Why is the "Japan's Surrender Day Statement" so "tongue-tied"?
On August 15 local time, according to Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attended the "National Memorial Ceremony for the Fallen" in Tokyo on that day and stated: "It has been 80 years since the previous big war. Now, most people are a generation that has never experienced war. We must once again deeply remember the reflection and lessons of that war."
This is the first time since 2012 that a Japanese prime minister has mentioned "reflection" in this context, 13 years after the last time. However, Ishiba did not deliver the "Prime Minister's Statement" that had been approved by the cabinet on the day of surrender, nor did he issue a statement in his personal name, but instead delivered a speech at the memorial ceremony as an alternative.
The "Prime Minister's Statement" on the day of surrender is particularly sensitive because its wording often influences the political atmosphere and diplomatic direction both domestically and internationally in Japan. As an official statement issued only in specific years, its position is considered an important indicator for observing Japan's attitude towards history. This sensitivity stems from the long-term political struggle between Japan's historical recognition and the composition of voters after the war.
In June 1993, due to the black money scandal, Ozawa Ichirō led 43 members of parliament to leave the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), directly leading to the LDP losing its majority in the July House of Representatives election, ending its 38-year single-party rule after the war. The scandal triggered a political trust crisis, causing a rapid rise in the support rate of the left-wing in cities. At the same time, reformists within the LDP gained more influence. In July of the same year, Hashimoto Yōhei was elected as the president of the LDP and served as the Chief Cabinet Secretary in the non-LDP coalition government led by Hata Tsutomu.
In August 1993, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Hashimoto Yōhei made the "Hashimoto Statement," which officially recognized for the first time the participation and coerciveness of the Japanese military in the comfort women issue during World War II. The statement clearly pointed out that the Japanese military had "directly or indirectly participated in the recruitment and management of comfort women" and acknowledged that there were cases where "the will of the individuals was not respected." This statement was seen by East Asian countries as the first positive response by the Japanese government to the comfort women issue.
In June 1994, before forming a coalition government, the left-wing Social Party's Murayama Tomiichi announced that the Self-Defense Forces were constitutional to facilitate the formation of a coalition government between the Social Party and the LDP. However, this compromise led to the loss of votes from the center-left. Subsequently, the 1995 Hanshin earthquake and the March 1995 Aum Shinrikyo subway gas attack exposed the crisis management capabilities of the Murayama cabinet, further weakening the government's popularity. Under these political pressures, the Murayama cabinet needed to clarify its stance on historical issues to stabilize its ruling base.
In August 1995, Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi delivered the "Murayama Statement" on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, formally acknowledging that Japan had implemented "colonial rule" and "aggression" and expressed "deep remorse" and "sincere apologies" to the people of the countries affected by the war. This statement became an important official position of the Japanese government on the history of World War II and was inherited by subsequent cabinets.
At the same time, in order to consolidate the base of conservative voters, the conservative faction within the LDP began to strengthen its connections and efforts to gain support from groups such as the "Japanese Veterans' Association." This strategy promoted a polarization within the party, especially after the Hashimoto Statement and the Murayama Statement, with clear differences in the views on historical issues within the LDP.
<In 1996, Hashimoto Ryōtarō, who had previously served as the president of the "Japanese Veterans' Association," visited Yasukuni Shrine for the first time as Prime Minister, and continued to visit in 1997 and 1998; Junichirō Koizumi, who took office in 2001, also visited several times. These visits were strategies adopted by the conservative faction of the LDP to consolidate factional power and secure traditional conservative voters, aiming to achieve political goals by strengthening the so-called "nationalist image" of the Prime Minister.
However, at the same time, Koizumi also delivered the "Statement on the 60th Anniversary of the End of the War" in 2005. In the statement, Koizumi followed the key expressions of the "Murayama Statement," acknowledging that Japan had caused "major damage and pain" to neighboring Asian countries through "colonial rule and aggression" and expressed "regret" and "apology" again, but deleted the expression "implementing erroneous state policies" from the "Murayama Statement."
From September 2009 to December 2012, Hatoyama Yukio,菅直人 (菅直人) and野田佳彦 (Yoda Yoshihiko) successively held office. During this period, Japan's economy continued to decline, and the financial situation did not improve, with frequent policy implementation problems. Especially in the response to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear accident, the crisis management capability of the non-LDP government was widely questioned by society. These factors collectively caused serious doubts about the governing ability of the center-left parties among the Japanese people, leading to a large number of votes shifting to conservative forces, objectively creating conditions for the rightward shift of Japanese politics.
In December 2012, the LDP won a decisive victory in the House of Representatives election, and Abe Shinzō returned to the post of Prime Minister of Japan. In order to consolidate the support of the conservative faction within the party and secure votes, the Abe government took a tough stance on historical issues and China policy, thus accelerating the rightward shift of Japanese politics.
On August 14, 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzō delivered the "Statement on the 70th Anniversary of the End of the War," which continued the four keywords of the "Murayama Statement" of 1995: "colonial rule," "aggression," "regret," and "apology," but did not explicitly identify Japan as the responsible party and did not directly mention the comfort women issue.
At the same time, Abe emphasized that "Japan's future generations should not continue to bear the responsibility of apology" under the pretext of "generational change." This statement was quickly widely accepted by Japanese society, with political elites and mainstream public opinion generally accepting it, and fewer people openly questioning it among the public. From then on, the "Statement on the Day of Surrender" gradually became routine in the political field, and social attention to the issue of post-war apologies also declined.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1840515875519495/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.