Japan's ties with China and South Korea have grown chillier due to perceptions concerning Japan's wartime behavior. The two neighbors jointly oppose the move to put Japan's 23 "Sites of the Meiji Industrial Revolution" on UNESCO's World Heritage list on the grounds that Chinese and Korean workers were forced to labor at some of the facilities during World War II. In the Nuclear-Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference recently held at the United Nations in New York, China blocked Japan's proposal to include in a final document an invitation for world leaders to visit the atomic-bombed cities of Hiroshima Nagasaki, saying that it represents a "partial interpretation of history" that portray Japan as a "victim" rather than as a "victimizer."
While the two countries' arguments are politically motivated, Japan should not brush them aside. The wartime forced labor is not an issue of the past. South Koreans who worked as forced laborers or their bereaved families filed a series of lawsuits against Japanese firms in recent years seeking damages. So did some Chinese. In opposing placing Japan's industrial sites on the heritage list, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry criticized Japan for failing to work out a "responsible solution to rational demands" made by the victims.
As the 70th anniversary of Japan's surrender in WWII approaches, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should not skirt the issue of historical perception. The way he answered a question from an opposition leader in a recent Diet session raises suspicions over his perception of Japan's wars in the 1930s and '40s. During his question, Japanese Communist Party chief Kazuo Shii cited Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama's 1995 statement to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII, in which Murayama said "Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the road to war," and asked Abe whether he thinks that Japan waged a wrong war. Abe replied that he inherits Murayama's statement "as a whole," and acknowledged that many Asians suffered but did not say whether Japan's militarism was responsible for the suffering.