War crimes committed by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War — sometimes referred to as the Asian Holocaust — aren’t well documented, according to a coalition of Vancouver-based multi-ethnic organizations.
On Thursday, the Japanese Canadian Citizens Association and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, wrote an open letter welcoming the Japanese Emperor and Empress and at the same time seeking reconciliation.
The Japanese soldiers are accused of forcing women in conquered territories to become “comfort women,” or military sexual slaves, and of indiscriminate killing.
Florchita Bautista of Migrante, B.C. said she lived in the Philippines during the years of the Second World War.
The daughter of a politician, she said her father was asked to become a puppet governor after Japan occupied the country — he refused. “We lived a hunted life until my father was finally caught, tortured and assassinated by the Japanese,” Bautista claimed.
