Prime Minister Abe Shinzo made a visit to the American naval base Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, on 27 December, local time. It was this base that the Japanese naval air force attacked on 7 December 1941, where 2,400 Americans died, thus bringing America into a war. In Japan the war is usually thought to have started on 8 December.
After making a visit to the memorial built on the sunken battleship Arizona, Abe made a speech. It was essentially a speech of condolences meant for the Americans. There were no words of regret, let alone of apology. The visit itself was described as the return visit to Mr. Obama's Hiroshima visit earlier this year.
The speech is bound to raise several questions. First, he talked of Japan sticking to the principle of peace. He said nothing of the sort in concrete terms, however. Rather he talked of the episode of a Japanese Zero pilot who died there on that day and was later buried by the Americans with appropriate military honour. He said the brave respect the brave. He likes to talk on these topics more.
More seriously, he talked of the firm Japan-US alliance, and called it the alliance of hope. But it is a military alliance. If it is not against China it is against whom? In the meeting with Mr. Obama prior to the speech, Abe nodded on the ongoing construction of the huge and permanent US base in Okinawa. This is a dreadful scenario.
Above all, he said nothing on the nature of the war Japan forced on the US on that day. Why did we have to fight the US, or for that matter with Britain and the Netherland also, when we were already fighting China? It was because we were not winning in China, and desperately tried to do so by defeating the US. It was a hopeless war from the beginning. It was the Asian nations that really suffered. In fact the Japanese landed on British Malaya(Malaysia) one hour before attacking Pearl Harbour. Abe's speech will not go far in convincing the Asian nations.
After making a visit to the memorial built on the sunken battleship Arizona, Abe made a speech. It was essentially a speech of condolences meant for the Americans. There were no words of regret, let alone of apology. The visit itself was described as the return visit to Mr. Obama's Hiroshima visit earlier this year.
The speech is bound to raise several questions. First, he talked of Japan sticking to the principle of peace. He said nothing of the sort in concrete terms, however. Rather he talked of the episode of a Japanese Zero pilot who died there on that day and was later buried by the Americans with appropriate military honour. He said the brave respect the brave. He likes to talk on these topics more.
More seriously, he talked of the firm Japan-US alliance, and called it the alliance of hope. But it is a military alliance. If it is not against China it is against whom? In the meeting with Mr. Obama prior to the speech, Abe nodded on the ongoing construction of the huge and permanent US base in Okinawa. This is a dreadful scenario.
Above all, he said nothing on the nature of the war Japan forced on the US on that day. Why did we have to fight the US, or for that matter with Britain and the Netherland also, when we were already fighting China? It was because we were not winning in China, and desperately tried to do so by defeating the US. It was a hopeless war from the beginning. It was the Asian nations that really suffered. In fact the Japanese landed on British Malaya(Malaysia) one hour before attacking Pearl Harbour. Abe's speech will not go far in convincing the Asian nations.
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