Will a 'remorseful' Abe offer an official 'apology' for WWII?

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s speech yesterday and today at the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta and the address before the US Congress during his upcoming visit to Washington beginning April 26 will be closely watched. 

He needs to put history behind him. But he is still reluctant to offer an official apology. He wants to talk about the future. But he can’t afford not to draw the line. He has said his “heart aches” but he hasn’t said who is responsible for past mistakes. 

It is most likely that Abe will express Japan’s “remorse” over World War II in an address at the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta next week.

He will then deliver a “future-oriented” speech but how he will phrase his “remorse” to satisfy neighbours who were victims of Japan’s war brutality remains a big subject of speculation.

This contrasts with former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who gave an apology at the 2005 summit of the Asian-African Conference.

Then, he will have to deliver the Big One in August to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the war.

The Abe administration will monitor reactions from the PM’s two public statements to draw up the August statement, which is also likely to highlight what Japan will do in the future, rather than what it did before and during World War II.

In a recent interview with Washington Post, Abe referred to “comfort women” –  euphemism for those who were forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels – as victims of “human trafficking” and said his “heart aches” for them.

But he didn’t say who was responsible for victimising the women. Will Abe be more specific in saying sorry this time? And why is Japan still not sorry enough over its role in World War II?

It may not be as simple as it sounds. Thomas U Berger, an associate professor of international relations at Boston University, who authored a book entitled “War, Guilt and Politics After World War II”, told Time magazine that Japan might have apologised for waging an aggressive war and oppressing its neighbours but those apologies have been fumbling and awkward and often undercut by revisionist statements from senior politicians.

Japan, he said, has in fact been more repentant than is often credited. Japan’s prime ministers have repeatedly offered apologies for their country’s misdeeds. It has sponsored joint historical research with both South Korea and China. 

Opinion polls suggest that most Japanese feel their country did things in Asia for which the country should apologise.

Abe’s position on this issue is at best ambivalent. He may not have personally visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine to pray for Japan’s “war heroes”, which also includes at least 14 “Class A war criminals”, since taking over as premier this time. But he did send a cypress tree as an offering for the shrine with several members of his Cabinet. 

Abe once told a foreign correspondent that the Yasukuni Shrine is in Japan and it would be ridiculous to suggest that the prime minister could not step on particular areas in his own country.

He has also cast doubts on Japan’s 1995 “apology” for atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers during the wars, questioning the use of the term “invasion” to describe Japan’s occupation of much of Asia during the 1930-1940s.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II – and Japan’s humiliating defeat. The onus is on Abe to demonstrate his willingness to face history squarely and show his leadership both domestically and on the international scene.

Emperor Akihito has twice this year publicly put the emphasis on the need to embrace “correct” history. On one of these two occasions, Abe was present. Crown Prince Naruhito, in fact, recently told reporters: “It is important to look back on the past humbly and correctly pass down tragic experiences and the history behind Japan to the generations who have no direct knowledge of the war, at a time memories of the war are about to fade…”