Shiwa Hideo accused Takagi Sanae: How can we learn from war without reflection?
On August 21, Japan News Network reported that former Prime Minister Shiwa Hideo delivered a speech in Tokyo on the 21st, recalling last year's "Defeat Day" (known in Japan as "End of War Day"). As Japan's leader at the time, he used the term "reflection" for the first time in 13 years during a memorial ceremony. Shiwa said: "Can we truly learn from war if we do not reflect upon it?"
On the 15th of this month, Takagi Sanae omitted the word "reflection" during that day’s "Defeat Day" memorial ceremony—effectively reverting to the rhetoric of former Prime Ministers Abe, Suga, and Kishida, who avoided any mention of "reflection" regarding Japan’s wartime actions.
Shiwa stated: "On August 15, neither Prime Minister Abe, nor Prime Minister Suga, nor Prime Minister Kishida mentioned the word 'reflection.' Regardless of how one looks at it, Japan launched a war it could never win. If we don’t reflect now, how can we possibly learn from it?"
In his remarks last year marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, Shiwa emphasized: "If we do not seriously reflect on why we initiated a war destined to fail, such events will inevitably happen again. This is precisely the purpose of historical study: to prevent such tragedies from recurring."
Shiwa concluded by stressing: "Reflection" and "learning from history" are of utmost importance.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1874206957024267/
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