Where is Japan going?

The present government of Japan is attempting to change some of the events of the past. In August 1993, chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono issued a statement of apology from the government of Japan to the victims of the 2nd World War, the women and young girls, some as young as 14, who were coerced into filling the ranks of Japanese military 'Comfort Stations'.

The Kono Statement on the issue of "the military sex slavery" was made public by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono on August 4, 1993. In the Statement, he officially acknowledged the involvement of the then Japanese Military authorities in the establishment and management of the comfort stations and the transportation of comfort women. He also admitted that many girls and women were recruited against their own will, through coaxing coercion, etc., and that they lived in misery at comfort stations under a coercive atmosphere. On behalf of the Japanese Government, he offered sincere apologies to all the victims and declared the firm determination never to repeat the same mistake by forever engraving such issues in the memories of Japanese people. The statement has been respected as the official statement of the Japanese Government by all the Prime Ministers since that time including the current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who made it clear before the Diet in October 2006 that he would adhere to the views of previous administrations on the issue as Prime Minister as well as an individual.

Suddenly, some influential groups in Japan want to rethink not only the apology but the conditions under which the forced sex slavery was performed.

There's more. Japan has changed their "fundamental law of education" to include the wording "patriotism and tradition", things that were left out of the law in 1947.

Japan was pressured by George W Bush to commit to the first foreign deployment of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces since the end of the 2nd World War in order to build his "Coalition of the Willing". In doing so, Japan, although making a minimal commitment, had, for the first time since 1945, undertaken an expeditionary deployment of armed forces.

Japan seems to be drifting from the course it established for itself after its defeat in 1945. They seem to dislike their own history.

The Rev. Paperboy has a series of links to stories which show Japan is reaching beyond their past.

And, it isn't good.