A gross injustice by the Japanese has never been acknowledged. They refuse to admit their war crimes. They must.
Hugh Jones, Canada

The British veterans were actually doing the Japanese a favour by teaching us what is right and wrong. They are absolutely right to appeal. They should be appreciated rather than criticised. The emperor could have issued a personal apology about his father's responsibility for the war crimes as a son, as a family member.
Hiroaki Ikeda, Japan

If I had experienced what the veterans of the Second World War had at the hands of the Japanese I too would find it hard to forgive. We do not comprehend fully the depths of depravity to which some of the Japanese military sunk during this time.
Graham Complin, Canada

The Japanese people and nation have never fully accepted responsibility for the unspeakable atrocities that they perpetrated against helpless innocent civilians during the last war. Note the comments in recent years from numerous Japanese leaders questioning the substance of accounts of war time atrocities related by war survivors, or even whether the cruelty and brutality ever occurred at all!
That is all very disturbing to Japan's neighbours. Would Israel ever forgive Germany if German leaders openly questioned whether the events of the Holocaust ever occurred? Never! The Japanese have always sought to whitewash or excuse their acts by describing their brutality as "liberating" Asians from their colonial masters. The recent books and photographs on the infamous Rape of Nanking show the brutality of the Japanese against their helpless civilian captives and the pure delight that they took in genocide for its own sake. Photographs do not lie. The twin issues at hand are forgiveness and trust.
Forgiveness looks to the past, while trust, the future. Unless the Japanese people as a nation, whether through their emperor, their government, or otherwise, categorically and collectively take responsibility for their abominable acts during the last war and apologise as a people to the world for their past misdeeds, they will never be forgiven for the past, or trusted in the future. Tony Blair is therefore wrong in saying that in demanding an apology, we are only harping on the past without any regard for the future. Without a clear and unequivocal apology from Japan, there will be no forgiveness and no trust, two sentiments that affect both our collective memory of the past and the way we will deal with Japan in the future. The ball is therefore in Japan's court.
Gareth Lee, Singapore

I think Japan is a cowardly country. The reason is very simple: Germany also did something wrong during WW2, but their premier has knelt down before the victims. Why can't Japan? This fact only shows that the Japanese don't think they committed crimes!
Yan, China

It is about time that Japan admitted on a government and national level the terrible torture and abuse meted out to the Allied prisoners of war. Their POWs were certainly never treated in a similar manner. Japan is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and should now make an official apology coupled with appropriate compensation, similar to that paid to the USA POWs; to their victims. I am over 60 and lost two of my family in Malaya and Burma.
Bob Cooper, Australia

I work for a Japanese company in Scotland and as such know many Japanese people. Today's generation of Japanese are extremely polite and friendly people. They cannot be held responsible for the history of their country. However, I think the Japanese Government should make a formal apology to recognise the suffering of our veterans.
Kenny Dickson, UK

If this is the only way to get the situation sorted out, then so be it. It is a sad truth that such conditions are a part of war. It is this that we should remember on Remembrance Sunday and hope that these situations will NEVER arise again.
PJ Hughes, UK

Japan has never really apologised for its WWII atrocities. This is because, in my opinion, the Japanese people are not really sorry.
Michael Baxter, USA

The majority of young Japanese don't even know what atrocities were committed against fellow Asians and POWs as their history books are doctored to show a different story. To some extent the Allies are to blame for this as they failed to hunt down Japanese War Criminals with the same fervour as they did German ones. Nor were pictures of these atrocities shown to the population at the end of the War. Neither has there been a Japanese-equivalent of Simon Wiesenthal to chase the 'small fry'. It seems because it was yellow versus yellow and not white against white that the Allies turned a blind eye. The younger generation must be shown what their elders have done before the rest of Asia and the World can start to forgive.
Neil Taylor, Hong Kong, China

