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Koji Sasahara / AP
Doves are released in prayer of perpetual peace by worshippers at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012. Japan marked the 67th anniversary of its World War II surrender with a somber memorial led by its emperor and other commemorations. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Issei Kato / Reuters
A man dressed as a Japanese imperial army soldier stands at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo August 15, 2012, on the 67th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.
Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP - Getty Images
Japanese Land and Transport Minister Yuichiro Hata (L) and fellow lawmakers visit the controversial Yasukuni shrine to honor the dead on the 67th anniversary of Japan's surrender from World War II, in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Reuters reports: A Japanese cabinet member paid homage at a controversial shrine for war dead on Wednesday -- the 67th anniversary of Tokyo's defeat in World War Two -- a move likely to further strain relations with China and South Korea.
Bitter memories of Japanese militarism run deep in China and South Korea and, despite close economic ties, relations with Beijing and Seoul have become increasingly fraught recently.
Bickering over rival territorial claims to rocky, uninhabited islands are the latest sign of how the region has yet to resolve differences over its past. Continue reading the full story.
Jason Lee / Reuters
Protesters hold a Chinese national flag and banners reading "Japan get out of Diaoyu islands" and "declare war against Japan" during an anti-Japan protest to mark the 67th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War Two, outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing August 15, 2012.
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God, these Chinese are such hypocrites. Shouting and protesting about Japan on their land what bout their invasion of the southeast Asia sea and Tibet? Murdering hundred of innocent civilians for oil and land.
If anything, the nations of Southeast Asia and Tibet should declare war on their greedy a s s.
You are the ignorant and racist! japan never repented. By visiting this gd shrine, they are declaring their Class A War CRIMINALS are "hero". japanese are worst than the Nazis.
Tibet has been a part of China since the 14th century. China never claim anything other than what was robbed from them in the first place.
Go get yourself an education before you spew.
the japanese ( and germans) were cruel & barbaric to our POWs! the unimaginable hell that those servicepeople went through while POWs should NEVER be forgotten. screw both of them!
Did we apologize for all the bombings in Nam? No, we didn't, and they're one of our best partners in business today (Vietnam). We go to Arlington to celebrate what we call heroes, and what others call criminals... the hypocrisy of some people has no limits.
So, what? The Japanese people aren't allowed to pay respects at a shrine for their soldiers because we've decided they're war criminals?
Don't get me wrong, I know how terrible POWs in Japan were treated, and I DO think those responsible were war criminals, but I also think that a statesman should be able to visit a srhine dedicated to his nation's soldiers without people declaring that he supports war crimes or any such nonsense.
To this day most Japanese feel Japan had no blame for the Pacific war in WWII. That's very different from Germany, where most Germans know that Hitler was to blame for starting WWII. This touches on complex sociology and history, but it is a fact. I have to admit that if I was Chinese I would really, really dislike Japanese, but I'm not that bad.
Tetrapoda: Where did you get the information that "[t]o this day most Japanese feel Japan had no blame for the Pacific war in WWII"? No Japanese I have ever spoken to has ever maintained that (and this includes three acquaintances whose ancestors were convicted of war crimes). No conversation in Japanese I have ever overheard has contained that contention. No textbooks used in primary and secondary education in Japan over the last 50 years contain that contention. (No, I have not read them all, but I've read what I think is an adequate sampling of them, and I've read the Ministry of Education's recommendations for textbooks as well.)
That said, I have heard such contended many times over the years, in public: the words have come exclusively from right-wing radicals/revisionists speaking--ranting, I would say--from the sound trucks ubiquitous in downtown Tokyo (in the government or diplomatic quarters). Nevertheless, I've never heard anyone not in such groups agree with the contentions.
Of course, it's possible my experience is warped--because I am (obviously) not Japanese, it's possible that everyone in my vicinity has always been guarded enough to hide sentiments they would otherwise express--and that my research was not, in fact, adequate--after all, I am not a professional historian--so if you could provide some source(s) for what you write it would be greatly appreciated.
I currently live in Japan and find all of this very sad but funny at the same time. Korea and China are both trying to claim islands belonging to Japan. Why now you ask, because of the possibility of oil and natural gasses. I find it funny that each of the countries have never made claim to the islands until the possibility of money came into the picture. It's all about greed....
Japan has offered to take the matter to the world court, Korea and China refuse to go knowing they do not have a leg to stand on.
As for the Japanese government, you couldn't look any weaker. They are all talk and no action. Just tonight on of the governors stated he was mad and upset....... It's no wonder why Japan continues to get walked on by other countries, grow some balls and take action for once.........
Nothing belongs to japan. Postdam Declaration clearly stated japan had to return ALL INVADED terroritories back to their rightful owners. That includes Daioyu Islands, which IS part of the Taiwan perfecture. Even japanese historians from their own universities publicly stated that these land do not belong to japan. The greedy and robber is the japanese, not Chinese and Koreans.
