To Japan: Just apologize (2)

By Deauwand Myers

In my earlier piece, I briefly explored the atrocities Imperial Japan committed before and during World War II. Further, I explained that particularly for Japan's closest neighbors, Korea and China (countries most victimized by Japan during this time) Prime Minister Abe's actions continually and needlessly strain diplomatic and economic ties with these nations.

Abe's passing of new bills expanding Japan's military repertoire, his and his party's leaders obfuscating ad equivocating on the historic atrocities, and the whitewashing of Japan's recent past in new history textbooks are all points of legitimate contention Korea and China have with the Japanese government.

Globally, August is important as the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. On Saturday, Aug. 15, Abe gave a hotly anticipated speech commemorating the end of the war and Japan's surrender, as well as honoring the many millions of Japanese who died in the conflict, of which, a large percentage were civilians.

As expected, the U.S. and Australia praised Abe's comments, while Korea and China were unimpressed.

It is no wonder why, either. Abe offered deep remorse for Japan's war transgressions, yet he did not make a formal apology like the famed "Murayama Statement" delivered by Tomiichi Murayama in 1995.

Abe also said that Japan's future generations need not apologize for the sins of their ancestors.

I am sorry, but it does not work that way. The problem with sin is its indelible mark. A sin lasts forever. The murder and misery caused by Imperialist Japan will always be marked by the graves and memories of those affected. A nation must remember all the triumphs and failures to learn from them.

Attempting to make opaque what should be crystal clear ― that Imperial Japan, like its ally, Nazi Germany, was unequivocally and emphatically wrong in all its actions before and during World War II ―serves only to allay the bruised egos of Japan's patriarchy. Conservatives, which Abe's party, the LDP, represents, believe Japan's defeat and subsequent pacifist government is an emasculating insult to the country. Revising, and eventually erasing, Imperial Japan's evils is the sad and delusional goal these conservatives wish to achieve.

Moreover, context is the key. Even as Abe claimed remorse on the day he gave his 70th World War II speech, high-ranking ministers of his party visited the Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals, among the many dead, are buried. This infuriates Korea and China, among other Asian countries. (When ministers, including Abe, say visiting Yasukuni Shrine is a private matter, they are correct: when the individuals are not public officials, particularly cabinet-level ministers).

Abe claims remorse and does rhetorical gymnastics, while privately, and via surrogates, supports those who believe Japan was dishonored during the war. This moral tightrope he walks would be difficult for a very skilled politician. Abe, already a failed prime minister from a few years ago, is no better a politician the second time around.

Germany repeatedly and sincerely apologizes for its wartime atrocities and offers permanent reparations to those directly affected by the Nazi government, particularly Jews and their descendants. Moreover, Nazi members were purged, tried, and sometimes executed after Germany's defeat. The new government Germany created after Nazism was roundly defeated was never populated by those sharing Nazi ideology.

This was not the case in Japan. Many of those involved in Imperial Japan's wartime machinations were never tried or purged from the government. Even members of Unit 731, the horrific human experimentation agency within Imperial Japan's Army, were absolved of all crimes and never tried (in exchange for the data and research gleaned from the unspeakably evil tests conducted on humans). Embarrassingly, the U.S concocted this arrangement.

Members of Imperial Japan's ruling class were allowed to thrive. Nobusuke Kishi (prime minister from 1957-1960), a former member of Imperial Japan's Tojo Cabinet, was Abe's grandfather-in-law. Due to political criticism of Kishi as a war criminal, Abe's political point of view tilted irrevocably to conservatism.

Not unlike the disastrous invasion of Iraq by President George W. Bush, Abe's foreign policy is far too colored by idiosyncratic attempts at burnishing family honor. (George W. Bush famously said of Saddam Hussein, "He [Hussein] tried to kill my daddy." His daddy, of course, is the 41st president of the United States, George H.W. Bush).

Maturity teaches us to ask forgiveness when we have erred, regardless of the dent to our egos that such an apology entails. Abe, et al, have not learned what ancient Japanese philosophers have long said: sincerely apologizing is not an act of weakness. Quite the opposite, asking forgiveness, and indeed, forgiving, is an act of incredible strength and courage.

Deauwand Myers holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory, and is an English professor outside Seoul. He can be reached at deauwand@hotmail.co m.