I think the Japanese Emperor and government should apologise in public at once. For the new millennium, Japan must restart in the global world. If they don't accept what they did in the past, they will never be able to have good relationships with other countries. I hope Japan will accept other countries' opinions.
Kim, Haeran, Republic of Korea

I would turn my back in a heart beat. Japan did the servicemen wrong.
TJ Noble, USA

Although I am too young to have been directly involved in WW2, a very good friend of mine has a father who was a Japanese POW in Malaya, and later, Burma. He survived, but has not worked since. You see, his brain doesn't work like most people's. He can't cope with everyday living. Left unattended, he will do things like paint the ceiling with tomato ketchup.
This man's problems and reduced quality of life were directly caused by the Japanese, and he has had to live with it for over 50 years. Nobody has given him any compensation, but worse than that, nobody has said "Sorry" to him. Can you imagine what he feels like? I can't. This man is just one of many thousands in the same situation, caused entirely by the horrors of Japanese incarceration.
I say that the people who turned their backs on the emperor, did the least they could have, and were very restrained. Good for them! He deserved much worse! The emperor should break with tradition, instead of hiding behind it, and at least say "Sorry" on behalf of his people. Something has to be done!
John Cox, Australia

I'm 23, British and now living in New Zealand. People say we should forgive Japan, but how can one forgive when they have shown no true remorse? It seems that those who rule Great Britain have turned their backs on the British. Have we surrendered everything to our so-called "former" enemies in Asia and Europe?
Martin Howard, New Zealand

The emperor should pay heed to the proverb: "How polite is the Japanese, he always says 'excuse it please'".
RCS, USA

Yes, Japan should apologise for what they have done. But the buck does not stop there. Even England should apologise for what it did in Jaliawala Baag in India when Gen Dyer massacred several hundred innocent people who were attending a meeting.
Chittu, India

Unlike Germany I don't believe Japan has acknowledged and atoned for the offensive and atrocious conduct of its national policy in China and SE Asia during the 1930's and 40's. Until it does so it should not be accommodated the respect of a fully responsible nation-state no matter the extent of its wealth and economic power.
Gary Ross, an American living in Britain

There is a saying that goes, "for the sins of the father, the sons must pay" and I have always believed this applies where the Japanese's involvement in WW2 is concerned.
The Japanese army plundered, tortured, humiliated and raped their way across Asia in their bid to show their might. Their's was more than mere wartime atrocities, it was arrogance and sadism stemming from a horribly mistaken belief that they were God's chosen race and that they had been given a heavenly mandate to go and conquer land and people and make them submit to the Japanese race. The Japanese army felt no remorse in killing, raping or subjecting their prisoners and conquered subjects to cruel and inhumane treatment.
As a young Chinese Malaysian, I feel the pain of my forefathers who were routinely targetted during the Japanese occupation of Malaya because of nothing more than the colour of their skin and the simple link with their ancestral birthplace which the Japanese army had overrun earlier.
I do not believe in holding grudges and I do believe the majority of the Japanese, especially the younger generation, are genuinely sorry for what their ancestors have done. I also believe that the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have more than atoned for the sins of their misguided WW2 military.
Nevertheless, until the Japanese government issues a formal apology and formally educate its citizens on Japan's actual role in WW2, and not merely meaningless diplomatic words of sympathy and regret, the wounds cannot begin to heal. Procrastination and sheer hard-headedness will lead Japan nowhere, not when it wants to be taken as a serious member of the world community. After all, if today's Germany can apologise for the Third Reich, why can't today's Japan apologise for its past?
I doubt many POWs, comfort women or other victims of Japanese inhumanity would actively seek financial compensation - most have lived half their lives trying to come to terms with the painful memories already. All they want is simply an apology from the heart. Japan can do a great deal for its international image if it just utters those two syllables: "Sorry".
Chai-Ling Tan, Malaysia

