Japan Should Face up to its Imperial Past

Japanese imperial war flag


Japan is once again facing controversy over its past treatment of occupied countries before and during World War Two, which featured forced slavery, forced prostitution (comfort women) and brutal atrocities.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/05/08/japan-admits-past-denial-proof-forced-sex-slavery-based-on-limited-study/?test=latestnews

Unlike Germany, which has openly confronted its Nazi past and educated its children about the horrors of the Third Reich, Japan has never fully come to grips with its crimes under the imperial government. True, it has become a democracy and respecter of human rights, but Japanese schoolchildren are not fully aware of all the things that were done in places like Korea and China when Japan was occupying those countries.

Similarly, European countries like Austria and Lithuania have also failed to face up to their participation in the murders of the Jews and the Holocaust. Anti-Soviet partisans welcomed the German army into Lithuania (as did Latvia and Estonia) and considered them as liberators from the Soviets. They began massacring Jews before the Germans had even unpacked their backpacks.

Japan still has some diplomatic fence-mending to do with their Asian neighbors. A full and open acknowledgement of the past-in its entirety- is needed and would be worthy of today's Japanese people.