“South Korea and Japan were to hold talks on Tokyo’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II on Monday as the two historical rivals make efforts to improve their strained ties in a landmark year, Seoul’s foreign ministry…
“China should stop fixating on Japan’s wartime past and focus on improving future cooperation, Japan’s top government spokesman said Monday. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga was responding to a comment by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang who said yesterday that…
Commentary by Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan. “Next month Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will attend the 60th commemoration of the 1955 Bandung Conference of Asian and African leaders in Jakarta… There are other reasons why Abe’s participation…
Op-Ed by Wang Ping, researcher in Japan studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: “The war anniversary is an opportunity for Abe to befriend the neighbors and the world. As much as he hates to, Abe is expected to confess…
Presumably democratic governments have at times used states of emergency or “states of exception” (see Giorgio Agamben’s work) in order to ramp up militarily assertive rhetoric, and to claim the right or necessity to suspend or modify existing legal boundaries in order to increase their power.…
“Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has never used the word “apology” on the issue of the country’s sexual enslavement of women during World War II and is unlikely to do so in a statement marking the 70th anniversary of the…
“Indonesia can do much in the position of facilitator. We are trusted by the three nations. They are vital to our economy and an easing of tensions in the East China Sea will help create a similar atmosphere on the…
“With the exception of the march across the Philippine island of Luzon, the battle of Okinawa was the only major American land campaign in the Pacific during World War II…” -Christopher Dong visits war sites, museums, and memorials in Okinawa.
“The foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea are preparing to meet this month for their first talks in nearly three years, in a bid to resolve tension over Japan’s wartime past and discuss a three-way summit.”
“The German chancellor and a retired American lawmaker are the latest to call on Tokyo to formally apologize to the now elderly women who were forced into Japanese military brothels during World War II.”
“A Japanese vice foreign minister told a U.N. meeting on the status of women on Tuesday that Japan is taking a sincere approach to the issue of “comfort women,” referring to violence against females involving the Japanese military during World…
“U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his hope of seeing “a forward-looking, future-oriented vision” in a statement Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will issue this summer to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.”
“Shinichi Kitaoka, president of International University of Japan and an expert on Japanese diplomatic and political history, wants Abe to acknowledge what the nationalist leader apparently does not want to clearly admit in public: that Japan fought “a war of…
“Japan on Tuesday marked the 70th anniversary of the U.S. firebombing of Tokyo during World War II in which a frenzied night raid saw 100,000 lives lost… Prime Minister Shinzo Abe… pledged in the ceremony to ‘contribute as much as possible…
“Japan and South Korea share values,” Merkel reportedly told Okada. “It’s better to resolve the . . . issue properly.”
“German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid a courtesy call March 9 on Emperor Akihito, during which they talked about topics related to the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.”
“On March 10, 1945, U.S. B-29 bombers flew over Tokyo in the dead of night, dumping massive payloads of cluster bombs equipped with a then-recent invention: napalm. A fifth of Tokyo was left a smoldering expanse of charred bodies and…
Merkel on reconciliation as an exchange of recognition of past wrongdoing and (for)giving: “During her lecture – at the headquarters of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper in Tokyo on Monday – Ms Merkel noted that Germany’s acceptance into the international community following…
“China will welcome all national leaders to a military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the foreign minister has announced, the strongest sign yet that it could invite wartime enemy Japan.”
“According to results of a public opinion poll released by the Japanese government, China’s military expansion and emphatic claims in various land and maritime border disputes with Japan are more of an immediate security threat to Japanese than disagreements with…
“A group of women in South Korea and the United States are preparing to sue the Japanese government, claiming their human rights were breached when they were forced to become “comfort women,” those who were forced to provide sex for…
“Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called Sunday for swift enactment of legislation to enable Japan to defend its security more robustly as his Liberal Democratic Party held its annual convention.”
“Tokyo and Taipei have agreed to amend fishing regulations in a landmark pact covering waters off a cluster of Taiwan-claimed, Japan-administered islands in the East China Sea, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday.”
“Officials in China were tight-lipped about whether Japanese and U.S. leaders will be invited to a parade to show off its military prowess on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.”