Tokyo Embassy Gets 500 Inquiries About Internee Payments

WASHINGTON — In the first six weeks of a special U.S. redress program, about 500 callers have contacted the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo about payments authorized for Japanese-Americans interned in the United States during World War II, a Justice Department official said Friday.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 internees returned to Japan after the war, Robert K. Bratt, who heads the redress administration office, estimated. He said there are 1,500 to 2,500 potential recipients living there.

The telephone response was announced a day after a House Appropriations subcommittee took the first step toward providing funds for restitution--approving $250 million for fiscal 1990. The Administration has sought no funds for the current fiscal year.

The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 offered redress for the forcible evacuation and internment of 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry by the U.S. government. An estimated 60,000 surviving former internees are eligible to receive payments of $20,000 apiece for their loss of civil liberties.