Eightieth Memorial Day of War End

The government of Japan held National Memorial Ceremony for the War Dead at Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, on August 15th. In his address to the ceremony, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba referred to “remorse” for the war, changing the course from former conservative administrations. While he could not catch up the date of war end, Ishiba still seeks an opportunity to deliver his message to the public as the prime minister at the year of 80th anniversary. 

“Today, the vast majority of our population belongs to generations that have never experienced war,” stated Ishiba in the ceremony. “Now more than ever, we must engrave deeply in our hearts the remorse for and lessons from that war,” he added in his address. It marked Ishiba’s insistence on taking further pacifist stance than previous administrations including one led by his former political rival, Shinzo Abe.

 

Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama used phrase of “remorse” in the ceremony in 1994. Since then, prime ministers succeeded to include the word in their speech every year. It was Abe who dropped it in his address in 2013, based on his question which was “How long do we have to apologize to Asian nations about our deeds in the war?” That represented the sentiment held by right wing powers in Japan. Abe’s successors, Yoshihide Suga and Fumio Kishida also avoided the phrase, considering negative impact of frustration of the conservatives on their administrations.

 

Ishiba thought it was indispensable for Japan to remember remorse not to repeat ravage of war. “No matter how time passes, we will hand down across generations the sorrowful memories of the war and our resolute pledge to renounce war, and we will remain steadfast in our actions to foster lasting peace,” said Ishiba in his address.

 

The Emperor Naruhito included “remorse” in his address in the ceremony. “Looking back on the long period of post war peace, reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse, I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never again be repeated,” said Naruhito. He has been referring to “remorse” in his addresses to the annual national memorial ceremony since his first year after taking to the throne in 2019, when Abe was the prime minister.

 

Naruhito also used the words of “pass down the memories” in his address to the ceremony for the first time. “It is my sincere hope that we shall continue to pass down the memories of the sufferings endured during and after the war, and in unity in spirit, to seek peace and the happiness of the people in the future,” Naruhito said. It is likely that the Emperor embraced the same concern as Ishiba had that less people can hand over their experience in the war to future generations.

 

In a survey of Yomiuri Shimbun, about forty percent local branches are in trouble of continuing their activities, including visit to former battlefields overseas or collecting remains of their families, due to decrease of members. Although decrease of war-bereaved families imply that Japan has been in peacetime without any war victims, difficulty in keeping memories of war urges the government to take next step to maintain pacifist tradition.

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