U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are expected to highlight "the power of reconciliation" at a ceremony they will attend next week in Hawaii to remember those killed in Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, a White House official said Wednesday.
Obama is expected to say Tuesday's event will be "a demonstration of the strength of our alliance" and "a powerful demonstration of how the two countries can overcome a very painful history to become the closest of allies and friends," Daniel Kritenbrink, senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council, said at a press briefing.
Kritenbrink also said that based on communications with his Japanese counterparts and Abe's own comments, Washington believes the Japanese leader is "approaching this event from a similar perspective."