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The Japanese saved Armenians and Greeks during the genocide

February 3, 2018 By administrator

Statue of Viscount Eiichi Shibusawa in his former Tokyo residence now a museum.

Statue of Viscount Eiichi Shibusawa in his former Tokyo residence now a museum.

BY VICKEN BABKENIAN

In 2010, I published excerpts from Japan’s humanitarian response to the Armenian Genocide in an article for The Armenian Weekly. I mentioned how an Armenian relief fund was established in Tokyo after a visit by Reverend Loyal Wirt, international commissioner of Near East Relief Organization, in February 1922. The Armenian relief fund was led by a banker and diplomat Eminent Japanese Viscount Eiichi Shibusawa. The Viscount is recognized today as the founder of modern Japanese capitalism and a great humanitarian. He has been involved in the founding of more than 500 business and economic organizations and some 600 organizations for social welfare, education and international trade. Contributions to the Armenian relief fund came from all classes of Japanese society, from ordinary citizens to government ministers to businessmen and royalty. A school of Japanese girls has even assumed full responsibility for two Armenian orphans.

Another important Japanese link to the Armenian Genocide will soon be the subject of a major documentary produced in San Francisco by Mimi Malayan. Mimi is the great-granddaughter of Diana Apcar, a Burmese Armenian who lived in Japan from 1891 until her death in 1937. Apcar was a prolific writer, businesswoman and diplomat. In particular, she was appointed consul of the Republic of Armenia in Japan during the short-lived Armenian Republic (1918-1920). It was a diplomatic post that allowed him to speak on behalf of a sovereign state when speaking to individuals and institutions. In this way, Diana was able to obtain special permission from the Japanese government to allow Armenian refugees to enter Japan from Russia. This approval alleviated the distress among refugees and helped them find a permanent settlement in the United States and elsewhere during transit in Japan.

The most remarkable story of Japanese humanitarianism during the Armenian Genocide may have been the role played by the captain and crew of a Japanese ship in saving lives during the Smyrna disaster of 1922. Hundreds of Thousands of Armenian and Greek refugees had taken refuge on the Smyrna embankment as Turkish nationalist troops entered and occupied the city on September 9, 1922. The Turkish occupation was followed by the usual massacre and deportation of Armenian and Greek civilians. A fire broke out in the Armenian neighborhood four days later, destroying much of the city. About 20 warships and cargo ships stationed in the port, including one from Japan, had a complete vision of the disaster. Many foreigners have seen the Japanese ship mobilize to save the frenetic refugees. Mrs. Anna Harlowe Birge, the wife of the American professor Birge of the International College of Smyrna, saw the desperate refugees huddle each other on the docks while Smyrna began to burn. Men and women could be seen swimming in the hope of rescue until they drowned. Anna wrote:

“In the harbor at that time was a Japanese cargo ship that had just arrived loaded on the decks with a very precious cargo of bristles, lace and porcelain representing several thousand dollars. The Japanese captain, when he realized the situation did not hesitate. The entire cargo was sown in the dirty waters of the port, and the cargo ship was loaded with several hundred refugees, who were taken to Piraeus and safely landed on Greek shores, “writes Stavros T. Stavridis in an article published in the journal of the American Helenic International Foundation Policy.

Another story was published on September 18, 1922 by The New York Times:

“The constantly arriving refugees are telling new details about the Smyrna tragedy. On Thursday, September 14, there were six steamboats at Smyrna to transport the refugees, an American, a Japanese, two French and two Italians. The American and Japanese steamers accepted all the arrivals without examining their papers, while the others took only foreign subjects with passports.

The Japanese ship’s humanitarian actions were also recorded by Armenian and Greek survivors from Smyrna. They are among the many testimonies and testimonies that historians Stavros Stavridis and Nanako Murata-Sawayanagi from Japan have brought to light in their research on Japan and the Smyrna disaster. Recently, Stavridis discovered the name of the ship – the Tokei Maru – which had been published in many contemporary Greek newspapers. In June 2016, Greek community organizations in Athens handed a shield plaque to the Japanese ambassador, Masuo Nishibayashi, in recognition of his country’s efforts to rescue his country in Smyrna in 1922. It is a gesture that Armenian communities should follow.

Japan’s humanitarian response is just one of many stories of international goodness during the catastrophic events that almost completely destroyed the indigenous Christian communities of the Ottoman Empire. More than 50 countries participated in the global humanitarian effort to save survivors of the Armenian Genocide. While much of the genocide scholarship has focused on the evils committed, there are innumerable stories of human compassion and generosity that still need to be explored by scholars.

