Japanese Leader to 'Express Remorse' (but not apologize) for World War II

Daily Standard ^ | January 5, 2015 | Daniel Halper

[Zakeet]

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe will "express remorse" for World War II, the Associated Press reports.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that his government would express remorse for World War II on the 70th anniversary of its end in August.

[Snip]

He said the government would draft a new statement "that includes Japan's remorse for the war," though he stopped short of saying it would apologize.

The Japan Times has more on the move:

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Sagamihara & Yokohama, 1951-1961.

[G Larry]

How many Japanese leaders from 1941 are alive today?

Only their apologies would have any meaning.

Imagine someone telling you, “I’m sorry my Great-Grandpa punched out your Great-Grandpa.”

Whew! Wouldn’t that make you feel wonderful?

[Blackyce]

“What is the purpose of making such a statement at this point in time?”

They’ve never actually directly admitted to being wrong and they teach their children that they were simply the victims of circumstance in the early 20th century. The best they can bring themselves to do is state that they regret the poor relations they had with certain countries in the past and the related suffering. By most accounts there’s actually more self pity in Japan over Hiroshima/Nagasaki than regret over the tens of millions dead in Asia. They’ve still not even apologized for Pearl Harbor despite our six decade long alliance. I think Americans tend to downplay how evil the Japanese regime actually was because of more visible horrors of the Holocaust. Nobody would fault Jewish people for holding a grudge against Nazi sympathizers, why do people fault Koreans, Filipinos, Burmese, Chinese, etc for holding a grudge against a Japanese government that has had a laughably hard time admitting that they did anything wrong when they were invading, murdering, raping and enslaving their way across Asia. Just getting them to apologize for so called “comfort” women was a half century long exercise in tooth pulling.

We’re allies with Germany and Japan, we’ve moved on as a country, but I’m not going to begrudge Jewish/Polish or Korean/Japanese folks from holding onto their grudges for another generation or two.

[dhs12345]

You could be right. There is always another reason and it is usually related to money.

[dhs12345]

Exactly. Similar to the “reparations” movement and the whole racism thing here in the States.

[dhs12345]

Good point.

But at some point, people have to let it go and get on with their lives. Otherwise, just like the Muslims in the ME, people will be fighting over some offense that happened a thousand years ago.

And don’t forget the Russians/Soviet Union and China. They were brutal to their own people as well as the people that they conquered. There is certainly a lot of anger to go around.

[Night Hides Not]

“What difference does it make?”

[GraceG]

[ It’s the never-ending apology.

Japan has done this so many times and given China so much reparation.

But just like here with our race pimps, the Marxist Chinese are perpetual victims.

And Japanese privilege is a mark they must carry forever and forever make amends.

Sound familiar? ]

Agreed, at some point it is pointless and causes more harm to keep blaming people who have died more than a generation ago for their sins... The dead people who commited such attrocities are aleardy dead for a long time and have spent several decades in hell already.

If you keep dredging up the past, the childrend of the future will not be able to move into the future on their own.

HOWEVER, we still must be aware of past mistakes to prevent the repeating history thing...

[zeugma]

How old was Abe in 1942?

[GeronL]

Nah, we should finish them off. lol

[bus man]

It seems to me that the Prime Minister’s response is appropriate. Anyone possessing even a shred of decency will regret what the Japanese did during World War II, and publicly saying so is the decent thing to do. But an apology would carry weight only if delivered by the ones who committed the wrongs. Mr. Abe did not bomb Pearl Harbor, nor torture Chinese civilians, nor kill POWs during the Bataan Death March, etc. etc. etc., so for him to apologize for these actions is meaningless.

What I would like to see is an honest accounting of Japan’s wartime history, starting with accurate textbooks. I have no desire to saddle today’s Japanese with guilt over their forefather’s sins; but I believe their country owes it to their people, and the rest of the world, to properly educate them on what went on, in hopes that these horrors will not be repeated.

[bus man]

Those who were are mostly in their 90s and older and many of them have apologized. Some repeatedly. When I lived there, my bicycle repairman would apologize everytime I took work there. He was a nice old gentlemen and a low ranking draftee during the war. But he witnessed brutality which haunted him the rest of his life. It was almost like I was his priest taking confession.

