Japanese War Guilt (From Locked Thread)

[JasonJ]

I would have bumped the old thread but it's locked so its linked below.

 

http://www.tank-net.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=38284&page=1&do=findComment&comment=1037980

 

 

 

 

SEOUL – Visiting former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama mourned Korean independence activists at a history museum in Seoul on Wednesday.

 

At the museum, on the site of a prison where Korean activists against Japanese colonial rule were interned, Hatoyama took off his shoes in front of a monument for them, laid flowers, knelt down, joined his hands in prayer and bowed his head, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

“I would like to sincerely apologize for the fact that many independence activists were placed in the prison, tortured and even lost their lives under Japan’s colonial rule,” Hatoyama said at a press conference.

 

Regarding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s statement to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, which is scheduled to be released on Friday, Hatoyama expressed his view that Japan’s colonial rule over South Korea and aggression to China must be included in the statement as a historical fact.

 

An apology and an expression of remorse must also be included in the statement, he added.

Documents about the activists at that time and how they were tortured are exhibited at the history museum.

 

 

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/08/12/national/history/hatoyama-mourns-korean-independence-activists-in-seoul/#.Vctk1vkXXKA

 

It's an impressive sight and I felt a little moved by it when I first saw it. But some thoughts..

 

First, it isn't Abe. Just imagining Abe doing something like this is next to impossible. However a strong figure like Abe is kind of needed at the moment I think. Hatoyama is also the opposition party, the DJP. That will no doubt weaken the impact of this as it will be difficult to see it reflecting the current government of Japan. Also it doesn't look like comfort women was addressed in this action and comfort women seems to be the much hotter anti-Japanese subject at the moment. Although I can't endorse including comfort women in the action for many reasons that I have gone before. Regardless, Hatoyama has been a big time peace politician and does some controversial things. He has visited Crimea in May 2015, kind of making a showing that the annexation by Russia was ok based on the Crimea population opinion about it in Russia which may be fair to some extent. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/03/11/uk-ukraine-crisis-japan-idUKKBN0M70IC20150311

 

The timing of it is quite spectacular. Abe is supposed to give his 70th end of the war anniversary speech on this Friday, August 14th. And there has been a number of news reports about what words will be included in Abe's speech. Hatoyama urges Abe to use the critical words in his speech. South Korea will probably be unable to express signs of better opinions of Japan until after Abe's speech, so whatever good feelings there might be from Hatoyama's visit will probably have to be put on hold. OTOH, Hatoyama's action could be seen as damaging in a way similar to the Kono statement which was about the comfort women in 1993. In that it might raise the bar of apology and sincerity to high levels that will make it difficult to sustain over the long run. Although for the 70th anniversary and with current high tensions, it might be good in the end.

 

Korea is kind of in a tight situation right now. They are deeply invested in China and the Chinese Yuan has been devalued these past couple of days, leaving the Korean won stronger, meaning it'll be more difficult to make sales by exporting to China and South Korea has already been on a slower than predicted growth rate. Reason's giving for China weakening the Yuan is to help boost foreign sales since domestic consumption has been much lower than preferred. Another factor is that the South Korean president Park has been invited to China's military parade to be held in September. If she goes, it makes it look like South Korea is distancing itself from Washington and Japan. Yet if South Korea doesn't go, it can hurt Korean business in China. If Abe's speech upsets people, Park may feel inclined to visit China's parade in September.

Edited August 12, 2015 by JasonJ

[urbanoid]

Hatoyama already apologised before, no one cares. What's more, no one cares if anyone else from DPJ apologises, because they have already done so, multiple times. DPJ has been in power twice in last 60 years, for 4 years total, rest is LDP.

 

The Chinese and Koreans want LDP to apologise, and they won't get it, at least not in the way they would welcome.

[JasonJ]

Abe's 70th year end of the war speech. First English text, and then Japanese text.

On the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, we must calmly reflect upon the road to war, the path we have taken since it ended, and the era of the 20th century. We must learn from the lessons of history the wisdom for our future.

 

More than one hundred years ago, vast colonies possessed mainly by the Western powers stretched out across the world. With their overwhelming supremacy in technology, waves of colonial rule surged toward Asia in the 19th century. There is no doubt that the resultant sense of crisis drove Japan forward to achieve modernization. Japan built a constitutional government earlier than any other nation in Asia. The country preserved its independence throughout. The Japan-Russia War gave encouragement to many people under colonial rule from Asia to Africa.

 

　After World War I, which embroiled the world, the movement for self-determination gained momentum and put brakes on colonization that had been underway. It was a horrible war that claimed as many as ten million lives. With a strong desire for peace stirred in them, people founded the League of Nations and brought forth the General Treaty for Renunciation of War. There emerged in the international community a new tide of outlawing war itself.

 

　At the beginning, Japan, too, kept steps with other nations. However, with the Great Depression setting in and the Western countries launching economic blocs by involving colonial economies, Japan's economy suffered a major blow. In such circumstances, Japan's sense of isolation deepened and it attempted to overcome its diplomatic and economic deadlock through the use of force. Its domestic political system could not serve as a brake to stop such attempts. In this way, Japan lost sight of the overall trends in the world.

 

　With the Manchurian Incident, followed by the withdrawal from the League of Nations, Japan gradually transformed itself into a challenger to the new international order that the international community sought to establish after tremendous sacrifices. Japan took the wrong course and advanced along the road to war.

 

　And, seventy years ago, Japan was defeated.

 

　On the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, I bow my head deeply before the souls of all those who perished both at home and abroad. I express my feelings of profound grief and my eternal, sincere condolences.

