Pacific Venture...program origins...

The Origins of The Pacific Venture Programme
by Dr. R. John Pritchard

Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama's statement on 31 August 1994, quoted elsewhere on our pages here, paved the way for a ten-year 100-billion yen Japanese "Peace, Friendship and Exchange Initiative" to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war. Prime Minister Murayama's positive steps came at a time when many ex-prisoners of war and civilian internees of the Japanese, in Britain and in countries overseas with whom the United Kingdom had been allied during those hostilities so long ago, doubted that Japan would ever acknowledge either any responsibility for the outbreak of the Pacific War or might bring herself to apologize for the misery and death which so many of these captives had been forced to endure. There were various groups of former Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees, however, who had heightened expectations of some movement by the Japanese that might address the ex-prisoners' strong sense of grievances against maltreatment which most of them had experienced while in captivity.

Within the United Kingdom, there was a fundamental split between those who were prepared to work quietly in the background to assist officials who might be prepared to find bi-lateral ways to resolve these matters diplomatically in a dignified manner and others who sought to take legal action designed to force the Japanese Government of the day (or its successors) into paying compensation against its will. There can be no doubt that the more aggressive posture adopted by the latter faction was directed not only against the Japanese but also against those here and abroad who advocated the less abrasive approach. In the event, both factions felt much encouraged to pursue their own particular courses of action by the Prime Minister's announcement. In August 1995, then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, expressed, in his statement approved by the Cabinet, the feeling of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for the tremendous damage and suffering caused by Japan's wartime action to the people of many countries. Time was to prove, however, a number of people still felt that these statements were not sufficient to slake the thirst of ex-prisoners and the Western press for some tangible sign that the Japanese were prepared to accept full responsibility for what had occurred fifty and more years ago.

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