they didn't get any they should talk to their own government that accepted the money. Survivors of the "Baton Death March" should have gotten compensation through the Red Cross. There is too much off topic misinformation in the above posts to comment on them all but as far as "American Demons" goes Okinawans and all Japanese had good reason to fear the Americans. The treatment of Japanese POWs by American forces was at least as bad as how Japan treated POWs. American treatment of Japanese POWs was so bad that the American government was gravely concerned about war crimes trials at one time so they made a push to improve treatment prior to the invasion of Okinawa but the bad reputation had already been ingrained in the Japanese people. After the war when Japan was recovering bodies from around the Pacific up to 60% had no heads as the POWs were executed and the heads were collected by American servicemen. Also in the three days after Japan surrendered 10 000 Japanese women and girls around Yokohama were raped by Americans. This is way off topic but so are the posts above and they are factually incorrect.

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  OssanULTRA at 09:47 PM JST - 21st September

  Good. Afterwards the victims of the air raids of Shanghai, Peking, >Nanjing, Manila, etc can sue the Japanese govt. for damages.

  If using this article as a basis, the are raid victims of Shanghai and Nanking would have to sue the Chinese govt, and Manila would sue the Phillipine govt.

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  stipend at 01:00 PM JST - 22nd September

  Wih such a wild claim it is reasonable to ask for supporting evidence. Left unsubstantiated, unchallenged it would cast JT in very poor light. In fairness please allow a challenge, or remove this post as it is most dangerously inaccurate and not represent of a proper news site.

  I have been to the Osaka Peace Museum and I am reading John Dower's Pulitzer Prize winning "Embracing Defeat". US servicemen did use brothels Japanese set up for them. And there were rapes outside of this but not of this magnitude. Perhaps you are confusing this with the Rape of Nanking?

  Please, show me where you find your information.

  Also in the three days after Japan surrendered 10 000 Japanese women and girls around Yokohama were raped by Americans.

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  BombGroup303rd at 03:28 PM JST - 22nd September

  These folks were bombed due to the Imperial aramy and its war of aggression. It is too long ago to file a suit now.

  The Japanese government would not compensate the prisoners of war it tortured and abused, let alone victims of allied bombing.

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