‘Never repeat horrors of war’
Japanese Prime Minister
THE leaders of wartime enemies the United States and Japan made a poignant joint pilgrimage here on Tuesday, issuing symbolic declarations about the power of reconciliation and warning against the drumbeat of conflict.
Seventy-five years after Japanese pilots brought war to idyllic Hawaii and dragged the US into World War 2, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered his “sincere and everlasting condolences”.
Abe and US President Barack Obama paid homage to the more than 2,400 Americans killed on Dec 7, 1941, delivering a wreath of peace lilies and standing in silence before a
(left) and United States President shrine to those lost on the USS Arizona, roughly half of all those killed.
Abe’s visit was a high-profile mark of contrition by a leader for whom Japan’s wartime past is often a sensitive domestic issue.
“We must never repeat the horrors of war. What has bonded us is the power of reconciliation, made possible through the spirit of tolerance,” said Abe.
Obama, who, in May, made a pilgrimage to Hiroshima, the target of a US nuclear bomb that ended the war, issued remarks that rang with history and America’s hypercharged politics.
“I welcome you here in the spirit of friendship. I hope that, together, we send a message to the world that
tossing petals into the Wishing Well at the there is more to be won in peace than in war, that reconciliation carries more rewards than retribution,” he told Abe.
“Even when hatred burns hottest, even when the tug of tribalism is at its most primal, we must resist the urge to turn inward. We must resist the urge to demonise those who are different.”
The meeting came as Obama prepares to leave office, and with Abe leading Japan into uncharted waters after remarks by US president-elect Donald Trump clouded USJapanese relations.
Trump, who takes office on Jan 20, had appeared to suggest that Japan break a taboo and develop nuclear weapons. He caused consternation again last week when he threatened to revive the nuclear arms race.
He had also declared his opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, killing a major trade deal that Obama championed and Abe put at the heart of his economic strategy.
And, on the campaign trail, Trump had called into question US security guarantees that shielded Japan through the Cold War and, later, the rise of an increasingly confident China.
Abe is the first sitting Japanese prime minister to pay his respects at the USS Arizona Memorial, built in the 1960s.
In Tokyo, cabinet minister Masahiro Imamura offered prayers at the Yasukuni war shrine, which has
in Hawaii on Tuesday.
RECONCILIATION: Abe, Obama pay homage to 2,400 killed in 1941 Japan attacks on US base
been a flashpoint for criticism by countries that suffered under Japanese aggression in the first half of the 20th century.
“I reported about work to the gods, and prayed for our country’s peace and prosperity,” the Asahi Shimbun daily quoted him as saying.
Imamura stressed that the visit had “nothing to do with” Abe’s trip to Pearl Harbor.
Those honoured by the shrine include senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes.
In 1941, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto manoeuvred six aircraft carriers to within 385km of Oahu and unleashed two waves of dive bombers. The US Pacific fleet lost 21 ships and 328 planes. AFP