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2011 April 20 - 26 [HISTORY]

Top court determines Japanese Army’s involvement in wartime ‘mass suicides’ in Okinawa

The Supreme Court on April 21 turned down the appeal from plaintiffs by upholding two lower court decisions recognizing that the former Japanese military was deeply responsible for the “mass suicides” that took place in Okinawa during the Battle of Okinawa at the end of World War II.

With this court decision, Nobel-prize winning novelist Oe Kenzaburo finally won the libel lawsuit filed by the former garrison commander.

In his work “Notes on Okinawa (published in 1970)”, Oe wrote that during the Battle of Okinawa in the final stage of the Pacific War, the former Japanese military ordered Okinawan people to kill themselves.

In 2005, the former chief of garrison stationed in Okinawa’s Zamami Island at the time, Umezawa Hiroshi (94) and another person filed a lawsuit with the Osaka District Court against Oe and his publisher, Iwanami Shoten, demanding compensation for libel damages because Oe falsely described the Japanese military’s involvement.

The 2008 Osaka District Court decision recognized that “the Imperial Japanese Army played a major part in the ‘mass suicide’”, and ruled against the plaintiffs’ charge of libel because judging from various sources, it was determined that the Japanese military gave the suicide order to Okinawans. The Osaka High Court in the same year dismissed the plaintiffs’ appeal by supporting the district court ruling.

At a press conference after the Supreme Court decision, Oe expressed his hope that this court decision will encourage textbook publishers and authors to include accurate descriptions of historical issues regarding Okinawa and will also contribute to the power of civil movements in Okinawa.

The Education Ministry in 2006, based on the plaintiffs’ argument, ordered textbook publishers to delete from high school history textbooks the statement that the Japanese military forced Okinawans into “mass suicides”. However, the Supreme Court decision made clear that this ministry order is groundless.