Japan's Prime Minister Koizumi apologized in front of 100 Asian and African leaders for the damage Japan is responsible for in World War II. Hu Jintao, the Chinese president was also present, and I would be really curious to know what they will talk about directly during the Asia-Africa summit in Jakarta. Unfortunately, Japan will have to show that its words are backed by actions. Right now, the opposite is the case, and that is exactly why apologies can be made, but their believability is equal to zero if at the same time 80 Japanese members of parliament turn out to pay their respects to Japan's war dead at Yasukuni shrine. What do the Chinese, Koreans and other people see right now? On the one hand, one part of the government apologizes for the war and and at the same time, a considerably big part of the parliament pays its respect at a temple with enshrined war criminals. The parliamentarys' spokesman said, they paid the 'visit to honor the dead and pray for peace', there seems to be quite an insensibility towards the additional meaning of the visit.

There have been plans to move the war criminals out of the shrine as an attempt to defuse the problem. Unfortunately, the government can't has no influence over Yasukuni's priesthood in this matter. Although Shinto experts have confirmed that a relocation of class-A war criminals can be done, the priests in control have no inclination of doing so. They (correctly) refer to the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion, but a look on their website reveals a revisionist and nationalist view on history. Interesting enough, the Google search result in English gives as a description Includes photos, FAQ, and its nationalist war memorial museum. The description hits the mark. Let's take a look at their website.

The text books used in history instruction at intermediate schools from the 1997 school year will contain material on the subject of comfort women. The textbooks depict as a historical fact the story of Asian women who were forced into prostitution by the Japanese Army. Imparting this story to students who are still young and immature has become a great problem since last year. [...] Can we say that this view is correct? [...] We cannot help but feel that the possibility of ulterior motives have not been discounted. [...] Japan's dream of building a Great East Asia was necessitated by history and it was sought after by the countries of Asia. [...] We cannot overlook the intent of those who wish to tarnish the good name of the noble souls of Yasukuni.

I guess the content doesn't require further explanation, the message is quite clear. The shrine claims eight million visitors per year, including top government officials. The shrine itself might be independant, but the message the shrine and the visits send out to Japan's neighbors weight far more than words. I can't imagine China will be contented by Prime Minister Koizumi's recent apology, there's quite a chance that it will be seen as an opportunistic move to increase Japan's chances for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council - irrespective of the honesty of the apology.

Koizumi Apologizes for Past, Meeting with Hu Sought

This entry was posted on Friday, April 22, 2005 at 4/22/2005 10:54:00 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.