 

　More than three million of our compatriots lost their lives during the war: on the battlefields worrying about the future of their homeland and wishing for the happiness of their families; in remote foreign countries after the war, in extreme cold or heat, suffering from starvation and disease. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the air raids on Tokyo and other cities, and the ground battles in Okinawa, among others, took a heavy toll among ordinary citizens without mercy.

 

　Also in countries that fought against Japan, countless lives were lost among young people with promising futures. In China, Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands and elsewhere that became the battlefields, numerous innocent citizens suffered and fell victim to battles as well as hardships such as severe deprivation of food. We must never forget that there were women behind the battlefields whose honour and dignity were severely injured.

 

　Upon the innocent people did our country inflict immeasurable damage and suffering. History is harsh. What is done cannot be undone. Each and every one of them had his or her life, dream, and beloved family. When I squarely contemplate this obvious fact, even now, I find myself speechless and my heart is rent with the utmost grief.

 

　The peace we enjoy today exists only upon such precious sacrifices. And therein lies the origin of postwar Japan.

　We must never again repeat the devastation of war.

 

　Incident, aggression, war -- we shall never again resort to any form of the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes. We shall abandon colonial rule forever and respect the right of self-determination of all peoples throughout the world.

　With deep repentance for the war, Japan made that pledge. Upon it, we have created a free and democratic country, abided by the rule of law, and consistently upheld that pledge never to wage a war again. While taking silent pride in the path we have walked as a peace-loving nation for as long as seventy years, we remain determined never to deviate from this steadfast course.

 

　Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war. In order to manifest such feelings through concrete actions, we have engraved in our hearts the histories of suffering of the people in Asia as our neighbours: those in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and China, among others; and we have consistently devoted ourselves to the peace and prosperity of the region since the end of the war.

 

　Such position articulated by the previous cabinets will remain unshakable into the future.

 

　However, no matter what kind of efforts we may make, the sorrows of those who lost their family members and the painful memories of those who underwent immense sufferings by the destruction of war will never be healed.

 

　Thus, we must take to heart the following.

 

　The fact that more than six million Japanese repatriates managed to come home safely after the war from various parts of the Asia-Pacific and became the driving force behind Japan's postwar reconstruction; the fact that nearly three thousand Japanese children left behind in China were able to grow up there and set foot on the soil of their homeland again; and the fact that former POWs of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia and other nations have visited Japan for many years to continue praying for the souls of the war dead on both sides.

 

　How much emotional struggle must have existed and what great efforts must have been necessary for the Chinese people who underwent all the sufferings of the war and for the former POWs who experienced unbearable sufferings caused by the Japanese military in order for them to be so tolerant nevertheless?

 

　That is what we must turn our thoughts to reflect upon.

 

　Thanks to such manifestation of tolerance, Japan was able to return to the international community in the postwar era. Taking this opportunity of the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, Japan would like to express its heartfelt gratitude to all the nations and all the people who made every effort for reconciliation.

 

　In Japan, the postwar generations now exceed eighty per cent of its population. We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize. Still, even so, we Japanese, across generations, must squarely face the history of the past. We have the responsibility to inherit the past, in all humbleness, and pass it on to the future.

 

　Our parents' and grandparents' generations were able to survive in a devastated land in sheer poverty after the war. The future they brought about is the one our current generation inherited and the one we will hand down to the next generation. Together with the tireless efforts of our predecessors, this has only been possible through the goodwill and assistance extended to us that transcended hatred by a truly large number of countries, such as the United States, Australia, and European nations, which Japan had fiercely fought against as enemies.

 

　We must pass this down from generation to generation into the future. We have the great responsibility to take the lessons of history deeply into our hearts, to carve out a better future, and to make all possible efforts for the peace and prosperity of Asia and the world.

 

　We will engrave in our hearts the past, when Japan attempted to break its deadlock with force. Upon this reflection, Japan will continue to firmly uphold the principle that any disputes must be settled peacefully and diplomatically based on the respect for the rule of law and not through the use of force, and to reach out to other countries in the world to do the same.

 

　As the only country to have ever suffered the devastation of atomic bombings during war, Japan will fulfil its responsibility in the international community, aiming at the non-proliferation and ultimate abolition of nuclear weapons.

 

　We will engrave in our hearts the past, when the dignity and honour of many women were severely injured during wars in the 20th century. Upon this reflection, Japan wishes to be a country always at the side of such women's injured hearts. Japan will lead the world in making the 21st century an era in which women's human rights are not infringed upon.

 

　We will engrave in our hearts the past, when forming economic blocs made the seeds of conflict thrive. Upon this reflection, Japan will continue to develop a free, fair and open international economic system that will not be influenced by the arbitrary intentions of any nation. We will strengthen assistance for developing countries, and lead the world toward further prosperity. Prosperity is the very foundation for peace. Japan will make even greater efforts to fight against poverty, which also serves as a hotbed of violence, and to provide opportunities for medical services, education, and self-reliance to all the people in the world.

 

　We will engrave in our hearts the past, when Japan ended up becoming a challenger to the international order. Upon this reflection, Japan will firmly uphold basic values such as freedom, democracy, and human rights as unyielding values and, by working hand in hand with countries that share such values, hoist the flag of “Proactive Contribution to Peace," and contribute to the peace and prosperity of the world more than ever before.

 

　Heading toward the 80th, the 90th and the centennial anniversary of the end of the war, we are determined to create such a Japan together with the Japanese people.

