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Event

Compensation to Japan, 1955

On 4 January 1955 the U.S. paid Japan $2 million for the damage from the 1954 Marshall Islands tests, on an ex gratia basis.

3 links, 3 backed by primary records

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Dates
4 Jan 1955

Connections 3

involved

  • United States government tendered $2 million ex gratia Primary record 12
  • Japan received $2 million; its Cabinet gave 75 percent to the tuna industry and $151,000 to the boat's owner and crew Primary record 13

followed from

Timeline 1 date
  1. 4 Jan 1955 Compensation to Japan, 1955
Proof 4 sources
  1. Military Items Relating to the TTPI (U.S. document, January 1969, RMI Nuclear Justice Documents Library ID 404243), U.S. government document, held by the RMI Nuclear Justice Documents Library, Jan 1969. Primary record
    On January 4, 1955, the United States tendered ex gratia the sum of $2 million to the Government of Japan for purposes of compensation for injuries and damages sustained as a result of ‘nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands in 1954.
    The Japanese Cabinet decided to earmark 75 per cent as compensation to all the components of the tuna industry
    and $151,000 was divided between the owner and crew of the Lucky Dragon
  2. Telegram from the U.S. Embassy in Japan to the Department of State, 22 February 1956 (Foreign Relations of the United States 1955-1957, vol. XX, doc. 117), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, 22 Feb 1956. Primary record
    Recognizing compensation involves difficult legal aspects, Embassy considers that problem should be dealt with on political level and divorced from question of legal liability as was case with Bikini payment.
  3. I'll never stop talking about my experience at Bikini, Japan Press Service, 2003. Scholarship & press
    Oishi and other crew members of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru received about 5,500 dollars.
    In January 1955, the U.S. government agreed to pay two million dollars in consolation money.
  4. Memorandum on Bikini compensation, 29 December 1954 (Foreign Relations of the United States 1952-1954, vol. XIV, part 2, doc. 844), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, 29 Dec 1954. Primary record
    At its meeting on November 3, the Operations Coordinating Board agreed that necessary funds of up to $2 million should be made available for settlement of Japan’s claims for damages resulting from the radioactive fall-out from the thermonuclear tests at Bikini.
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