Friday, August 14, 2015

Profound grief' for WWII, but Japan can't keep apologizing

on Friday expressed "profound grief" for the millions killed inWorld War II and remorse for his country's participation, but said that future Japanese generations shouldn't need to keep apologizing.
Abe, in a speech marking the 70th anniversary of the war's end, gave no new apology. But he acknowledged previous ones and said Japan must keep resolving to never again use force to settle international disputes.
"Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war," Abe said, adding the country "engraved in our hearts" the suffering of Japan's Asian neighbors through its actions, including China, South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines.
But, Abe said, postwar generations now exceed 80% of Japan's population.
We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize," Abe said at his official residence in Tokyo.
Still, even so, we Japanese, across generations, must squarely face the history of the past. We have the responsibility to inherit the past, in all humbleness, and pass it on to the future."
We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize," Abe said at his official residence in Tokyo.predestined to apologize," Abe said at his official residence in Tokyo.
A crowd gathers to cheer Gen. Charles de Gaulle at the Place de la Concorde on August 26, 1944, a day after the liberation of Paris.
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Soldiers of an infantry division move into the mist over a snow-covered field near Krinkelter, Belgium, on December 20, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, a surprise German counter-offensive against Allied forces as they closed in on German soil from the west. It resulted in more combined U.S. losses (nearly 90,000 killed, wounded or captured) than any battle of the war.
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U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on February 23, 1945. Strategically located only 660 miles from Tokyo, the Pacific island was essential to launching land-based bombers against Japan. It was the bloodiest battle in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps, which suffered more than 27,000 casualties. Of some 18,000 Japanese soldiers defending the island, 216 survived.
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German prisoners captured at Friedrichsfeld march through a town in Germany after the crossing of the Rhine River by the U.S. 9th Army on March 26, 1945.
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From left, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Russian Premier Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference on February 1945.
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Prisoners line block 61 of Buchenwald concentration camp in April 1945. The construction of Buchenwald started July 15, 1937, and the camp was liberated by U.S. Gen. George Patton's troops on April 11, 1945. Between 239,000 and 250,000 people were imprisoned in the camp. About 56,000 died, including 11,000 Jews.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral procession goes down Connecticut Avenue on its way to the White House. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, in Warm Springs, Georgia, just weeks before Germany's surrender.
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Harry S. Truman takes the oath of office on April 12, 1945, as he becomes the 33rd president of the United States. Standing beside him are his wife, Bess, and daughter Margaret.
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The bodies of Benito Mussolini, left, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, second from left, hang from the roof of a gasoline station after they were shot by anti-Fascist forces while attempting to escape to Switzerland on April 28, 1945.
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Russian soldiers wave their flag, made from tablecloths, over the ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin on April 30, 1945. That day, as the Soviets were within blocks of his bunker at the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler committed suicide.
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British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addresses the celebrating crowds from the balcony of the Ministry of Health in Whitehall, London, on V-E Day, May 8, 1945. The war in Europe was officially over.
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Soldiers rush an injured U.S. Marine from a battlefield during the Battle of Okinawa in June 1945. The battle, the bloodiest of the war in the Pacific, raged for nearly three months and heightened U.S. concerns for the enormous casualties that could be anticipated in the planned invasion of Japan's main islands.
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A photograph on display at the Bradbury Science Museum shows the first instant of the first atomic bomb test, on July 16, 1945, at 5:29 a.m. at Trinity Site in New Mexico. The Potsdam Declaration, announced 10 days later, called for Japan's unconditional surrender, threatening "prompt and utter destruction." It did not, however, specifically mention the bomb.
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Col. Paul W. Tibbets Jr., center, stands with the ground crew of the B-29 bomber "Enola Gay," which Tibbets piloted on August 6, 1945. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, that day killed an estimated 130,000 people.
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A patient suffering severe radiation burns lies in the Hiroshima Red Cross hospital in August 1945. Many of those who survived the initial blast on August 6 died of severe radiation-related injuries and illnesses.
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A dense column of smoke rises more than 60,000 feet into the air over Nagasaki, the result of an atomic bomb dropped on August 9, 1945. An estimated 60,000 to 70,000 were killed in the Nagasaki blast. Six days later, a little after noon local time on August 15, Emperor Hirohito's announcement that Japan had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration was broadcast on radio. Japan had surrendered.
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A jubilant American sailor kisses a nurse in New York's Times Square on August 14, 1945, as he celebrates the news that Japan has surrendered. (Because of the time difference between the two nations, the surrender occurred August 15 in Japan).
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Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, officially bringing World War II to an end. Overseeing the surrender is U.S. Gen. Douglas McArthur (right, back to camera).
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