1957: Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke said to the people of Australia: "It is my official duty, and my personal desire, to express to you and through you to the people of Australia, our heartfelt sorrow for what occurred in the war."
Subject. Over the years Japanese political leaders have issued a number of general apologies for the Imperial Army's conduct during World War II. Despite these apologies, the Chinese people and Sino-Japanese relations have yet to be fully normalized, and tensions remain.
On 25 October 1966, Japan agreed to pay S$50 million in compensation, half of which was a grant and the rest as a loan. However, Japan did not make an official apology. These payments were also classified as a "gesture of atonement", and not "damages" or "reparations".
However, Axis surface raiders and submarines periodically attacked shipping in the Australian coastal waters from late 1940 to early 1945. Japanese aircraft bombed towns and airfields in Northern Australia on 97 occasions during 1942 and 1943.
As the option of invading Australia was rejected in February 1942 and was not revisited, the Japanese attacks on Australia during the war were not precursors to invasion, as is sometimes claimed.
The Australian Chiefs of Staff had regarded the prospect of the loss of what they called the Malay Barrier as “the first stage in the Japanese plan for a major attack on Australia”. 3 With the actual fall of Malaya and Singapore and the breach of the Malay Barrier, that prediction appeared to be coming true.
We never had enough troops to [invade Australia]. We had already far out-stretched our lines of communication. We did not have the armed strength or the supply facilities to mount such a terrific extension of our already over-strained and too thinly spread forces.
During the Second World War, people of Japanese origin were interned in Australia as 'enemy aliens'. National Archives holds alien registration and internment records from this time period. Most Japanese internees were deported at the end of the Second World War.
Following early successes against Italian forces, the Australians suffered defeat with the Allies at the hands of the Germans in Greece, Crete, and North Africa. In June and July 1941 Australians participated in the successful Allied invasion of Syria, a mandate of France and the Vichy government.
Economic engagement
The Australia-Japan economic relationship is underpinned by complementary strengths and needs. Australia is a safe, secure and reliable supplier of food, energy and mineral resources and a world-class centre for financial and other services.
In fact, all American presidents have refused to apologize for the bombings, which occurred 75 years ago. This refusal is motivated by the hegemonic narrative in the United States regarding the atomic bombings and widespread public opposition to an apology and commemorating Japanese victims.
Japan accepts the judgments of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and of other Allied War Crimes Courts both within and outside Japan, and will carry out the sentences imposed thereby upon Japanese nationals imprisoned in Japan.
World War II is a significant event in Japanese history that is covered in the curriculum of junior high and high schools. Students learn about the causes, course, and consequences of the war. They also study Japan's role in the conflict and its relations with other countries involved.
One of the biggest mistakes the Japanese made was not destroying the smallest American ships in Pearl: our submarines. They survived and put to sea to destroy more Japanese tonnage during the war than the Americans lost at Pearl Harbor. And the biggest mistake of all? Underestimating the American public.
Payments of reparations started in 1955, lasted for 23 years and ended in 1977. For countries that renounced any reparations from Japan, it agreed to pay an indemnity and/or grants in accordance with bilateral agreements.
Japan on the defensive
Many in government realized that the war was lost, but none had a program for ending the war that was acceptable to the military. There were also grave problems in breaking the news to the Japanese people, who had been told only of victories.
And the German learned to fear Australians, because they were reckless, ruthless - and revengeful. During the Third Battle of Ypres, autumn 1917, the ANZAC's (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) met the Germans on high ground, in front of Polygon Wood.
During World War II in the South-West Pacific, the United States evolved to be Australia's largest ally.
Curtin stated in December 1941 "that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom." In February 1942 the US and British Governments agreed that Australia would become a strategic responsibility of the United States and the Allied ANZAC Force was created ...
Today, Japan is Australia's closest partner in Asia, and Japan describes Australia as its most important security partner after the US, a common ally of both countries.
Many of the women and children were held in prison camps in terrible conditions and forced on death marches. Some women were killed on sight and others were raped, beaten, and forced to become sex slaves.
In early 1942 elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) proposed an invasion of Australia. This proposal was opposed by the Japanese Army and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who regarded it as being unfeasible given Australia's geography and the strength of the Allied defences.
Australia's declaration of war on Japan was a response to the coordinated attacks by the Japanese on United States and British territories across the Asia-Pacific region.
Eventually, on 21 January 1943, all Japanese resistance on Papua ceased. More than 600 Australian soldiers were killed and 1600 wounded. More than 10,000 Japanese also died. Kokoda was a desperate and vicious campaign that saw enormous suffering on both sides.
We have worked closely together in key defence operations, including in Iraq, East Timor, and Pakistan. Australia and Japan hold regular '2+2' talks between foreign and defence ministers. At the 9th 2+2 talks on 9 June 2021, Ministers reaffirmed the strength of the Special Strategic Partnership.