Mitsubishi apologizes to WWII Japanese prisoners of war

As Japan prepares to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, one of its largest corporations has given a long-awaited apology for wartime atrocities.

At a ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday, a representative for Mitsubishi Materials Corporation apologized for using captured American soldiers as slave laborers.

Mitsubishi Materials is the first private corporation to express such remorse, although the Japanese government has made repeated apologies.

The solemn act of contrition comes far too late for most victims. Mitsubishi says it was only able to locate two living survivors. But former prisoner of war James Murphy warmly accepted the apology, which comes just weeks before the August 15th anniversary of Japan’s 1945 surrender.

Forced labor added to Japan’s arsenal

Murphy, a 94-year-old American, was in his early 20s when he became a Japanese prisoner of war during World War II. He said he was “elated” by the apology, which he had waited to hear in the seven decades since he was freed.

Murphy says he survived horrific conditions as a forced laborer for Mitsubishi Materials’ predecessor Mitsubishi Mining Co., which supplied materials used to manufacture, among other things, Mitsubishi’s feared Zero fighter aircraft used by the Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945.

German troops march through occupied Warsaw, Poland, after invading the nation on September 1, 1939, and igniting World War II.

German Chancellor Adolf Hitler speaks to Nazi party officials in 1939, the year of the German blitzkrieg into Poland. Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium soon fell under German control. When France came under occupation less than a year later, Britain was the only remaining Western European nation fighting the Third Reich, and the United States had not yet entered the war.

In Asia, Japanese troops occupy a strategic point on Chusan Island on July 14,1939, during the Sino-Japanese War. Japan signed the Tripartite Pact in 1940, formally allying with Germany and Italy, and by 1942 most of the Asian Pacific Rim had come under its domination.

German soldiers on the Esplanade du Trocadero view the Eiffel Tower. In June 1940, German troops marched into Paris, forcing France to capitulate and establish the pro-Axis Vichy French government.

British Hawker Hurricanes fly in formation during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The planes were a first line of defense against German bombers attacking England. The battle, fought between July 10 and October 31, 1940, was the first major battle to be won in the air. The Royal Air Force's victory thwarted Hitler's plans for invading Britain.

Smoke rises behind Tower Bridge during the first mass daylight bombing of London on September 7, 1940.

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, left, with Hitler, center, and other leading Nazis, visits Germany during the war. Italy and Germany formed an alliance before the outbreak of war, but Italy remained a non-belligerent until June 10, 1940, when it declared war on Britain and France. Fighting spread to Greece and North Africa.

German tanks and infantry attack Soviet positions on the Eastern Front. On June 22, 1941, Germany broke its Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviet Union, launching the bloodiest theater of the war. Though the estimates vary greatly, Russia suffered the most war casualties of any nation in World War II -- as many as 13.8 million military deaths. Estimates of civilian deaths from military action, crimes against humanity, starvation and disease are as high as 9 million.

A view of U.S. ships in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. The USS West Virginia and USS Tennessee are in the foreground. The attack destroyed more than half the fleet of aircraft and damaged or destroyed eight battleships. Japan also attacked Clark and Iba airfields in the Philippines, destroying more than half the U.S. Army's aircraft there.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the declaration of war against Japan on December 8, 1941. Italy and Germany immediately declared war on the United States, and on December 11, Roosevelt signed the U.S. declarations of war against those nations.

British prisoners of war leave Hong Kong for a Japanese prison camp in December 1941.

Anti-aircraft fire glows over Algiers during a night raid on November 23, 1942. In 1942, the Allies stopped the Axis advance in North Africa and the Soviet Union.

Black smoke rises from demolished buildings after Japanese air forces attacked the U.S. Navy base on Midway Atoll during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The four-day battle became a major victory for the U.S. Navy, which sunk four Japanese aircraft carriers, and it marked a turning point in the war in the Pacific.

