"History is harsh" and other sick jokes

As expected (see "Sweeping History Under The Red Carpet"), Shinzo Abe delivered, under one of his trademark smokescreens, an unapologetic speech to the joint session of the US Congress.

The controversial Japanese PM took no chances ahead of the event:
- press muzzled at home (e.g. "Effort by Japan to Stifle News Media Is Working" by Martin Fackler - NYT 20150426)
- USA bribed with sweeteners (no to AIIB, yes to TPP), and of course the promise to D.C. hawks that the region will be over-militarized for the decades to come (Collective Self Defense)
- public opinion fooled with symbolic visits (ah, the irony of watching a war crime negationist visit a Holocaust museum, a sex slavery denier tour the Lincoln Memorial...)
- ...

So let's listen to his messages.

Video and transcript of Shinzo Abe's speech in US Congress. Needed big font to deliver his fine print revisionism (twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/593598281965441024)

Following his new mantra, Abe repeats that he "will uphold the views expressed by the previous prime ministers", but he never voices them, precisely because they include the closest thing to personal apologies ever uttered by past Japanese leaders.

Typically, where Murayama stated his personal remorse and apology ("my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology"*) over 'tremendous damage and suffering' caused to many nations by Japan's 'mistaken national policy', 'colonial rule and aggression', Abe keeps his distances and discards the key words 'apology', 'colonial rule' or 'aggression', and of course 'irrefutable facts of history' (see transcript). Even the 'human trafficking' tested on the way to D.C. disappeared. 

Fundamentally, Abe only refers to standard war casualties and collateral damage that occur in any kind of conflict: "History is harsh", people died on both sides, and Japan has not done anything worse than other belligerents. Again, you couldn't expect formal apologies from a man who devoted his whole life to the negation of war crimes and the destruction of post-war Japan (see Nippon Kaigi agenda). 

Abe can allow himself to get personal for the US victims of WWII ("with deep repentance in my heart"), but always remains distant from past embryos of apologies ("Post-war, we started out on our path bearing in mind feelings of deep remorse over the war") that are now restricted to the paragraph on Asian nations.

Abe's difference in treatment between the US and Asian nations reaches deeper than the need to tailor his speech for the US Congress: Abe clearly poses at the same level as the former (we fought each other, we're now friends, it was a good game, fair play, all is well), and leagues over the latter (the condescending "We must all the more contribute in every respect to the development of Asia. We must spare no effort in working for the peace and prosperity of the region").

In his speech, Abe mentions a couple of people present in the gallery, but of course not LEE Yong-soo halmoni, one of the last survivors of Imperial Japan's sexual slavery system. She came with Mike HONDA, who along with Steve Israel, Bill Pascrell, and Charles Rangell, took yet another stand at the Congress ahead of Abe's visit. GOP lawmakers were M.I.A. except Marco Rubio, who asked Shinzo Abe to cope with the issue... two days before licking his boots in a Wall Street Journal oped**. Some hawks / lobbyists / fundraisers must have reminded him that he could not say whatever he wanted during his presidential campaign.

Speaking of hawks: Shinzo Abe mentioned at least 3 fellow Nippon Kaigi followers in his speech: Yoshitaka Shindo, Fumio Kishida, and Gen Nakatani. The last two worked with John Kerry and Ashton Carter on a framework to push Abe and Nippon Kaigi's key reform, deliciously hyped as "a sweeping one in our post-war history".

If "the darkest night fell upon Japan" on March 11, 2011, history will also remember as a national tragedy the date Abe starts his destruction of post-war Japan by tearing down its peaceful constitution. A national tragedy except of course in the textbooks monitored by this jaded revisionist...

Gladly hiding behind Abe's smokescreen to push their own, more short-sighted agenda, the US clearly don't end up looking like the world's only hyperpower. And even if Abe didn't expose the triumphant body language of Netanyahu on the same soapbox a few weeks earlier, he clearly looks closer to his lifetime dream (Japan's nightmare) than ever.

Yesterday, at the Asan Plenum, Alexis Dudden distributed this Asahi Shimbun cartoon showing the leaders of the trilateral alliance (then LBJ, Park Chung-hee, Eisatu Sako) two days after the June 22, 1965 pact between Japan and Korea. Carrying the diminutive Park on his back, a towering Johnson says 'now I can rest easy, too' while his Asian partners shake hands:

twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/593276051041554432

The day after Shinzo Abe's speech in Congress, I guess it could show the US thanking Japan before leaving: 'thanks for taking care of the region, they need me somewhere else'. As they shake hands, the US and Japan seem to be of the same height, because the latter is standing on Korea's corpse.


