Good morning. I’m Derek Scally, Berlin Correspondent for The Irish Times, filling in for Denis Staunton while he is away.
Words on war affect current tensions in Asia
Weekend ceremonies to mark the end of the second World War in Asia saw an old row resurface over just what Japan, China and South Korea were remembering: war crimes or war dead?
Even 81 years on, the people of China and South Korea have not forgotten how Japan invaded and occupied their territories, slaughtering millions and enslaving others in forced labour and even prostitution.
At least 2.3 million military personnel and more than 26 million civilians lost their lives in the conflict, countless others saw their lives blighted by Japanese imperial horrors.
For many tuning in from Beijing or Seoul to the Tokyo ceremonies, however, one key word was missing from Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi’s speech: remorse.
The word remorse, and a “resolute pledge to avoid war”, featured in similar speeches by Japan’s last prime minister Shigeru Ishiba.
But not in the address by his hawkish successor. Instead, keen-eared listeners noted that her speech shifted the past from the active to passive voice.
While her predecessors offered variations on Japan “must never repeat the horrors of war”, Takaichi said “the horrors of war must never be repeated”, leaving open who was chiefly responsible for those horrors.
Instead, her impersonal pledge was this: “Although 81 years have now passed, no matter how time passes, we will remain committed to this resolute pledge, passing it down across generations.”
Overall, Takaichi’s speech marked a return to a framing favoured by more conservative leaders, for whom the idea of “remorse” is a political landmine. They prefer to emphasise their country’s postwar achievements rather than dwell on questions of wartime responsibility.
Still, things could have been worse after the 81st anniversary events. At least Emperor Naruhito expressed “deep remorse” in his address.
And the 65-year-old prime minister did not compound tensions, as she easily could have, by attending a ceremony at the nearby Yasukuni Shrine. Before becoming prime minister she was a frequent visitor to that shrine, home to at least 2.5 million war dead as well as 14 wartime leaders convicted of the most serious war crimes, and more than 1,000 others found guilty by postwar tribunals.
In the past, Japanese politicians explained away visits there as being in a personal capacity. Takaichi decided not to try that line this year and kept her distance. But she didn’t ignore Yasukuni either. Arriving for the official memorial service at Nippon Budokan hall, she made a Shinto gesture of worship toward Yasukuni shrine located across the street: bowing twice, clapping twice and bowing once more.
The official government representatives at Yasukuni Shrine were dark-suited defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Kimi Onoda, minister for economic security.
Though neither is prime minister, their presence prompted rebukes from Beijing and Seoul who both consider the shrine a key symbol of Tokyo’s wartime aggression.
South Korea’s foreign ministry expressed “deep regret” over the “anachronistic” actions of Japan’s leaders and urged them, to secure robust bilateral relations for the future, to embrace “humble reflection and sincere remorse” for the past.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Beijing “strongly condemns the negative moves by the Japanese side concerning the Yasukuni Shrine, and has already lodged solemn representations and a strong protest with Japan”.
Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have been particularly tense since last November, when Takaichi suggested a Chinese attack on Taiwan could present a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, triggering an intervention of Japan’s self-defence forces in support of the US.
Increased tensions in the region, combined with Middle East uncertainties, have seen the Japanese government ramp up national security spending and ease rules on defence equipment exports. It all seems a long way from Japan’s postwar pacifist ethos in the decades since its total defeat.
Japan’s last sitting prime minister to visit Yasukuni Shrine was Shinzo Abe in December 2013. That visit drew an expression of disappointment from the Obama administration.
The last serving prime minister to visit Yasukuni Shrine on the war anniversary was Junichiro Koizumi. On Saturday his defence minister son Shinjiro said he had used his visit to “renew” his “war-renouncing resolve and … to fulfil Japan’s postwar responsibility as a peace-loving nation”.
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