As for going to world court, do you know who controls these courts? usa, japan's and phillipines's benefitor. The outcome is foreseen. It was usa who handed Daioyu Island to japan in the first place, to create conflicts in Asia. That's how usa will profit from the situation.
you might want to learn some history check who own daioyu island before sin-japan war, and who own korean-japan dispute island before wwii
msg....they did take action once...and it cost them 2 major cities......
"The greedy and robber is the japanese, not Chinese and Koreans."
Why would you absolve the Chinese or Koreans of being greedy? You think they're not making a grab for every resource they have even the barest claim to?
Obviously you hate the United States and probably our allies too Toronto, and that's fine. Whatever. But you can't seriously believe that nations are pure and good simply by virtue of standing up to us and our friends. There's nobody involved in this that isn't motivated by greed.
There is nothing wrong with trying to get back what was ROBBED from you in the first place. japan robbed Taiwan from China in 1895. Daioyu Islands, which is a part of the Taiwan perfecture, was robbed together with Taiwan. If you ignorants had bother to take a look at any maps, you would have noticed that Daioyu Islands are right next to Taiwan. In fact, it is connected to Taiwan.
In the early 70's, usa "gave" Daioyu Islands to japan for "administration" purpose. By doing so, ignoring protest from Taiwan and China, usa has laid the seed for conflicts for decades to come. Why would usa do that? Because you can only profit from conflicts, not peace. Last month, the spokesperson for the President of Taiwan publicly stated that usa is the biggest THREAT to peace in Asia, by undermining ALL their peace efforts with China.
Screw Japan. Drop a few more nukes on them.
Germany apologized for ww2 in 1946(Officially) Japan has YET to even accept responsibility for starting ww2 in 1933.
When the people of Nanking accept Japan's forthcoming apologies then so will I.
It won't happen.
Oh, so what?
They already lost the war and had their nation devastated, and they've rebuilt a nearly pacifistic society from a militaristic empire. Isn't that enough? Losing a war you started is its own punishment, and an apology isn't going to bring back the dead.
It's a new century; let's put WWII behind us, already!
Banaschar: You can start by checking here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan.
Then you can check the source pages at the bottom of the referenced page.
If somebody said "sorry", then slap you on your face and spit on you afterwards, is that really "apology"?
StopAllyourLies: Re #3.3 ("If somebody said 'sorry', then slap you on your face and spit on you afterwards, is that really 'apology'?"): In most cases, the answer would probably be "yes," unless you consider any apology to carry an implicit promise to refrain from ever offending the party apologized to again.
The point you are trying to make, I suppose, includes the supposition that what constitutes the offences for which the implicit promise to refrain from offense is made are to be determined unilaterally by the originally offended party and that, as I would guess you are alluding to Japan and China (with China as the offended party), differences in the parties or entities that made the apologies and committed the subsequent offences are unimportant, so that Murayama, for example, should be held responsible for the actions of Hatoyama.
This has been going on for a long time if ot isn't about land ownership it will be about something else.
In order to foster positive relations and keep lines of communication open, how about a revolving ownership of any disputed lands with ownership to change every 5,7, 10 years. This would require the 3 -4 countries to work together to effect long term solutions for these lands and more importantly reuire them to work together.
dietsun992 banned for making racist remarks and death wishing.
You sir, are disgusting, with your unveiled racism.
The planet belongs to no one. We humans are its caretakers...and we are doing a lousy job of it.
Robert, you're an egomaniac. You really believe we, all of us collectively are caretakers, as if we have the power, the ability, or the knowledge to be caretakers. We scramble across this planet doing whatever it is we do. The planet reacts to forces of the natural world, we're just along for the ride trying scratch out a living.
P.S. you are right however about "dietsun..." being disgusting and a racist.
Holy Cow, you folks are really motivated by this story. Students of history would gladly point out that Japan and Korea have invaded or attempted to invade each several times in the past six hundred years. And China...well, let he without sin cast the first stone. But all of this is just noise...hearkens back to when tribes would stand on opposite hillsides and shake spears and shout at each other. All noise, no flash. Based on these demonstrations all out war should soon break out between bankers and union members. Now there's two groups that stand a little nuking.
Tell that to the Jews and ask them to stop pursuing Nazis.
Japan made a huge mistake when they attacked the U.S. at Pearl Harbor...all they gained from that move was the Philippines!!! They probably could have moved against the Dutch East Indies as they had against French Indo-China the year before without war with America. That said..the Japanese should be supported by the U.S. in their efforts to recover the Kuriles and Southern Shakalin...seized by Stalin. One final point...there are some truly ignorant comments here about the treatment of our P.O.W.'s by the Germans as opposed to the Japanese...97% of ALL servicemen captured by the Germans came home safely...less then 40% of American captured by the Japanese got out alive!!! I do belive that modern Japan just like modern Germany are light years from the states that preceeded them!!!
NO FREE TRADE WITHOUT FULL EMPLOYMENT!!!
Not that this excuses anything, but the old Japanese warrior culture had no understanding of surrender. They saw capture by the enemy as being worse than dying in combat. The Nazis were obviously terrible, but they understood the modern rules of war at the time, which meant they (mostly) took proper care of POWs.
