Ishiba Considers Sparing 80th Anniversary Statement

Newspapers reported that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was considering that he would not deliver the statement commemorating the eightieth anniversary from the end of the World War II this summer. With consideration of resentment against expressing apology embraced by the conservative lawmakers in the Liberal Democratic Party, Ishiba is supposed to be reluctant to issue a new statement which may cause further controversy. Instead, he is going to launch a conference of the experts which explores decision of the government of Japan to be involved in the war.

Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama issued the statement for the fiftieth anniversary in 1995, which expressed “remorse” and “heartfelt apology” on Japan’s “colonial rule and aggression.” While the statement in sixtieth anniversary by Jun-ichiro Koizumi followed Murayama statement, the seventieth anniversary statement by Shinzo Abe stressed that the younger or future generation must not be “predestined to apologize.” Each of those three statements was issued by the prime minister with official decision of the cabinet.

 

Ishiba considers that he would not issue an official statement with a cabinet decision, but a private statement for the annual commemoration of the end of war around August 15. The conservative lawmakers in the LDP recognize that Japan has put a period on its history of apology to the international community by the seventieth anniversary statement of Abe. Former Minister for Economic Revitalization, Takayuki Kobayashi, denied necessity of issuing eightieth anniversary statement, because Abe statement intended to finish apology.

 

Earlier this year, Ishiba was willing to issue a statement. “It is important to verify why we started and could not avoid that war in the eightieth anniversary this year,” said Ishiba in a discussion of the Diet in January. In his visit to Iwojima Island on March 29, where Japan’s Imperial Force and the United States Force had a major battle in 1945, Ishiba told the reporters that he would deliver a message to verify the war and build a peace.

 

According to the reports, Ishiba is considering to issue a personal “message” without cabinet decision, which expresses his own idea for peace. As Abe established a discussion body in the government for the seventieth anniversary statement, Ishiba is launching a conference for consultation about the message. “I would like to think about, for consolidating Japan’s independence and peace, what we can do to repeat that war never again,” said Ishiba.

 

Giving up making cabinet decision for official statement by the prime minister indicates fundamental weakness of Ishiba’s political basis against conservative powers in his party. It is likely that growing frustration among the conservatives will have negative impact on the Upper House election in July. Ishiba is going to elaborate the substance of his message in August based on result of the election.

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