[LINK] "Actions speak louder than words"

[rfmcdonald]

Renee Jeffrey in The Australian has an interesting analysis of what the decision of Japan's Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, to not visit the very controversial Yasukuni Shrine with its memorialized war criminals means.

At stake is the question of what constitutes an authentic political apology. At its most basic, a political apology entails an explicit acknowledgement that an injustice has been committed, an expression of remorse, and an undertaking not to repeat the offence, tendered by an official representative of the state or other political group.

By any measure, Japan has fulfilled each of these criteria many times over. But its critics complain that Japan's actions often belie its words. They object especially to the many visits by members of the Japanese political elite, including prime ministers, to the Yasukuni Shrine.

Built to honour Japan's war dead, the shrine honours the 2.5 million people who died fighting for the Emperor of Japan, including 14 Class A war criminals and 1068 others convicted of war crimes after the war.

Japan's critics point to the Yasukuni visits as evidence that Japanese expressions of remorse are insincere. In this respect, Kan's other declaration of August 10 is highly significant.

In his statement, Kan announced that neither he nor his cabinet ministers would visit the Yasukuni Shrine during his tenure. "As Class A war criminals are enshrined there," Kan noted, "an official visit by the prime minister or cabinet ministers is problematic." With this, Kan has removed one of the primary obstacles preventing the victims of Japan's wartime aggression and atrocities from accepting its repeated apologies as genuine.