Roos on the American POWs of Japan

Questions for the Record Submitted to
Ambassador - Designate John Roos by
Senator John Kerry (#9)
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
July 23, 2009

Question #1:
In December 2008, the Government of Japan revealed in testimony to the Diet by an official of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry that there were still unexamined documents held in Japan’s ministries and private corporations containing detailed information on American POWs held by Japan during WWII that have not yet been released to the public.

What efforts will the U.S. Embassy make to ensure the release of these records so that appropriate American authorities and scholars can create a complete and accurate list of those interned by Imperial Japan?

Answer:
Over the past 60 plus years, our relationship with Japan has evolved from one of bitter enmity to a rock-solid friendship. The sacrifice of the men and women who served our nation in WWII made that possible. The Department of State believes that post-war Japan has made significant efforts to atone for the actions of the Imperial Government of the 1930s and 1940s. We hope Japan’s apologies expressed by Ambassador Fujisaki in San Antonio provide our brave men and women with a sense of peace and satisfaction at this late stage in their lives, but I am aware that such deep suffering may sometimes find no healing salve.

Japanese industrial conglomerates were heavily involved in prosecuting the Japanese war effort and supplemented their work force with Allied POWs. The position of the United States is, and has been, that subsequent claims against Japanese corporations were satisfied by the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco.

I believe, however, that an open accounting of the past will help to strengthen our Alliance even more in the future, and if confirmed, I will work for such an accounting.

Question #2:
On May 30th, the Japanese Ambassador to the U.S., Ichiro Fujisaki, delivered in person a long-sought formal and official apology to the former American POWs from the Japanese government. The Ambassador also noted during his apology that the Foreign Ministry was considering including American POWs in the 1995 Peace, Friendship and Exchange Program for Allied POWs or a better, more permanent fund for the joint U.S.-Japan fund for the study and exchange on the Pacific War.

How do you plan to encourage the Japanese government and Japanese companies to follow through with a program for understanding and reconciliation?

Answer:
The United States is actively encouraging Japan to include American POWs of Japan in the Peace, Friendship, and Exchange Initiative. The State Department has engaged both the Japanese Embassy in Washington and Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo on this issue, and we believe that the Japanese are considering our request in earnest. If confirmed, my staff and I at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo will continue to stress the importance of this overture to our Japanese counterparts and will encourage a quick decision so that our veterans are offered inclusion in this initiative of reconciliation.