The Japanese government is doubling down on its shameful campaign of historical revisionism. Last December, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japanese war criminals among other military leaders of the past. He did not apologize to the victims of Japanese colonialism and aggression that only ended with Japan’s defeat in World War II. Now Japan’s chief cabinet secretary has announced that Japan will revisit one of its rare post World War II apologies – its apology two decades ago to the hundreds of thousands of women forced into prostitution in Japanese wartime military brothels. The chief cabinet secretary announced a review of the historical evidence that had been relied upon in crafting the apology, known as the Kono Statement.
Prime Minister Abe, himself an ultra-nationalist, is bending to pressure from his supporters, who are even further to the right than he is. They claim that the apology to the coerced women should be revoked because, as reported by the New York Times, “they say there is insufficient objective evidence supporting the testimony of the women that the Japanese military forced them to provide sex.” Shinzo Abe himself, during his first term as prime minister in 2007, stated that he did not believe women were coerced into working at military brothels.
How preposterous and insulting this is to the victims of the former Japanese Imperial Army’s sexual slavery operation, whose first hand testimonies of their horrific experiences speak for themselves! What kind of “objective” evidence are Abe’s supporters looking for? Transcripts of the sexual encounters? Correspondence from the Japanese soldiers boasting of their sexual conquests? Post-mortem confessions from the war criminals honored at the Yasukuni Shrine?
As reported by the BBC, Abe “has openly questioned whether Japan should be defined as an ‘aggressor’, and he has campaigned for the revision of school history books to give a more positive view of Japan's war-time role.”
Beyond such crass attempts at historical revisionism, Abe’s government is ratcheting up Japan’s military to enable it to directly confront its neighbors, including China. In 2012, Japan spent approximately $60 billion on defense, at about the same level spent by either France or the United Kingdom. It is investing in drones, stealth aircraft and amphibious capabilities. “The military will also build a new marine unit, an amphibious force capable of retaking islands,” the BBC reported. Japan apparently wants to add military muscle behind its recent expansionist moves, including its takeover of a group of islands in the East China Sea to which China has its own claims based on history and geography.
To put Japan’s rising defense budget in perspective, it spent approximately 1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense in 2012. China, with a population approximately ten times the size of Japan’s, spent approximately 2% of its GDP on defense. On a per capita basis, Japan is spending $380 per capita, while China is spending $95. And Japan is increasing its spending on defense despite having the benefit of a defense shield provided by the United States.
Japan’s reversion to a nationalist agenda, including its attempts to whitewash its past atrocities, is a worrisome trend. However, in a possible hopeful sign, Prime Minister Abe has very recently put out conciliatory feelers, indicating a willingness to act towards Japan’s neighbors "in a humble manner." What this will mean in practical terms is unclear at the present time, particularly in view of the mixed signal sent by the Abe government’s decision to review the apology already made by a prior administration to the women victimized by the former Japanese Imperial Army’s sexual abuses.
