The response of both the government and the companies to all such claims has been to point to the 1951 San Francisco peace treaty.

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These were ends accomplished in San Francisco Peace Treaty that was signed on September 8, 1951 by 48 nations and that came into force on April 28, 1952.

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The enshrinement of the war criminals remains controversial, not least because it represents a repudiation of the Tokyo trials, the verdict of which the Japanese government officially accepted with the San Francisco peace treaty in 1952.

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It was during last year's election campaign that Mr Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) proposed the event to mark the day in 1952 when the San Francisco Peace Treaty took effect, formally ending WWII and the allied occupation.

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After the second world war, in the process of drafting the San Francisco peace treaty, the Republic of Korea requested that Takeshima be included among the territories Japan should renounce, but this was rejected by the United States, and the treaty was signed in 1951.

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In 1951, a peace treaty with Japan was signed by 48 other nations in San Francisco.

CNN: Sunday,