politics

Kan pledges Japan's commitment to peace on 65th anniversary of WWII's end

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A commitment to peace. Fine. Obviously japan will never attack anyone as it's so weak. But what will they do when China arrives to take over?? Wave Kitty in their faces??

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Then try LDP scum who voted in favour of the Iraq War for Crimes Against Peace. That way you can make a show for the international community and get rid of your political enemies. That's killing 2 birds with one stone.

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doesnt matter no one will be listening or it will be barely reported elsewhere... more important to promote how great ones country is in those places by ramming war history down our neck. peace can wait... while kids are still dying from depleted uranium shells from wars that have since gone by... thats how serious people take wars and bombing of Japan and have learnt little.. because the the practice of long term suffering still goes on after say for example the gulf war was finished. Most people think a war is a simple thing that is over in a few weeks. evident by recent wars devoid of planning for anything after an initial punch up with little thought about what happens next.

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To WMD, chinese people will not as bad as you! sohai....

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Props to Kan and the Emporer. They did the decent thing, and I hopethe rest of Japan will listen. Time for a change to the textbooks, perhaps?

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We, the victims of world war II are a peace loving nation...

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If Japan learnt its lesson, it will not interfere in the affairs of its victims: most notably, the affairs the Korean people's designs to destroy one another or the Chinese from annexing their neighbours by threat of force.

and let us remember that any perceived public building projects conducted in Korea during the occupation were purely out of Japan's self interest to benefits its own people. Any attempts by any historian to highlight both good and bad effects of colonialism is mere hubris and fruitless. Japan is an evil empire, it can only do evil.

Finally, all those historical revisionists who say that the war crimes trials are unfair because the judges of those proceedings were all Allied military officers should go to hell. We all know the defendants all had legal assistance, that's enough to conclude that they were fair trials and the damned were duly convicted.

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It is important that the new DPJ-led Government of Prime Minister Kan dissociate itself from previous LDP Governments whose Ministers made a point of officially visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, outraging China, Korea and much of Southeast Asia. The Kan Government is thus demonstrating Japan's contrition for its WWII atrocities and is standing by the 1977 Fukuda Doctrine, pledging that Japan will never again be a military power that wages aggressive war on its neighbours. Although building up its defensive military capability (faced with North Korean missile tests and Chinese armament expansion), Japan is still primarily a pacifist state, which never again wishes to wage open warfare nor to suffer massive damage through bombing and missile attack. There are those who wish to see Japan become a so-called 'normal' nation, armed with nuclear weapons and endowed with the capability to wage full scale war - presumably in support of its closest ally the United States. The Kan Government, by its words and its actions, has shown that such developments will not occur "on its watch" and that Japan will remain a "global civilian power", offering the benefits of peaceful commerce, generous amounts of Official Development Assistance grants and only humanitarian military support in the world's trouble spots. Japan has greatly benefitted from peace over the past 65 years and the historical lesson has not been lost, despite nationalistic calls for re-armament. Prime Minister Kan has rightly promised that Japan will never again endanger the peace of the world, nor try once more to gain by brutal conquest what it has won by gentle diplomacy.

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I actually want Asia to see Japan not intervene in any conflict, whether it be South Korea roasting under the barrage of the North's artillery fire, or the Chinese turning to the sea. We'll just tell anyone crying for help to go look to other nations that aren't being frivolously accused of resorting to WWII style imperialism whenever they attempt to defend themselves. :D

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A commitment to peace. Fine. Obviously japan will never attack anyone as it's so weak. But what will they do when China arrives to take over?? Wave Kitty in their faces??

Why would China attack one of its biggest business partners?

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Why would China attack one of its biggest business partners?

Why does China do business with the unatoning scourge of Asia?

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Even Sakamoto Ryoma is rolling in his grave with the way the DPJ is approaching this WWII redress issue.

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good job mr.kan, i think that you are the wisest japanese premier...

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wise at a glance i mean, looking at his character... but i dont know the truth, bcz im not japanese..

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I wonder how Japan got to be so peaceful.

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guguweng at 06:48 PM JST - 15th August To WMD, chinese people will not as bad as you! sohai....

No one in criticizing the Chinese people. The criticism is aimed at the Chinese government, the CCP which rules China with an authoritarian iron fist with disregard for the individual rights of the Chinese person and the rights of neighboring countries.

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chotto at 08:59 PM JST - 15th August Props to Kan and the Emporer. They did the decent thing, and I hopethe >rest of Japan will listen. Time for a change to the textbooks, perhaps

How about a change in all the other countries that don't have a peace constitution? Any chance the rest of the world will listen?

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Okay seriously please either stop using the word 'regret' or suggest another word that in fact refers to the actual intention meant.

Sure, it's a sense of sorry, yes, but more on the sense of disappointment. This makes people angry.

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I pray we will truly honor those who have died by doing all we can to prevent any war from happening again.

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Well, words do matter(and also action of course), but if the Japanese government continues to take the high road by saying the right things then the sniping and criticism of Japan will eventually ring hollow.

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paulinusa -- wishfull thinking. First, as history has shown, Japan's words are many times not backed up by concrete actions, or, worse, actions that contradict the words -- like white-washing things in their approved text books. Second, what will the words be in a couple of years (if that) when Kan and the DPJ are no longer in power? Just look at how many of the key LDP guys went to Yasakuni yesterday. Third, countries recognize that Japan has no real moral philosophy to base its foreign policy on. So things will always be subject to change, which creates a lack of trust.

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Hmm. What is the best example to show that your country is committed to peace?

Face up the past? Perhaps. Reduce arms? Perhaps. Not whitewash history? Perhaps.

How about your military not killing a single individual for the last 65 years???

And some people are whining about politicans visiting Yasukuni and what not. Sigh.

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This should be the last apology for awhile.

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Apologies made by Japan are meaningless. Like questions that receive no answers, or greetings that receive no response. Don't bother apologizing until the other party is ready and willing to accept it.

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