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* key paragraph in Tomiichi Murayama's 1995 statement: "During a certain period in the not too distant past, Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the road to war, only to ensnare the Japanese people in a fateful crisis, and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations. In the hope that no such mistake be made in the future, I regard, in a spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history, and express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology. Allow me also to express my feelings of profound mourning for all victims, both at home and abroad, of that history"

** "Sen. Marco Rubio takes on Japanese prime minister over 'comfort women'" (L.A. Times 20150428) followed by "Asia Needs a Strong U.S.-Japan Alliance" (WSJ 20150430)

Sweeping History Under The Red Carpet

Shinzo Abe recorded his most significant diplomatic victory ever by receiving an invitation to give a speech to a joint session of the US Congress (probably on April 29, following a stop at the White House on April 28), a honor never given to any Japanese leader. Not even to his war criminal of a grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, who didn't have the full audience in 1957. Not even the poor Junichiro Koizumi, who was denied the prestigious soapbox in 2006, just because he refused to stop visiting Yasukuni.

No such guarantees were required from a Prime Minister who not only advocates visits to the controversial shrine and refuses to denounce Imperial Japan abuses, but also wrote a letter of support to a ceremony honoring war criminals. 

It seems that all Abe had to do was to deliver yet another one of his trademark elusive and deceptive smokescreens.

The Washington Post published last Thursday an interview hyped as groundbreaking because Shinzo Abe said that among 'Comfort Women' were people 'victimized by human trafficking', and because he said that 'women’s human rights were violated', but if you read the full text (see below*), his Nippon Kaigi - friendly positions have not changed a bit:

• First, regarding the key question 'are you a revisionist?', Abe doesn't answer, saying that only historians can judge.

• Second, about the Murayama, Kono, or Koizumi statements: as usual, Abe never says that he personally agrees with them. He uses 'I' only to make clear that 'we' / 'Abe cabinet' 'upholds' them so far, and 'is not reviewing' them right now. What 'I' want, what 'I' / my future cabinets will do in the future? You know the answer, because I've already used similar wordings before trying to do something different afterwards. Unfortunately, the WaPo didn't ask the most important question regarding his own August 15 statement for the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, the one everybody's asking across the region: will he dump the key references to 'aggression' and 'colonization'? I can't see how such a hardcore revisionist could say unequivocally that the Empire of Japan was an aggressor. Abe renouncing his lifetime goal? Simply impossible.

Minutes of Abe Statement advisory panel confirm debate over 'aggression' mention - 20150325 twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/580625172849410048

• Third, about Imperial Japan's sexual slavery system ('Comfort Women'), Abe's crocodile tears ('immeasurable pain and suffering beyond description, my heart aches') cannot hide the naked truth: he still refuses to name the culprits and to say that the Empire and its military were involved in the 'trafficking', and he still maintains that if there were violations, they were common to many wars (in his verbiose smokescreen lingua: "Hitherto in history, many wars have been waged. In this context, women’s human rights were violated"). That's the classic Nippon Kaigi's imposture: these women were willing prostitutes, if a few bad guys organized any traffic to recruit unwilling victims, they were local thugs (e.g. Korean, Chinese people selling their own), and Japanese authorities were never involved, and that's the kind of things that, alas, happen in every conflict.

You can trust Shinzo Abe on one thing: he has never changed his core positions and ambitions, and this interview only confirms how cunning he can be. 

You can trust him: he wants to make the most of this 2015 moments on stage at the US Congress and on August 15.

The US have not only their say, but the historic duty to prevent that. 
=> "The USA And Shinzo Abe: From Ostrich Policy To Complicity?"

How much #ABEIGNomics US Congress will swallow from Shinzo Abe an indicator of how far this negationist will go in Aug. 15 #AbeStatement - 20150321 twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/579158050835013633

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* See "David Ignatius’s full interview with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe".
David Igniatius:

"Is it accurate to say that you are a revisionist–that you would like to revise the picture of Japan so that it is, in your view, more accurate?"