I believe that Asian societies tend to have a sense of collective responsibility, one that is rather alien to our own individualistic culture. When Korean-born Seung-hui Cho killed all those people at Virginia Tech, an older Korean gentleman attempted to apologize to me, as if their mutual Korean-ness made him somehow culpable. And in his mind, maybe it did. But I respectfully replied that, in my estimation, the one and only person who bore any responsibility for the massacre was the guy who brandished the gun. Period.

[Patriotic1]

Who cares, really? He didn’t make the decision to go to war.

[goodwithagun]

Abe had nothing to do with WWII, and probably wasn’t born yet. He has no need to apologize for something the government under his command did not do. To do so would be like the U.S. apologizing to Africa for the slave trade. None living have taken part in the atrocity.

[Zakeet]

In answer to your questions ...

Shinzo Abe didn’t do anything. This is akin to Bill Clinton apologizing for slavery. Not needed. ... Who cares, really? He didn’t make the decision to go to war. ... Abe had nothing to do with WWII, and probably wasn’t born yet. He has no need to apologize for something the government under his command did not do.

We are not asking Abe to apologize personally, but to do so on behalf of the Japanese people. He should do this because he is their elected leader and has been placed by them in charge of their government.

It was our imperialism that drove them to attack us.

How did you come up with that? Did the Korean, Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Micronesian, Burmese, Thai, Indian and Papua New Guinean imperialism also force the Japanese to attack them? Didn't Japanese imperialism play a part ... perhaps a small one? If so, shouldn't the Japanese confront it eventually?

How many Japanese leaders from 1941 are alive today? ... Only their apologies would have any meaning.

My German-American mother (her family immigrated to the U.S. in 1815; three brothers served with distinction in the European Theater during WW II) traveled extensively throughout Europe and Israel. She apologized frequently to holocaust survivors and their descendents for the actions of her (unknown to her - she never met them and didn't even know their names) relatives. Her actions were always accepted with gratitude and acknowledgement that it helped the healing process. They needed to know that not all Germans were like the ones who brutally butchered their friends and loved ones.

What difference does it make?

Accepting responsibility for your actions by admitting them is the first step in repentance. It's the prime reasons why the Allies insisted that the Germans apologize for the holocaust. We remember so that we will never make the same mistake again.

Recall that the atrocities captured in these photographs, as well as millions of others, are ignored and forgotten by millions of Japanese, expunged from their historical records, and never taught to their children. This is very, very dangerous.

What is the purpose of making such a statement at this point in time?

Because it's better to be late than to never do something that you should do ... something that decency demands that you do.

[Zakeet]

Post #35 should have been addressed to you also.

I apologize for the omission.

[a fool in paradise]

It was our imperialism that drove them to attack us.

>> How did you come up with that? Did the Korean, Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Micronesian, Burmese, Thai, Indian and Papua New Guinean imperialism also force the Japanese to attack them? Didn't Japanese imperialism play a part ... perhaps a small one? If so, shouldn't the Japanese confront it eventually?

It doesn't reflect my view, it reflects some of what the Japanese said at the time and what academics and anti-war types claim today.t Japanese imperialism play a part ... perhaps a small one? If so, shouldn

[SoFloFreeper]

Dude. I am all in on the fact that the Japs were brutal and we did the right thing in 1945 to end the war.

No apologies.

Seventy plus years on, we have been allies for many decades.

We won the war.

Now we have some common enemies to focus on: the communists among us, and outside our borders, for instance.

[dhs12345]

I understand completely what you are asking for and you are certainly justified. The only problem: then we would have to apologize for atom bombs being dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

Bottom line: war is hell. However, some of us are more civilized than others. During WWII, after Germany fell, Germans fled west towards the American and British armies and away from the Russians. They knew very well that Americans are compassionate even during war and how brutal the Russians were.

[discostu]

Good, he shouldn’t. The modern urge to apologize for a past in which none of the apologizers participated is stupid. Never apologize for anything you had nothing to do with.