Many apologies are being given by many countries regarding the treatment of minorities, prisoners, etc. Even the Japanese finally issued an apology to Korea. It does not seem unreasonable to apologise for their treatment of WWII prisoners. I know my father (WWII veteran) would never buy Japanese goods because of their treatment of some of his friends who were captured. Thus, it does affect trade and perpetuates an animosity that would fade if an apology were offered.
Any slight to the emperor is a Japanese government problem that only they can resolve.
Don Weavers, USA (UK citizen)

I will never forget The Rape of Nanking. I will never forget the Chinese, the Russians, and the Americans who had been used for germ war tests. I will never forget the Comfort women. I will never the soldiers who died in the Pearl Harbor attack. I will never forget thousands and thousands of people who were tortured by the Japanese during WWII. I will never forget my grandfather who was pursued by the Japanese. Reason: He fought for his country.
Forgetting Japan's war crimes means forgetting the people who suffered and the heroes who fought for their countries I will never forget...
However I will forgive if the Japanese government delivers a formal apology and real compensation to those who suffered. Until then I will turn my back on every Japanese person who represents the government.
Theresa Chan, US

I truly feel for the former POWs. Not only did they endure unspeakable suffering and humiliation 50 years ago, now they must endure this insult thanks to their own prime minister. Tony Blair should be ashamed, and Emperor Akihito should apologise for Japan's naked aggression and atrocities, especially to all the allied POWs. The Japanese should also be thankful that the Allied powers were far more benevolent opponents than they. Japan treated its defeated enemies with inhumanity; the Allies gave defeated Japan respect, dignity, democracy, and help in rebuilding their country.
Brian Satira, USA

His father should have been hung like the other World War Two criminal leaders. Surely an apology is easy. Instead we are fed protocol. The emperor is not in a position to give this. His honorary KG is an insult to all those brave people who suffered at the hands of the bestial Japanese. We now have to salaam for the joy of having a few industries where all the profits are fed back to Japan. The British Government of various colours has given huge grants just to keep them here. I wonder now who actually won the War?
Hugh G Frew, St Vincent, WI

Members of all countries involved in wars did things that, in hindsight, are deplorable. The issue here is that the Japanese systematically tortured and murdered wherever they invaded. Those veterans should be throwing eggs over their shoulders.
John White, Canada

Yes, I'd turn my back without hesitation. But I have to say that I'd be very specific in my reasons for doing so. This is no tit-for-tat situation. The behaviour of Japanese forces in WW2 toward Allied POWs was unspeakable, and far below the most basic standards of decent human behaviour. Yet if it were simply a matter of forgiveness, then I would indeed say let's forgive and forget - I would hope most of us have done that already.
BUT, there are two overwhelming considerations here:
1) Generations of Japanese people since the War have been lied to by their governments, if only by omission. It is a complete mystery to most of them why we should have any ill-feelings over WW2. Fewer still appreciate that the Japanese were unprovoked aggressors in that War. If it is high time for forgiveness, then it's time that ignorance was corrected.
2) This is not just ANY Japanese visitor. The Emperor is an actual member of that very family who presided over Japanese aggression and atrocity; a family, in my view, with a flexible approach to their own Japanese ideas of honour. Leaving well enough alone is one thing, but awarding this man one of our country's highest honours is an arrogance of which I did not think Her Majesty capable. If she is acting on advice, then she can seldom have been more ill-advised.
The fact is, not only does an entire generation in this country now stand DEEPLY offended, a feeling which cannot be swept away by trite expressions of glib liberalism, but it has become clear to them that their distress and anger is of absolutely no consequence when balanced against 'matters of state and royalty'.
John Luby, Scotland

Yes I would. That can't hurt nearly as much as my dad getting blown off of TWO ships during WWII! Besides, my back is probably my best feature.
James Crabtree, USA

Sorry - its not difficult to say. Of course we should try to 'forgive and forget', but if that's the case and past tensions are behind us, why can Japan not apologise for what it carried out. We cant 'forget' until this happens.
Chris Heaney, England

