Japanese Court Orders Compensation for 11 Slave Laborers

TOKYO —  In a landmark ruling Friday, a court ordered the Japanese government to compensate Chinese plaintiffs for their suffering as wartime slave laborers.

The Niigata District Court said 10 slave laborers and the family of one deceased victim should receive $75,000 each, to be paid by the government and Rinko Corp., the current name of the company that exploited their labor in the northern city of Niigata during World War II.

It is the first time that a court has ordered the government to compensate slave laborers for their work and suffering during the war. In several previous cases, judges have rejected the case for state compensation, citing the 20-year deadline on such claims in Japan’s Civil Code or government immunity from prosecution by individuals under the prewar constitution.

However, Presiding Judge Noriyoshi Katano said the plaintiffs were entitled to compensation from the government because officials had failed to act on working conditions so extreme that the workers’ human rights were violated.

“At the work site, the plaintiffs were constantly abused,” he said. “Their lives, physical safety and freedom were infringed.”

The men were among tens of thousands of Chinese and other Asians forcibly brought to Japan by the imperial army to address the labor shortages caused by the war. The 11 worked as porters at Niigata port and train station carrying materials such as coal and food in harsh conditions that they say caused physical and psychological damage. The plaintiffs had been seeking a total of $2.6 million.

Activists for former slave laborers praised the decision.

“There have been a long series of unfair rulings based on the time limit and the immunity of the state, but this decision in Niigata is very progressive, worthy and brave,” said Shoichi Matsuo, professor emeritus at Hosei University and head of the Japan Forced Labor Compensation Fund Research Group. “Some say the state is not accountable for what happened under the wartime imperial government, but that attitude goes against current legal thinking.”

Though most Japanese judges have ruled against slave laborers, a number of decisions have given hope to plaintiffs. In July 2001, the Tokyo District Court ordered the government to pay damages to laborers for failing to help them return home safely once the war was over.

In April 2002, the Fukuoka District Court ordered a mining firm to compensate slave laborers. That ruling also clearly stated that the government broke the law by forcibly bringing Chinese to Japan, but did not order it to pay compensation.

Lawyers for the Chinese laborers were jubilant Friday.

“The horrible truth of how men were abducted and forced to work in Japan was made clear. The conditions were so bad that almost 20% died within a few months,” said Osamu Kaneko, one of the attorneys. “This ruling shows deep understanding of those realities.”

The Japanese government called the ruling “harsh” and said it is considering an appeal. A spokesman for Rinko Corp said: “I can’t say the ruling was sound. We will study the ruling before deciding whether to appeal.”

The ruling may have an effect on dozens of suits brought by victims of Japan’s wartime aggression.

“This is an extremely significant ruling,” said Hitoshi Nakano, a Tokyo attorney who has represented several Chinese war victims. “It seems courts are gradually realizing that public opinion will be critical if all they do is deliver safe rulings that the government will like.”

However, Matsuo said the ruling needs to be followed by political action.

“These wartime suits are not only about legal arguments but historical issues, so there is a limit to what can be achieved by seeking justice from a judge,” Matsuo said. “We need to start a bigger movement to seek legislation in parliament to resolve these cases.”

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Rie Sasaki and Hisako Ueno in The Times’ Tokyo Bureau contributed to this report.