IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 382
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning war crimes 
committed by Japan during World War II and the liability of Japanese 
companies to former prisoners-of-war used by such companies as slave 
labor during World War II. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 30, 2003
Mr. HONDA (for himself, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. TAYLOR of North 
Carolina, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. FROST, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. ABER-
CROMBIE, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. FARR, 
Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. ROSS, Mr. SANDLIN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MOORE, Mrs. 
MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. MCINTYRE, 
Mr. MATHESON, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. ENGEL, and Mr. SKELTON) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Inter-
national Relations 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives con-
cerning war crimes committed by Japan during World 
War II and the liability of Japanese companies to former 
prisoners-of-war used by such companies as slave labor 
during World War II.
Whereas the Government of Japan deliberately ignored and 
flagrantly violated the Geneva and Hague Conventions 
during World War II, and committed atrocious crimes 
against humanity;
•HRES 382 IH 
Whereas 33,587 men and women in the United States mili-
tary, and 13,966 United States civilians, were captured 
by the Japanese military in the Pacific Theater during 
World War II, confined in brutal prison camps, and sub-
jected to severe shortages of food, medicine, and other 
basic necessities; 
Whereas one example of the brutality encountered by United 
States prisoners-of-war was the ‘‘death march’’ that fol-
lowed the surrender of Bataan in the Philippines in 
April, 1942, when between 550 and 1,000 United States 
soldiers perished, including many who were shot, stabbed, 
or beheaded by the Japanese; 
Whereas 37.3 percent of those Americans who were placed in 
Japanese prisoner-of-war camps died during their impris-
onment; 
Whereas Americans captured and interned by the Japanese 
were forced to work for privately held Japanese compa-
nies in severe slave-like conditions, with very little food, 
dangerous work environments, and no medical care; 
Whereas the survivors of Japanese prisoner-of-war camps 
continue to suffer long-term health consequences due to 
their imprisonment; 
Whereas the companies that benefited from the forced labor 
of American and other prisoners-of-war continued to earn 
a profit during wartime and beyond; and 
Whereas, in contrast to other countries that committed hor-
rific war crimes during World War II, the Government 
of Japan has still not fully acknowledged the crimes it 
committed, as well as those committed by private Japa-
nese companies during World War II, and has not pro-
•HRES 382 IH 
vided full compensation to the victims of these actions: 
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that—
(1) the Government of Japan should formally 
acknowledge all of its war crimes committed during 
World War II and issue a clear and unambiguous 
apology for those war crimes; and 
(2) Japanese companies that used prisoners-of-
war as slave labor during World War II, or the suc-
cessors of such companies, should compensate those 
former prisoners, or their survivors, for the labor 
performed for the commercial interests of such com-
panies, and further compensate those former pris-
oners, or their survivors, for whatever brutality the 
companies inflicted on those prisoners during their 
period of forced labor.
Æ