Veterans plan insult to Japanese emperor

About 9,000 former PoWs have been demanding an apology and compensation

Britons who survived imprisonment in Japanese labour camps during World War II plan to insult Emperor Akihito during his visit to the United Kingdom next month.

Emperor Akihito is to be awarded the Order of the Garter during the state visit which starts on May 26.

As many as 2,000 veterans are expected to turn their backs on the emperor as he travels by carriage with the Queen along The Mall to Buckingham Palace.

They also plan to whistle the wartime march, Colonel Bogey.

Arthur Titherington: disgust

The Chairman of the Japanese Labour Camp Survivors' Association, Arthur Titherington, said the gesture was intended to show disgust at what veterans see as Japan's failure to apologise properly or pay appropriate compensation to those who suffered.

Mr Titherington, 77, who endured three years of forced labour in a copper mine in Taiwan, said: "It will be an open insult to the Japanese Emperor.

"What we will be saying to the government of Japan is: 'This is what we think of you.'

"We want to stress that this is not meant to be, and will not be, an insult to the Queen."

Letters outlining the planned protest were sent out to the association's 9,500 members earlier in the week, after its committee approved the scheme.

Mr Titherington said that many members, most of whom are well into their 80s, would be unable to travel to London for the protest on May 26.

He said he hoped that younger, more able-bodied members of the public who sympathise with the veterans, would join the protest.

When Akihito's father, Emperor Hirohito, visited London in 1971, crowds stood in stony silence as his carriage passed by.

His Order of the Garter, removed during World War II, was returned to him during that visit.

The Japanese Labour Camp Survivors' Association is fighting the Japanese Government in a Tokyo court for about £13,000 compensation and a full apology for each survivor.