Shinzo Abe:

"My opinion is that politicians should be humble in the face of history. And whenever history is a matter of debate, it should be left in the hands of historians and experts. First of all, I would like to state very clearly that the Abe cabinet upholds the position on the recognition of history of the previous administrations, in its entirety, including the Murayama Statement [apologizing in 1995 for the damage and suffering caused by Japan to its Asian neighbors] and the Koizumi Statement [in 2005, stating that Japan must never again take the path to war]. I have made this position very clearly, on many occasions, and we still uphold this position. Also we have made it very clear that the Abe cabinet is not reviewing the Kono Statement [in 1993, in which the Government of Japan extended its sincere apologies and remorse to all those who suffered as comfort women]

On the question of comfort women, when my thought goes to these people, who have been victimized by human trafficking and gone through immeasurable pain and suffering beyond description, my heart aches. And on this point, my thought has not changed at all from previous prime ministers. Hitherto in history, many wars have been waged. In this context, women’s human rights were violated. My hope is that the 21st century will be the first century where there will be no violation of human rights, and to that end, Japan would like to do our outmost."

The Unbearable Lightness of Being John Kerry

John Kerry was born two centuries too late: this Francophile Secretary of State with the heckuva $2 banknote mug* would have made a decent Plan B for Thomas Jefferson, but he had to face Karl Rove and his minions, and to live in a World where Asia matters more than Europe.

JFK Jr. dreams of being the guy who solved the Israel-Palestine conundrum, and tries his best to stay away from East Asian politics:

In 2013, John Kerry flew once to Seoul and Beijing, twice to Tokyo, 6 times to Paris, 9 times to Tel Aviv, and 12 times to Shannon (for "refueling" - Irish whiskey I presume)
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/434198414734008321

During his short stop in Seoul before Beijing, the SoS did something right on his way to or from Cheong Wa Dae: passing by the quintessential Seoul neighborhood Seochon (and more precisely in the now highly touristic Tongin Market**) to taste Korea's quintessential street food. Judging by the color, his tteokbokki wasn't that spicy; if John Kerry makes a face, that's because he's being forced to swallow East Asian politics:

Here with Ambassador Sung KIM, John Kerry eating tteokbokki in Tongin market
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/434131906032975874

KIM Jong-un's obviously not on a tteokbokki diet. Ever since he discarded uncle Jang, North Korea's "Beer Leader" has been drinking, eating, and smoking his way to heart attack:

After the purge, Kim The Third needs some fat cleansing.
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/433844655055069184

I mean look at this blob from a closer range!
"BREAKING: Flappy Bird grounded in North Korea as well!"
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/434137476047724544

So. Since neither Kim nor himself seem ready to move, Kerry drops the hot potato on XI Jinping's lap: "China has a unique and critical role it can play. No country has a greater potential to influence North Korea". And while you're at it, could you please stop building aircraft carriers, redrawing ADIZes, and claiming Senkaku/Diaoyu? We can't even make our partners agree on Dokdo/Takeshima...

Of course, the US have a unique and critical role they can play. No country has a greater potential to influence Japan and Korea, and they are very much aware of Shinzo Abe's amorality, but the revisionist PM has it all tied up: the US need Japan and they're kept busy with Okinawa reshuffles. Somehow, if Abe's as much a S.O.B. as his untried war criminal of a grandfather***, he remains their S.O.B.

So the US 'criticisms' remain totally indirect and nowhere near the face-losing zone: Abe's Yasukuni visit was a 'disappointment', and Barack Obama's 2-day state visit to Japan became a one day in Korea - one day in Japan stunt.

Even 89 year-old Tomiichi Murayama was more direct in his toned-down reference to Japan's "indescribable wrongdoings" yesterday, as he met survivors of Imperial Japan's sexual slavery system.

And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stood much more firmly for the victims as the clock keeps ticking****.

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* an "Forbes" for a middle name!
** don't get me wrong, I love that place, and I'm glad it's more alive and kicking than ever! See posts related to Tongin Market, including "Yeongcheon Market saved, Tongin Market already bukchonized" (November 2011), "Tongin market opens up to art : adaptation or yet another symptom of Seochon's "Bukchonization" ?" (July 2011)
*** see among other posts "The Elusive Independence Day - When will Japan officially proclaim its Independence from Imperial Japan?"
**** again, this essential case is gaining momentum in the US (most notably in NJ and CA), and reaches far beyond Japan or Korea (see for instance "First International Memorial Day for "Comfort Women"")

----
UPDATE 20140226
---

Read the backstory of Kerry's visit to Tongin Market (with a kinder picture of him): http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/02/20/2014022001937.html 

Tongin Market's tteokbokki looks more appetizing than John Kerry trying to eat it
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/438532810320535553

Mirrors are abominable

Long time no post about revisionism in Japan, eh*?