 

August 14, 2015

 

Shinzo Abe

 

Prime Minister of Japan

 

 

http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASH8G5GVNH8GUHBI019.html

 

 

 

政治は、歴史から未来への知恵を学ばなければなりません。戦後７０年という大きな節目にあたって、先の大戦への道のり、戦後の歩み、２０世紀という時代を振り返り、その教訓の中から未来に向けて、世界の中で日本がどういう道を進むべきか、深く思索し、構想すべきである、私はそう考えました。

 

　同時に、政治は歴史に謙虚でなければなりません。政治的、外交的な意図によって歴史がゆがめられるようなことは決してあってはならない、このことも私の強い信念であります。

 

　ですから談話の作成にあたっては、２１世紀構想懇談会を開いて、有識者のみなさまに率直、徹底的なご議論をいただきました。それぞれの視座や考え 方は、当然ながら異なります。しかし、そうした有識者の皆さんが熱のこもった議論を積み重ねた結果、一定の認識を共有できた、私はこの提言を歴史の声とし て受け止めたいと思います。そして、この提言のうえにたって歴史から教訓をくみ取り、今後の目指すべき道を展望したいと思います。（以上、記者会見での冒 頭発言）

 

　　　　　◇

 

　終戦七十年を迎えるにあたり、先の大戦への道のり、戦後の歩み、二十世紀という時代を、私たちは、心静かに振り返り、その歴史の教訓の中から、未来への知恵を学ばなければならないと考えます。

 

　百年以上前の世界には、西洋諸国を中心とした国々の広大な植民地が、広がっていました。圧倒的な技術優位を背景に、植民地支配の波は、十九世紀、 アジアにも押し寄せました。その危機感が、日本にとって、近代化の原動力となったことは、間違いありません。アジアで最初に立憲政治を打ち立て、独立を守 り抜きました。日露戦争は、植民地支配のもとにあった、多くのアジアやアフリカの人々を勇気づけました。

 

　世界を巻き込んだ第一次世界大戦を経て、民族自決の動きが広がり、それまでの植民地化にブレーキがかかりました。この戦争は、一千万人もの戦死者 を出す、悲惨な戦争でありました。人々は「平和」を強く願い、国際連盟を創設し、不戦条約を生み出しました。戦争自体を違法化する、新たな国際社会の潮流 が生まれました。

 

　当初は、日本も足並みを揃（そろ）えました。しかし、世界恐慌が発生し、欧米諸国が、 植民地経済を巻き込んだ、経済のブロック化を進めると、日本経済は大きな打撃を受けました。その中で日本は、孤立感を深め、外交的、経済的な行き詰まり を、力の行使によって解決しようと試みました。国内の政治システムは、その歯止めたりえなかった。こうして、日本は、世界の大勢を見失っていきました。

 

　満州事変、そして国際連盟からの脱退。日本は、次第に、国際社会が壮絶な犠牲の上に築こうとした「新しい国際秩序」への「挑戦者」となっていった。進むべき針路を誤り、戦争への道を進んで行きました。

 

　そして七十年前。日本は、敗戦しました。

 

　戦後七十年にあたり、国内外に斃（たお）れたすべての人々の命の前に、深く頭（こうべ）を垂れ、痛惜の念を表すとともに、永劫（えいごう）の、哀悼の誠を捧げます。

 

　先の大戦では、三百万余の同胞の命が失われました。祖国の行く末を案じ、家族の幸せを願いながら、戦陣に散った方々。終戦後、酷寒の、あるいは灼熱（しゃくねつ）の、遠い異郷の地にあって、飢えや病に苦しみ、亡くなられた方々。広島や長崎での原爆投下、東京をはじめ各都市での爆撃、沖縄における地上戦などによって、たくさんの市井の人々が、無残にも犠牲となりました。

 

　戦火を交えた国々でも、将来ある若者たちの命が、数知れず失われました。中国、東南アジア、太平洋の島々など、戦場となった地域では、戦闘のみならず、食糧難などにより、多くの無辜（むこ）の民が苦しみ、犠牲となりました。戦場の陰には、深く名誉と尊厳を傷つけられた女性たちがいたことも、忘れてはなりません。

 

　何の罪もない人々に、計り知れない損害と苦痛を、我が国が与えた事実。歴史とは実に取り返しのつかない、苛烈（かれつ）なものです。一人ひとり に、それぞれの人生があり、夢があり、愛する家族があった。この当然の事実をかみしめる時、今なお、言葉を失い、ただただ、断腸の念を禁じ得ません。

 

　これほどまでの尊い犠牲の上に、現在の平和がある。これが、戦後日本の原点であります。

 

　二度と戦争の惨禍を繰り返してはならない。

 

　事変、侵略、戦争。いかなる武力の威嚇や行使も、国際紛争を解決する手段としては、もう二度と用いてはならない。植民地支配から永遠に訣別（けつべつ）し、すべての民族の自決の権利が尊重される世界にしなければならない。

 

　先の大戦への深い悔悟の念と共に、我が国は、そう誓いました。自由で民主的な国を創り上げ、法の支配を重んじ、ひたすら不戦の誓いを堅持してまい りました。七十年間に及ぶ平和国家としての歩みに、私たちは、静かな誇りを抱きながら、この不動の方針を、これからも貫いてまいります。

 

　我が国は、先の大戦における行いについて、繰り返し、痛切な反省と心からのお詫（わ）びの気持ちを表明してきました。その思いを実際の行動で示すため、インドネシア、フィリピンはじめ東南アジアの国々、台湾、韓国、中国など、隣人であるアジアの人々が歩んできた苦難の歴史を胸に刻み、戦後一貫して、その平和と繁栄のために力を尽くしてきました。

 

　こうした歴代内閣の立場は、今後も、揺るぎないものであります。

 

　ただ、私たちがいかなる努力を尽くそうとも、家族を失った方々の悲しみ、戦禍によって塗炭の苦しみを味わった人々の辛（つら）い記憶は、これからも、決して癒えることはないでしょう。

 

