Crown Prince urges nation not to forget horrors of WW2

Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito has made a call to remember Japan’s wartime past and the horrors of World War Two — remarks that come as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to recast his country’s wartime history.

In an unusual intervention in the discussion, Naruhito’s mild-mannered broadside was being interpreted in some circles as a rebuke to Abe, a key figure in the right-wing drive to downplay the institutionalized system of wartime sex slavery.

“I myself did not experience the war ... but I think that it is important today, when memories of the war are fading, to look back humbly on the past and correctly pass on the tragic experiences and history Japan pursued from the generation which experienced the war to those without direct knowledge,” Naruhito told a news conference ahead of his 55th birthday on Monday.

Asked about his views on war and peace, Naruhito told reporters: “It was very painful that many precious lives were lost, many people suffered and felt deep sorrow in the world including in Japan.”

“It is important that we never forget people who died in the war... (and we must) deepen our appreciation for our past so as not to repeat the horrors of war and to foster a love of peace,” he said.

He was speaking in response to a question about the 70th anniversary this year of the war’s end.

Naruhito’s

grandfather, Emperor Hirohito, was once revered as divine but transformed after Japan’s defeat to promote peace.

The royal family has no political powers but the current emperor, Akihito, has played an important role in working to heal the wounds of a war waged across Asia in his own father’s name.

Abe is also planning a statement for the 70th anniversary of the war’s end, remarks that will be closely watched by military ally the United States, and by China and South Korea where bitter wartime memories run deep, for any sign he is diluting past apologies.

Abe, 60, has said he intends to uphold past government apologies over the war but it is unclear whether the prime minister will himself repeat the “heartfelt apology” contained in landmark 1995 remarks by then-premier Tomiichi Murayama.

The prime minister last week appointed a 16-member panel to advise him on the statement he is set to make later this year to mark the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender.

Abe has said he will largely stand by Tokyo’s previous apologies, but amid growing anger in China and South Korea over the “comfort women” system, speculation is mounting that he will seek to downplay the issue.

Mainstream historians agree that up to 200,000 women, predominantly from Korea, were forced into sexual slavery during the war.

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