December 30 & 31, 2016
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2016 December 21 - 2017 January 3 [POLITICS]
Yasukuni visit by Inada after her Pearl Harbor visit peels off Abe gov’t ‘reconciliation’ mask |
Prime Minister Abe Shinzo on December 27 and 28 together with Defense Minister Inada Tomomi visited Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Abe in his speech offered his “sincere condolences” to those who were killed in the 1941 attack by the Japanese Imperial military. He, however, avoided acknowledging the attack to be related to Japan’s war of aggression and he expressed neither remorse nor an apology. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide repeatedly said that Abe’s Pearl Harbor visit does not mean Japan apologies.
Soon after returning from Hawaii with PM Abe, Inada visited Yasukuni Shrine which justifies Japan’s past war of aggression as a just war for “self-existence and self-defense” and enshrines Class-A war criminals who took a lead in waging the war. Inada made it clear by her act that Japan should not make an apology because it did not do anything wrong. Inada was always in the forefront of rightwing historical revisionism. Before becoming the Defense Minister, for example, she in the Diet urged the Prime Minister to depart from the historical view centered on the Tokyo Tribunal.
It is natural that Inada’s Yasukuni visit received fierce criticism from Asian countries including China and South Korea as well as from other nations. Even the U.S. government, which held a memorial event with Abe and Inada at Pearl Harbor, might be astounded by her behavior.
Most importantly, Inada is the person in charge of Japan’s military policy. Japan can now technically use arms abroad under the national security-related laws. With this development, Inada’s justification of Japan’s war of aggression gives Asian countries the impression that Japan’s militarism has been revived and this may also escalate tensions with China and North Korea.
Although PM Abe made no comment on Inada’s visit to Yasukuni, he had to have been informed about his Cabinet members’ schedules. It is safe to say that the PM took Inada to Pearl Harbor to attend the harmonizing event with the U.S. with the aim to ease the backlash which was expected from Inada’s plan to visit to the controversial shrine. PM Abe has a clear intention to use Inada’s rightist characteristic to respond to demands of the pro-constitutional-revision, rightist organization, the Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi).
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Following Inada’s Yasukuni visit, a U.S. State Department spokesperson on December 29 said to reporters, “We continue to emphasize the importance of approaching historical legacy issues in a manner that promotes healing and reconciliation.”
It is unusual for the U.S. government to issue a comment on Abe Cabinet members’ visit to the war shrine.
The Wall Street Journal on the same day reported that Inada visited a “shrine seen by some of Tokyo’s neighbors as glorifying the nation’s militaristic past.”
Past related articles:
> Far-rightist Inada assumes office as Defense Minister [August 4, 2016]
> What's the 'Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi)'? [July 9, 2006]
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