Kidnapped soldier seeks redress

After half a century, a Taiwanese man, Shigematsu Kan, who was drafted into the Japanese Imperial Army and convicted as a Japanese war criminal after World War II, has returned to his homeland in the hope that the Taiwanese authorities will help him claim the compensation he says that he deserves from the Japanese government.

"I hope the DPP-led administration will offer [us] a helping hand -- to negotiate with the Japanese government on behalf of [the Taiwanese war veterans who served in WWII for Japan,] so we can obtain the veterans' benefits we are entitled to," said the 76-year-old Kan, who has been living in Japan for over than 50 years.

"The reason I am reluctant to become a Japanese citizen is because the Japanese government keeps delaying its apology and redress to the Taiwanese soldiers who fought for them during the war."

Two purposes are being served by this, Kan's fifth trip to his mother country.

Besides promoting the release of the Chinese version of his biography The life of Shigematsu Kan -- a Taiwanese serving for the Japanese army during WWII (一個台灣人日本兵簡茂松的人生), written by Japanese journalist Koichi Hamazaki, Kan is also aiming to raise public attention in Taiwan concerning the neglected benefits for these nearly-forgotten war veterans.

Kan was conscripted into the Japanese army as a Japanese citizen at the age of 17 from his home in Hai-san (海山), a small town in Taipei County.

After the war, he was convicted as a Japanese war criminal by the Allies, served five years in an Allied prison in Australia and was then shipped back to Japan against his will after the war. When he landed in Japan in 1951, the hapless soldier was told he was no longer a Japanese citizen.

Therefore, he was not entitled to veterans benefits -- not even military back wages or boat fare home to Taiwan.

The one-time tailor and Tokyo taxi driver, who goes by the name Kan but whose Chinese name is Chien Mao-sung (簡茂松), is eking out a living on a company pension of US$9,400 annually.

Kan is not alone in the discrimination he suffers. In Taiwan, there are over 207,000 war veterans in a similar situation.

Since 1945 when the war ended, these soldiers have demanded compensation from the Japanese government.

In 1994, Japan finally gave in to the requests, promising to recompense the salaries, savings and insurance fees the Japanese government owed the veterans -- at 120 times the original value. The claim period ran from 1995 to 2000.

"Most veterans were extremely displeased with the offer because the redress was nothing in comparison to their torment," said Huang Chih-huei (黃智慧), a researcher at the Institute of Ethnology at Academia Sinica.

She said that the Taiwanese government should speak out for these elderly soldiers because given the difficulties of the task, the powerless veterans would achieve nothing without aid from authorities. "Actions must be taken ... For the sake of upholding the benefits for our countrymen, our government should not evade its responsibility to correct the injustices practiced in Japanese society," she said. Echoing Huang's stand, DPP lawmaker Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) said that he would strive to pressure the administrative departments to help these veterans claim the benefits they are entitled to, and help them receive the justice they deserve.