Having just listened to the longest-hyped statement by a prime minister about World War II ("Abe's WWII declaration speaks of regret" in the Aug. 15 edition), I can't help but wonder why?

Why was he speaking, or rather, reading?

Why was I listening to the words of someone who obviously wasn't this person?

In fact Abe said nothing. As anyone with eyes could see, he just read from his script. It would have been better to have the authors there instead because, clearly, this neither came from his heart nor his will.

We'll never know what he thinks as he was just a scripted mouthpiece for a very insincere and wasteful misuse of taxpayers' yen. The wording was never going to be the key focus, at least not Abe's wording, that is.

DAVID JOHN

DAZAIFU, FUKUOKA PREFECTURE

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.