　ですから、私たちは、心に留（とど）めなければなりません。

 

　戦後、六百万人を超える引き揚げ者が、アジア太平洋の各地から無事帰還でき、日本再建の原動力となった事実を。中国に置き去りにされた三千人近い日本人の子どもたちが、無事成長し、再び祖国の土を踏むことができた事実を。米国や英国、オランダ、豪州などの元捕虜の皆さんが、長年にわたり、日本を訪れ、互いの戦死者のために慰霊を続けてくれている事実を。

 

　戦争の苦痛を嘗（な）め尽くした中国人の皆さんや、日本軍によって耐え難い苦痛を受けた元捕虜の皆さんが、それほど寛容であるためには、どれほどの心の葛藤があり、いかほどの努力が必要であったか。

 

　そのことに、私たちは、思いを致さなければなりません。

 

　寛容の心によって、日本は、戦後、国際社会に復帰することができました。戦後七十年のこの機にあたり、我が国は、和解のために力を尽くしてくださった、すべての国々、すべての方々に、心からの感謝の気持ちを表したいと思います。

 

　日本では、戦後生まれの世代が、今や、人口の八割を超えています。あの戦争には何ら関わりのない、私たちの子や孫、そしてその先の世代の子どもたちに、謝罪を続ける宿命を背負わせてはなりません。

 

　しかし、それでもなお、私たち日本人は、世代を超えて、過去の歴史に真正面から向き合わなければなりません。謙虚な気持ちで、過去を受け継ぎ、未来へと引き渡す責任があります。

 

　私たちの親、そのまた親の世代が、戦後の焼け野原、貧しさのどん底の中で、命をつなぐことができた。そして、現在の私たちの世代、さらに次の世代へと、未来をつないでいくことができる。それは、先人たちのたゆまぬ努力と共に、敵として熾烈（しれつ）に戦った、米国、豪州、欧州諸国をはじめ、本当にたくさんの国々から、恩讐（おんしゅう）を越えて、善意と支援の手が差しのべられたおかげであります。

 

　そのことを、私たちは、未来へと語り継いでいかなければならない。歴史の教訓を深く胸に刻み、より良い未来を切り拓いていく、アジア、そして世界の平和と繁栄に力を尽くす。その大きな責任があります。

 

　私たちは、自らの行き詰まりを力によって打開しようとした過去を、この胸に刻み続けます。だからこそ、我が国は、いかなる紛争も、法の支配を尊重 し、力の行使ではなく、平和的・外交的に解決すべきである。この原則を、これからも堅く守り、世界の国々にも働きかけてまいります。唯一の戦争被爆国として、核兵器の不拡散と究極の廃絶を目指し、国際社会でその責任を果たしてまいります。

 

　私たちは、二十世紀において、戦時下、多くの女性たちの尊厳や名誉が深く傷つけられた過去を、この胸に刻み続けます。だからこそ、我が国は、そう した女性たちの心に、常に寄り添う国でありたい。二十一世紀こそ、女性の人権が傷つけられることのない世紀とするため、世界をリードしてまいります。

 

　私たちは、経済のブロック化が紛争の芽を育てた過去を、この胸に刻み続けます。だからこそ、我が国は、いかなる国の恣意（しい）にも左右されない、自由で、公正で、開かれた国際経済システムを発展させ、途上国支援を強化し、世界の更なる繁栄を牽引（けんいん）してまいります。繁栄こそ、平和の礎です。暴力の温床ともなる貧困に立ち向かい、世界のあらゆる人々に、医療と教育、自立の機会を提供するため、一層、力を尽くしてまいります。

 

　私たちは、国際秩序への挑戦者となってしまった過去を、この胸に刻み続けます。だからこそ、我が国は、自由、民主主義、人権といった基本的価値を揺るぎないものとして堅持し、その価値を共有する国々と手を携えて、「積極的平和主義」の旗を高く掲げ、世界の平和と繁栄にこれまで以上に貢献してまいります。

 

　終戦八十年、九十年、さらには百年に向けて、そのような日本を、国民の皆様と共に創り上げていく。その決意であります。

 

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　（談話を読み上げ後）以上が私たちが歴史から学ぶべき未来への知恵であろうと考えております。冒頭私は、２１世紀構想懇談会の提言を歴史の声として受け止めたいと申し上げました。

 

　同時に私たちは歴史に対して謙虚でなければなりません。謙虚な姿勢とは果たして、聞き漏らした声がほかにもあるのではないかと、常に歴史を見つめ 続ける態度であると考えます。私はこれからも謙虚に歴史の声に耳を傾けながら、未来の知恵を学んでいく。そうした姿勢を持ち続けていきたいと考えていま す。私からは以上であります。

 

 

 

http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASH8G5W9YH8GUTFK00T.html

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxiJCHMSv7Q

[JasonJ]

Korean news article about the speech.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe failed to deliver the definitive apology Koreans have called for during his national address Friday to mark the country's 1945 surrender to the Allied forces in World War II.Abe, who has been heavily criticized for his historical revisionism and hawkish policies, said that more than 80 percent of the country's population were born after the war and should not continue to shoulder the burden of apologizing for the country's wartime crimes.

 

"We must not let our children, grandchildren and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize," he said.

 

The core message of his 25-minute address came alongside cursory expressions of regret over Japan's wartime atrocities and occupation of Korea, China and other East Asian countries.Abe's remark on sheltering future generations from past mistakes comes at a time when the Japanese people are increasingly showing weariness toward their neighbor's calls for a sincere apology.

 

A latest poll in the Mainichi newspaper on Friday found 44 percent of respondents thought Japan had apologized enough for the war, while 31 percent thought it had not. Thirteen percent believed Japan had no reason to apologize in the first place.The international media displayed keen interest in Abe's statement.As of 10:00 p.m.

