The Brazilian government on Thursday offered its first apology over the persecution of Japanese immigrants in the country during and after World War II, a landmark movement for restoring their honor ahead of next year's 80th anniversary of the end of the war.
The apology was made over two cases -- one in which Brazil, as part of the Allies, evicted Japanese immigrants from their houses in Santos during the war, and another involving mistreatment on Anchieta Island of people imprisoned amid postwar unrest in the immigrant community.
The issue was examined by the Amnesty Commission of the Human Rights and Citizenship Ministry, a government advisory body. The commission has mainly dealt with political persecutions under the country's postwar military regime, making the apology for wartime cases exceptional.
The commission head, Enea de Stutz e Almeida, apologized in Japanese, bowing deeply and saying, "The Brazilian government seeks forgiveness for the persecution of your ancestors."
Parties, including a group of Japanese immigrants from Okinawa Prefecture, had been urging the government to make an apology over the cases since 2015.
The call was rejected in 2022 under the right-wing then President Jair Bolsonaro. However, the launch of the left-wing Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva administration in January last year led to a reexamination of the issue.
In Tokyo on Friday, Japan's top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi welcomed the apology, calling it a "satisfying outcome" for the petitioners.
During a regular news conference, the chief Cabinet secretary also said that the government will continue to expand cooperation with the Japanese community in Brazil, which has served as a "bridge between the two countries."
About 2.7 million people of Japanese descent live in Brazil, the largest community outside Japan.
Brazil was the destination of Japanese mass immigration after the first group of immigrants landed in Santos in the state of Sao Paulo in 1908, but the country cut diplomatic ties with Japan in 1942 when it joined the Allies.
In 1943, about 6,500 Japanese immigrants and their descendants were forced to leave their homes and were relocated to camps or inland areas. Many are said to have come from Japan's southern island prefecture of Okinawa.
After the end of the war, the Japanese immigrant community was divided between those who refused to believe the news of Japan's defeat and insisted the country had won the war, called "kachigumi," and those who accepted the country's surrender, called "makegumi."
After kachigumi extremists attacked makegumi members, 172 individuals linked with kachigumi were imprisoned and tortured on Anchieta Island, also in the state of Sao Paulo, by Brazilian authorities between 1946 and 1948. Nearly 140 of them allegedly had nothing to do with the assaults on makegumi members.
The U.S. and Canadian governments have also apologized for the internment of people of Japanese descent during World War II.
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