Vicken Babkenian is co-author (with Professor Peter Stanley) of the book “Armenia, Australia and the Great War” (NewSouth Publishing 2016) available on Amazon.

Saturday, February 3, 2018,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Filed Under: Articles, Genocide Tagged With: Armenians, Greeks, japanese, saved

Hundreds of Japanese protest Obama visit to Hiroshima

May 27, 2016 By administrator

hiroshima obama protest

Japanese during a rally against US President Barack Obama’s then upcoming-visit to Hiroshima, May 16, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Residents in Hiroshima have greeted President Barack Obama with protests at the site of the world’s first atomic bombing conducted by the US more than 70 years ago.

Obama arrived at Hiroshima’s atomic bomb park Friday on the first visit by a sitting US president and was greeted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

“You’re not welcome here” and “Get out of Hiroshima,” the protesters shouted in a rally held at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

They held banners that read, “Get rid of all nukes immediately,” “Remove all US bases from Okinawa” and “We won’t let you use military alliances to start your next war.”

Among the protesters, there were labor union members, college students as well as survivors and the relatives of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing on August 6, 1945.

“I could hear schoolchildren screaming ‘Help me! Help me!’ said Kinuyo Ikegami, an 82-year old survivor of the bombing, who took part in the Friday gathering.

“It was too pitiful, too horrible. Even now it fills me with emotion,” she added.

“The suffering such as illness gets carried on over the generation,” said Han Jeong-soon, the daughter of a Korean survivor.

“That is what I want President Obama to know. I want him to understand our sufferings.”

Obama has said he will not apologize for the bombing, which killed thousands instantly, and some 140,000 by that year’s end.

“I want Obama to say ‘I’m sorry.’ If he does, maybe my suffering will ease,” said 73-year-old Eiji Hattori, who was a toddler at the time of the bombing and now has three types of cancer.

“If Obama apologized, I could die and meet my parents in heaven in peace,” he said.

Obama’s visit to Hiroshima has stirred heated debate, with critics pointing to paradoxes in policies relying on nuclear deterrence while calling for an end to atomic arms.

The city of Nagasaki was hit by a second nuclear bomb on Aug. 9, 1945, and Japan surrendered six days later.

The US justifies the bombings, contending that they were necessary to end the war and save lives, although many historians question that view and believe they were unjustified.

Aides say Obama’s main objective in Hiroshima is to showcase his nuclear disarmament agenda. However, critics say he has made scant progress and is spending heavily to modernize the US atomic arsenal.

Japan, despite advocating disarmament, relies on the US nuclear umbrella for extended deterrence.

Among the governments critical of the visit, North Korea on Friday denounced Obama’s visit to Hiroshima as an act of stunning hypocrisy and “a childish political calculation.”

“Even if Obama visits the damaged city, he cannot hide his identity as a nuclear war fanatic and nuclear weapons proliferator,” read part of a report on North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: hiroshima, Hundreds, japanese, Obama visit, Protest

ISIS Releases Video Purportedly Showing Beheading of Japanese Hostage Kenji Goto: SITE

January 31, 2015 By administrator

By Alexander Smith and Elisha Fieldstadt

The Islamist terror group ISIS claims it has beheaded a Japanese journalist, a week after beheading another Japanese hostage and demanding the release of a would-be suicide bomber. NBC news Report

A video released Saturday claimed that reporter Kenji Goto was executed after a Thursday deadline for Jordan to release Sajida al-Rishawi was not met. Although NBC News has not yet verified the video, it appears consistent with other ISIS hostage videos, according to analysts SITE Intelligence.

SIS had threatened to execute reporter Kenji Goto and 1st Lt. Mu’ath al-Kasaesbeh if al-Rishawi was not freed within 24 hours. She was on death row in Jordan after her explosives failed to detonate during a 2005 attack on a hotel in Amman, Jordan.

Jordan demanded proof of life of the two captives, while Japan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama told reporters Saturday that the situation was “a stalemate.”

ISIS initially demanded a ransom of $200 million for the release of Goto and fellow Japanese captive Haruna Yukawa. Goto had apparently ventured into Syria to rescue Yukawa, who was taken hostage last summer. However, ISIS released a video on Jan. 24 claiming it had beheaded Yukawa and requesting al-Rishawi’s release instead.

ISIS later said they would also execute Jordanian pilot Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh if al-Rishawi, who is on death-row was not freed. Al-Kasaesbeh has been held by ISIS since his plane crashed in Syria in December. ISIS made no mention of the pilot in Saturday’s video.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: beheading, hostage, japanese

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