 

Friday, headlines mostly underlined that Abe stood by his country's past. Asian countries highlighted that his apology sounded insincere.China's state-run news agency Friday criticized Abe's "watered-down" apology. In a commentary, Xinhua news agency said; "The adulterated apology is far from being enough for Japan's neighbors and the broader international community to lower their guard."

 

"By adding that it is unnecessary for Japan's future generations to keep apologizing, Abe seemed to say that his once and for all apology can close that page of history," the Xinhua commentary said.

 

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida telephoned Korea's top diplomat Yun Byung-se shortly after Abe's speech to explain its background.Another glaring absence in Abe's speech was the lack of a clear apology to the victims of sexual slavery by the Japanese imperial army.

 

The elderly women are still searching for an apology and compensation in Korea and other parts of Asia. He avoided the question of whether the so-called "comfort women" were forced into slavery.

 

He has said in past media interviews that he sees them as "victims of human trafficking," which has enraged many Koreans."We must never forget that there were women behind the battlefields whose honor and dignity were severely injured," he said.Abe's address also backpedalled on the scope and sincerity found in similar statements by his predecessors, such as Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono and former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in the 1990s.

 

The Murayama Statement, which Koreans view as a benchmark for subsequent apologies, contained "deep remorse and heartfelt apology for the tremendous damage inflicted, particularly in Asia.

 

"President Park Geun-hye has called on her Japanese counterpart to sincerely apologize for his country's wartime atrocities and the 1910-1945 occupation of Korea and uphold the spirit of past Japanese governments.

 

Korea and China displayed a keen interest in the Abe statement, as it is seen as a symbol of Japan's official stance on its past and its willingness to advance relations with countries formerly forced to endure its invasion and colonization.

 

Abe admitted that Japan took the wrong course in going to war and the Japanese people must "squarely face their country's past."

 

"We have engraved in our hearts the histories of suffering of the people in Asia as our neighbors: those in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and China, among others," Abe said.

 

 

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/08/120_184884.html

 

 

From

 

"A latest poll in the Mainichi newspaper on Friday found 44 percent of respondents thought Japan had apologized enough for the war, while 31 percent thought it had not. Thirteen percent believed Japan had no reason to apologize in the first place."

 

Generally, my feelings are in that 44 percent.

Edited August 14, 2015 by JasonJ

[Panzermann]

Just heard on the radio about the speech.

 

If it is enough apologized yet? Well, can there be a enough? I don't know. But this speech sounds sincere. I am more concerned about the 13% that think there is nothing to apologize for.

 

 

 

The korean stance reminds me of the french. After the war each and everyone and their grandma had been in la resistance! No doubt about that! No one had been a collaborateur of course. Just as Koreans had nothing to do with the brothels and comfort women...

[urbanoid]

Those 13% would more or less correspond with the support for nationalist parties.

[chino]

I am more concerned about the 13% that think there is nothing to apologize for.

Which is what I always feel.

 

The average Japanese person is not warlike. But Japanese culture is prone to extremism - which, when channeled positively make them excel in everything they do. Like in music. Traditional Japanese music is a dreadful torture to the ears, but boy are they good with contemporary music of all kinds once they picked it up. They are not genetically different, but culturally different.

 

You want to keep the 13%, at 13%.

Edited August 14, 2015 by chino

[JasonJ]

Just heard on the radio about the speech.

If it is enough apologized yet? Well, can there be a enough? I don't know. But this speech sounds sincere. I am more concerned about the 13% that think there is nothing to apologize for.

The korean stance reminds me of the french. After the war each and everyone and their grandma had been in la resistance! No doubt about that! No one had been a collaborateur of course. Just as Koreans had nothing to do with the brothels and comfort women...

Heh..

 

13 is higher than comfortable.. could mostly be the old gramps though, in which case, it's not just a lack of historical understanding or lack of ability to empathize but racism. Well gramps aren't the only racists group but probably the majority of those that are racists. Assuming that there will always be some, maybe around 3%-5% instead of 13% would be nice to see.

Edited August 14, 2015 by JasonJ

[Mikel2]

I have very mixed feelings about asking for apologies for acts committed by previous generations who have largely died. I don't like the way so many in Japan ignore/deny/justify what happened in that time, but modern Japanese are as guilty of those acts as I am.

And if we open that door, is there a single nation on this planet that doesn't have unpleasant episodes in its past to apologize for?

 

I was endlessly amused when Spanish judges went after the crimes committed by South American dictators, while we ourselves have such a rich and not so distant past full of such acts that we chose to ignore.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Mikel2

[BansheeOne]

Well, from the victims' point of view I can understand the criticism of the speech. His historical run-up is stopping just short of the anti-colonialist narrative justifying the Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, culminating in a sort of "we just shouldn't have chosen war". Then he goes on about the wartime suffering of the Japanese in some detail before he finally comes to the plight of others, follows with the "future generations shouldn't need to apologize anymore" and gets back to Japanese post-war suffering.

 

The right words and ideas are all there, but arrangement and emphasis are all but smothering them; above all, there is still the pervasive undertone that Japan was forced into something through being disadvantaged by the other big powers, and was an overall victim itself. I know the speech was probably mostly aimed at the domestic audience, but even so, composition is just horrible for the purpose of taking historical responsibility which it professes to express; and delivery is at least as important as content in politics.

[Mr King]

Seems like a good thread to mention this, Michael Yon the reporter swears up and down that the Korean comfort women drama is being pushed covertly by the Chinese with many people playing fast and loose with the facts and narrative for their own ends, all in an effort to target the Japanese. I myself don't know if he is on to something, or has gone full tilt weeaboo.

