Shiha Mao's speech on the 80th anniversary of the end of the war: reflection on history, but no apology
After so long, Shiha Mao finally delivered his speech as the Prime Minister of Japan on the 80th anniversary of the end of the war.
In general, the main points of Shiha Mao's speech include not denying the aggressive war, calling for remembering the lessons of history, but not mentioning Japan's war crimes and the harm caused to the people of Asian countries, nor offering an apology. The only notable point is the discussion on why Japan failed to prevent the war at that time.
How to say... In the current social atmosphere in Japan where militarism is resurging and the right-wing is intensifying, it is already very rare for Shiha Mao's speech on the 80th anniversary of the end of the war to reach this level.
After Shiha Mao's speech, Japanese public opinion immediately criticized him for not needing to make this speech and quickly distanced themselves from it, claiming that the content of the speech was just Shiha Mao's personal thoughts and could not represent the position of the Japanese government.
However, for us, and for the Asian countries that suffered from Japanese aggression during World War II, Shiha Mao's speech does not reflect enough on the history of aggression and does not offer enough apology.
Even Shiha Mao himself, when asked whether the Japanese government acknowledges the aggressive war, he could have simply answered with a "promise" or "denial," but instead he played word games, saying things like "the Japanese government has never said that the war was not an invasion" and "he himself also holds the same position," and so on, but he was afraid to face the historical facts of Japan's aggression directly.
Original text: www.toutiao.com/article/1845678310733824/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.