Japan Press Weekly

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2015 April 15 - 21 [POLITICS]

Abe gov’t intents to maintain close ties with extreme right-wingers

Inada Tomomi, chair of the Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council, publicly states that she accepts the main part of the Tokyo Tribunal judgment sentencing Japanese war leaders to death, but that she disagrees with what the court recognized as facts.

She in February said, “Under Article 11 of the San Francisco Treaty, Japan accepts the principal text of the tribunal decision. But that doesn’t mean that Japan should be bound by the judgment.”

Akahata interviewed an LDP Dietmember. He said, “Requested to make a statement to this effect by Prime Minister Abe, Inada complied. In the first place, she has the same mindset with Abe.” The ruling party legislator went on to say, “But she knows that her remarks would incur U.S. criticism.”

The lawmaker also mentioned pressure from rightist groups and the Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi), saying, “The present administration wants to stick to a peculiar understanding of history in order to receive support from right-wing supporters who enthusiastically support Abe.”

The Nippon Kaigi is a super-hawkish organization centering on the war-honoring Yasukuni Shrine.

Former chief priest of this shrine Yuzawa Tadashi recollected that the shrine in the 1970s concerned that “to remove class-A war criminals from the list of the war dead to be honored at the shrine is equivalent to approving findings of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Tribunal)” and thus decided to enshrine class-A war criminals (“Seiron” August 2005).

Abe also said, “Article 11 of the San Francisco Treaty is not a promise that Japan recognizes that those who were labeled class-A, B, and C criminals were criminals.” (October 2006).

Prime Minister Abe is now planning to issue a government statement marking the 70th anniversary of the war’s end as a replacement to the 1995 Murayama Statement which apologized for Japan’s past colonial rule and war of aggression. The international community is paying close attention to his historical interpretation to be expressed in the new statement.

Past related articles:
> Japan’s wartime ‘comfort women’ were not sex slaves: LDP policy leader [February 26, 2015]
> Abe shows his desire to rewrite previous gov’t statement on past war of aggression [January 12, 2015]