Balloon operators from Britain's Women's Auxiliary Air Force, or WAAF, report for inspection in a hangar used to store balloons, at a facility in the UK. During World War II, women played a significant role in the war effort. They took jobs in "defense plants and volunteered for war-related organizations, in addition to managing their households," according to the World War II museum in New Orleans.

British troops land near Algiers, Algeria, during Operation Torch in November 1942. Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of Vichy-held French North Africa, and marked the first major action by the Western allies against the German army.

Soviet soldiers advance against the German army during the Battle of Stalingrad. The battle for the city on the Volga River (present-day Volgograd) was a major defeat for Germany and a turning point in the war. The battle lasted more than five months, ending in February 1943, at the cost of at least 160,000 German soldiers killed or captured. However, even conservative estimates of Russian casualties are much higher.

German prisoners captured at the beachhead of Anzio, Italy, leave a landing craft on their way to a prison camp in 1944. The amphibious landing and ensuing battle helped Allied forces break a months-long stalemate south of Rome and ultimately defeat the Germans in Italy.

French refugees live in a quarry near Fleury sur Orne. During the bombing in that area, 20,000 refugees lived in the quarries.

U.S. troops assault Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. On D-Day, Allied forces landed on five beaches -- Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold and Sword -- taking the first step in establishing the Western Front in Europe. The landing included more than 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes and 150,000 soldiers. More than 35,000 Allied troops were killed during the Normandy Campaign, which lasted till the end of August 1944.

A crowd gathers to cheer Gen. Charles de Gaulle at the Place de la Concorde on August 26, 1944, a day after the liberation of Paris.

Soldiers of an infantry division move into the mist over a snow-covered field near Krinkelter, Belgium, on December 20, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, a surprise German counter-offensive against Allied forces as they closed in on German soil from the west. It resulted in more combined U.S. losses (nearly 90,000 killed, wounded or captured) than any battle of the war.

U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on February 23, 1945. Strategically located only 660 miles from Tokyo, the Pacific island was essential to launching land-based bombers against Japan. It was the bloodiest battle in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps, which suffered more than 27,000 casualties. Of some 18,000 Japanese soldiers defending the island, 216 survived.

German prisoners captured at Friedrichsfeld march through a town in Germany after the crossing of the Rhine River by the U.S. 9th Army on March 26, 1945.

From left, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Russian Premier Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference on February 1945.

Prisoners line block 61 of Buchenwald concentration camp in April 1945. The construction of Buchenwald started July 15, 1937, and the camp was liberated by U.S. Gen. George Patton's troops on April 11, 1945. Between 239,000 and 250,000 people were imprisoned in the camp. About 56,000 died, including 11,000 Jews.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral procession goes down Connecticut Avenue on its way to the White House. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, in Warm Springs, Georgia, just weeks before Germany's surrender.

Harry S. Truman takes the oath of office on April 12, 1945, as he becomes the 33rd president of the United States. Standing beside him are his wife, Bess, and daughter Margaret.

The bodies of Benito Mussolini, left, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, second from left, hang from the roof of a gasoline station after they were shot by anti-Fascist forces while attempting to escape to Switzerland on April 28, 1945.

Russian soldiers wave their flag, made from tablecloths, over the ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin on April 30, 1945. That day, as the Soviets were within blocks of his bunker at the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler committed suicide.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addresses the celebrating crowds from the balcony of the Ministry of Health in Whitehall, London, on V-E Day, May 8, 1945. The war in Europe was officially over.

Soldiers rush an injured U.S. Marine from a battlefield during the Battle of Okinawa in June 1945. The battle, the bloodiest of the war in the Pacific, raged for nearly three months and heightened U.S. concerns for the enormous casualties that could be anticipated in the planned invasion of Japan's main islands.

A photograph on display at the Bradbury Science Museum shows the first instant of the first atomic bomb test, on July 16, 1945, at 5:29 a.m. at Trinity Site in New Mexico. The Potsdam Declaration, announced 10 days later, called for Japan's unconditional surrender, threatening "prompt and utter destruction." It did not, however, specifically mention the bomb.

