DATE=6/23/95 TITLE=JAPAN'S AMBIGUOUS APOLOGY INTRO: WITH THE APPROACH OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF WORLD WAR TWO (SEPT. 2ND, 1945), THE JAPANESE PARLIAMENT, OR DIET, HAS ENACTED A RESOLUTION "EXPRESSING REMORSE" FOR ITS RECORD BEFORE AND DURING THE WAR. IN THIS REPORT, WRITTEN BY ANDREW BAROCH, EXAMINES WHY MANY OBSERVERS -- INCLUDING MANY JAPANESE -- BELIEVE THE STATEMENT IS WATERED-DOWN AND INCOMPLETE. TEXT: THE RESOLUTION APPROVED BY THE JAPANESE DIET -- IN ITS WORDS -- "RECALLS" THE "MANY ACTS OF AGGRESSION AND COLONIAL RULE IN WORLD HISTORY" AND EXPRESSES -- AGAIN, QUOTING -- "DEEP REMORSE FOR THESE KINDS OF ACTIONS CARRIED OUT BY OUR COUNTRY IN THE PAST...WHICH BROUGHT UNBEARABLE PAIN TO PEOPLE ABROAD, ESPECIALLY IN ASIAN COUNTRIES." NATHANIEL THAYER, PROFESSOR OF ASIAN STUDIES AT THE JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES IN WASHINGTON, D-C, SAYS THE PARLIAMENT'S STATEMENT IS A VERY RESTRAINED APOLOGY. TAPE CUT ONE -- THAYER "THAT SORT OF SAYS, 'WE ARE APOLOGIZING FOR DOING WHAT EVERY EUROPEAN NATION WAS DOING.' IT'S NOT MUCH OF AN APOLOGY." TEXT: TWO-HUNDRED-30 OF THE 511 JAPANESE LEGISLATORS VOTED IN FAVOR OF THE RESOLUTION. MANY MEMBERS WHO BOYCOTTED THE VOTING, WHICH WAS HELD EARLIER THIS MONTH (JUNE 9TH), WANTED SPECIFIC REFERENCES TO JAPANESE ATROCITIES AS WELL AS A MORE EXPLICIT APOLOGY. CHALMERS JOHNSON, PRESIDENT OF THE JAPAN POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION ABOUT TRANS-PACIFIC POLICY ISSUES, SAYS THE APOLOGY SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE SPECIFIC: TAPE CUT TWO -- JOHNSON "I THINK, ABOVE ALL, ONE WOULD SAY SOMETHING LIKE: 'JAPAN'S MISSION IN EAST ASIA IN THE 1930'S WAS NOT WITHOUT SOME MERIT IN THAT IT CERTAINLY DID RELATE TO OPPOSITION TO EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN COLONIALISM, BUT THE WAY IN WHICH THIS MISSION WAS CARRIED OUT, THE ACTIVITIES OF THE JAPANESE ARMY, IN THEIR TREATMENT OF CHINESE, SOUTHEAST ASIANS, THE PHYSICAL DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY OF MANILA -- THESE TOTALLY DESTROYED ANY POTENTIAL LEGITIMACY THEY HAD. MOREOVER, IN CLAIMING THEY WERE OPPOSED TO COLONIALISM, THEY HAVE NEVER COME TO GRIPS WITH THE FACT THAT THEY RAN ONE OF THE MOST BRUTAL COLONIAL REGIMES IN EAST ASIA; THAT IS, KOREA, BETWEEN 1905 AND 1945." TEXT: OPINIONS POLLS SUGGEST THAT WHILE MOST JAPANESE FAVOR A STRONGER EXPRESSION OF REMORSE THAN THE ONE CONTAINED IN THE PARLIAMENTARY RESOLUTION, VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES ARGUED IT WOULD DISHONOR -- AND BE UNFAIR TO -- JAPAN. LARRY NIKSCH (NICKSH) IS A SPECIALIST IN ASIAN AFFAIRS FOR THE CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE, A NON-PARTISAN RESEARCH ARM OF THE U-S CONGRESS. TAPE CUT THREE -- NIKSCH "THERE IS A VIEW IN JAPAN THAT JAPAN'S RECORD IN ASIA IN THIS CENTURY -- AND THE CRITICISM OF IT -- REPRESENT SOMEWHAT OF A DOUBLE STANDARD, IN THAT WHILE THOSE JAPANESE WHO TAKE THIS VIEW ARE WILLING TO ADMIT SHORTCOMINGS IN JAPAN'S RECORD, THEY BELIEVE THERE'S A DOUBLE STANDARD IN THAT THE RECORD OF THE EUROPEAN COLONIAL POWERS -- IN THEIR VIEW -- IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE SAME SCRUTINY WITH REGARD TO THE POLICIES OF THE BRITISH AND THE FRENCH, IN PARTICULAR, AND THE DUTCH IN SOUTHEAST ASIA DURING THE PERIOD IN THIS CENTURY, WHEN THE THREE EUROPEAN POWERS RULED LARGE AREAS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA." TEXT: MR. NIKSCH ADDS THAT MANY JAPANESE ALSO FEEL THEIR NATION WAS VICTIMIZED BY THE WAR. TAPE CUT FOUR -- NIKSCH "THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI HAVE BEEN DWELLED UPON AND FEATURE PROMINENTLY IN REMEMBRANCES AND COMMEMORATIONS IN JAPAN RELATED TO WORLD WAR