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© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016.Abe may not be first sitting Japanese PM to visit Pearl Harbor : spokesman
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Yubaru
So? I am quite sure that if Yoshida HAD visited the Arizona memorial there would be a story somewhere about it and the world would have taken notice.
Maybe it was a "private" visit like when these politicians visit that temple......
toshiko
After Yoshihisa came back he gave rein to Ikeda. Only one political party,, then. Several opinion magazines published. I read on Asahi and Mainichi.
PhantomAgent
I love how governments are so quick to use the "unable to confirm" defence when there is something they don't want to talk about. It happens all over the world not just in Japan.
ratherbsurfin808
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/34004074/not-the-first-abe-predecessor-visited-pearl-harbor-in-1951
1glenn
The meeting with Pres. Obama may be the last time for awhile when leaders from the two countries can talk sensibly.
5SpeedRacer5
Oh look. Someone did not read the article:
"am quite sure that if Yoshida HAD visited the Arizona memorial there would be a story somewhere about it and the world would have taken notice"
yeah. Well the article SAYS clearly that the Arizona memorial did not even exist then, so good luck with that search for a newspaper article about it. But anyway, the cemetery is known as THE PUNCH BOWL colloquially now, and it was there and it is very close to Pearl Harbor. Because there was no memorial at the Arizona, he did not offer any particular prayers there, but almost all of those killed on Dec. 7 were buried at the Punch Bowl, as far as I know, so I say Yoshida gets the prize here.
In fact, If anyone is really interested, it might be fruitful to look at the history of the Arizona memorial itself. It has become symbolic, but it was not always so, and part of the reason it might have been chosen as a symbol is the horrible way many of those men died, and were left to die, which made recovery of the bodies problematic. Simply turning the ship into a memorial solved a lot of problems and swept a scandal or two under the rug.
Maybe that is true of a lot of memorials. Look at a Vietnam memorial and you see long lists of names, but the memorial itself won't help anyone to understand the war itself. Same goes for 9/11 ground zero displays. Memorials are strangely acontextual. They are symbolic, but the MEANING of the symbol changes over time. People are noticeably more belligerent about the Arizona Memorial since 9/11, even though the diplomatic relationship with Japan has not changed much, if at all. So... what does that say about the symbolism?.. and Americans in general?
ThonTaddeo
Such opportunity ended the day Abe got elected.
Jandworld
So a spokesman has to anounce, what, going to the attack, but not the victims of that war.
Aly Rustom
Another stupid answer from the Nippon Kaigi muppet with satellites for ears Suga. Really? You can't confirm where a PM of your country was at such a historic moment? Really? You're either lying or an incompetant fool. Or both. I'm going with both.
toshiko
Yoshida visited Hawaii moaned young Kamikaze pilots who went there to die on Mitsubishi zero with one way fuels. Their parents were hiding Sayonara letters and poems of their sons until one journalist persuaded to reveal. Even war was over in 1945, people never trusted gov't. Politicians who were in jails during war were released by GHQ and worked to rebuild Japan.