Abe won't back down
Today Newspaper Pg14
World News:- Japanese PM reiterates that there's no proof of coercion in WWII sexual slavery
World News:- Japanese PM reiterates that there's no proof of coercion in WWII sexual slavery
After one of his public relations advisers stated that Prime Minister Abe's office stood by an official apology made in 1993 for the Japanese military forcing many Asian women into prostitution, the Prime Minister himself has come out to "reiterate" that there was no concrete proof that there was sexual slavery in WWII. As if we needed him to tell us that.
Similar to his predecessors, Shinzo Abe has come forward to deny the fact that the Japanese military was responsible for sexual assaults unleashed on thousands of Asian women during the Japanese occupation. In the past, Japanese authorities have even gone as far as denying the fact that there was even a war and that war crime charges brought against one of their own are merely lies. It's notorious education department was even reported of blotting out Japan's war history and the atrocities they committed in history textbooks. The less convservative ones admit to it's military history but paint the Japanese as hapless victims fighting to save it's own skin. I must say for a country that has given so much to the world in the form of Sony goods, video games, sushi, sashimi and cheap cars, this is a terrible shame.
The world has constantly condemned those who denied that the Holocaust ever existed. The Germans themselves have come out to make official apologies for their abhorrent act in WWII. But why do the Japanese find it so difficult to admit to their faults and reconcile with the rest of the world, particularly the Asian world as well as their own history? Japan have many things to be proud of. But this is not one of them. In 1993, a member of the Japanese government made an apology for the atrocities committed during the war including coercing women into sexual slavery. I don't know how much effect it had on improving bilateral ties between Japan and other Asian countries but these recent comments from Prime Minister Abe and his predecessor's annual visit to the Yasukuni Shrine to honour war criminals will certainly not help improve any ties.
Similar to his predecessors, Shinzo Abe has come forward to deny the fact that the Japanese military was responsible for sexual assaults unleashed on thousands of Asian women during the Japanese occupation. In the past, Japanese authorities have even gone as far as denying the fact that there was even a war and that war crime charges brought against one of their own are merely lies. It's notorious education department was even reported of blotting out Japan's war history and the atrocities they committed in history textbooks. The less convservative ones admit to it's military history but paint the Japanese as hapless victims fighting to save it's own skin. I must say for a country that has given so much to the world in the form of Sony goods, video games, sushi, sashimi and cheap cars, this is a terrible shame.
The world has constantly condemned those who denied that the Holocaust ever existed. The Germans themselves have come out to make official apologies for their abhorrent act in WWII. But why do the Japanese find it so difficult to admit to their faults and reconcile with the rest of the world, particularly the Asian world as well as their own history? Japan have many things to be proud of. But this is not one of them. In 1993, a member of the Japanese government made an apology for the atrocities committed during the war including coercing women into sexual slavery. I don't know how much effect it had on improving bilateral ties between Japan and other Asian countries but these recent comments from Prime Minister Abe and his predecessor's annual visit to the Yasukuni Shrine to honour war criminals will certainly not help improve any ties.
posted by Clarence Tan @ 11:37 PM
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