TWO. THE TRAGEDY OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI -- THE LARGE-SCALE LOSS OF LIFE AND THE SUFFERING THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS HAVE PRODUCED -- HAVE GIVEN RISE TO WHAT THEY CALL THE VICTIMIZATION COMPLEX IN JAPAN, THE SENSE OF THE JAPANESE PEOPLE BEING THE VICTIMS OF THIS KIND OF MILITARY ACTION BY THE UNITED STATES." TEXT: JAPAN IS ALSO STILL BITTER ABOUT THE MISTREATMENT OF THOUSANDS OF JAPANESE PRISONERS OF WAR, WHO WERE HELD IN PRISON CAMPS INSIDE THE SOVIET UNION FOR AS LONG AS TEN YEARS AFTER THE WAR. WHY SUCH STRONG EMOTIONS 50 YEARS AFTER WORLD WAR TWO? CHALMERS JOHNSON COMPARES JAPAN TO ITS FORMER AXIS PARTNER, GERMANY: TAPE CUT FIVE -- JOHNSON "ONE OF THE REASONS, IN SOME WAYS, WE HAVE MUCH MORE FORTHRIGHT DISCUSSIONS OF THESE ISSUES IN GERMANY IS PRECISELY BECAUSE THE GERMANS BECAME A FULL-FLEDGED MEMBER OF NATO IN MAY OF 1955 AND ENTERED INTO AN ACTIVE ALLIANCE WITH THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER WESTERN POWERS, CONCERNED WITH THE SECURITY OF THEIR AREA. THE JAPANESE THEN WERE PROHIBITED FROM CONTRIBUTING IN ANY WAY TO THEIR OWN NATIONAL SECURITY, WHILE DEVOTING THEMSELVES ENTIRELY TO ECONOMIC AFFAIRS. MANY OF THESE ISSUES THAT DATE FROM 50 YEARS AGO HAVE BEEN IN A DEEP FREEZE THROUGHOUT THE COLD WAR, AND ONE OF THE REASONS THEY ARE SO SALIENT TODAY IS THAT THE COLD WAR IS OVER, LEAVING MANY OF THESE OLD ISSUES FROM THE ALLIED OCCUPATION EXPOSED AND JUST AS LIVELY AS THEY WERE WHEN THEY WERE PUT IN DEEP FREEZE 50 YEARS AGO." TEXT: CHALMERS JOHNSON CONCLUDES THAT -- AS HE PUTS IT -- "JAPAN MUST COME TO GRIPS WITH THE OTHER NATIONS OF EAST ASIA THE WAY GERMANY HAS COME TO GRIPS WITH THE NATIONS IT VICTIMIZED DURING WORLD WAR TWO." IN THE PAST, SOME EAST ASIAN GOVERNMENTS -- LIKE CHINA, SOUTH KOREA, AND SINGAPORE -- HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY CRITICAL OF JAPAN'S EDUCATION SYSTEM, FOR INSTANCE, WHICH TEACHES LITTLE ABOUT THE NATION'S WARTIME ACTIVITIES AND COLONIAL EXPANSION. BUT LARRY NIKSCH OF THE CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE NOTES OTHER NATIONS IN THE AREA ARE NOT SO CRITICAL. TAPE CUT SIX -- NIKSCH "THAILAND, MALAYSIA, BURMA, AND INDONESIA HAVE NOT TAKEN A STRONG STAND ON THESE ISSUES. IN FACT, MALAYSIAN AND INDONESIAN GOVENRMENT OFFICIALS, AS WELL AS THAI GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, TAKE THE POSITION THAT IT IS NOW TIME TO MOVE ON, THAT JAPAN HAS DONE ENOUGH IN TERMS OF ACKNOWLEDGING ITS RECORD, THAT THEY DO NOT EXPECT FROM JAPAN ANY MORE APOLOGIES OR ACTS OF CONTRITION; THAT, AS FAR AS THEY'RE CONCERNED, THE BOOK IS CLOSED." TEXT: BUT MOST OBSERVERS BELIEVE THE CONTROVERSY IS LIKELY TO LINGER UNTIL THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT FINDS THE POLITICAL CONSENSUS TO MAKE A FULL AND UNAMBIGUOUS APOLOGY. AND THAT MAY TAKE AWHILE -- JUDGING FROM RECENT COMMENTS BY A TOP OFFICIAL IN THE GOVERNMENT'S RULING COALITION, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER MICHIO WATANABE'S (MEE-CHEE-OH WHAH-TUH-NAH-BAY) OF THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY. ACCORDING TO MR. WATANABE, KOREA HAD -- AS HE PUT IT -- "HARMONIOUSLY" AGREED TO JAPANESE OCCUPATION IN 1910 -- DESPITE THE CLEAR, HISTORICAL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY. A JAPANESE NEWSPAPER, "ASAHI SHIMBUN", (AH-SAH-HEE SHIM-BOON) EXPRESSED SHOCK THAT MR. WATANABE HAD INTERPRETED HISTORY, IN ITS WORDS, "IN SUCH AN OUTRAGEOUS WAY." MARKING 50 YEARS OF PEACE AFTER THE END OF WORLD WAR TWO -- OBSERVERS SAY -- JAPAN HAS STILL NOT COME TO TERMS WITH ITS PAST AS AN AGGRESSOR. (SIGNED) NEB / AJB / PCH 23-Jun-95 4:20 PM EDT (2020 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America