A FORMER Japanese prisoner of war who grew up in East Lancashire is planning a big protest outside Buckingham Palace against a visit by the Emperor of Japan.

Old soldier Arthur Titherington, who lived in Darwen until he joined up in the Second World War, wants to deliver a stinging snub to Emperor Akihito when the Queen escorts him to the Palace on May 26.

Arthur is hoping that hundreds of ex-PoWs and sympathisers will turn up and turn their backs om the royal visitor as he is driven along the Mall to the Palace.

The Queen is due to present Emperor Akihito with the Order of the Garter - the highest British honour for chivalry - which Arthur describes as "the final humiliation."

Arthur, who still has relatives living in the area, is appealing to Japanese ex-prisoners of war throughout East Lancashire and the rest of the country, to join the protest. Hundreds from the area are expected to take part.

Aged 77, Arthur is chairman of the Japanese Labour Camp Survivors' Association. He experienced the horrors of the Japanese prisons, spending much of the war in various camps, working down copper mines in appalling conditions.

In February this year he appeared at the Tokyo District Court to give evidence about the treatment he and other PoWs received at the hands of the Japanese.

Evidence was also given by PoWs and civilian internees from America and New Zealand.

The London protest will be peaceful but is designed to make their feelings very clear. Arthur wants the protest to show that although the Government may have forgotten about their suffering, the surviving victims have not.

Arthur said: "The whole visit is in very poor taste. Admittedly, Akihito is not the emperor who was leader during World War Two. He is his son, but to us it is a political trip which is stamping on the memory of the dead soldiers."

The visit, which takes place between May 26 and 29, will see the emperor place a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, before receiving the honour at the palace. Arthur said: "As the royal car proceeds up The Mall with the emperor, we will all turn our backs on the car, so hopefully the Queen will get the message.

"Rules dictate that we can't wave banners so hopefully our silence will speak volumes. Many of our members have been appalled by the suggestion that he will lay a wreath at the grave inside Westminster Abbey, in that we have to question why these soldiers died. He is also not of the Christian faith."

Regarding the presentation of the Order of the Garter, Arthur said: "The honour is entirely politically motivated and, if that is why honours are handed out, not only does it devalue the honours system, it makes a mockery of those who really do show chivalry on the battlefield.

"He certainly hasn't and that disappoints us very much," added Arthur who now lives in Oxford.

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