V-J Day: 65 Years

From Yahoo News:
"Japan PM shuns shrine, apologizes at WWII ceremony"

TOKYO – Japan's new liberal prime minister shunned a visit to a shrine that has outraged Asian neighbors for honoring war criminals, breaking from past governments' tradition and instead apologizing Sunday for the suffering World War II caused. Members of the now-opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which ruled Japan nearly continuously since the end of the war, made a point by carrying out their own trip to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II. The Shinto shrine — a spectacular building with sweeping roofs and a museum in its grounds that glorifies kamikaze pilots — has set off controversy by honoring the 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including Class A war criminals such as Hideki Tojo, Japan's wartime prime minister who was executed in 1948. Among those who visited Yasukuni was LDP leader Sadakazu Tanigaki and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. About 40 legislators went to the shrine, but none from Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet, according to Japanese media reports. Kan leads the Democratic Party, which took power last year after winning elections on promises of greater transparency and grass-roots democracy. It is the first time since the end of World War II that the entire Japanese Cabinet has avoided visiting Yasukuni on Aug. 15, the day Japan surrendered in the war. "We caused great damage and suffering to many nations during the war, especially to the people of Asia," Kan told a crowd of about 6,000 at an annual memorial service for the war dead at Budokan hall in Tokyo. "We feel a deep regret, and we offer our sincere feelings of condolence to those who suffered and their families," he said. "We renew our promise to never wage war, and we promise to do our utmost to achieve eternal world peace and to never repeat again the mistake of war." Among those listening to Kan's words were Emperor Akihito, whose father Hirohito announced the surrender 65 years ago in a radio broadcast — the first time the Japanese public had heard the real voice of the emperor, who had been revered as a living god to justify imperial expansion. Akihito, who has never visited Yasukuni, led a moment of silence at noon, bowing deeply before a stage filled with yellow and white chrysanthemums. The families and friends of more than 3 million Japanese who died in war, including a gray-haired woman in a wheelchair clutching a black-and-white photo of a soldier, bowed their heads in silence for a minute. "I don't ever want war," said the woman, Chiyoka Takakura, 96, whose husband died in the Philippines. "I am asking his spirit to protect us all." Takakura and others, mostly elderly but some younger mourners remembering older family members, each placed a chrysanthemum on the stage. "I feel once again a deep sadness for those many who lost their precious lives and for their families," Akihito said, attending the ceremony with his wife Michiko. "I pray for the continued prosperity of our nation and for world peace." Tomoaki Iwai, a professor of politics at Nihon University, said Kan's shunning the Yasukuni visit underlined the Democrats' liberal-leaning pacifist policies. "His decision is in line with what would be expected of the Democrats," he said. Kan also paid respect at a far less controversial memorial for the war dead, laying a bouquet before a grave for Japanese soldiers. Last week, he apologized to South Korea for Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Imperialist Japan committed atrocities in Asia, including forcing Koreans to fight as front-line soldiers, work in slave-labor conditions and serve as prostitutes in military-run brothels. In Seoul, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, speaking Sunday before a crowd packing a plaza near the former royal palace, said history should not be forgotten but urged Japan and his nation to work together for a new future. "I have taken note of Japan's effort, which represents one step forward," Lee said of Kan's apology.

^ Japan has not done enough to make up for what it did to Asia and the Allied countries during the war. First West Germany and then a united Germany has tried hard to admit its mistakes, ask forgiveness and make sure nothing like that could ever happen again in their country. Japan has shelled out some money, but does not fully admit all their mistakes or work to make sure it never happens again. They simply want it to go away. Both Germany and Japan did unspeakable horror during the war (mostly to innocent men, women and children.) It has been 65 years since we defeated them and won the war and yet in those 65 years only Germany has really tried to make amends. I have to say that even though people have tried to revise the war I think that the Allies did everything they could to end it sooner rather than later. I have studied the effects of the atom bombs on Japan and even though people today try to say it was not called for I fully support the US using both bombs on Japan. I am sure that had we had them ready before we defeated Germany we would have used them there - and I would support that as well. The atom bombs ended the war in a more effective way then any invasion ever could. That fact will never change no matter how many years past. ^

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100815/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_war_shrine