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| Emperor Akihito (Image: Wiki Commons) |
By Franz-Stefan Gady
Japan’s Emperor Akihito appears to be determined to remind his people of the horrors of the World War II.
Japanese Emperor Akihito’s August 15 remarks to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the unconditional capitulation of the Empire of Japan to the United States proved to be a “dagger rather than a sword” to quote John Delury from a recent exchange I had with him on Twitter.
While, Emperor Akihito expressed “deep remorse” for the war at a memorial service and “a deep and renewed sense of sorrow,” he did not openly attack the somewhat ambiguous August 14 statement of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the same subject – the latter’s remarks were filled with rhetorical twists and did not offer a new apology to Japan’s wartime victims.
Although the Japanese emperor is a mere figurehead and barred by Japan’s constitution from making any political statements, some observers expected a more forceful (but still subtle) critique of Shinzo Abe’s revisionist politics, with which Akihito apparently vehemently disagrees with.
Nevertheless, it was the first time that the emperor uttered the phrase “deep remorse” at the Nippon Budokan hall in Tokyo during the annual so-called “National Memorial Service for the War Dead.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat