By Chris O'Connell

SAN FRANCISCO, SEPT. 6, 2001 A good day for a peace treaty, a good day for a protest.

As hundreds of demonstrators held signs and chanted outside under cloudless blu skies at the War Memorial Opera House, United States and Japanese diplomats renewed commitments to economic and security partnerships the two countries have shared since 1951.

Powell, at the September ceremony.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka signed the declaration of renewal at a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. The signing took place on the very same stage of the opera house where President Harry Truman and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, along with representatives from 46 other nations, signed the treaty on Sept., 8, 1951.

Outside, waving signs and Korean and Chinese flags and chanting "No Justice! No Peace!" the demonstrators demanded that Japan apologize and make reparations for atrocities it committed during and before World War. Numbered among the demonstrators were several former American prisoners of war forced to work as slave laborers in Japanese factories and coal mines.

Before signing the declaration, Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka addressed the packed opera house (simultaneous translations were provided via earphones), stressing the global importance of the relationship between Japan and the United States since the end of the war. Tanaka also took the opportunity to repeat an apology made by then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995 for the atrocities Japan committed during the war, stating:

"We have never forgotten that Japan caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries during the last war. The war has left an incurable scar on many people, including the former prisoners of war. Facing these facts of history in a spirit of humility, I reaffirm today our feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology expressed in the Prime Minister Murayama's statement of 1995."

This statement was inaccurately reported in several located and national publications as a new apology on Japan's behalf, rather than a reaffirmation of the previous personal statement by Murayama.

It was a fitting end to the two separate but related conferences taking place in San Francisco over the previous three days. Both attempted--albeit in radically separate ways--to explore the political, cultural and personal ramifications of the peace treaty and security pact that bind the economies and militaries of the two countries so tightly together.

On the one hand was the "official" conference, which was sponsored by the Japan American Society of Northern California with a nod from both the U.S. and Japanese governments. Entitled, "The United States and Japan: An Enduring partnership in a Changing World," the cost close to three million dollars and was staged at the ritzy downtown Palace Hotel. It was largely a celebration of the benefits that have come to both countries in the wake of the treaty and the security partnership.

The alternative conference, "50 Years of Denial: Japan and its Wartime Responsibilities," was held concurrently and in direct opposition to the official celebration and cost considerably less as well.

Many historians and diplomats see the treaty, along with the security pact which was signed in the Presidio on the same day in 1951, as the critical agreements which dictated the relationship between the two countries and brought an official end to World War II.

Others, including American soldiers held as prisoners of war and Korean and Chinese citizens who suffered under Japanese colonial rule, say the treaty is a farce that denies them the right to seek recompense for their suffering.

They also say that Japan, all apologies aside, has yet to come to terms economically and morally with its colonial legacy in Asia, its treatment of "comfort women" and the Allied Forces POWs forced into slave labor during captivity.

Perhaps the most engaging speaker for the opera house ceremony was Secretary of State Powell, who held the crowd enthralled with personal anecdotes and stressed the importance of the unique relationship the countries share.

Powell, who was interrupted several times by protestors who were then expeditiously removed, also pointed towards an expanded role for Japan's military in the near future. He added that the United States would like to see a Japan that offers more than economic assistance during times of international crisis and need.

"We encourage Japan to look ahead to more regional and international responsibilities," he said.

For many at the alternative conference, Powell and the other diplomats were skirting the real issues that linger from WWII and ignoring Japan's refusal to issue an apology as a nation.

Frank Bigelow, an American POW during WW II who spoke at the alternative conference and also participated in the protests outside the opera house said that he and all of his fellow POWs won't rest easy until they are presented with an acceptable apology, treaty or no treaty.

"What I would truly like to see more than anything else is the truth told to the children of the world about what happened in World War II," Bigelow said.