Memories live long in East Asia

But the frequent visits by Japanese heads of government to the Yasukuni Shrine, paying tribute to Japanese Second World War criminals, hardly stir any dust in the international community, other than the usual outbursts from China and South Korea – the two main victims under Japanese invasion and occupation in the last century.

Not only are many elder Japanese still nostalgically attached to the pre-war empire, there is increasing evidence that the current Abe administration is trying to ignore the war-crimes past while systematically expanding the country’s military to echo its nationalistic policy – a “New Japan”, which Abe has frequently publicised.

Abe also suggested to his lawmakers recently that there is no international or academic definition of the word “invasion”, and therefor the occupation of other Asian countries before and during the Second World War cannot necessarily be construed as an “invasion”.

The Washington Post, in its April 27 editorial, harshly criticised Abe under the headline “Shinzo Abe’s inability to accept Japan’s history”. 

Abe’s denial of history is an outrage upon justice and we want to remind him that it was in 1937 and 1941 that Japan lunched a full-scale war on China and attacked Pearl Harbor, respectively.

Yingwai Suchaovanich

Bangkok