While the war may have ended over 50 years ago, Japan has not made an earnest effort to reconcile itself for the hideous crimes against humanity it engaged in before and during the war. When Japanese textbooks gloss over the war and present a view that Japan was the victim of the war instead of the aggressor the Allies and the nations they liberated should not forgive nor forget. Only when Japan takes full responsibility for its aggression in the war and asks for forgiveness can we really begin to forgive.
Bryan Keller, USA

Absolutely. The younger generation and those whose monetary gains and political positions are too quick to dismiss what the Japanese did to many people under the 'sacred name' of the Emperor. The atrocities committed in China and Manchuria, the ending of life at Pearl Harbor and all the battles in the Pacific brought on by the Imperialistic Japanese military and the English civilians at Singapore who never again were able to enjoy their lives to the fullest all were done under the approval of the Emperor. Everyone is reminded time and time again about the holocaust- and rightly so-but as soon as someone protests the loss of many fine young men caused by the evil aggressiveness of the Japanese and Germans there seems to be an outcry by those who apparently have some vested interest in forgetting it all. What's the difference between those who were plucked from their families to fight in a war they didn't cause or start, die in battle or tortured to death by the Japanese and those who died in the concentration camps of Germany. Both lost their lives and their future. To compound a felony, two families in an archaic institution, are going to spend time with each other because both nations still support such a ridiculous form of societal structure. Of course we in America got rid of all of that over 200 years ago and brought the structure down to the edification of the individual. May be that is why we were able to fight on both fronts, save the British, defeat the Germans and the Japanese so that many more people would not die under their evil regimes. I commend those Britons who stand up and turn their backs on both of the so called 'royal families' as a protest that neither one seems to care about the many men and women who are not alive today enjoying a family because of the perpetrators of the most destructive war in the history of mankind. An indication of how both of the families are so self centered, egoistic characters, they didn't even propose to put up a front ( let alone come up with the idea) of visiting some war memorial and placing a wreath in commeroration of those who died to ensure peace in the world.
Anthony Folcarelli, United States

Had I lived through what these brave people lived through, I would feel the same way. They have my complete support.
Michael P. Kopack USAF Veteran (87-91)

Just imagine if the murderous, torturous Japanese had won! Shame on Blair. He'll further demoralize Britain, like his idol, Clinton, has done to America.
Toxie Myers, USA

I would have most certainly turned my back on the Emperor, as he represents a political establishment which has evasively sought to weasle out of a genuine apology for the monstrous crimes Japan committed before and during the Second World War. Why then the Order of the Garter for the leading figure of this unrepentant political establishment?
Gavin Weir, South Africa

Although many years have past since WW11, The Japanese Goverment should make an apology to all the service men and women who suffered at the hands of the Japanese in the Prison Camps. We can all move on to a better future togther once this has been done,but we must never forget our heroes God bless them every one.
Ernest Barrow, USA

The reality of what was done to civilians, soldiers, and sailors at the hands of Japanese military must NEVER be forgotten. At every turn humanity must remind itself what occurred so that it never happens again. This symbolic protest was appropriate given that survivors still remain and have never been given even a token of compensation by their tormentors. The Japanese must be called to task until they make a real effort to apologize AND help those remaining living Imperial Japan tortured and enslaved. The mental wounds inflicted upon these survivors will never be healed without both.
Duncan A. Jones, USA

Germany and Japan both committed evil acts during WW2. Germany has acknowledged its evil and wrong-doings under the Nazis, so should the Japanese. Compensation is another matter. Unfortunately, many people suffered under the war including the Chinese, Malay, Australian and Filipino peoples. It would be impossible to compensate all.
Jack Tarry, Australia

The emperor should apologise for atrocities committed by Japan, but so should the President of the USA for dropping the atom bombs, and our government for Dresden. Acts of atrocity demand a visible contrition or future generations may come to consider them with pride.
A M Bellows, Jersey, CI

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