Japan marks the end of World War II, Kishida does not mention aggression

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida renewed Japan’s no-war pledge in a somber ceremony Monday as his country marked the 77th anniversary of its defeat in World War II, but made no mention of aggression. Japanese during the war.

In his first speech as prime minister since taking office in October, Kishida said Japan “will uphold our determination never to repeat the tragedy of war.”

Kishida did not mention Japanese aggression in Asia in the first half of the 20th century or casualties in the region. The omission was a precedent set by assassinated former leader Shinzo Abe, who had pushed to cover up Japan’s brutality during the war.

Kishida focused heavily on the damage Japan suffered at home: the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the massive firebombings across Japan, and the bloody ground battle in Okinawa. He said that the peace and prosperity that the country enjoys today is based on the suffering and sacrifices of those who died in war.

Starting in 2013, Abe stopped acknowledging Japan’s wartime hostilities or apologizing in his speeches on August 15, scrapping a tradition that began in 1995.

Emperor Naruhito repeated his “deep remorse” for Japan’s actions during the war in a nuanced sentence in his speech, as did his father, Emperor Emeritus Akihito, who devoted his career to making amends for a war waged in the name of the Emperor of Japan. the war, Hirohito, the grandfather of the current emperor.

Some 900 participants observed a minute of silence at noon during the ceremony held at the Budokan stadium. The crowd was down from about 5,000 before the pandemic, participants were asked to wear masks, and the national anthem was not sung.

While Kishida refrained from praying at the Yasukuni Shrine on Monday and sent a religious ornament in its place, three of his cabinet members visited him: Minister for Economic Security Sanae Takaichi and Minister for Disaster Reconstruction Kenya. Akiba early Monday and Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura on Saturday.

“I paid my respects to the spirits of those who sacrificed their lives for national politics,” Takaichi told reporters, adding that he also prayed for no more war dead in Ukraine.

Victims of Japanese actions during the first half of the 20th century, especially China and the Koreas, see the shrine as a symbol of Japanese militarism because it honors convicted war criminals among the estimated 2.5 million war dead.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Sunday after Nishimura’s visit criticized it as “the Japanese government’s wrong attitude towards historical problems.”

Wang urged Japan to “deeply reflect on its history of aggression, properly handle relevant issues with a sense of responsibility, and win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community at large through concrete actions.”

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