You can bet South Korea is watching his trip here like a hawk.
How does he feel about cutting off arms and surgically putting the on the opposite sides, dissecting Chinese and American soldiers alive, putting people out in the cold to test frostbite, bayonetting pregnant women in the stomach, testing germ warfare and disease warfare on the Chinese, walking Americans to their death by way of the Bataan Death March.
Why did the Japanese get away with so much? even the pos at the center of the Unbroken story led a nice long wealthy life.
One of the sadder stories of WW2 is the tale of the Korean “comfort women.” They weren’t the only ones subjected to forced prostitution by the IJA, of course. They were one of the bigger targets, though. I’ve read that right after the war, many of the women so forced were disowned by their families and by much of Korean society. Even worse, the children that they bore from Japanese military personnel were often pariahs in both countries. Japan did not want a reminder of their activities, and the Koreans did not want a child parented by an enemy.
Don’t know if this is still the view or not. I can say that in the early 1990s, all of the South Koreans and Chinese I met had no love for Japan. The Chinese students knew Japanese atrocities (Unit 731, etc) almost by rote.
Take note that the one abuse that the AP reports on is the one Abe mentioned out loud; and the AP evades the terms “sexual assault” or “sexual slavery” with respect to it.
Around 10 years ago there was a show on one of the TV networks, something like 60 minutes but that might not have been what it was.
Anyway there was a Japanese guard they called “the bird” who just took delight in torturing American POWs. After the war he suffered no consequences at all. When they found him and interviewed him, he was completely non apologetic. Actually seemed proud of what he had done.
BTW, I don't think I should be expected to apologize for the sins of those who came before me. Those who demand reparations today for slavery think that all white citizens should be held accountable for what happened in our own country, before we were even born. White guilt. They want a big payday. But no matter how much they are paid for the sins against their forefathers, it will never be enough.
Something that does indeed bother me is that Muslim brutality is a daily fact of life around the world. But there are few apologies forthcoming from the overwhelming majority of Muslims. Most justify the brutality and terrorism or are silent in the face of it. Those who would demand apologies from the Japanese for their atrocities committed 75 years should at least demand apologies from those committing atrocities routinely in our world today.
There is a great movie called “Rabe.” It is about a German who saves Chinese from the abuses of Japanese soldiers, ironically, using the power of the Nazis. I highly recommend the movie. You really have to think. Who are the bad guys? The Japanese who were raping their way through Nanking, The Nazis who protected the Chinese? Or the Chinese who went on to found Maoism which killed millions?
I decided we should have our own pro-defense rally, and organized one in down-town Dayton on Pearl Harbor Day. It turned out very well with a lot of veterans groups showing up, as well as other people.
A reporter from a local TV station interviewed me during the rally, and asked about Japan. I replied that we weren't holding an ant-Japan rally. It was a pro-defense rally. Most of the people in Japan weren't yet born on December 7, 1941, and bore no responsibility for it. We shouldn't keep making them bear the burden of what was done by people long dead.
I think the same should be true for other nations that were attacked by Japan. There ought to be a statute of limitations. What was done was horrible, but Japan paid a high price before it was all over. It's time to give it a rest.