A Tokyo court yesterday rejected demands to compensate Chinese victims of atrocities committed by Japan's military in the 1930s and '40s, including the use of biological weapons and the infamous Rape of Nanjing.
The Tokyo High Court upheld a 1999 lower court ruling that international law barred foreign citizens from seeking compensation from the Japanese government for wartime actions.
The 10 plaintiffs, including families of the victims, demanded compensation for death and suffering caused by wartime biological experiments, the Rape of Nanjing and the firebombing of Yong'an City in China's Fujian Province.
The court refused to provide details of the ruling, but lawyers for the plaintiffs said judge Masahito Monguchi ruled the statute of limitations had expired and it was too late to seek damages.
The plaintiffs, who had demanded an official apology and 20 million yen (US$186,000) each, were angry. Jing Lanzhi, 83, who claims her husband was killed in Japanese wartime germ experiments, called the decision unjust.
Yoshio Shinozuka, a former member of the unit who testified on behalf of victims, said outside the court on Tuesday that he was saddened by the ruling.
"I don't know how to apologize," Shinozuka said. ``Today, I've never felt so ashamed to be Japanese."