FOCUS: Japan's hard-won status as peace promoter tested 80 yrs after WWII
The day commemorating the millions of war dead should have been an opportunity for Ishiba to send out a strong message of peace and raise the alarm about the consequences of resorting to force especially as he sees the security environment as "the most severe" in the postwar period amid China's rise and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
But Ishiba only addressed a memorial ceremony on Friday, opting not to issue an official government statement to mark the 80th anniversary in break with the tradition of prime ministers who released their own on the 50th, 60th, and 70th anniversaries.
The decision not to release a statement was largely seen as heeding to conservative members of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who have been wary to see any remarks from Ishiba that would amount to an apology to countries that suffered under Japan's wartime aggression such as China and South Korea.
Regarding the 70th anniversary, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who pushed for Japan to play a greater security role overseas, stopped short of issuing a fresh apology, although he mentioned that Japan has "repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse" and offered its "heartfelt apology for its actions during the war."
Abe, a conservative who sought to realize the first-ever amendment of the Constitution drafted during the U.S. occupation of Japan after World War II, also said that future generations should not "be predestined to apologize."
The 2015 statement has led LDP conservatives to argue that it brought an end to Japan's "apology diplomacy" and that another official statement by Ishiba is unnecessary.
The anniversary came as Ishiba, a 68-year-old veteran politician known as an Abe critic, has been facing political headwinds following two key national election losses during his tenure, which started less than a year before.
Ishiba is still hoping to make public his personal view on the war, one that does not require Cabinet approval, but whether the statement would carry any substantial meaning remains to be seen.
Aiko Utsumi, a professor emeritus of Keisen University specializing in historical sociology, said, "I hope to see a statement by the prime minister that reflects his own views on history and sends a message to Asia on Sept. 2," the day when Japan signed the instrument of surrender in 1945.
Ishiba has stressed the need for mutual "trust" and "respect" in relations with other Asian nations that suffered Japan's wartime aggression and colonization.
This year, Ishiba traveled to Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, which he said allowed him to "revisit" history. On Iwoto Island, the site of a fierce World War II battle between Japan and the United States in the Pacific, he touted the "stronger-than-ever" bilateral security alliance achieved after the war through reconciliation.
"We must give thought to their history, be it that of Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia or Indonesia," he said during a recent event to discuss the future of Asia, underscoring the importance of closer ties with other Asian nations in upholding common values such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
A group of academics had called on Ishiba to issue an official 80th anniversary statement, saying it would serve as "a foundation of Japan's new diplomacy" at a time when the country needs to forge "multifaceted" relationships with countries in the region as U.S. President Donald Trump challenges the existing global order through his "America First" trade and security policies.
"We should carefully keep trying to remove the leftovers of prewar Japan that remain in Asian nations. Without such action, it is clear that there will be no true friendship nor cooperation," the Committee of Seven to Appeal for World Peace, founded in 1955 by Nobel Physics prize winner Hideki Yukawa, said in April.
To make sure Japan does not repeat the horrors of war, Ishiba vowed on Friday to "hand down across generations the sorrowful memories of the war and our resolute pledge to renounce war."
But perceptions of history among the younger generations appear to be shifting, even as many in the public still treasure the pacifism embedded in the Constitution.
In a poll by the Japan Association for Public Opinion Research, cited in the Kobe Shimbun daily newspaper earlier this month, the percentage of respondents who thought Japan engaged in "a war of aggression" decreased across all age groups from the 2015 survey, while those aged 29 and under who thought the fighting was "a war for self-defense" more than doubled to 19 percent.
Some constitutional experts have expressed concerns over the right-leaning opposition party Sanseito that appears to be broadening its appeal among young people with its "Japanese first" banner.
Sanseito, a populist party that rose to prominence through social media, has called for a new Constitution under which the emperor is "sacred." There is also no mention in their proposed Constitution that the sovereignty resides with the people or a guarantee of human rights.
The 1947 Constitution, created in response to Japan's wartime aggression, renounces war and bans the possession of military forces and other "war potential" in Article 9.
It also defined the emperor as "the symbol of the state and the unity of the people of Japan." This separation from the government came about after some 3.1 million Japanese died in World War II fighting in the name of Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa.
Masaaki Ito, a professor at Seikei University who has analyzed the recent rise of populism in Japan, said many people who support Sanseito do not necessarily do so because of its ultraconservative views, but they resonate with its push to make the lives of "lower-middle class" people better with aggressive fiscal spending enabled by the issuance of deficit-covering bonds.
"Even though those people do so because they agree with where the party stands on economic policy, there is a possibility that they will get aligned" with it over other issues down the road, the professor said.
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