Tokyo Owes POWs a Debt

American and other Allied prisoners of war who were forced to labor in Japan’s World War II industrial machine have long encountered rejection from Tokyo on their demands for compensation. Japan argues that the issue was settled by treaties ending the conflict, and the companies at which the POWs were enslaved and often brutalized claim they weren’t responsible for the war. But a new California law authored by Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) gives the state’s courts jurisdiction in such cases, boosting the POWs’ prospects.

Now former POW Lester I. Tenney has filed suit in state court seeking compensation from Mitsui & Co., the industrial giant, which operated a mine where he shoveled coal 12 hours a day and suffered regular beatings for nearly three years. Other such claims are bound to follow.

More than a dozen German companies, faced with similar demands, acknowledged their moral obligation to compensate POWs and are negotiating a settlement. The Japanese companies should take a similar approach. Tenney, a 79-year-old retired college professor, does not accept the argument that the company was just following government orders.

There are about 10,000 surviving former POWs, and, like Tenney, many are determined to get their day in court. Former prisoners have been pursuing their claims in Japanese courts for years. In denying compensation, Mitsui is bound to face prolonged litigation in the United States, missing an opportunity to do the right thing.

Allied POWs from nations other than the United States have gotten nowhere in appealing to the Japanese government or having their own capitals press their cases. British Prime Minister Tony Blair dropped the effort after Japan’s federal court ruled against the Allied POWs last year.

The Canadian government chose to pay compensation to its own citizens who were captives of the Japanese. Under the War Claims Act of 1948, the U.S. government paid American POWs $1 for each day they were interned, but Washington has not actively supported private claims against Japan.

Enslaving and torturing POWs violated international law. Germany and its industrial conglomerates acknowledged that and agreed to pay compensation. So should the Japanese.