{"id":155813,"date":"2026-04-21T16:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=155813"},"modified":"2026-04-21T16:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:15:13","slug":"speech-on-the-premises-of-the-diet-japanese-parliament-by-sri-lankan-attorney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/04\/21\/speech-on-the-premises-of-the-diet-japanese-parliament-by-sri-lankan-attorney\/","title":{"rendered":"Speech on the premises of the Diet ( Japanese Parliament) by Sri Lankan Attorney"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Source:\u00a0 \u00a0A1 Overview<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>On <strong>November 14, 2018<\/strong>, Sri Lankan attorney\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sdh-fact.com\/auther\/senaka-weeraratna\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sdh-fact.com\/auther\/senaka-weeraratna\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senaka Weeraratna<\/a> addressed a symposium at the <strong>Japanese Diet<\/strong> (Parliament). Invited by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sdh-fact.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact<\/a>, he delivered a keynote speech titled <strong>&#8220;Japan&#8217;s attack on Pearl Harbour ignited the liberation of Asia from Western domination \u2013 Time for Asia to express gratitude to Japan&#8221;<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Key highlights of his address and the event included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Commemorative Occasion<\/strong>: The meeting commemorated the 100th anniversary of Japan\u2019s 1919 proposal for the <strong>Elimination of Racial Discrimination<\/strong> at the Paris Peace Conference.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Decolonization Perspective<\/strong>: Weeraratna argued that Japan&#8217;s military actions during WWII, specifically the attack on Pearl Harbour, served as the catalyst for ending Western colonial rule across Asia.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Criticism of Tokyo Trials<\/strong>: He labeled the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/International_Military_Tribunal_for_the_Far_East\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">International Military Tribunal for the Far East<\/a> (Tokyo Trials) as &#8220;<strong>victor&#8217;s justice<\/strong>&#8221; and a &#8220;<strong>Kangaroo Court<\/strong>,&#8221; citing the lack of Asian representation among the judges and the retroactive nature of the charges.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Call for Gratitude<\/strong>: As the first Sri Lankan to speak at the Diet on this topic, he urged Asian nations to de-colonize their historical narratives and acknowledge Japan&#8217;s &#8220;blood sacrifices&#8221; in facilitating their independence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Notable Speakers<\/strong>: The symposium also featured <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sdh-fact.com\/CL\/Kase-Speech.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the late Hideaki Kase<\/a>, President of the Society, Japanese Historian Moteki and Professor Emeritus Eiji Yamashita.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This speech emphasizes Japan&#8217;s role in Pan-Asianism and challenges the Western-centric narrative of WWII.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One of the most significant points in Weeraratna&#8217;s speech was the reference to the <strong>1919 Racial Equality Proposal<\/strong>. This is a frequently overlooked moment in history where Japan&#8217;s attempt to include a non-discrimination clause in the League of Nations Covenant was rejected by Western powers, an event many historians cite as a turning point that soured Japan\u2019s relations with the West.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The speech was held in <strong>Conference Room No. 101 of the Diet<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source:&nbsp; &nbsp;A1 Overview<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source:\u00a0 \u00a0A1 Overview On November 14, 2018, Sri Lankan attorney\u00a0Senaka Weeraratna addressed a symposium at the Japanese Diet (Parliament). Invited by the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact, he delivered a keynote speech titled &#8220;Japan&#8217;s attack on Pearl Harbour ignited the liberation of Asia from Western domination \u2013 Time for Asia to express gratitude [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-senaka-weeraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155814,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155813\/revisions\/155814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}