The BBC's Foreign Editor John Simpson interviewed Emperor Akihito prior to his state visit to Britain:

BBC News' John Simpson on the problems expected during the impending visit

His last official trip to Britain was 15 years ago but this visit threatens to be overshadowed by former British Prisoners of War protesting over Japan's refusal to offer them compensation and a full apology for their treatment during the World War II.

BBC Foreign Editor John Simpson

It is plain from talking to leading figures in Japan, they won't get either.

Japan's war-like past still haunts Japan's most peaceful of emperors who is too young to have had anything to do with World War II.

I was invited to the imperial palace for an audience with the Emperor and Empress and spoke to them and to the court officials. I found a real sense of anxiety about the way their trip to Britain might go.

It was very obvious the emperor was slightly worried about his visit to London. He remembered his visit to the Coronation in 1953, part of which had to be curtailed because of the possibility of trouble.

The Imperial couple : sympathised deeply with the British Veterans

He remembered also the visit by his father in 1971 where there were difficulties. He didn't anticipate there would be anything like the same difficulties but it was obviously still working on his mind.

The other thing that was very clear to me was that both the imperial couple knew a good deal about the suffering of British prisoners of war at the hands of the Japanese and sympathised deeply with them. I had the strong impression that this was not just said for my benefit they really meant it.

What worries officials in Japan is the exuberance of the British press. They fear any demonstrations against the emperor will get all the media attention and the good relationship will be forgotten.

A Question of Compensation

The officials who surround the imperial couple make sure that they don't get embroiled in anything even vaguely political such as apologising for Japan's war record. That is a matter for the government and the government alone.

One senior official explained that Japan has never clearly worked out in its own mind what happened during the war.

Some people are deeply proud of it still and others are just as deeply ashamed. For the emperor to take side in this by apologising would be out of the question.

Kazuo Chiba, Foreign ministry spokesman : 'An apology has already been taken care off'

"He is not in the position to do that and as far as the apology many prime ministers have done it including the current one who has written to one of your well known newspapers, namely The Sun. So I think that issue is as far as our people are concerned has already been taken care off," says Kazuo Chiba, Foreign Ministry spokesman.

And so the Japanese say is the question of compensation for the way in which British and Commonwealth prisoners were treated. The British Government agrees this was settled long ago by international treaty.

At the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo Japanese veterans of World War II have left their names and phone numbers on placards so their former comrades can contact them.

Four old soldiers from the Burma campaign gathered at the Yasakuni shrine proud of their past but without hating their former enemies.

Suichi Orishino, Japanese veteran : ' We have the same feelings '

"I can perfectly understand how the British feel" says Shuichi Orishino, a former lieutenant in the medical corps. "We have the same feelings, we can still meet and shake hands"

Taro Inazawa, a former infantry lieutenant, is wearing a British Legion tie sent to him by some Burma veterans from Cambridge. "I feel very good about wearing it" he says proudly.

Hirashi Sato, Japanese veteran :'I can understand that many people in Britain still feel resentful'

Hirashi Sato, once a captain in the infantry, agrees that atrocities were committed by his country.

"I'm not making any excuses" he says, "I know some of our former soldiers broke international laws. I can understand that many people in Britain still feel resentful"

These Japanese veterans and some of their fellow soldiers recently met British veterans of the Burma campaign in Burma itself. For them even the bitterest war has ended in reconciliation.
 

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