Request of Admitting Aggression

Experts for giving opinion to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on his statement of seventieth anniversary from the war-end defined World War II as colonial rule and aggression by Japan. Receiving the opinion, Abe is going to consider what kind of expressions should be chosen for the statement on August 14^th. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister is still reluctant to admit the war to be aggression of Japan. So, what was the discussion by the experts for?

The final report of the Advisory Panel on the History of the 20^th Century and on Japan’s Role and the World Order in the 21^st Century stressed the significance of aggression after Manchurian Incident in 1931, after which Kanto Troops of Japan started occupation of Northeast China. “Japan expanded its aggression against the continent, deviated from the post-World War I shift towards self-determination, outlawry of war, democratization, and an emphasis on economic development, lost sight of the global trends,” described the panel on the report.

The report is negative on the notion that Imperial Japan tried to help liberation of Asian nations. “To be sure, many nations in Asia gained independence as a result of the Japanese war from the 1930s up to 1945. Nevertheless, many decisions were made in the name of self-preservation and self-defense, (And of course the substance and the direction of the self-preservation and self-defense were wrong.) and rarely were they made to liberate Asia,” tells the report. On reconciliation with China and South Korea, the report indicated the insufficiency.

But, the report defied its responsibility of requiring Prime Minister to apologize on what Japan had done in the war. Chairman of the panel, Taizo Nishimuro, leave the decision to adopt the expression to the statement, saying “It is up to Prime Minister what he picks from our report.”

Although Abe has been abiding by final conclusion of consultative committee on exercising collective self-defense or designated secrecy bill, it is still unclear whether Abe will accept the requirements of the panel, if it is not preferable to him. He has been negative in expressing apology on the war aggression. But, as long as former prime ministers expressed sincere apology, Abe’s negative attitude will surely face unnecessary doubt of neighbor nations.

One key word of Abe’s diplomacy to neighbor nations has been “future-looking.” If he wants to be honest on his own words, he needs to establish Japan’s future on the basis of “deep remorse and heartfelt apology. Personal conviction in narrow-minded historical revisionism will leave his country in jeopardy of isolation.