For veterans of the Second World World War from the US, New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands, Great Britain, Norway and and others interred by Japan, this looks like history. But it's a history that for now has been largely overlooked by many in the news media.
The apology came this weekend in the US State of Texas.
Here's what happened.
At the last minute, Japan's US Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki hopped on a plane from Washington to Texas. He decided to take up an invitation to attend the last ever meeting of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor.
In front of those ageing veterans, Ambassador Fujisaki extended a "heartfelt apology".
The apology itself was videotaped and you can find a link to it on this blog.
I've been speaking with Mindy Kotler, the Director of Asia Policy Point, a think-tank in Washington.
She has been involved with campaigning on behalf of the veterans and she says the apology has effectively been endorsed by Japan's cabinet.
Listen to the interview : Download 0602pows-dr
(Technical note if you have a PC you can download the whole thing by right clicking and selecting "Save Target as..." or if you have a Mac, press CTRL and click.)
Daniel Ryntjes, Washington Correspondent
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