I just passed by one of those distorting mirrors over the web, and saw something interesting.

Here, when I mention 'distorting mirrors over the web', I'm not referring to revisionist propaganda, but to the way information can be altered along it virtual journeys.

And when I say that I saw something interesting, I'm not referring to my female self (NB: that's not the first time a translator or a journalist mispells my name as "StephaNIE" or thinks "Stephane" is a girl's name**), but to a 10 year old video that remains scaringly relevant.

I must pause here: I can't help but think about my favorite piece of literature, "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", where Jorge-Luis Borges redefined fiction and prefigured our internet's pervasive maze of hoaxes, facts, fictions, and mirror sites. When The Great Blind Librarian wrote "mirrors and copulation are abominable, since they both multiply the numbers of men", he simply couldn't imagine that they could also change their genders.

Now where was I?

Here. And there. Marking a pause, precisely. Because Shinzo Abe kindly decided to hold his own horses***, I seized the opportunity and updated my miserable French blogules, recycling in one single post**** the "Abeignomics" series I'd just shot in broken English on this excuse for a blog. The story was later adapted as a Tribune in the French news website Rue89: "Le Japon prisonnier de son extrême droite révisionniste" (May 20).

What I came across was a short post in The Moderate Voice, where William Kern wrote: "In the latest in a series of similar criticisms from around the world on the Abe government, Rue 89 Stephane Mot writes in small part – and I do mean small, since she goes on for a full 1200 words". A long quote ensues, from the similarly titled***** translation of my Rue89 Tribune in Worldmeets.us, the non-partisan journalism project Kern founded after working for the IHT in Paris.

I clicked the link to read the translation... and at the very last line, found out that an "I" had unfortunately fallen over my name, like a guillotine over my proud stephanehood.

But again, that's not the interesting part... Ill-chosen words, sorry. I meant that's not the point - gaah, forget it, just watch the video Worldmeets.us kindly picked to go with the translation.

It's called "Japan's Dirty Secret" (23 May 2003), by Mark Simkin. This ABC News journalist, who spent four years in Japan, manages to raise quite a lot of issues in less than 20 minutes.



The focus is on Unit 731: as a former torturer flies to Harbin to apologize to Chinese survivors, Simkin tells everything about the dark side of today's Japan, without sparing the US, who by clinching the infamous deal with Shiro Ishii, prevented justice from happening, and Japan from facing its past, paving the way for revisionists such as Shinzo Abe.

If you think Japan can do without formal apologies for the crimes committed under Imperial rule, think again. All Japanese citizens should watch this non distorting mirror if they want to save their peaceful democracy, and prevent further abominations from happening.

Stephane (without an I)
NB: that's my fault. I changed Abenomics into Abeignomics.
An "I" for an "N"?

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* already eight days ("Silver lining, darker clouds"), time really flies.
**  So far, the Asia Times remains the only one to have dubbed me "Stephan".
*** "ABE forced to back down a bit. For the moment. Next PR stunt: KIM Jong-un" (May 15)
**** "AbeIGNomics - Shinzo Abe a fait son coming out: il est bien le pire ennemi du Japon" (blogules V.F., May 18)
***** "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a Threat to Democratic Japan (Rue 89, France)" (Worldmeets.us, May 31), "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a Threat to Democratic Japan (Rue 89, France)" (The Moderate Voice, May 31)

UPDATE 20200406 - Rue89 link updated to new NouvelObs URL.

ABE forced to back down a bit. For the moment. Next PR stunt: KIM Jong-un

At long last, Shinzo Abe marked a pause in his outrageous streak of provocations by backpedaling a bit and very evasively on recent comments*:

• "No apology": Abe said that after all, he would not dump Tomiichi Murayama's 1995 statement, the first embryo of official apologies from a Japanese government for the atrocities committed under Imperial Japanese rule. That's a good thing, but not a major surprise: that statement was a red line that many even within his own party thought too risky to cross**.
• "Invasion": Abe said "I never said Japan did not invade other countries". Which is technically true, but technically as well, this man is still refusing to confirm that Japan invaded other countries!
• "Necessary": Abe said that neither he nor his party shared Toru Hashimoto's views on Comfort Women (see "So you want to know what is 'necessary', Mr Hashimoto?"). Here too, Abe doesn't state clearly what his own views are.***

So let's not rejoice too soon. Here, Shinzo Abe is just aknowledging his limits of the day after testing how far he could go without facing any resistance. We've watched him grow bolder and bolder, and now he's simply redeeming a few Godwin Points from his Imperial Japan Airlines mileage program, after collecting a record bonus in his recent infamous Flight 731 (see "Can't top that? Shinzo Abe posing as Shiro Ishii, the Josef Mengele of Imperial Japan").

