Road of Right-wing Freak

The Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, got mad. In a session of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, he defended the ministers of his cabinet, who visited Yasukuni Shrine in its spring festival few days ago. Acknowledging it or not, it meanwhile was a offensive action against China, Korea and post-war history. As he regains his self-confidence over the handling of politics, a negative aspect as a right-wing freak appears on his words.

It must be the oppressive feeling that makes him aggressive against neighbor nations. “Our ministers would never give in any threat,” he told when he asked about Yasukuni visit by ministers including his closest colleague, Taro Aso. Accordingly, he revealed that he recognized the argument, skeptical about Japanese leader’s attitude toward history of war criminals, of China and South Korea as a threat. It is true that no one can be restricted in praying for war victims. But, Abe ignores the history of Japanese leaders who refrained from stimulating neighbors’ sentiment against Japanese aggression.

Abe also challenges the notion of “aggression” at the wartime. Answering another question, he showed his intention of reviewing Murayama Statement on August 15^th, 1995, the fiftieth anniversary of ending the war. “During a certain period in the not too distant past, Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the road to war, only to ensnare the Japanese people in a fateful crisis, and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations,” says the statement. “The definition of aggression has not confirmed internationally,” told Abe.

This is a typical revisionism. Prime Ministers following Murayama maintained the effectiveness of the statement. Even a hardliner against China, Jun-ichiro Koizumi, reconfirmed the statement at the sixtieth anniversary in 2005. Driven by strong resentment against provocative actions of China and South Korea, and potential discrimination that the Japanese are superior to other Asian nations, Abe insisted of strangeness of not rebutting foreign criticisms over praying for war victims. He intensively ignores that neighbor nations are criticizing not freedom of belief, but mixed message from Japanese leaders.

Abe was embarrassingly criticized when he denied the connection of Japanese Imperial Army to the abduction of women for the comfort woman in his first term as a Prime Minister. His revisionism would never be supported from any foreign nations. He shamelessly embarked on the same road as in his first term, only to be defeated.