Four Japanese women left in China by their families during World War II plan to sue the Japanese government on Dec. 7 for 80 million yen for decades of failing to help their repatriation, sources familiar with the case said Wednesday.
The suit, to be filed with the Tokyo District Court, would probably be the first damages claim against the government by war-displaced Japanese. The four plaintiffs, aged 67 to 73, now live in Tokyo after returning to Japan between 1978 and 1988.
They claim the government failed to help their swift return and did not take sufficient measures to help them adapt to life in Japan after they were repatriated. Three live on welfare.
The women, all born in Japan, moved with their families to the puppet state of Manchukuo in northeast China between 1941 and 1945 under the government's policy of promoting Japanese settlement there, according to their prepared petition.
They were left in China, some in the hands of Chinese foster parents, amid the chaos following the Soviet invasion of Manchukuo and Japan's surrender in August 1945, it says.
About 6,100 war-displaced Japanese had been repatriated as of the end of October since Japan and China normalized diplomatic ties in 1972, according to the Heath, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
Of them, about 2,400 are men and women who were left in China as children aged under 13.
In 1975, the former Health and Welfare Ministry began searching for relatives in Japan of those who had been abandoned. It began organizing tours to Japan for them in 1981 to look for relations.
A law was enacted in 1994 to help returnees pay for repatriation and provide financial assistance after their return.