Japan PM offers condolences for WWII dead in historic speech

[webfact]

Japan PM offers condolences for WWII dead in historic speech
MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered condolences Wednesday for Americans killed in World War II in the first address by a Japanese leader to a joint meeting of Congress, but stopped short of apologizing for wartime atrocities.

Abe came to Capitol Hill after a morning visit to a Washington memorial to more than 400,000 American service members who died in the conflict. His remarks to a packed chamber a day after meeting President Barack Obama were warmly received by lawmakers.

"My dear friends, on behalf of Japan and the Japanese people, I offer with profound respect my eternal condolences to the souls of all American people that were lost during World War II," he said, prompting his audience to rise in applause.

But he skirted another issue that some U.S. lawmakers had also been urging him to address in what is the 70th anniversary year of the end of war — the sexual slavery of tens of thousands of Asian women by Japan's military, which remains a sore point with another staunch U.S. ally, South Korea. One of 53 surviving Korean victims, Yong Soo-lee, 87, was in the gallery to watch Abe's address, seated in a wheelchair.

Instead, the Japanese prime minister expressed "feelings of deep remorse over the war." He acknowledged that "our actions brought suffering to the peoples in Asian countries, we must not avert our eyes from that." That won't satisfy his critics, who want Abe to do more than "uphold" the apologies for wartime abuses made by his predecessors.

Democratic Rep. Mike Honda, who invited Yong to attend, said it was "shocking and shameful" that Abe was evading his government's responsibility over atrocities committed by the Imperial Army against so-called "comfort" women.

Since winning election in December 2012, Abe has been strong advocate of closer ties with the U.S., a message he hammered home Wednesday. He vowed to enact legislation by this summer to facilitate closer cooperation with the U.S. military, in support of new U.S.-Japan defense guidelines endorsed by the two leaders on Tuesday.

Abe said the U.S. and Japan "must take the lead" in completing a 12-nation trans-Pacific trade pact. That got a lukewarm response from Democrats but warm applause from Republicans — reflecting the division in Congress on the issue.

Abe has arrived amid a bruising battle in Washington over legislation that would give Obama the authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a cornerstone of his second-term agenda. In a reversal of politics-as-usual, it's Obama's own Democratic base that opposes him, and Republicans who support the deal.

"The TPP goes far beyond just economic benefits. It is also about our security. Long-term, its strategic value is awesome. We should never forget that," Abe said.

The Japanese leader is a firm supporter of a stronger U.S. presence in the region, both militarily and economically, as China, which in recent years has eclipsed Japan as the world's second-largest economy, asserts itself as a global power.

He's taken some political hits at home for pushing the trade pact and for loosening the restrictions of Japan's pacifist constitution to open the way for Japan's military to take a more active supporting role to the United States, which has nearly 50,000 troops based there.

Dozens of Japanese leaders have visited the U.S. since the war, but Abe's invitation to speak to Congress sets him apart from his predecessors. While past Japanese prime ministers — including Abe's own grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, in 1957 — have addressed the House, it was the first time for a leader of the East Asian nation to speak to both chambers.

Jan Thompson, president of the American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor Memorial Society, which represents U.S. veterans who fought in the Philippines and were forced into slave labor in Japan, expressed disappointment over Abe's comments about World War II.

She said it was "deeply disturbing" that Abe had offered sympathy to victims of a war that Japan started, but did not acknowledge responsibility. Noting that Abe told lawmakers that "history is harsh," she said she agreed, but added: "history is ultimately harsher on those that deny it."
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Associated Press reporter Erica Werner contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-04-30

[winstonc]

a trade agreement in the offing and he offers regret..not we are sorry for being utterly inhuman towards our fellow humans...NOT GOOD ENOUGH..

[Cats4ever]

It is a small start. Japan should really teach their people about aggression in Manchuria and the subsequent attack on China. This led in some way to the sanctions that justified (in their mind)

the attack on Hawaii and Malaya and the subsequent expansion. Their treatment of populations in many countries, particularly of Chinese people was brutal. POWs we all know about. Germany has acknowledged the awfulness of their war, and most of their population is against a repeat; Japan could learn from that.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Cats4ever

[HerbalEd]

I think most Japanese ... esp. the government ... truly believe that starting the Asian part of WWll and the related atrocities were actually justified, and thusly they see no reason to apologize.

[neeray]

Or for apologizing that Japan fired the first salvo.

[northernphil]

Have they ever appologised for The Rape of Nanking yet to the Chinese, Serious question.

[EyesWideOpen]

Actually if they ever get around to apologizing for what they did in WW2,

they may as well add in Unit 731, site of horrific medical experiments done

on the Chinese...While this piece of history is not well known, the

Chinese have certainly not forgotten, and a big payback is coming down

the road.

I personally consider the Japanese to be the most brutal people

on planet Earth, and their conduct in WWll certainly proved that. For a moment,

the mask dropped, and we were able to see what they are really like. Contests

for seeing how many babies they could catch on the end of bayonet during the

rape of Nanjing ? .... What the bleep ? SEA should give a sigh of relief each

day that Japan did not win WWll.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731

"Between 3,000 and 12,000 men, women, and children from which around 600 every year were provided by the Kempeitai^[3]—died during the human experimentation conducted by Unit 731 at the camp based in Pingfang alone, which does not include victims from other medical experimentation sites. Almost 70% of the victims who died in the Pingfang camp were Chinese, including both civilian and military."

Edited April 30, 2015 by EyesWideOpen

[FangFerang]

My uncle was in the Pacific campaign and told me about their scout going missing, then they found him tied to a tree with his severed penis stuffed in his mouth. The description was so horrific that it ended up in a Hollywood movie.

My uncle died, never having bought a single product from Japan. Nor would my Father.

It is very hard for me to get that image out of my head when reading about the lack of apology.

Worse, the Japanese are very long lived, and many of those in government were alive and working when this was all going on.

Once no living Japanese leader that acted then is alive, then they will apologize.

[EyesWideOpen]

My uncle was in the Pacific campaign and told me about their scout going missing, then they found him tied to a tree with his severed penis stuffed in his mouth. The description was so horrific that it ended up in a Hollywood movie.

My uncle died, never having bought a single product from Japan. Nor would my Father.

It is very hard for me to get that image out of my head when reading about the lack of apology.

Worse, the Japanese are very long lived, and many of those in government were alive and working when this was all going on.

Once no living Japanese leader that acted then is alive, then they will apologize.

My uncle also served in the Pacific, and received a bronze star for bravery.

I asked him one time what it felt like to be killing Japanese soldiers. He shrugged

and said it felt like killing rats. Meaning they were of no importance to the world,

and the sooner they were gone the better....

[tullynagardy]

I personally consider the Japanese to be the most brutal people

on planet Earth, and their conduct in WWll certainly proved that. For a moment,

the mask dropped, and we were able to see what they are really like.

Horrific racism, sad the mods let this stay.

The idea a race or nationality is inherently evil is just racism. The idea 130 million people all share the same personality is just ignorant.