Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Pearl Harbor today.
I’m fine with this:
The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will not apologize during his historic visit to Pearl Harbor in December.
A top Japanese official on Tuesday clarified that the purpose of the trip — the first of its kind — will be to “commemorate” the fallen soldiers.
“The purpose of this visit is to commemorate war dead, not to apologize,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, as reported by Yahoo News.
“The visit will serve as an opportunity to demonstrate to future generations our resolve not to repeat the horror and suffering of war as well as an opportunity to showcase the reconciliation between Japan and the United States,” he added.
The move mirrors President Barack Obama’s historic trip to Hiroshima in May, where he honored the victims of the nuclear bomb but did not apologize for U.S. actions during World War II.
The United States and Japan today have a good relationship and are allies. The Japan of today is different from the one of yesteryear. No need to pick at scabs and expect an apology anymore than the U.S. should still be offering formal apologies over slavery and “genocide” of Native Americans.
Apparently, there are some who have trouble letting go of the past:
there are lingering hostilities nearly eight decades later, particularly among some of the servicemen—now in their 90s and even over 100—being honored here this week as survivors of the attack at Pearl Harbor, which catapulted the U.S. into World War II.
“To tell you the truth, I’ve got no love lost for the Japanese,” said 95-year-old B.C. Wilborn of Collinsville, Ill., a sailor on the USS Maryland who heard the tapping of men trapped in the overturned USS Oklahoma. Many of them died before they could get help.
Another Pearl Harbor veteran, 94-year-old Chester Kross, of Franklin, Tenn., said he can’t forget the atrocities of the attack.
“The Japanese people were brutal, God they were brutal,” said Mr. Kross, who was aboard the USS North Carolina that arrived in Pearl Harbor soon after the assault.
Don’t forget the past; but also don’t languish in it. Move forward. It’s the only way to heal.
Thoughts from FA readers?
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.