International pressure definitely played a role, and the Unit 731 provocation backfired, triggering many articles on the very atrocities Abe and his friends try to obliterate from memories, just like the lobby of Japanese lawmakers against memorials for Comfort Women erected in the US backfired last year (see "We reject as false the choice between revisionism and nationalism - for a Global Truth and Reconciliation Network").

But Shinzo Abe doesn't care much about international pressure: I think he was forced to back down a bit by members from his own party, who probably reminded him that the most important for them was to pass the modification of the Article 96 of the Constitution, which makes it difficult to change the Constitution itself. Right now, you need each of the 2 houses to get 2/3 of their members vote the change, then ratify it through a popular vote (referendum). If Shinzo Abe's LDP doesn't have a majority by itself, fellow hardliners Your Party and Hashimoto's Restoration Party share the same goal of destroying the safeguards of Japanese democracy, starting with the fundamental Article 9, which clearly states that Japan is a peaceful nation ("Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes").

So nothing has changed yesterday. Shinzo Abe has only be reminded by fellow warmongers that he should keep his eyes on the ball: we must first destroy Japan as a democracy.

Yesterday, Shinzo Abe also confirmed that he considered meeting Kim Jong-un. His government sent an envoy to Pyongyang against the strict recommendations of Japan's allies... but maybe Mr Abe sees more kinship in such democracies as North Korea, Russia or Iran, who knows?

Anyway, both "Kim The Third" and "Shiro Abe" badly need a PR stunt to raise their profiles as East Asia's top "diplomats"...


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* see "Abe Bows to Int'l Pressure Over WWII Apology" (Chosun Ilbo 20130516)
** see "Interpretations of Japan's wartime history causing rift in ruling LDP" (Asahi Shimbun 20130514)
*** Note that Japanese voices rose loudly to condemned Hashimoto: Okinawa women's associations (see "Okinawa women’s groups condemn Hashimoto justification of sex slaves" - Japan Times 20130516)... but some may say Okinawa itself is not completely Japan...
*** I wrote something about that episode on my French blog ("L'extreme-droite Japonaise invite Le Pen... et les projecteurs"), and later on Rue89 ("La visite de Le Pen au Japon, coup de com pour l'extrême droite nippone")
*** see "Abe Hints at Meeting Kim Jong-un" (Chosun Ilbo 20130516)

A Common History

Change has come to Japan.

At long last, a Japanese Foreign Minister called for a shared vision of history between Japan, China, and Korea, materialized in a common textbook.

Katsuya Okada confirms the hopes raised by Hatoyama's election, and revives the courageous position of former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who apologied for "damage and suffering" under colonial rule, called for an end to nationalism, and urged fellow Japanese citizens to face their own past.

As I wrote earlier, "it's up to the Japanese people to decide : allow those warmongers to set the diplomatic agenda and rewrite textbooks for the next generations, or continue on their peaceful path. But to ensure the latter choice, they must at last face the sometimes troubled history of their beautiful country."

The time has come to set the record straight, and I'm sure Korea and China can work out something great together in a very near future (this noble announcement came ahead of a meeting between Lee Myung-bak and Yukio Hatoyama).

I'm not sure China will join the effort all the way : the regime is too busy working on its own revisionist versions. English scholars recently mocked at China's "Hanschluss" attempt on Goguryeo civilization : it would be as if England claimed to have created the German civilization.

The potential hurdles of these "three/four-party talks" shouldn't deter Korea and Japan to work on their common history as soon as possible, silencing nationalists from all sides.

This should also convince LEE to maintain his country's vital effort in coping with its own troubled past (see "President Lee, please keep digging") : Korea needs its Truth and Reconciliation Commission more than ever.
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ADDENDUM : this post was later published under the title "Japan may face its history" in JoongAng Ilbo (20091012)