[Brian Kennedy]

Got a link? Off the top of my head it sounds like "those Jews, always going on about the Holocaust"

[Mr King]

Got a link? Off the top of my head it sounds like "those Jews, always going on about the Holocaust"

 

Everything I have seen has been on his Facebook posts.

 

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelYonFanPage?fref=ts

[toysoldier]

Seems to me this speech is the most you are going to get from the Japanese, absent another bombing raid or having Godzilla as your pet.

Waiting for the Chinese serve... because this is starting to look like ping-pong to me.

[JasonJ]

Well, from the victims' point of view I can understand the criticism of the speech. His historical run-up is stopping just short of the anti-colonialist narrative justifying the Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, culminating in a sort of "we just shouldn't have chosen war". Then he goes on about the wartime suffering of the Japanese in some detail before he finally comes to the plight of others, follows with the "future generations shouldn't need to apologize anymore" and gets back to Japanese post-war suffering.

 

The right words and ideas are all there, but arrangement and emphasis are all but smothering them; above all, there is still the pervasive undertone that Japan was forced into something through being disadvantaged by the other big powers, and was an overall victim itself. I know the speech was probably mostly aimed at the domestic audience, but even so, composition is just horrible for the purpose of taking historical responsibility which it professes to express; and delivery is at least as important as content in politics.

 

Such high standards demanded of Japan's history yet not for Great Britain, France, Belgium, or the US?

 

It's all pragmatism.

 

The style of US media reporting.. never hinting how PRC exaggerates their claims and rather, endorsing it, yet always exaggerates the level of whitewashing and denial in Japan, and never hinting that the comfort women system has been around far before the start of the second Sino-Japanese war, that in all the resistance that some Koreans did, none resisted the comfort women system, and never hints that many Koreans were involved in the operation of the system. Why does it report like that, who knows.. but its for perceived practical effects. But if the US ever feels that China is really becoming out of control, we'll see the style of US media reporting change up, putting China in more and more of a bad light. Or if South Korea really starts to become uncooperative, the US media will change up the reporting style. But until that ever happens, Japan will just have to 我慢, put up with, deal with, the heavily biased reporting style. It's in exchange of the security alliance and business opportunities, so in the end, a fair deal. But because of the never ending biased reporting style, a small group of ultra-nationalists is bound to exist.

[toysoldier]

Yeah, make that three way ping pong...

[JasonJ]

Yeah, make that three way ping pong...

 

All part of the MSM circus with government strings.

[Skywalkre]

Seems like a good thread to mention this, Michael Yon the reporter swears up and down that the Korean comfort women drama is being pushed covertly by the Chinese with many people playing fast and loose with the facts and narrative for their own ends, all in an effort to target the Japanese. I myself don't know if he is on to something, or has gone full tilt weeaboo.

He went that route a long time ago.

[Corinthian]

I dunno about you guys but I liked that speech by Abe. Sounded sincere.

[Corinthian]

Seems like a good thread to mention this, Michael Yon the reporter swears up and down that the Korean comfort women drama is being pushed covertly by the Chinese with many people playing fast and loose with the facts and narrative for their own ends, all in an effort to target the Japanese. I myself don't know if he is on to something, or has gone full tilt weeaboo.

I stopped following his FB posts when it became a "ALL GLORY AND PRAISE TO THE LEGITIMATE THAI GOVERNMENT AND DAMN THE GREAT SATAN'S AMBASSADOR KENNEY!" And all that. For him the Thai seem to be the Thai People Best SEAsian People. It didn't help that he sometimes has a dated, somewhat disparaging view of Filipinos as well....

[Brian Kennedy]

So Jason, why do you have such a giant bug up your ass about something that a) actually happened a lot and is very well documented and pales in comparison to the incredible variety of horrible things Japan did during world war 2?

[M48A5K]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/with-wwii-statement-japans-abe-tries-to-offer-something-to-everyone/2015/08/14/f1db90e7-2888-46c6-a18c-688bf30a45e3_story.html

 

With WWII statement, Japan’s Abe tried to offer something for everyone

 

By Anna Fifield August 14 at 6:21 PM

 

TOKYO — In his highly anticipated speech Friday marking the 70th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stopped short of delivering a full-throated apology for his country’s wartime actions — and ended up fully satisfying no one.

 

Abe showed significant remorse in his statement — saying that his “heart is rent with the utmost grief” when he thinks about the “immeasurable damage and suffering” Japan inflicted on the region — and said he was grateful for the postwar forbearance and generosity of his country’s former foes. But he also insisted that future generations of Japanese must not be “predestined to apologize” for a war they had nothing to do with.

 

[Japan’s leader stops short of WWII apology]

 

The reaction among Japan’s neighbors was deeply skeptical. Abe’s apology “was a diluted one at best, thus marking only a crippled start toward building trust among its neighbors,” said a commentary published by China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency. In South Korea, politicians called the apology “disappointing.”

 

The long statement carried on a tradition that began on the 50th anniversary in 1995, when then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama offered a “heartfelt apology” for Japan’s “colonial rule and aggression.” Friday’s speech reflected Abe’s attempts to listen to calls to uphold that sentiment and ease historic tensions. But he also responded to calls to end what many here view as an endless cycle of humiliating apologies.

 

To countries in the region, Abe provided assurances that Japan was mindful of the great harm it had done. “We have engraved in our hearts the histories of suffering of the people in Asia as our neighbors: those in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and China, among others,” he said.

 

To the United States and its World War II allies, including Australia and European countries, he expressed gratitude for “the goodwill and assistance extended to us that transcended hatred.”

