Old wounds reopened

Old wounds reopened

"I am not glorifying or justifying the past," insists Japanese
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of his impending visit to the
Yasukuni shrine to his country's war dead, and seven war
criminals. As the first premier to pay homage there in 16 years,
he is of course resurrecting it, and by that act he will cause
deep offense to Japan's Asian neighbors, pouring salt in an
unhealed wound that will continue to fester as long as Tokyo
refuses to acknowledge or express remorse for the full horror of
its war crimes.

If Mr. Koizumi wishes only to show respect for those who
sacrificed their lives for the country on the anniversary of
Japan's surrender, he can easily do that at the nearby memorial
to the unknown soldier. But the Prime Minister has a nationalist
tinge, and the Shinto shrine is a symbol of Japan's military
history, its triumphalism and its apparent inability to recognize
the depth of feeling in nations who were victim to its
expansionist ambitions before and during World War II.

It is an attitude that mystifies and in many cases, disgusts
not just its Asian neighbors, but the rest of the world. As long
as it persists, Japan will never lay the ghost of its past. It
can rewrite history in the school textbooks, and feed half-truths
to its schoolchildren, but that only sharpens the memories and
increases the bitterness of the victims and their survivors.

Underlying these concerns is a deeper unease about Mr.
Koizumi's ultimate intentions. He has called for an end to the
fiction surrounding the self-defense forces. This is a modern,
well-equipped army which he believes should take part in
international peacekeeping operations. He wants to revise Japan's
pacifist constitution, though he insists that it will remain non-
nuclear and the principles of Japan as a peaceful country are
unchanged.

Those ambitions might create less distrust in the region if
they were made by the leader of a country which admits the war
crimes of the past and makes a serious effort to ensure the
younger generation can learn from the lessons of history. But
against a background of increasing militarism among factions of
the population, such policies can only worry and anger Japan's
neighbors. Beijing has warned Tokyo of an impending rift in Sino-
Japanese relations, South Korea has frozen military exchanges and
canceled plans to open its market to some Japanese goods.

Germany long since set out to atone for its war-time sins with
a frankness and contrition which has won the respect of the
world. Japan's own role as an economic world power continues to
be blighted by its refusal to confront the horrors of its dark
past.

-- The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong