The January 10, 2010, Gold Coast News ran an editorial that Japan should issue a formal apology to Australia and the families of the victims of the Centaur.
Almost 40,000 Australians were killed in World War II. The Japanese government denied it was at fault immediately after the sinking and continued to do so for 36 years until 1977 when it admitted that their I-177 submarine had torpedoed it.
The submarines commander, Lt. Commander Hajime Nakagawa was sentenced at the Nagasaki War Trials to six years hard labor after pleading guilty to machine gunning survivors of a British merchant ship he had sunk in the Indian Ocean.
he never faced trial for the Centaur as it was feared that no definitive case could be made against him. Now, one might be made, but he died in 1991.
Japan has been slow in accepting blame for other criminal activities it committed during the war, including the sex slaves for the Army in China and Rape of Nanking.
The paper does point out that Japan is a very different country now and a valued ally and trading partner but definitely owes Australia and the families a formal apology.
It Would Be About Time. --Cooter
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