 

And, crucially, for his conservative supporters at home, Abe tried to put Japan’s history behind it. This comes as the prime minister moves closer to his highly controversial goal of reinterpreting Japan’s U.S.-drafted pacifist Constitution to allow Japanese troops to fight overseas, albeit only in special circumstances, for the first time in seven decades.

 

“We must not let our children, grandchildren and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize,” he said. While voicing remorse and repentance and saying that he upheld his predecessors’ apologetic statements regarding Japan’s “colonial rule and aggression,” Abe notably avoided offering one of his own.

 

[A (very) short history of Japan’s war apologies]

 

Satisfying none

 

But in trying to please everyone, he probably satisfied no one, said Gerald L. Curtis, a highly respected Japan expert at Columbia University.

 

“Not his right-wing base, not the political opposition, not the Chinese or the Koreans, and if the U.S. has any qualms about it, it is keeping it to itself,” Curtis said. “But he invoked the four sacred words — aggression, colonialism, apology, repentance, even if not in first-person declaratory sentences — and he did not say anything so outrageous as to make an angry response unavoidable.”

 

South Korea and China, which suffered the worst of Japan’s early-20th-century imperialism, had made it clear they expected Abe to adhere to the key words from the Murayama statement — “heartfelt apology” — as Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister on the 60th anniversary, did in 2005.

 

Japan’s neighbors were not impressed with Abe’s attempts to have it both ways.

 

In the Xinhua commentary, writer Tian Dongdong noted that Abe’s “watered-down” apology would do little to eliminate Tokyo’s trust deficit in the region. “It fails to firm up — if not serving to further undercut — the credibility the Abe government needs to put Japan’s interaction with its Asian neighbors back on track,” Tian wrote.

 

South Korean politicians from across the spectrum wasted no time in faulting Abe’s statement, either.

 

The ruling Saenuri Party called it “disappointing,” citing in particular the statement’s failure to take responsibility for the Japanese imperial army’s sexual enslavement of several hundred thousand mostly Korean and Chinese women.

 

Abe noted that “the dignity and honor of many women were severely injured during wars in the 20th century,” but his passive sentence construction avoided laying blame on Japan.

 

The “comfort women” issue is highly sensitive in Asia, with some Japanese conservatives contending the women were little more than prostitutes. Abe’s government, while saying it upholds a landmark 1993 apology to the women, has tried to get related historical references watered down, including in U.S. college textbooks.

 

“The statement today expressed remorse and apology in past tense, rather than in direct reference,” said Kim Young-woo, a spokesman for the Saenuri Party, according to the Yonhap News Agency. “Rather than getting caught up in wordy and ambiguous expressions, we will continue to press Japan to put in practical efforts for sincere remorse over its past and for peace.”

 

History wars

Harumi Arima, an independent political analyst, said Abe’s 25-minute statement could have been condensed into 30 seconds.

 

“It would have been so much simpler for them to agree to if he stuck to the key words as requested,” he said. “He squeezed every possible thing into the statement, but that blurred the focus and made me wonder what he really wanted to say.”

 

But Jennifer Lind, a Japan expert at Dartmouth College and author of “Sorry States: Apologies in International Politics,” said Abe clearly appeared to be trying to accommodate a range of views.

 

“He was reacting to both domestic and international pressures on him in the lead-up to this statement,” she said. “Abe recognizes that he needs to uphold the ‘Murayama consensus.’ But also Abe thinks that a strong nation comes from a positive history, so you have him noting Japan’s accomplishments after the war.”

 

Indeed, Lind noted that the prime minister offered China an olive branch by referencing the “tolerance” shown by the Chinese people in taking care of 3,000 Japanese children left behind after the war.

 

“This was a remarkable passage,” Lind said. “What will the Chinese do with it? If they don’t see this as a huge gesture, it will show that China is utterly disinterested in improving relations.”

 

[War between China and Japan ended 70 years ago, but fighting continues]

 

Questioned by journalists after reading his statement, Abe continued to speak warmly of China and the two countries’ strong economic ties, adding that he hoped there would be an opportunity for a summit with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

 

But Abe didn’t try so hard with Seoul, which complains the loudest about Japan’s colonial legacy and has generated what is known in Tokyo as “Korea fatigue” — the idea that South Korea will never be happy, no matter what Japan says.

 

Tobias Harris, a specialist in Japanese politics at Teneo Intelligence, said Abe’s statement is unlikely to mark the end of East Asia’s “history wars” because the factors that had undermined Japan’s relationships in the region will remain.

 

Those tensions will be further inflamed Saturday, when scores of politicians head to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which memorializes almost 2.5 million Japanese war dead. They include 14 people convicted of Class A war crimes; one is Gen. Hideki Tojo, the prime minister who authorized the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

 

Although Abe has said he will not visit Yasukuni to mark this year’s anniversary, the fact that some of his supporters will go to the shrine will not go unnoticed.

 

Yuki Oda contributed to this report.

 

 

Correction: Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article incorrectly described Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s speech Friday as the seventh such address by a Japanese prime minister on successive 10-year anniversaries of Japan’s World War II surrender. It was the third.

Edited August 15, 2015 by M48A5K

[JasonJ]

So Jason, why do you have such a giant bug up your ass about something that a) actually happened a lot and is very well documented and pales in comparison to the incredible variety of horrible things Japan did during world war 2?

Can you specify a little? Or I'll have to write a giant wall of text in hopes of catching your concerns.

[toysoldier]

Give us one of those giant walls again, please. I've come to enjoy them, not fair to deprive Brian of the pleasure

[BansheeOne]

Such high standards demanded of Japan's history yet not for Great Britain, France, Belgium, or the US?

 

What, for all the wars of aggression, mass killings, rape, slavery and medical experiments they perpetrated in the 30s and 40s?

