Japan Apologizes For Bataan Death March

Photo: Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki delivered an official apology to the last 73 U.S. survivors of the Bataan Death March at a meeting of the survivors group May 30, 2009, in San Antonio. (Chad Henninger/ABC News)

From ABC News:

Ambassador Speaks to Last 73 American Survivors of the March.

The Japanese ambassador to the United States apologized in person today to the 73 surviving POWs of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines in April 1942 during World War II.

"We extend a heartfelt apology for our country having caused tremendous damage and suffering to many people including prisoners of war, those who have undergone tragic experiences in the Bataan peninsula the Corregidor Island, Philippines and other places," Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki said at the last convention of the American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor POWs of the Japanese during World War II.

Sixty-seven years after the Japanese captured and force-marched 12,000 Americans and 68,000 Philippines from the island of Corregidor to northern Luzon, denying them food and water, and killing the stragglers, the country apologized.

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My Comment: This is laying the ground work for the Japanese Emperor to declare an apology (maybe) when he visits Hawaii in August. While this is a small step from the Ambassador .... it is the right one.