TOKYO: Japan’s nationalist government said yesterday it would hold a ceremony next month marking the 1952 return of sovereignty to Tokyo and the end of post-World War II occupation by US-led forces.
The April 28 event, 61 years after the American-led administration ceded control to a civilian Japanese government, would mark “Japan’s return to the international community,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
The ceremony would also show “Japan’s determination to carve out the future, learning from our past experiences,” he said.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party pledged to introduce the ceremony in its campaign for the general election last December, with many of his core supporters critical of what they say is Japan’s apologetic attitude to its history.
Abe has flirted with reviewing past government statements offering contrition for wartime abominations committed by Japanese troops as they stomped across Asia on a brutal campaign.
Some on the right believe a 1993 statement in which Japan apologised for the sexual enslavement of foreign women should be retracted, a sentiment that stirs anger on the Korean peninsula, where Tokyo is criticised for glossing over history. AFP
