| Publication |
2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
While the Philippines was one of the last of the Allied nations to execute Japanese war criminals, it was also one of the first to allow for their repatriation and pardon. This article examines the period between the last execution of Japanese war criminals in January 1951 and the pardon of the remaining criminals in December 1953, in the context of international negotiations regarding the Philippines' position in the lead up to the San Francisco Peace Treaty and beyond. It traces the development and the strategies of the movement for the repatriation of war criminals in Japan. It argues that the repatriation of war criminals from the Philippines (and elsewhere) became an important domestic political issue in Japan in the period between 1951 and 1953, and that the extent of this domestic pressure was also recognised in the Philippines. In both countries, the repatriation of war criminals was linked in public discourse with progress on the negotiation of reparations, the last obstacle to the resumption of diplomatic relations between Japan and the Philippines.
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