Aussie POW witness to the Hioshima bombing returns to Japan

[TarJak]

The trip to Japan also included many opportunities to meet and share stories with the locals - something Mr Edwards relished.

"The Japanese people were so beautiful, and they still are," he said.

"They're courteous, kind, they laugh a lot - so my opinion of the Japanese people has never altered.

"It was only the IJA - the Imperial Japanese Army - that were brutal to us."

Associate Professor Sakuma says the Japanese government has been running the Friendship Building program for the past three years, and it has also offered formal apologies to ex-POWs.

"These things should have been done earlier - but this is a huge step," he said.

The Friendship Building Program is run by the Japanese Government. That's about as official as the apology is likely to get.