Really? It's controversial to honor your dead now?
I mean, it's commonly accepted among other nations that Japan was one of the "bad guys" of WWII, but politicians should still be able to visit a shrine and show their respect without people whining about it. If you're still riled up about the second World War for some reason, there are still actual neo-Nazi groups in existence; go complain about them. This is nothing.
The trouble is, the Shinto religion in Japan approved of the war and saw no shame in the way the Imperial government prosecuted the war. A senior politician of today visiting a Shinto shrine to those war dead is problematic; I also appreciate that many Japanese feel they should remember those war dead in a way that doesn't glorify them. And that's the crux; flying an Imperial naval jack really doesn't help calm feelings, either.
Japanese soldier's who died in WWII were just following orders.
They were just Soldier's and they died for their country and are Hero's to their people. They were following orders just as all good soldier's do.
We honor the US soldier's that were in Vietinam as hero's for doing what their countries thought was right.
Denounce the leaders of the countries not the war Soldiers\victims\family of a bad goverments policy.
We are so quick to judge other peoples motives the Soldiers did what their countries they loved told them to do.
I have family who fought on both sides of the Civil war and I respect all of them.
I have Cherokee\Mohawk ancestors who were mistreated by the US goverment but I still respect and Honor all the soldiers who fought on both sides.
Once again dishonnor the leaders who were evil not the Soldiers.
One man-3239417: Visiting Yasukuni Shrine is considered to be, if not actually paying homage, at least not giving due disrespect to the leaders of Japan during the second world war, not only the people "for doing what their countries thought was right."
There are other shrines in Japan at which one can pay one's respects to soldiers of the second world war--indeed, there is even a shrine to kamikaze pilots in my own neighborhood. To visit or not Yasukuni Shrine, especially on the day marked in Japan as the end of the war, is understood by all to be a political move. A minor, but not often mentioned, point is that some see a visit by an official to any shrine or temple as a violation of the constitutionally mandated separation of church (i.e., religious institutions) and state (this being why politicians usually [or perhaps always] stress that their visits are personal or unofficial).
Also, there is an entirely secular place (a museum named "Showa-kan") about 200 meters from Yasukuni Shrine (on the same street, but on the opposite side) that could well serve as a place to visit if one wanted only to symbolically show support for people killed in the war.
"Just following orders" didn't turn out to be a good defense, legally or morally, at Nuremburg in Germany. But it's too late to ask Hermann Goering or Rudolf Hess, I guess.
how about get out of TIBET you stupid chinese?
If some poster said get out of GAZA you stupid jew, he will be banned immediately by our moderator. When some posters said you stupid Chinese, nothing happens to him.
Sally where is your standard?
The story says that the purpose of the Japanese official’s trip was to “honor the dead”. “The dead” being Japanese soldiers who have been killed in battle. That seems appropriate to me; many countries have such events. But what would be even more appropriate would be for the Japanese government to apologize to the Japanese soldiers who fought and died in WWII, because the government sent them on a fool’s errand.
TexasArmadillo, I agree 100%. But Governments rarely admit their arrogance or mistakes. Do you see ours apologizing to our soldiers and their families for Viet Nam?
As far as this man honoring his Nation's war dead? I support him in his right to do so. The stupidity and shortsightedness of Japan's Imperialist leaders at the time detracts not one damn thing from the bravery and sacrifice of her soldiers. Barbaric acts happen in warfare; that's why we need to have less of them. Mourning and remembering an entire lost generation of Japanese youth is not the same as glorifying Japan's dead militarism.
It's a fine line between mourning and glorifying Japanese dead in WWII, that's the political reality. And I'm not nearly one of those people who refuses to buy Japanese products to this day.
yes and remeber what the american government did to thousands of native Indians, how the government stood around and watched slavery and lychings go on ...Their is no "good" war...Their are no rules in war but survive....Most of us just wanted to just go the hell home in one whole piece.....Waterboarding!
It was the Japanese government that allowed the 14 convicted class-A war criminals to be moved into the Yasukuni War Shrine in 1978. Bad move. The Yasukuni War Shrine also houses more than 1000 class-B and class-C war criminals who had been executed after being sentenced to death by the military tribunals of the Allied Forces. The presence of enshrined Class-A war criminals (such as Hideki Tōjō) at Yasukuni was the reason Emperor Hirohito refused to visit the shrine from 1978 until his death in 1989. Since the enshrinements, there have been calls from some groups of people to remove the war criminals from Yasukuni Shrine. That would be a wise thing to do. But would the Japanese militarist right wing allow that to happen?
Not ALL Japanese soldiers were War Criminals as perceived by many on this board just as ALL Germans who put on a Wehrmacht uniform were NOT War Criminals. One does NOT have the luxury of choosing one's birthplace or country of origin.
The Confederacy was defeated almost 150 years ago;however, there are Confederate statues comemerating Southern war dead as well as famous Southern military personalities from that era.
There is such a thing as good men fighting for bad cause.