Col. Paul W. Tibbets Jr., center, stands with the ground crew of the B-29 bomber "Enola Gay," which Tibbets piloted on August 6, 1945. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, that day killed an estimated 130,000 people.

A patient suffering severe radiation burns lies in the Hiroshima Red Cross hospital in August 1945. Many of those who survived the initial blast on August 6 died of severe radiation-related injuries and illnesses.

A dense column of smoke rises more than 60,000 feet into the air over Nagasaki, the result of an atomic bomb dropped on August 9, 1945. An estimated 60,000 to 70,000 were killed in the Nagasaki blast. Six days later, a little after noon local time on August 15, Emperor Hirohito's announcement that Japan had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration was broadcast on radio. Japan had surrendered.

A jubilant American sailor kisses a nurse in New York's Times Square on August 14, 1945, as he celebrates the news that Japan has surrendered. (Because of the time difference between the two nations, the surrender occurred August 15 in Japan).

Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, officially bringing World War II to an end. Overseeing the surrender is U.S. Gen. Douglas McArthur (right, back to camera).

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Mitsubishi has admitted to holding nearly 900 American prisoners-of-war when allied forces liberated its labor camps in 1945 during the final days of the war.

Twenty-seven Americans died in the camps and others complained of lifelong health problems from grueling conditions, frequent beatings, poor sanitation, and lack of food and medical care.

Mitsubishi Materials lists among its corporate philosophies as being a company “for people, society and the Earth.”

“In keeping with the spirit of our company’s mission statement, today we apologize remorsefully for the tragic events in our past, and expressed our profound determination to work toward a better future,” said Hikaru Kimura, a senior executive officer of Mitsubishi Materials.

Kimura also gave a customary deep bow of remorse to Murphy, who appeared visibly moved.

World War II Fast Facts

“I’ve listened very carefully to Mr. Kimura’s statement of apology and found it very, very sincere, humble and revealing, and this happens to be the first time that we’ve heard those words and they really touch you at the heart,” Murphy said.

12,000 Americans kept in forced labor

The high-profile and long-awaited apology happened during a news conference at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

Public relations director Avra Shaprio told CNN the Wiesenthal Center’s associate dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, is planning a late-July visit to the sites of former Japanese mines. He claimed a wartime labor shortage prompted the Japanese government and private companies to put 12,000 Americans into forced labor, of whom more than 1,100 died.

The American POWs worked alongside British, Chinese, Korean and Filipino prisoners.

Mitsubishi has not offered financial compensation for forced laborers, but the company has faced lawsuits in South Korea and China.

The 1951 Treaty of San Francisco, the peace treaty that officially ended World War II, did not allow American POWs to file lawsuits seeking compensation.

“Here we are in the 21st century. It’s time for Japan to help its victims turn the page on the past. And in order to do that, Japan must squarely face its history,” said Jeff Kingston, Director of Asian Studies at Japan’s Temple University and author of Nationalism in Asia Since 1945.

Kingston called the experience of POWs in Japan “a horrific nightmare” and said Mitsubishi’s apology should have happened “decades ago.”

“This is an issue that hasn’t gone away for Japan,” he added.

Japan expands military reach

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Why is Japan expanding its military?

Mitsubishi’s move comes as the Japanese government attempts to move past the nation’s war crimes and expand the role of its military for the first time since the war.

Last week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed a controversial security bill through Japan’s lower house of Parliament, which gives the army and navy limited powers to fight abroad under certain conditions. The bill now moves to the upper house, where it is also expected to pass.

Thousands of protestors stood outside the parliament building in Tokyo to protest the legislation, deemed a “war bill” by critics fearful of a return to the days of Imperial Japanese aggression.

Abe’s approval rating has plunged below 40%, the lowest since he was elected in 2012.