Survivors and relatives of victims of the Tokyo air raids toward the end of World War II have decided to sue the government for compensation and an apology, they said Friday.
The group is looking for lawyers and plaintiffs to join them so they can file by March the first class-action suit ever filed over damage from the raids.
A woman in her 70s who lost her arm due to machinegun fire from a U.S. plane is considering joining, according to the Tokyo-based group of some 700 members.
"Unlike with soldiers and other military workers, no compensation has been made for civilian war victims," said Kikuji Enomoto, a senior member of the group. "We would like to address such a situation through the suit."
On March 10, 1945, U.S. bombers devastated a wide area of Tokyo, killing an estimated 100,000 people.