Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors more than a thousand indicted war criminals from the country's colonialist past. But, just as Japanese rightists are criticized for whitewashing history, so China would do well to reconsider its own wartime past.
OXFORD – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine has enraged the Chinese and South Korean governments and ignited – no surprise – a firestorm of protest across Asia. The shrine, which honors more than a thousand indicted war criminals who took part in Japan’s disastrous war in Asia, remains a place of fascination for Japanese rightists, who persist in claiming that Japan’s war in Asia was a war of liberation against Western imperialism.
OXFORD – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine has enraged the Chinese and South Korean governments and ignited – no surprise – a firestorm of protest across Asia. The shrine, which honors more than a thousand indicted war criminals who took part in Japan’s disastrous war in Asia, remains a place of fascination for Japanese rightists, who persist in claiming that Japan’s war in Asia was a war of liberation against Western imperialism.