 

Everybody has his blemishes in national history, but from what I see, the US is pretty candid and apologetic on slavery and treatment of the country's original inhabitants, Japanese internment and racial segregation on both an official and societal level; those that think there have been enough apologies and things just were as they were back then exist everywhere, just like those who keep on milking past injustice for present political gain, but I haven't seen many in the US denying such things happened at all, or that they were forced upon the perpetrators by others, or that they were actually for the good of the victims.

 

I certainly never heard a recent POTUS say "Well, America was kept from its share of prosperity by the other powers in the world back then, so we made the wrong decision to enslave Africans/take the Indians' land/intern innocent Japanese Americans/deny blacks equal rights. This led to much suffering among white Americans from the resulting violence; many died in Indian raids/the Civil War/attacks by black militants. Blacks/Indians/Japanese suffered, too, for which the American government has apologized many times, and we must take historic responsibility for this; but generations who weren't around then shouldn't need to keep apologizing for it. Our sincere conviction to uphold peace and justice is based upon the hardships white Americans endured as a result of the destruction caused by this conflict." Again, the right words and concept of historic responsibility rather than individual apology* are all there, but do you think that arrangement would sit well with the respective other side, even if they weren't hellbent on exploiting the past for current aims?

 

Same-same for European colonialism. Some countries were later than others to address the past; for example, French atrocities in Algeria became a topic of national public debate rather recently compared to what the Belgians brought about in the Congo. There is still movement on issues; Germany is only now revising its official stance towards the Herero War in today's Namibia which it has long refused to acknowledge as genocidal - after recent more-or-less-recognition of the Armenian genocide, we found we couldn't very well put different standards to the Turks and ourselves. Critically though, by and large the former colonial powers have good, even friendly relations with their former colonies today despite, yes, groups trying to instrumentalize the past on one side, and apologists/deniers on the other; so again, delivery is at least as important as content.

 

* How do you apologize for millions of deaths anyway? One lesson from elementary school that wasn't even part of class has staid with me. Our teacher told us that she once had done somebody very wrong, and went to apologize; but he said: "No, I cannot apologize this, I can only forgive you" - there is a difference. An apology comes with the expectation that the issue is settled once you offer it; forgiveness is begged, and can only be granted by the wronged party. For much historical injustice today, "forgiven, but not forgotten" is the mutually agreed result of reconcilliation. Though in the Japanese case, I think it possible that meanings get lost in translation.

 

ETA: Emperor Akihito seems to have hit the tune better, though I would have to see the transcript for details. Emphasis mine.

 

Japan Commemorates 70th Anniversary of World War II

 

Emperor Akihito expresses ‘deep remorse’ over the war

 

By Alexander Martin And Peter Landers

Updated Aug. 15, 2015 5:40 a.m. ET

TOKYO—Japanese Emperor Akihito expressed “deep remorse” over World War II at a memorial service, deviating from his customary script in what could be seen as a veiled reproach toward Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s conservative policies.

 

For many years, the emperor had delivered a virtually identical address at the annual Aug. 15 service for the war dead. But this year, marking the 70th anniversary of the war’s end, he made several additions, including the mention of remorse and a statement that Japan’s postwar prosperity rested on the people’s “earnest desire for the continuation of peace.”

 

The remarks Saturday came just 18 hours after Mr. Abe, in his own statement marking the anniversary, declined to deliver an explicit apology for the war in his own words, alluding instead to apologies issued by predecessors. The prime minister also said he hoped future generations wouldn’t have to apologize.

 

The war-anniversary statements came in the middle of a vigorous debate in parliament over Mr. Abe’s push to expand the role of Japan’s armed forces by reinterpreting Japan’s postwar constitution. A majority of voters oppose that move, according to polls.

The 81-year-old emperor’s mention of the “earnest desire for the continuation of peace” echoed language used by the prime minister’s left-leaning critics, who accuse Mr. Abe, 60, of a pushing a “war bill” that would risk ensnaring the nation in another conflict. Mr. Abe said Friday at a news conference that his goal is to preserve peace by bolstering Japan’s defenses in an unstable East Asian region.

 

Under Japan’s constitution, the emperor is the “symbol of the state” and has no political role. But the emperor’s remarks were the latest and most prominent recent case in which he, or other imperial family members, went out of their way to emphasize facets of history that conservatives, including Mr. Abe, prefer to play down.

 

“It is most important for us to take this opportunity to study and learn from the history of this war, starting with the Manchurian Incident of 1931, as we consider the future direction of our country,” Emperor Akihito said in his New Year’s address this January, referring to an event that paved the way for Japan’s invasion of Manchuria and later occupation of much of China in the 1930s.

 

Mr. Abe’s statement Friday also referred to the Manchurian Incident, but put it in the context of “waves of colonial rule” instigated by Western powers. On Saturday, three members of his cabinet visited Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class A war criminals among other war dead, drawing criticism from China. Mr. Abe didn’t visit but sent an offering of money.

 

Emperor Akihito and his father, Emperor Hirohito, have expressed remorse or regrets over the war on several occasions. Most recently, at a state banquet in June for Benigno Aquino, the president of the Philippines, Emperor Akihito said Japanese must remember with “a profound sense of remorse” the fierce battles between Japan and the U.S. during World War II.

 

But this was the first time he used the word remorse at the Aug. 15 ceremony. In interviews this summer, government officials said the emperor was considering adding a personal touch to his remarks this year, in part because his advanced age meant he might not have too many more occasions to deliver his thoughts to the people.

 

[...]

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/japan-commemorates-70th-anniversary-of-world-war-ii-1439611883

Edited August 15, 2015 by BansheeOne