hankyoreh

The Japanese government's approach to distorting history is becoming tougher. The meeting between Korea and Japan's foreign ministers at the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, ended with without finding points of agreement. The issue of Dokdo has become a core issue between the two countries, so unless Japan changes its attitude relations will turn as bad as relations between Japan and China, whose leaders have not exchanged visits for some years now because of the Japanese prime minister's official visits to Yasukuni Shrine.

Looking at the way Japan speaks about increasing its contributions on the international scene while simultaneously insisting on its ultranationalist view of the world, you cannot rid yourself of the feeling that the democracy Japan has fostered since the war, together with its "peace constitution," is rapidly fossilizing. For most of post-war history the main conservative group that has ruled Japan has not, up until a few years ago, deviated from its policy of seeking to be "lightly armed and pro-American." Some within the old establishment camp of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have called for official prime ministerial visits to Yasukuni, the conversion of the Self Defense Forces (SDF) to a regular military, and asserting the "right to collective defense," but those ideas were never adopted by mainstream conservatives.

Now, however, there are various signs that the situation has fundamentally changed. To begin with, Japanese officials are issuing mangeon ("reckless remarks") that are then not rescinded. In the past, when a cabinet member committed a mangeon that seemed to praise the war of aggression or colonial rule the controversy was put to rest when the individual stepped down from his position. Now the approach is to say Japan should not bow to wrongful foreign interference.

Furthermore the men behind the mangeon are no longer just a few ultra-right politicians nostalgic for the old days of empire and the "devotion to the Emperor of Heaven" and "manifestation of patriotism"; it now comes from key members of cabinet. Prime minister Junichiro Koizumi defends his visits to Yasukuni Shrine and the Class A war criminals from the war of aggression that it is home to by saying he does so to pledge his resolve in renouncing war, so how can you blame only the members of his cabinet for their remarks?

There is now only approach left to take. If Japan is not going to wake up to its own shame then it should be made to do so by being thoroughly shamed in the international community.

The Hankyoreh, 8 April 2005.


[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]