His Excellency Fumio Kishida,
Prime Minister of Japan.
The Hague, 14 December 2021
Petition: 325
Subject: Individual donations to kickstart the Japanese economy after Corona.
Excellency,
According to your Ambassador in the Hague his Excellency Horinouchi Hidehisa Japanese children will receive the equivalent of Euro 1.000 to kickstart the Japanese economy after Corona. Individual Japanese citizens older then 18 years already received Euro 1.000. A very generous gift compared to the Fls. 415 Dutch civilians received in 1956 as a solatium for their imprisonment in Japanese concentration camps during World War II. In reviewing Japan’s future taking into account the past, in particular the sufferings of the Dutch during the Japanese military occupation of Dutch East Indies it would be a fitting gesture to the around 90.000 victims or their children if they received a similar amount. Those outside the concentration camps were excluded from the solatium, but should be included as well in todays gesture of Japan and thus clearing its moral obligation to the Dutch from Dutch East Indies.
Prime Minister,
Last 7 December 80 years ago Japan started the Pacific war. Japan capitulated 15 August 1945. The many civilians and soldiers who, or later as a result of the war, died we remember every year. The San Francisco Peace Treaty of 8 September 1951 ended the hostilities. Japan was given the opportunity to resurrect.
Corona is a new war but the Pacific War can not be forgotten. Those whom survived continue to feel mentally the pain, the sorrow and the neglect. Japan’s initiative to kickstart its economy after Corona by handing out to its individual citizens and children Euro 1.000 could be used as a basis to reconsider the 1956 solatium Yoshida-Stikker protocol.
Prime Minister,
It is a suggestion by which Japan could show some sympathy partly repairing the inadequate solatium of 1956.
Prime Minister,
I look forward to your acknowledgement of the receipt of this petition and your suggestions.
On behalf of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts.
J.F. van Wagtendonk
President.